WARREN BUFFETT STEPS DOWN AS BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY CHAIRMAN

Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the company announced on Friday. He becomes chairman emeritus, having served as chairman since 1970. His son, Howard Buffett, a Berkshire Hathaway board member since 1993, takes over as chairman in what the company described as a long-planned succession. Warren Buffett remains a director. Greg Abel became Berkshire Hathaway's chief executive at the start of the year, while Warren Buffett is still regarded as one of the world's most influential investors.

In a letter to shareholders, Buffett said he had served Berkshire since 1965 and still had "the best job in the world" after more than sixty years. He said Abel would run the company while Howard would "guard its culture and values", which he called worth more than anything on the balance sheet. Buffett described Howard as "a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against." Most of his fortune stems from his Berkshire Hathaway shareholding, valued at more than $140 billion in July 2026, and he has given away roughly $66 billion worth of stock since 2006.

Berkshire Hathaway's disclosures of share purchases and sales have long had the capacity to move markets, reflecting the following Buffett has built among investors. During his time as chief executive, the company said its shares returned a compounded annual growth rate of 19.9 per cent, against 10.4 per cent for the S&P 500. Abel said in a statement that Buffett's impact on Berkshire and its owners was "without parallel in the history of American business." He said the culture and values Buffett built would remain at the heart of the company, with Howard as their guardian.