Warren Buffett is a world-renowned investor and business icon, famous for everything from his folksy wisdom and vast fortune to his frugal habits and love of junk food.
Greg Abel, who took over as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO on January 1, has virtually zero public profile by contrast. Whereas Buffett has partied with Jay-Z, stumped for Hillary Clinton, and appeared on “The Office,” few people outside the financial world have even heard of Abel.
Buffett’s successor has reserved his commentary in recent years for Berkshire’s annual shareholder meetings. Business Insider reviewed those Q&A sessions to gain a better sense of who Abel is and how he plans to lead — and found a private person who fully embraces Buffett’s teachings and seems unlikely to rock the boat.
Team player
Abel joined Berkshire in 2000 when Buffett acquired MidAmerican Energy, and rose from the subsidiary’s CEO to become vice-chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses in 2018. He began appearing on stage with Buffett starting in 2020.
Prior to last year’s meeting, Abel largely limited his input to discussing subsidiaries such as Berkshire Hathaway Energy and the BNSF Railway, and weighing in on hot topics such as the clean-energy transition.
Abel has frequently echoed Buffett, emulated the investor by praising his employees and lieutenants, championed Berkshire’s culture, and talked up its businesses.
He’s described Berkshire as a “very special company” because it treats its shareholders as partners and its business managers act as owners, saying “that’s never going to change.”
Buffett 2.0
Abel has said he’ll invest like Buffett by staying within his “circle of competence,” treating every stock purchase as if he’s buying a piece of a business for the long term, valuing companies based on what they’re likely to be worth in 10 or 20 years and relative to the risks they face, and having patience and discipline at all times.
“It’s important to know that the capital allocation principles that Berkshire lives by today will continue to survive, Warren,” he said during the 2024 meeting.
Abel has underscored that, like Buffett, he’ll be ready to pounce during periods of turmoil. He said last year that onlookers should “never underestimate the amount of reading and work that’s being done to be prepared to act quickly,” adding that a “large part of being patient” is “using the time to be prepared.”
Like Buffett, who’s described himself as Berkshire’s “chief risk officer,” Abel has underscored his priorities will be protecting Berkshire’s reputation, prudently stewarding his shareholders’ money, and maintaining a “fortress balance sheet” so Berkshire can weather any storm.
Similar to Buffett and his late business partner, Charlie Munger, Abel has openly admitted and learned from mistakes. For example, he said BNSF had broken a deal by running too many trains across tribal lands, and that PacifiCorp would switch off at-risk power lines during wildfires instead of working to keep them on, given the risk of feeding the flames.
Abel has said that relative to Buffett, who famously delegates “almost to the point of abdication,” his management style is “more active but hopefully in a very positive way.”
Getting personal
Abel has shared little about his personal life so far. He offered a rare nugget last year when he said that he’d like to be remembered as a “great father, but equally a coach.”
“And that goes to family, friends, and just being involved with the kids I coach in hockey or baseball or whatever it may be,” he added.
Abel has shed light on his daily routine, saying he spends a lot of time reading about Berkshire’s businesses, their industries, their competitors, what risks they face, and how they’ll be disrupted.
He’s also preached the power of hustling, saying that “if you start with a great work ethic and have that attitude that you want to contribute, you’re going to go a long way in life.”
Berkshire’s next chapter
Abel clearly grasps the immense responsibility of leading a $1 trillion company.
He said last year that he “couldn’t be more humbled and honored” to succeed Buffett as CEO, and to have worked alongside him and the other Berkshire brass for 25 years.
Echoing Buffett’s quip that he “tap dances to work” because he loves his job so much, Abel said last year that “when you find something like Berkshire that’s so special, you fall in love with it and it becomes what you want to do every day.”
Abel has said all the right things to present himself as the perfect person to carry the torch forward for Buffett and Munger and safeguard Berkshire’s future.
He’s been happy to let Buffett have the spotlight to date, but now he’s in charge and all eyes are on him. It may be time to give shareholders a look behind the curtain and let them get to know their new leader.
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