Topline
Legendary investor Warren Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate suffered a rare setback Monday following the 94-year-old’s announcement he would step aside as Berkshire’s CEO at the end of this year, which caused Berkshire’s share price to sink and Buffett’s net worth to shrink.
Warren Buffett’s six-decade tenure as Berkshire Hathaway CEO will come to an end this year.
Key Facts
Class A shares of Berkshire dropped 4% from $809,000 to $777,000 by mid afternoon, while Class B “baby Berk” shares also fell 4% from $540 to $518, erasing roughly $29 billion in market capitalization.
The slide came after the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha included first-quarter operating earnings below Wall Street expectations – its $6,694.59 operating earnings per Class A share was 5% below consensus analyst forecasts, according to FactSet – but analysts largely attributed the stock pullback to Buffett’s upcoming retirement.
Buffett’s retirement “will probably impact investors’ view of Berkshire more than it will actual operations,” KBW analyst Meyer Shields wrote in a Sunday note to clients.
Buffett’s fortune shrank by $6.9 billion to $161.3 billion amid the selloff, according to Forbes’ estimates, making him by far Monday’s biggest billionaire net worth loser, though he remains the world’s fifth-richest person.
Crucial Quote
Berkshire will “miss Buffett’s superior capital allocation skills, market ‘clout’ and relationships,” UBS analyst Brian Meredith remarked in a Monday note.
Key Background
Buffett will still serve as chairman of the board upon his retirement at year’s end, the company confirmed Monday. Berkshire also officially announced that Greg Abel, the head of the firm’s non-insurance operations, secured the board’s appointment as Berkshire’s incoming president and CEO, as expected. Berkshire’s subsidiaries include insurer GEICO, ice cream chain Dairy Queen and paint maker Benjamin Moore. It held a stock portfolio of $275 billion as of the end of 2024, with top holdings including a 2% stake in Apple, a 22% stake in American Express and a 9% stake in Coca-Cola, and owned a $348 billion cash pile as of the end of 2025’s first quarter.Charlie Munger, Buffett’s long-time right hand man and Berkshire’s vice chairman, died in November 2023. Buffett later described Munger as the “architect” of Berkshire’s success while he was merely the “general contractor.”
Big Number
19.9%. That was Berkshire’ compounded annual return from 1965 to 2024, nearly doubling the S&P 500’s 10.4% compounded yearly advance, earning Buffett his legendary status as one of the very few stock pickers to beat the market over the long run. Buffett first took over Berkshire, then a textile maker, in 1965.
Crucial Quote
“If I were being born today I would just keep negotiating in the womb until they said you can be in the United States,” Buffett quipped at Saturday’s meeting, though the billionaire did reiterate his stance against tariffs.
