Greg Abel’s salary as Berkshire CEO is way more than Warren Buffett! Here’s how much cash he’s getting paid in 2026
Berkshire Hathaway will increase the pay of its new CEO this year, the company said in a recent filing. Greg Abel, who recently replaced Warren Buffett as the company’s new CEO, will receive an annual cash salary of $25 million, a 19% increase over his previous salary, according to a filing Tuesday.
That also dwarfs the $100,000 his predecessor, Warren Buffett, earned in the role over decades, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Greg Abel, who spent eight years as vice chairman overseeing Berkshire’s non-insurance business, became Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO on January 1.
Abel’s new salary as CEO will be a 19% increase over his $21 million salary in 2024, according to a regulatory filing. In total he earned slightly more with other compensation.
According to Reuters, Abel received a salary of $20 million in 2023 and $16 million in 2022, plus a bonus of $3 million. Buffett determined his compensation during this period.
Berkshire Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, who oversees the company’s insurance business, was paid the same amount from 2022 to 2024, according to Reuters. Both Jain and Abel’s 2025 compensation has not been announced yet.
Warren Buffett himself was surprisingly poorly paid as a CEO, but his stake in Berkshire made him one of the richest men in the world. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Warren Buffett’s net worth is around $150 billion.
Although Greg Abel makes much more than Buffett, his salary is nothing compared to the sky-high incentive structures that have emerged for tech executives in recent years. Last year Tesla Inc. Shareholders approved a $1 trillion package for Elon Musk.
Who is Greg Abel?
Greg Abel retires effective Jan. 1, succeeding 95-year-old Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett has been at Berkshire, based in Omaha, Nebraska, for more than 60 years.
Abel joined Berkshire through acquisition in 1999; The company acquired the energy company MidAmerican through a controlling stake.
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Greg Abel was a close aide of billionaire Warren Buffett.
In 2008, Abel became CEO of what later became Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and in 2018 he rose to the role of vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, assuming responsibility for all of the firm’s non-insurance businesses.
Abel also owns about $171 million in Berkshire stock and sold a 1% stake in the Berkshire Hathaway Energy business to Berkshire in 2022 for $870 million.
