Warren Buffett Steps Down, Says ‘Father Time Always Wins’

Warren Buffett announced on Friday that he is stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman.

Buffett tapped his son Howard Buffett, 71, to replace him effective immediately. Warren Buffett will become chairman emeritus.

“Serving as your Chairman has been the privilege of a lifetime, and I have never taken your trust for granted,” Buffett said in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, adding, “Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead.”

Buffett’s move to chairman emeritus is the latest step in a carefully planned transition designed to move the company under new leadership after his extraordinarily long tenure. Buffett nodded to his age in the letter, telling shareholders he recently celebrated his 96th birthday surrounded by family, friends, and great-grandchildren. Buffett joked that his 1-year-old great-grandson was moving “a bit faster” than he is these days.

Buffett served as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO for 60 years before stepping down on January 1 and handing the reins to longtime Vice Chairman Greg Abel. Buffett said Abel’s success as CEO helped give him the confidence to take this final step back.

“Part of the reason is Greg,” Buffett said. “My expectations for him were sky high from the start, and he has exceeded them. He has taken hold of the Chief Executive Officer job in every respect. He has been making the decisions that matter for some time now, and I have not had to think twice about any of them. So the timing is right to complete the transition.”

Abel had similar praise for Buffett.

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

Under Buffett’s leadership, Berkshire Hathaway was transformed from a struggling textile mill into a sprawling conglomerate worth more than $1 trillion. Buffett built his reputation by buying undervalued companies rather than chasing the market’s latest trends. He purchased his first stock at just 11 years old and was teaching investing and money management by age 22.

Buffett spent decades building Berkshire alongside his longtime business partner, Charlie Munger, who remained active in the company until his death in 2023, just weeks shy of his 100th birthday. In his farewell message as chairman, Buffett thanked Berkshire’s shareholders for sharing the long-term outlook that guided him and Munger throughout their partnership.

“From the beginning, Charlie and I looked for owners who thought in decades rather than quarters, and we were fortunate to find a great many of you,” Buffett said. Now, after more than six decades at Berkshire’s helm, Buffett is asking those shareholders to place the same long-term trust in the company’s next generation of leadership.