“I think it has a better chance of being around 100 years from now than I can think of,” Buffett said in an exclusive interview with Becky Quick that aired on CNBC on Friday.
Buffett officially stepped down as CEO on Thursday, ending a six-decade-long tenure in which he transformed Berkshire from a struggling textile operation into a trillion-dollar conglomerate with businesses from insurance to railroads, with more than $300 billion in cash on its balance sheet.
“Greg will be critical,” Buffett said, “he can’t imagine how much more he can do in a week than I can in a month.” He went on to say that he “has Greg managing my money more than any of the top investment advisors or any of the top CEOs in the United States.”
Berkshire’s shares have lagged the broader market since Buffett announced his retirement in May, as some investors continued to command premium valuations, raising questions about whether Abel could oversee the group’s vast operating businesses alongside his equity portfolio.
Live events
The 95-year-old investor also signaled that his public presence would be reduced, saying he would not take the stage at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting this year — a departure from a long-standing tradition that has drawn thousands of shareholders to Omaha for decades.
“Everything will be the same,” Buffett said. “I’ll be in. I won’t be there to speak at the annual meeting, but I’ll be in the directors’ section.”
Berkshire Hathaway’s post-Warren Buffett era began quietly on Friday, when the conglomerate’s shares fell after the “Oracle of Omaha” handed the top job to Greg Abel, ending his six-decade helm.
The company now faces the task of preserving its track record without its chief architect — the man who reshaped modern investing and turned Berkshire from a struggling textile manufacturer into an investment worth more than $1 trillion.
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