Warren Buffett stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway on Friday, September 18, 2026, the latest stage of a succession plan for the $1 trillion conglomerate he has led since 1965. The 96-year-old investor becomes chairman emeritus with immediate effect and remains a member of the board, while his eldest son, Howard Buffett, takes the chairman’s seat, Cointribune reported.
The change arrives nine months after Greg Abel took over as chief executive. Abel, 64, assumed the CEO role on January 1, 2026, and keeps operational control of the Omaha, Nebraska-based group, which owns Geico, the BNSF railroad, Dairy Queen and hundreds of billions of dollars in stocks and US Treasuries.
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Key facts
- Warren Buffett, 96, becomes chairman emeritus and remains a Berkshire director; Howard Buffett, 71, a board member since 1993, replaces him as chairman.
- Greg Abel remains CEO and retains operational management, continuing in the role he took on January 1, 2026.
- Buffett wrote in his letter to shareholders that Father Time always wins, adding that he has been generous with him.
- Cnbc reported that Berkshire’s Class B shares were down 0.3 percent in premarket trading, while Aljazeera described the group as a $1.1 trillion conglomerate.
- Susan Decker continues as lead independent director, according to Cnbc.
Culture, not day-to-day control
Howard Buffett’s role is narrower than his father’s. He will not oversee the conglomerate’s daily business, functioning instead as guardian of the culture and values that shaped Berkshire under his father. That division was spelled out in Buffett’s own letter, quoted by Cnbc: Greg runs the company, while Howard guards its culture and values. Buffett added that shareholders should think of Howard as a policy they own and hope never to claim against, and that the company is in excellent hands.
Abel described the arrangement in a statement carried by Aljazeera, saying the culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, with Howard as their guardian. Cnbc reported that Vice Chairman Ajit Jain oversees insurance, while newly installed President Adam Johnson oversees consumer, services and retail subsidiaries.
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Why it matters
For shareholders, the shift ends an era in which one person combined the chairman and CEO roles, and it formalises a structure that separates oversight from management. Buffett’s exit as chairman raises the pressure on Abel to deploy Berkshire’s capital, given the stock is up just 1 percent in 2026 while the S&P 500 has rallied more than 11 percent, according to Cnbc. Aljazeera quoted Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management, who said Berkshire has had years to prepare and the move feels like the completion of a carefully planned succession rather than a sudden changing of the guard.
The two accounts differ slightly on scale: Aljazeera cited a $1.1 trillion conglomerate, while Cointribune described a group with more than six decades under Buffett’s leadership and Cnbc reported $44.5 billion in operating earnings last year and nearly 400,000 employees.
What to watch
Investors are awaiting the next Omaha general meeting to assess the new leadership’s direction, as Cointribune noted. Also relevant: whether Abel uses more of Berkshire’s $365.5 billion cash hoard for buybacks, after increasing repurchases to $4.5 billion in the second quarter, as Cnbc reported.
Reported by cointribune.com.
Sources: Cointribune, Aljazeera, Cnbc
