Warren Buffett abruptly steps down as Berkshire chair as ‘Father Time’ wins, handing role to son Howard who will ‘guard its culture and values’

Investing legend Warren Buffett further pared back his role at Berkshire Hathaway , announcing Friday that he has stepped down as the conglomerate’s chairman.

In a letter to shareholders , he suggested his age, 96, weighed on his decision, saying that one of his great grandchildren just turned 1, and is “moving a bit faster than I am these days.” “Serving as your Chairman has been the privilege of a lifetime, and I have never taken your trust for granted.

Father Time always wins.

He has, however, been generous with me,” he added later.

Berkshire’s class B shares dipped 0.3% on Friday and are up 1% so far this year, significantly lagging behind the S&P 500’s 11.5% year-to-date gain as investors have cooled on the stock while chasing the AI trade.

In January, Buffett officially relinquished the CEO job to Greg Abel after six decades at the helm, following his announcement of the change in May 2025.

But his transition from chairman to chairman emeritus is much more abrupt and is effective immediately.

He will continue to serve as a director on the board, while his son Howard will succeed him a s chairman under a long-standing plan.

Susan Decker will stay on in her role as the company’s lead independent director.

“The company is in excellent hands, and I look forward to remaining a shareholder alongside you,” Buffett added later.

While announcing his decision to step down, he also cited Abel’s success in his short tenure as CEO .

After running the conglomerate’s non-insurance operations, he has taken over his new job “in every respect” and is calling the shots without any second-guessing from Buffett.

In fact, Abel has already started deploying Berkshire’s massive cash pile, which had been growing bigger and bigger for years as Buffett bemoaned sky-high valuations and the lack of any good bargains to be had.

Earlier this year, Abel bought $10 billion shares of Google parent and AI hyperscaler Alphabet as well as reaching a deal to acquire homebuilder Taylor Morrison for a total enterprise value of $8.5 billion.