Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

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“Berkshire is a unique conglomerate, intentionally designed to allocate capital rationally and efficiently.”Greg Abel, 2025 Shareholder Letter

Designed over six decades by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway occupies a position in the capitalist world that requires little introduction. It is the most closely followed and widely discussed capital-allocation institution of its kind. Any attempt to explain, in a few paragraphs, why Berkshire deserves attention will inevitably feel inadequate.

Our sincere recommendation is therefore simple: anyone who hopes to succeed in the securities markets should spend time reading Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder letters and annual reports. They are not merely records of one company’s performance. Taken together, they form one of the clearest bodies of writing ever produced on business ownership, capital allocation, managerial integrity, risk, incentives, valuation and long-term decision-making.

Berkshire is not an investment fund in the conventional sense. It is a permanent-capital conglomerate combining insurance operations, wholly owned businesses, major infrastructure assets, marketable securities and substantial liquidity within a highly decentralized structure. Its subsidiaries are generally allowed to operate autonomously, while capital generated throughout the group can be redirected toward the opportunities offering the most attractive long-term returns. Insurance remains at its core, but the institution’s defining capability is its freedom to allocate capital across public equities, acquisitions, existing subsidiaries, share repurchases and cash without being constrained by a narrow mandate or short-term investor redemptions.

The result is not simply a collection of successful investments. It is a deliberately constructed system in which patient capital, trusted managers, financial resilience, decentralized operations and an owner-oriented culture reinforce one another.

That system is now entering its most important transition.

Greg Abel became Berkshire Hathaway’s President and Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2026, succeeding Warren Buffett, who remains Chairman. Before assuming the position, Abel spent 33 years in various roles at Berkshire Hathaway Energy. He served as its CEO from 2008 to 2018 and subsequently oversaw Berkshire’s non-insurance operations as Vice Chairman from 2018 through 2025.

Abel’s background differs fundamentally from Buffett’s public image. He did not become prominent as a stock-picker, market commentator or investment partnership manager. His reputation was built as an operator and capital allocator inside large, regulated and capital-intensive businesses. Energy and utility operations require decisions whose consequences may unfold over decades: infrastructure must be financed before demand is fully visible, regulatory relationships must be preserved, operational risks cannot be ignored and returns must be balanced against enormous long-term obligations. This experience made Abel particularly suited to oversee the operating foundation on which modern Berkshire increasingly depends.

His appointment should therefore not be understood as an attempt to reproduce another Warren Buffett. Abel’s responsibility is to preserve and institutionalize what Buffett and Munger built: disciplined capital allocation, managerial autonomy, extreme financial strength, candid communication and the treatment of shareholders as long-term partners.

In his first shareholder letter as CEO, Abel presented Berkshire’s culture not merely as a collection of admirable values, but as a system for producing long-term performance. He reaffirmed insurance as Berkshire’s core, emphasized the preservation of liquidity and financial independence, and stated that capital-allocation decisions across Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses ultimately reside with him as CEO. He also confirmed that responsibility for Berkshire’s public-equity investments ultimately rests with the CEO, while Ted Weschler continues to manage a portion of the portfolio.

Charlie Munger once offered perhaps the most important endorsement of the succession plan: “Greg will keep the culture.” Abel himself repeated those words in his first annual letter. The statement captures both his qualification and the standard by which his tenure must eventually be judged. Berkshire’s future will depend not on whether Abel can imitate Buffett’s personality, but on whether rational capital allocation can survive the departure of its founders and become a durable institutional capability.

It remains too early to evaluate Abel as Buffett’s successor. Nevertheless, because he now controls capital allocation across one of the world’s largest collections of businesses and investments, Greg Abel has immediately become one of the most consequential capital allocators worth following.

• An Owner’s Manual — Warren Buffett ↗
• Berkshire — Past, Present and Future — Warren Buffett ↗
• Vice Chairman’s Thoughts — Past and Future — Charlie Munger ↗
• 2025 Shareholder Letter — Greg Abel ↗