In a CNBC interview promoting a forthcoming special program, Warren Buffett unequivocally backed Greg Abel as his successor at Berkshire Hathaway, declaring he would trust Abel “more than any of the top investment advisers or any of the top CEOs in the United States” to manage his personal fortune of roughly $147.5 billion in company shares. Buffett praised Abel’s operational experience—highlighting assignments in England and Omaha—and lauded his down-to-earth lifestyle, noting that despite overseeing a workforce approaching 400,000, Abel “lives what would look like a normal life.” He reiterated that Abel will be “the decider” on major corporate decisions, capable of accomplishing in a single week what Buffett might in a month, and predicted that Berkshire under Abel has “a better chance … of being here a hundred years from now than any company I can think of.”

On Greg Abel’s first trading day as CEO, Berkshire’s A-class shares declined by 1.4% while the broader U.S. market posted a modest 0.2% gain, giving the S&P 500 a 1.60-percentage-point lead over Berkshire year-to-date (1.62 points when including dividends). This initial underperformance echoes a longer-term trend: for 2025, the S&P with dividends outpaced Berkshire’s A shares by seven percentage points. Investors are closely watching whether Abel can sustain the company’s long-term outperformance, given the transition from Buffett’s six decades at the helm.

With over $381 billion in cash and equivalents on the balance sheet as of September 30, and no share repurchases since May 2024, the stakes are high for Abel’s capital allocation strategy. Buffett has signaled that Abel will assume primary responsibility for deploying these funds—through acquisitions, share repurchases or equity investments—a role central to Berkshire’s decentralized model. Market participants will look to Abel’s first significant capital commitment, such as a multibillion-dollar acquisition or the resumption of buybacks, as the earliest indicator of his approach to preserving and growing shareholder value under the new leadership regime.