Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway is better positioned than any company to survive in the long term since he handed over the CEO reins to his successor Greg Abel, whom he strongly supported.
“I think it has a better chance of being here in 100 years than any company I can think of,” Buffett said. Becky Quick in a special interview, parts of which aired on CNBC on Friday.
Buffett’s full interview will air on CNBC on Tuesday, January 13 at 7 p.m. ET.
Buffett officially relinquished his role as CEO to Abel on Thursday, ending a legendary six-decade tenure that transformed a struggling textile mill into a trillion-dollar conglomerate with businesses ranging from insurance companies to railroads with more than $300 billion in cash on its balance sheet.
“Greg will be the decision maker,” Buffett said. I “can’t imagine how much more he can accomplish in a week than I can in a month…I’d rather Greg manage my money than one of the top investment advisors or one of the biggest CEOs in the United States.”
Berkshire shares lagged the market after Buffett announced in May that he was retiring, with some investors questioning whether Abel could manage the sprawling collection of businesses, as well as a portfolio of stocks, in the same way as Buffett, while enjoying a premium market valuation.
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Buffett, who will remain chairman, noted that Abel is a no-nonsense leader who, like him, leads a normal life, away from the spotlight.
“He’s not a twisted individual. You know, I mean, he likes to play ice hockey with his kids,” he said. “If the neighbors didn’t know who he was, they would have no idea that on January 1, he will be the decision maker of a company that employs almost 400,000 people and plans to do so in 50 or 100 years.”
The 95-year-old investor also signaled a quieter public role going forward, saying he will not take the stage at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting this year, a notable departure from a tradition that has drawn tens of thousands of investors to Omaha for decades.
“Everything will be the same,” Buffett said. “I’ll come in. I won’t be there to speak at the annual meeting, but I will be in the directors’ section.”