Warren Buffett: ‘I’m going quiet’

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett released his final letter to shareholders on November 10. (Credit: The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Warren Buffett, in his annual message as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway to shareholders – a tradition dating back to 1965 – said that he will be “going quiet” after he steps down at the end of this year. But the 95-year-old is not going away just yet.

Buffett will no longer write the message atop the company’s annual report, but he will continue to deliver an annual Thanksgiving message, and he will “step up” his philanthropy, giving away the US$149 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock he continues to hold.

Buffett has become an investing icon, a billionaire who has cultivated a folksy image, particularly through his letters to shareholders. Although his market moves are closely followed by investors around the world, Buffett has also worked to present himself as a cheerleader for America and ordinary Americans – and for capitalism.

Buffett said he converted 1,800 shares, worth a combined US$1.35 billion, into the company’s cheaper “B shares” and delivered them to four of his family’s foundations.

“To improve the probability that they will dispose of what will essentially be my entire estate before alternate trustees replace them, I need to step up the pace of lifetime gifts to their three foundations,” he said.

He is being replaced by Greg Abel next year. Abel, 63, is the vice chairman of non-insurance operations of Berkshire and was designated as Buffett’s successor in 2021.

Buffett once again praised his successor, writing that he “has more than met the high expectations I had for him when I first thought he should be Berkshire’s next CEO.”

Buffett also gave an update on his health, admitting that to his “surprise, I generally feel good. Though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I am at the office five days a week where I work with wonderful people.”

Berkshire Hathaway shares have risen more than 10 per cent this year, with the company sitting on a US$1 trillion market cap.

“In aggregate, Berkshire’s businesses have moderately better-than-average prospects, led by a few non-correlated and sizable gems,” he wrote. “However, a decade or two from now, there will be many companies that have done better than Berkshire; our size takes its toll.”