Billionaire Warren Buffett will remain with Berkshire Hathaway as chairman of the board when vice chairman Greg Abel takes over as CEO to begin 2026. The board of directors at the cash-rich conglomerate voted Sunday to keep the legendary 94-year-old investor as head of the board, a decision likely to relieve investors worried about Berkshire’s remarkable winning streak as the U.S. and global economies are beset by tariff shocks, financial turmoil and a growing risk of recession. The board in the same meeting also approved Buffett’s chosen successor as CEO, veteran Berkshire executive Greg Abel, 62. In a surprise announcement Saturday, Buffett said he would step down from that top spot at the end of the year. Berkshire Class B shares fell more than 5% Monday after hitting an all-time high on Friday. Macrae Sykes, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, praised the transparent way Buffett announced the transition at the meeting and believes investors can have confidence that he isn’t going anywhere. “Retaining the position of Chairman means he can continue to mentor Greg and the Berkshire leaders, while also providing additional intellectual capacity when the inevitable time for more major capital allocation occurs,” Sykes said. In six decades at the helm, Buffett turned a Massachusetts textile company into a sprawling but nimble conglomerate that owns everything from Daily Queen and See’s Candies to BNSF Railway and giant insurers. As the company grew, Warren’s reputation grew with it as shares of Berkshire Hathaway climbed steadily, exceeding major indexes by wide margins and returning an average 19.9% each year versus 10.4% for the Standard & Poor’s 500. The decision to continue with the Oracle of Omaha, as Buffet is known, as head of the board differs from the succession plan laid out for after Buffett’s death. The billionaire has long said that Howard Buffett, the second-born of the investor’s three children, should become chairman when he is gone to protect Berkshire’s culture. A current vice-chairman, Abel, will take over as CEO as big questions hover over the company, but he has already been managing all of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses since 2018. Buffett himself has said President Donald Trump’s tariffs were a big mistake. There are also worries that Berkshire might not able to avoid the fate of most conglomerates—forced to break up to recapture focus. Then there is Berkshire’s $348 billion in cash. Buffett says he doesn’t see many bargains to invest that money in now, not even Berkshire’s own stock, but assured some of the estimated 40,000 attendees of the company’s celebratory weekend annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, that one day the company would be “bombarded with opportunities.” Abel, a low-key Canadian with a love a hockey, has already shown he is a more hands-on manager than Buffett by asking managers tough questions and encouraging them to collaborate with other subsidiaries when it makes sense. He will now take on oversight of the insurance businesses and responsibility for investing the company’s cash. Vice Chairman Ajit Jain will stay on for now to help manage the insurance businesses that include Geico and massive reinsurers like General Re, but he is 73. Abel told shareholders Saturday that he wouldn’t change the Berkshire’s approach to investing, which he learned from Buffett. Maintaining Berkshire’s fortress-like balance sheet will always be a priority, he said. […]