Warren Buffett to step down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after 6 decades

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Next week Warren Buffett steps down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a role he’s held for six decades. He dropped the retirement bombshell this spring at the annual shareholders meeting.

While Greg Abel will take over operations on Jan. 1 and lead next year’s shareholders meeting, Buffett has said he will still come to the office.

To understand Warren Buffett’s love for Nebraska and his investment strategy of being in it for the long haul, consider this: Since 1952, he’s lived in the same Omaha home in the Dundee neighborhood.

Over the years, the off-and-on wealthiest person in the world repeated his advice in interviews: Find good, undervalued businesses with strong potential and smart leadership — and then get out of the way.

“I have a lot of fun doing what I do every day. I’ve had fun ever since I started delivering papers when I was 13. You better enjoy it as you go along. The idea that you’re going to have a lot of fun 30 years from now, or if you have $10 million — the trick is to enjoy what you’re doing that day. And I’ve always done that,” Warren Buffett said in 1999.

Early business ventures shaped philosophy

Warren Buffett said luck had a ton to do with his success. For example, he was born in the United States. He said the odds were 40-to-1 against that in 1930. Not to mention the irony at home surrounding the stock market crash of 1929.

“I was conceived during the crash. I was conceived in November of 1929. My father was a stock salesman. So, you can draw your own conclusions. If the market had stayed strong, he’d be out making calls. No telling what would happen,” Warren Buffett said in 1992.

Warren Buffett bought his first stock at the age of 11. His sister took notice.

“I bought 3 shares of Cities Service Preferred in 1942 at $38 per share. Doris — who is 3 years older — 13 or 14 — and she figures that was my entire net worth — so if I’m doing that then she would too. It promptly went down to $27. And Doris and I would walk to Rose Hill and she would remind me that so far I wasn’t setting any records,” Warren Buffett said in 1992.

As a youngster, he made money selling golf balls. He and a buddy handicapped horses and sold the information to bettors at Ak-Sar-Ben. He delivered 500 newspapers a day and even bought a Rolls Royce for $350 and rented it for $35 a day. His best experience back then, Buffett said though, was putting pinball machines in Omaha barber shops.

“We did very well in that business. It was called Wilson Coin Operated Machine Company — because my partner Don Danley and I went to Woodrow Wilson High. The barbers were always bugging us to put in newer machines. We had these old secondhand machines we paid $25 for. We told him we’d take it up with Mr. Wilson. We said he was a tough guy and we weren’t sure we could persuade him. We told them that we would present their case to Mr. Wilson, but we can’t promise you a lot,” Warren Buffett said in 1992.

Building Berkshire Hathaway empire

The man who would eventually get the nickname the Oracle of Omaha didn’t become an overnight success. He kept investing. When he found a good stock, he’d hang onto it. At 32, he invested in a textile company in New England called Berkshire Hathaway. In the 1960s, he took control of the struggling company and changed course into insurance. And the rest is history. From GEICO and Central States Indemnity to Borsheims and the Nebraska Furniture Mart and dozens of well-known businesses in between. Most of the wealth he’s giving away to society.

“I said one time — quoting someone else — I generally believe that if you have a lot of money — leave your kids enough money that they could do anything, but not enough so they could do nothing. I just don’t see any reason from a social standpoint or a personal standpoint that passing on hundreds of millions is advisable. I don’t see anything wrong with moderate amounts,” Warren Buffett said in 1992.

The obituary advice

Every spring Berkshire Hathaway shareholders flock to Omaha like it was Woodstock, hanging on Buffett’s every word. Every spring Warren Buffett would spend hours explaining why he did what he did, loving every minute of it. His business partner Charlie Munger once told him:

“He said to me — that what you do is write your obituary early and reverse engineer it,” Warren Buffett said in April 2023.

“To live up to it?” a reporter asked.

“Or down to it. Whatever it is. Whatever it is you want to accomplish in your life — just figure it out. That is what your obituary will be about. That if you want to be remembered as kind — you better be kind. It’s going to be there — and you’re not going to be able to change it,” Buffett said.

Last month Buffett accelerated his dispersal of stock to the foundations set up by his three children, totaling around $1.3 billion. In the same Thanksgiving letter, Buffett reminded the world that greatness doesn’t come from accumulating great amounts of money or power. He wrote: “Kindness is costless but also priceless. Keep in mind, the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the chairman.” As for his age — he’s 95 — he said until he came along, the family’s all-time record for longevity was 92.

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