Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway chairman after 56 years

Warren Buffett is standing down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway after leading the conglomerate for more than 50 years.

Buffett, 96, will assume the role of chairman emeritus immediately, the company announced on Friday. His son, Howard, who has sat on the Berkshire Hathaway board since 1993, will become the new chairman as part of a long-planned succession.

Warren Buffett will remain a director, having served as chairman of the company since 1970.

Greg Abel took over for Buffett as the CEO of the $1 trillion conglomerate to start the year, but Buffett remains one of the most influential investors in the world.

"I have served Berkshire since 1965," Buffett said in a letter to shareholders. "Sixty-plus years in, I still have the best job in the world. That is not something many people my age can say, and I have never felt better about what comes next."

Buffett expressed his full confidence in Abel and his son Howard to lead Berkshire Hathaway forward.

"Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values – both worth more than anything on our balance sheet," he said. "Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against."

The vast majority of Buffett's fortune has been amassed through Berkshire Hathaway stock, reaching a valuation of more than $140 billion in July 2026.

He has already given away roughly $66 billion worth of stock since 2006.

Over the years, Buffett has cultivated a devoted following, and when Berkshire Hathaway reveals the stocks that the company has acquired or sold in public disclosures, it can shake markets.

During his tenure as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the company nearly doubled the returns of the S&P 500, with a 19.9 per cent compounded annual growth rate compared with the index’s 10.4 per cent gain.

"Warren’s impact on Berkshire and its owners is without parallel in the history of American business," Abel said in a prepared statement. "The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian."