Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Preparing for a New CEO

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is getting ready for a change in leadership.

The investing conglomerate, based in Omaha, wrote in a new regulatory filing that its board voted earlier this week to formally separate the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, effective immediately, per CNBC.

Buffett has been CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970.

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In May, Buffett, 95, announced at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting that he would be stepping down as CEO on Jan. 1, 2026, and named Greg Abel as his successor.

Abel, 63, has been Berkshire’s vice chairman for non-insurance operations since 2018. Buffett will keep the Executive Chairman title.

Berkshire is the No. 11 most valuable company in the world, at press time, with a market cap of $1.081 trillion.

Buffett is also in the eleventh spot, personally, on the world’s richest people list, with a net worth of $149 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The majority of his fortune is tied to his stake in Berkshire.

Earlier this week, Buffett led Berkshire’s biggest deal in three years, and likely his last as CEO, to buy OxyChem, a petrochemical unit within Occidental Petroleum, for $9.7 billion.

Related:

Warren Buffett Made 95% of His Wealth After Age 65. Here’s How Much His Net Worth Has Grown Past Retirement Age.