Who is Berkshire Hathaway's Greg Abel? Warren Buffett explained his choice of successor: ‘He understands businesses extremely well'

Warren Buffett's may have surprised some attendees at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting on Saturday, but the identity of the 94-year-old investing icon's came as no surprise.

In 2021, Buffett that Greg Abel — currently 62, and Berkshire's vice chairman of non-insurance operations — would eventually take over as CEO of the $1.1 trillion investment business upon Buffett's retirement. The billionaire investor reaffirmed that choice during the 2024 annual meeting, stating that Abel would have full authority to make Berkshire's investing decisions once he became CEO.

"I would leave the capital allocation to Greg and he understands businesses extremely well," at the meeting in May 2024. "If you understand businesses, you'll understand common stocks."

Buffett, who plans to retire as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO at the end of 2025, promised on Saturday that he won't sell a single share of his own Berkshire holdings — worth more than $160 billion — during the company's leadership transition to Abel.

"The decision to keep every share is an economic decision, because I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg's management than mine," Buffett said.

Abel told shareholders on Saturday that he would "maintain the reputation of Berkshire" as its next CEO. "It's really the investment philosophy and how Warren and the team have allocated capital for the past 60 years," said Abel. "Really, it will not change. And it's the approach we'll take as we go forward."

Berkshire's board of directors on Sunday to make Abel president and CEO on January 1, 2026, with Buffett to remain as the company's chairman. Here are several things to know about the person who's set to replace the Oracle of Omaha:

•  Abel has been with Berkshire Hathaway for more than two decades, most recently overseeing the company's energy holdings as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy alongside his vice chairman role.

• was born in Edmonton, Canada, where he grew up in a working-class neighborhood with a salesman father, he's said. played professional hockey for more than a dozen seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. "I remember getting together with other neighborhood kids as soon as we could after school,"  in May 2018. "We played hockey nearly every day in summer and winter and stayed out until we were called in for dinner."

• Growing up, Abel made money through odd jobs, like delivering advertising flyers and filling fire extinguishers for the company where his father worked, Levitt Safety, according to .

• He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1984 with a bachelor of commerce degree in accounting, and worked as an accountant after college — first for PricewaterhouseCoopers, and then with geothermal electricity company CalEnergy, which later became MidAmerican Energy. "Accounting took over when I came to realize how critically important it was to understand things such as income and cash flow statements," the University of Alberta publication  in 2013.

• In the mid-1990s, Abel moved to the U.K. to handle CalEnergy's takeover of a British utility. There, he  Walter Scott Jr., who was a shareholder in CalEnergy and member of Berkshire's board of directors. "Greg is the kind of person that, whenever he's been asked to do something, he's willing to go and do it,"  in a 2011 interview with Fortune.
  
• Abel joined Berkshire Hathaway when the company acquired a controlling interest in MidAmerican in 1999, by which time Abel was the energy company's president. He became CEO of MidAmerican in 2008. The company later changed its name to Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

• His salary at Berkshire Hathaway varies from year to year. Abel had a  in 2024, and has received sizable bonuses in past years including $3 million in 2022, according to Berkshire's SEC filings. In 2016, he received $41 million in compensation due to an incentive bonus tied to Berkshire Hathaway Energy's profits,  that year.
  
• In 2022, Abel sold his 1% stake in BHE for . Buffett wanted his successor to be "somebody that's ... already very rich — which they should be if they've been working a long time — and really is not motivated by whether they have 10 times as much money than they and their families can need or a 100 times as much," he .

• Abel has been labeled "an astute dealmaker," by . "I always make time for Greg when he calls, because he brings me great ideas and is truly innovative in his thinking and business approach,"  in 2013.

• Decades into his career, Abel has said he's still passionate: "I want to have an impact. I want to roll up my sleeves and be actively engaged in making our company successful," he told  in 2018. "I think hard work leads to good outcomes," he said. "In my schooling, in sports, and in my business positions, I learned that if I put in a lot of work and was well-prepared, then success would be more likely."

Abel had long been seen as a possible successor for Buffett, along with Berkshire vice chairman of insurance operations Ajit Jain. Buffett lauded both executives upon their promotions to vice chairman roles in 2018.

"They both have Berkshire in their blood. They love the company. They know their operations like the back of their hand,"  at the time.

Buffett's longtime business partner Charlie Munger, who died in 2023, also praised both Abel and Jain, calling them "proven performers" while adding in a  that "in some important ways, each is a better business executive than Buffett."

In 2023, Munger singled out Abel, singing his praises as an executive in an : "Greg is just sensational at being a business leader, both as a thinker and as a doer."

Want a new career that's higher-paying, more flexible or fulfilling? Take C온라인카지노사이트's new online course . Expert instructors will teach you strategies to network successfully, revamp your resume and confidently transition into your dream career. Start today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off $67 (+taxes and fees) through May 13, 2025.

Plus, sign up for C온라인카지노사이트 Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.