Warren Buffett to step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the national year

Warren Buffett A square filled with its shareholders was shocked on Saturday by announcing that he wanted to retire at the end of the year.

Buffett said that the Berkshire Hathaway Board of Directors will recommend that Greg Abel should become the CEO at the end of the year.

“I think the time has arrived as Greg should become the company’s CEO at the end of the year,” said Buffett.

ABL was the appointed Khalifa Pavit for years, and he already runs all insurance companies in Berkshire. But it was always assumed that he would not undertake his duties until Buffett’s death. Previously, 94 -year -old Puffett has always said he had no pension plans.

Buffett announced the news at the end of a five -hour question and an answer and did not take any questions about this. He said that the only members of the board of directors who knew this matter were his two children, Howard and Soussi Pavite. Abel, who was sitting next to Pavit on stage, had no warning.

Many investors said they believe that ABEL will do a good job that runs Berkshire, but it remains to see how much the quality of his car is in investing Berkshire’s money. Buffett supported Saturday by pledging to maintain his wealth, investing in the company.

“I have no intention – zero – to sell one share of Hathaway. I will eventually give it.” “The decision to maintain every share is an economic decision because I believe that Berkshire’s possibilities will be better under Greg more than Greg.”

Thousands of investors in Omaha Arena Buffett gave a long applause after announcing in appreciation of the company’s leadership for 60 years.

Cathy Severt, a CFRA research analyst, said it should be difficult to reach this decision to step down.

“This may have been a very difficult decision for him, but it is better to leave your own conditions,” said Sefrt. “I think there will be an effort to maintain an environment” work as usual “in Berkshire. It is still possible to determine it.

Buffett earlier warned that Trump’s tariff was harmful

Earlier, Pavite warned on Saturday of the terrible global consequences of President Donald Trump’s definitions while telling thousands of investors at his annual meeting that “trade should not be a weapon” but “there is no doubt that trade can be a war of war.”

Buffett said that Trump’s trade policies have sparked the risk of global instability through the anger of the rest of the world.

“It is a big mistake in my opinion when you have 7.5 billion people who do not like you well, and you have 300 million people who are wrestling about how to do it,” said Pavite, addressed the issue in the mind of everyone at the beginning of the Hathaway shareholders meeting.

While Puffett said it is better to trade balanced between countries, he does not believe that Trump is about the right way with his wide tariff. He said that the world will be safer if more countries are prosperous.

“We must look to trade with the rest of the world. We must do what we do better and they should do what they do better,” he said.

Buffett said that America has been going through revolutionary changes since its birth and promised equality for all, which was not fulfilled until years later. But nothing is happening today, may not be optimistic about the long term from the country.

“If you were born today, I will continue to negotiate the uterus until they said,” You may be in the United States. “

Souk disturbances do not create great opportunities

Puffett said he did not see many of the attractive investments he understands these days, so Berkshire sits on 347.7 billion dollars in cash, but one day he expected that Berkshire “will be bombed with opportunities, we will be happy because we have the money.”

Buffett said the recent turmoil in the markets that generated newspaper headlines after the Trump tariff was announced last month “nothing really.” He rejected the recent decline in the market because he saw three periods in the past sixties from the Berkshire administration when his company’s shares decreased to half. He was martyred when the Dow Jones industrial average of 240 went on the day when he was born in 1930 to 41 during the large recession as a significant decline in the market. Download Dow Jones Industrial Vallect sits at 41,317.43 dollars.

He said: “This was not a dramatic market or anything like that.”

Buffett said that no Berkshire shared this year either because it does not seem to be a deal either.

Investor Chris Bloomstran, president of the SEMPER Augustus Investments Group, told the Gabelli Investment Friendly conference that the financial crisis may be the best thing for Berkshire because it will create opportunities to invest at attractive prices.

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“I am sure that he is praying that the trade war is getting worse,” said Bloomstran.

The Berkshire meeting attracts thousands

The meeting attracts about 40,000 people every year who want to hear Buffett, including some well -known celebrities and investors. This year, Hillary Rodham Clinton also attended. Clinton has been publicly supported by Pavit because he moved away from politics and any controversial topic in recent years for fear of hurting Berkshire’s work.

Haibo Liu even overnight overnight out of the square to be the first on Saturday morning. Liu said he was concerned that this year may be the last meeting of Bavate since he was 94 years old, so he made the priority of his second meeting.

“He helped me a lot,” Liu, who traveled from China, told the audience. “I really want to express his thanks to him.”

Fears regarding Buffett replacement

Linda Smith, 73, learned for the first time about Warren Buffett and Perkshir Hathaway when she rented a room from his sister, Doris, while she was a graduate student in Washington, DC, Doris said she returned to the house from an annual meeting that was not long before Berkchire was a runner, and told her that she had to buy stocks.

Smith was unable to buy it immediately because the price of one share was selling about 3400 dollars, and that was equal to her income as a student. But as soon as she got a job after the college, she took her friend’s advice and started saving to buy some of the shares now selling for $ 80,350.

Over the years, Smith estimates that she has attended about 20 meetings annually – she often attends a friend.

“I really like to listen to Warren Buffett – especially this year with everything that happened,” said Smith.

Puffett has long said that he has no pension because he enjoys a lot of investment of Berkshire’s money. He plans to continue the work until he dies or becomes impotent. But it is still in good health although it uses a cane, and shorten the period of the meeting and the answer this year with a few hours.

“I think even if he dies, these companies will keep their value,” said Smith, while looking at the exhibition hall with an area of ​​200,000 square feet. “I expect my stock to return for a while, but good companies and good people will return,” she said.

But Smith and thousands of others will definitely be absent from hearing the voice of the mind that returns to Pavite after his departure. Buffett has now led Berkshire for 60 years.

Buffett said that the Vice -Chairman of the Board of Directors, Greg Abel, who already supervises all Berkshire companies, will hold the position of CEO when he disappears.

Contractors like Steven Chect, which runs Check Capital Management, does not feel especially anxious about the caliphate because ABEL has proven that Berkshire companies are largely running themselves. Buffett said Abel may be a practical manager than he is and gets more Berkshire companies.

“I think we’ll get a manager more and this may be good,” said Kabeh. But he said that Abel also knows that these managers enjoy the freedom to manage their business and that ABEL will not do anything to stop them.