After 60 years at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway, the Oracle of Omaha is ready for retirement.
In this podcast, Motley Fool analyst Jim Gillies and host Dylan Lewis discuss:
- Warren Buffett’s plan to step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
- The parallels between Berkshire’s succession planning and Apple‘s transition from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook.
- The available cash, opportunities, and challenges ahead for Greg Abel and team.
To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool’s free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you’re ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy.
Dylan Lewis: After 60 years, Buffett passes the torch. Motley Fool Money starts now. I’m Dylan Lewis. I’m joining for the airwaves by Motley Fool candidate analyst Jim Gillies. Jim, thanks for joining me on this momentous Monday.
Jim Gillies: Indeed. Thanks, Dylan.
Dylan Lewis: We talk about the news very often. We don’t always get something this good when something happens over the weekend. To quote the great Warren Buffett himself, the Time Has Arrived. After 60 years as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett announced he’ll be stepping down at the end of 2025 for a well deserved semi retirement. He announced this Jim, closing out the annual meeting in Omaha over the weekend, which was news to basically everybody except his kids.
Jim Gillies: Correct. Yes, I had I had a number of friends on the floor, and one of them texted me with literally as he was speaking going, holy insert golf word here. Buffett just announced his retirement and I’m like, OK, I have to take a moment to process this.
Dylan Lewis: Yeah, in typical Buffett fashion, it wasn’t I’m leaving the CEO seat. It was him handing over the reins, but it was in an overview of board meetings and votes, and recommendations. I think if it weren’t for the standing ovation, if you had tuned out for a second, you actually might have missed it because it was right at the end of the meeting and discussion.
Jim Gillies: Yeah. Look, I’m a Berkshire shareholder for almost three decades. The entire way, Dylan, I’ve been told, aren’t you worried? He’s so old. He’s going to die soon. Thankfully, a key lesson from Buffett reiterated many times over the years, including in this most recent annual meeting is like, you know what? Take your time, think through, things things are not that imperative in the moment. I’m very glad I’ve ignored all of the people saying, Oh, boy, he’s really old. I similarly think about it a little bit today. It’s like, Buffett has been prepping people for this for quite honestly nearly two decades. I remember after his first wife passed away, Susie, it was always the intent of the Buffett to give away the vast wealth that he’s created. Susie was supposed to be the one because she was expected to outlive Warren. She was going to be the one handling the dispensation of that money. Susie’s been gone for almost two decades now, Dylan.
We’ve seen him, I remember back might be 15 or so years ago now where they were first started talking about having the names of multiple people who could take over for him, step in whenever. The names in the envelope that could step in for him have changed. But a number of years ago, Charlie, who, of course, left us just over a year ago, Charlie let slip at one meeting that the only real name in the envelope that could take over for Buffett was Greg Abel, longtime CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, MidAmerican Energy beforehand, and that he just confirmed what everybody largely knew. I don’t think much is going to change. First off, in a completely unsurprising development, the board did, in fact, vote unanimously along with Warren’s suggestion hands up, who thought that wouldn’t happen.
Dylan Lewis: Yeah, zero surprise here.
