Warren Buffett stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway on September 18, 2026, giving up the last executive title he held at the company he built over six decades. The 96-year-old investor handed the chairmanship to his son, Howard Graham Buffett, who takes the role immediately. Greg Abel, who became chief executive on January 1, 2026, continues to run the company’s daily operations. The change was announced by Berkshire in a statement accompanied by a letter from Buffett to shareholders.
Buffett will stay on as a director and take the title of chairman emeritus, keeping a formal link to the business without holding an executive post. The move completes a succession that Berkshire had signaled for years, first by naming Abel as the eventual chief executive and then by separating the chairman and chief executive roles. Howard Buffett, long seen as the family’s choice to help protect the company’s culture as non-executive chairman, now holds that position.
In his letter, Buffett reflected on his long tenure at the company. “I have served Berkshire since 1965,” he wrote. “Sixty-plus years in, I still have the best job in the world.” He added that he had “never felt better about what comes next,” and pointed to Abel as a central reason for that confidence as he moved out of the chairman’s role.
Buffett also offered a direct assessment of the executive now leading the company. He said his expectations for Abel “were sky high from the start, and he has exceeded them,” and noted that he had not had to think twice about any of Abel’s major decisions. The comments were read as an endorsement of the leadership team that Buffett is leaving in charge of the business.
Berkshire Hathaway operates as a holding company with interests spanning insurance, railways, energy, manufacturing and consumer brands, along with a large portfolio of public stocks. Buffett’s decision to release the chairmanship marks the final step in a transition that shifts formal control to Abel and the board while keeping the founder available as a director. The company gave no indication of further changes to its structure.
