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Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the sprawling conglomerate worth $1 trillion that he has led since 1965. The 96-year-old legendary investor announced the move in a letter to shareholders Friday. Buffett will become chairman emeritus, effective immediately, while remaining a director on the board, the company said in a separate announcement. His son Howard Buffett will replace him as chairman, as dictated by a long-standing succession plan, Berkshire said. Susan Decker will continue as lead independent director. "Father Time always wins," wrote Buffett. "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." His decision comes a little more than nine months after Greg Abel took over as CEO while Buffett retained the chairmanship. Buffett first announced his exit as CEO at Berkshire's annual meeting in May 2025, shocking the crowd of thousands at the time despite his advanced age. "The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian," Abel said in the company release. "Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values — both worth more than anything on our balance sheet," Buffett wrote. "Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against." Buffett's legacy in building the Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire is unparalleled in corporate America. He took over a failed New England textiles mill at the tender age of 34 and transformed it over the next six decades into a financial and industrial juggernaut with $44.5 billion in operating earnings last year and nearly 400,000 employees. Berkshire under Buffett's tenure posted a 19.7% compounded annual return to shareholders, nearly double the return of the S&P 500. Active chairman As chairman this year, Buffett remained active within the company. Abel told CNBC in March that Buffett was still coming into the Omaha office every day and the CEO still frequently consulted with him. In May, Buffett attended the company's celebrated annual meeting, making some brief remarks from his seat and giving an interview with CNBC's Becky Quick. It was the first "Woodstock for Capitalists" — as the meeting came to be known — not presided over by Buffett, but instead by Abel. In July, Buffett revealed to CNBC that he was the driving force behind Berkshire's recent big investment in Alphabet. The Google parent is now Berkshire's third-biggest stock holding, behind Apple and American Express, after a $10 billion private stock purchase in June. In that same interview, Buffett noted that he had broken his leg a few weeks earlier but was recovering. Buffett acknowledged his growing limitations because of his age as he was getting ready to hand the reins over to Abel last year. In a Thanksgiving letter to shareholders, he wrote, "To my surprise, I generally feel good. Though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I am at the office five days a week." In the Friday letter, Buffett joked about it. "Recently, I celebrated my 96th birthday with family and friends, including one of my great-grandchildren, who had just turned one. He's moving a bit faster than I am these days," he wrote. Berkshire's 2026 underperformance Berkshire shares have struggled this year and Buffett's exit as chairman raises the stakes for Abel further to perform. The stock is up just 1% in 2026 as the S&P 500 has rallied more than 11%. Rising oil prices and investors' preference for higher growth parts of the market are partly to blame, but shareholders are also waiting to see whether the new CEO can be as adept as Buffett in deploying the firm's sizable capital. For now, investors would likely be happy with Abel using some more of the company's $365.5 billion cash hoard to buy back more Berkshire shares. He has begun to do just that, stepping up repurchases to $4.5 billion in the second quarter. Berkshire's largest shareholder praised the job done by Abel so far in his Friday letter: "My expectations for him were sky high from the start, and he has exceeded them." "The company is in excellent hands, and I look forward to remaining a shareholder alongside you," Buffett said in closing. When reached for comment by CNBC, Abel said: "Warren described in his letter today how his role at Berkshire has been 'the best job in the world.' He gave me an extraordinary responsibility — the best job in American business — and then the latitude to lead in a manner consistent with Berkshire's culture and values. I look forward to continuing to work alongside Warren, with Howard serving as Chairman and Sue as Lead Independent Director, and I am grateful for that opportunity."
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