By Warren Buffett has become chairman emeritus of Berkshire Hathaway, effective immediately, and his son Howard Buffett has been elected chairman, the company said on Friday.
Buffett, 96, will remain on the board and continue to offer his judgment and perspective, Berkshire said. Chairman emeritus is an honorary title that lets a former chairman stay connected to the company.
Howard Buffett has been a Berkshire director since 1993. The board chose him under what the company called a long-standing succession plan. Susan Decker will continue as lead independent director.
The change comes a little more than nine months after Greg Abel became chief executive while Buffett kept the chairmanship. Abel remains CEO.
Abel, speaking on behalf of the board, said Warren Buffett’s impact was “without parallel in the history of American business.” He said Howard Buffett would act as guardian of the culture and values his father built.
In a letter to shareholders dated Friday, Warren Buffett said the timing was right to complete the transition. He said Abel had exceeded his already high expectations and had been making the decisions that matter for some time.
“Father Time always wins,” Buffett wrote, adding that time had nonetheless been generous to him.
Buffett said he recently celebrated his 96th birthday with family and friends. He said he has served Berkshire since 1965 and has never felt better about what comes next.
He wrote that Abel runs the company, while Howard Buffett will protect its culture and values. He likened his son to an insurance policy that shareholders own and hope never to use. Buffett said he looks forward to remaining a shareholder.
Howard Buffett’s 33 years on the board amount to a longer apprenticeship than Buffett served before taking the reins at age 34, the letter said.
Berkshire shares were broadly unchanged in premarket trading. They later dipped about 1%, according to one market report, and the company has a market value of around $1.1 trillion.
The shift to chairman emeritus also raises the stakes for Abel to perform, CNBC reported. Berkshire stock is up about 1% this year, while the S&P 500 has gained more than 11%.
Investors are watching how Abel uses the company’s $365.5 billion cash pile.
Howard Buffett has been chairman and chief executive of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation since 1999. The foundation focuses on global food security and conflict mitigation. He also served for nearly a decade as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Against Hunger for the World Food Programme.
He has sat on numerous public and private company boards, Berkshire said, including Archer Daniels Midland, ConAgra Foods and Lindsay Corporation. He is 71.
Warren Buffett had served as Berkshire’s chairman since 1970. He announced at the company’s annual meeting in May 2025 that he would leave the CEO role.
Buffett is credited with transforming Berkshire from a failing textile company into a $1.1 trillion conglomerate.
Berkshire’s businesses span insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail, manufacturing, services and retailing. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange as BRK.A and BRK.B.
