Tens of thousands of people descended on Buffett’s hometown of Omaha in May for Berkshire’s shareholder weekend, not knowing they were about to witness history.
As usual, Buffett held court for hours in an arena filled with his followers. He hailed Geico’s turnaround, defended Berkshire’s cash hoard, advocated for free trade, warned AI investments could temper returns, and voiced his confidence in Berkshire and America.
In the closing minutes of the Q&A, Buffett revealed he would step down.
“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end,” he said.
Buffett said he would continue to “hang around” at Berkshire and might be useful on occasion, but the “final word would be what Greg said — in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be.”
After a lengthy standing ovation, Buffett quipped that his shareholders were either applauding his contributions to Berkshire or celebrating his departure.
“The enthusiasm shown by the audience’s response can be interpreted in two ways,” he said. “But I’ll take it as positive. Thank you.”