Legendary investor Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and been named chairman emeritus, effective immediately.
Buffett, who has recently turned 96, announced the news in a letter to investors Friday, saying his son Howard Buffett will replace him as chairman of the board.
“Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me,” Buffett wrote. “He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead.”
Buffett will remain a member of the company board and “continue to offer his valued judgment and perspective,” the company said in a statement.
He had stepped down as the company’s CEO in 2025, handing over the job to longtime executive Greg Abel at the end of the year.
Buffett, the investor nicknamed the “the Oracle of Omaha,” built Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling maker of suit linings in the 1960s into one of the world’s most formidable economic enterprises, becoming the first U.S. non-tech company to reach a $1 trillion market cap.
“I have served Berkshire since 1965. 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 said.
Abel praised Buffett on behalf of the board Friday, saying his impact on the company and its owners is “without parallel in the history of American business.”
Buffett has earned a reputation as a shrewd long-term investor throughout his career, advocating for patient and rational decision-making that eschewed fads.
Berkshire Hathaway has held large stakes in iconic consumer brands like Domino’s Pizza, Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz, alongside insurers, railways and oil companies. Buffett’s folksy wisdom and colorful commentary turned his annual meetings into gatherings known as “Woodstock for capitalists,” attracting tens of thousands of investors to Omaha.
In his letter Friday, Buffett wrote that the timing was right to “complete the transition.”
His son Howard has been a Berkshire director for 33 years, in what Buffett described as “a longer apprenticeship than I served before taking the reins at the age of 34.”
“Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values – both worth more than anything on our balance sheet. Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against,” he said.
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