Between discussions on commercial wars and prices at the annual meeting of shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway this weekend, a more generational question – one on what and which then comes for the conglomerate based in Omaha.
This question has become more urgent after Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for 55 years – and now 94 years old – told an amazed crowd he would resign at the end of the year.
“I think the time has happened when Greg should become the director general of the company at the end of the year,” he said.
Buffett referred to one of his best hands, Greg Abel.
Abel, 62, is the vice-president of non-assurance operations of Berkshire Hathaway since 2018. He is also president of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which Buffett praised as one of the four “jewelry” of the conglomerate in his annual shareholder letter in 2021, the same year Buffett tapped Abel for the first time.
Although buffett approval is a major advantage, the company's board of directors will finally decide its successor.
Investors and shareholders expect if Abel assumes the role, he will maintain the investment philosophy of Berkshire Hathaway. He told the shareholders at the meeting of this weekend that he would start by maintaining the “fortress of a balance sheet” of the company, which allows him to make big investments without counting on the banks, reported Barron.
Abel is however known to have a more practical management style than Buffett.
He was estimated by Forbes at $ 484 million in 2021. In 2022, he sold his 1% participation in the company's Berkshire Hathaway energy unit for $ 870 million.
Abel crossed the ranks with a persistent accent on energy.
The Canadian native played hockey in his early years and attended the University of Alberta. He graduated in 1984 with a trade diploma.
He joined PwC after graduation and quickly went to a small business called Calenergy. In 1999, Calenergy acquired Midamerican Energy and adopted his name. The same year, Berkshire Hathaway bought an interest in Midamerican energy. Abel resumed the reins of Midamerican in 2008 – renamed Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2014 – and led her until 2018.
He also sat on the board of directors of several large companies, including Kraft Heinz, and was affiliated with organizations and institutions such as the Mid-Iowa Council Boy Scouts of America, the Drake University, the Foundation of American Football Coaches and the Horatio Alger Association.
He lives at monks, iowa. Those who spotted him in a hockey ice rink in town, looking at his son to train, say he appears as an “ordinary guy”, reported the register of monks.
Buffett also has the reputation of a folk and earth-to-terre person, living in Omaha, Nebraska.
In Berkshire Hathaway, the succession does not seem to be simply a job. With the title, Buffett said that he transmits traditions – like writing letters – and a state of mind too.
In the annual report of Berkshire Hathaway in 2024, Buffett wrote: “At 94, it will not take long before Greg Abel replaced me as CEO and wrote the annual letters. Greg shares the Berkshire Creed that a report '' Is you starting to deceive your benefits, you must soon believe your own Balloney and that you are doing well.
