Warren Buffett, the legendary 95-year-old investor known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” retired Wednesday as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway after a historic 60-year tenure that made him one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Buffett’s last official day as CEO was New Year’s Eve. Greg Abel, 63, the vice chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance operations, took over as president and CEO on Thursday, January 1, 2026. Buffett will remain chairman of the board.
“After six decades in the job he bought for himself with what he’s called the ‘dumbest’ investment of his life, Wednesday was Warren Buffett’s last day as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO,” CNBC reported. “His strategy of using insurance premiums, ‘float,’ to make brilliant investments in stocks and to help buy entire companies transformed the struggling textile mill into a $1 trillion conglomerate and made him one of the wealthiest people in the world with a net worth of more than $150 billion.”
Buffett first announced his retirement plans in May 2025 at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
Under Buffett’s leadership, Berkshire Hathaway delivered extraordinary returns to shareholders. When Buffett took control of Berkshire in the mid-1960s, its shares traded around $19. By the end of 2025, a single Class A share was worth over $754,800. From 1964 to 2024, the company delivered a compounded annual gain of 19.9 percent, nearly double the S&P 500’s 10.4 percent, resulting in an overall return of more than 5.5 million percent.
Buffett also rejected many Wall Street conventions. Berkshire never split its stock, discouraging speculation and cultivating a shareholder base oriented toward decades rather than quarters.
The company declined to issue earnings guidance and gave operating managers wide autonomy, while capital allocation decisions remained centralized in Omaha.
Buffett said he would be “going quiet” but promised to continue writing annual letters to shareholders.
“I will no longer be writing Berkshire’s annual report or talking endlessly at the annual meeting,” Buffett wrote. “As the British would say, I’m ‘going quiet.’ Sort of.”