Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the $1 trillion conglomerate he has led since 1965, the company announced Friday. Buffett, 96, becomes chairman emeritus effective immediately and will remain a director, while his son Howard Buffett replaces him as chairman under a long-standing succession plan; Susan Decker continues as lead independent director. The move comes a little more than nine months after Greg Abel, 64, took over as CEO while Buffett retained the chairmanship, following Buffett's May 2025 announcement at the annual meeting that he would exit the CEO role. Buffett built Berkshire from a failed New England textiles mill into a financial and industrial juggernaut with $44.5 billion in operating earnings last year and nearly 400,000 employees, posting a 19.7% compounded annual return to shareholders over his tenure, nearly double the S&P 500. Berkshire shares are up just 1% in 2026 while the S&P 500 has rallied more than 11%, and Abel has stepped up buybacks to $4.5 billion in the second quarter against the company's $365.5 billion cash hoard. "Father Time always wins," Buffett wrote. "He has, however, been generous with me."
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