Berkshire has the best odds of lasting a century
Warren Buffet said Berkshire Hathaway Having handed over the CEO reins to his successor, Greg Abel, whom he strongly supports, he is in a better position than any company to survive the next century.
“I think it has a better chance of being here 100 years from now than any company I can think of,” Buffett told Becky Quick in an exclusive interview, part of which aired on CNBC on Friday.
(The full interview with Buffett will be broadcast on CNBC on Tuesday, January 13 at 19:00.)
Buffett officially handed over the CEO role to Abel on Thursday, ending a legendary six-decade run that transformed a struggling textile mill into a trillion-dollar conglomerate with more than $300 billion in cash on its balance sheet and businesses ranging from insurance companies to railroads.
“Greg will decide,” Buffett said. “I can’t imagine how much more he can accomplish in a week than I can in a month…. I would rather have Greg manage my money than any of the best investment advisors or the best CEOs in the United States.”
Berkshire shares trailed the market after Buffett announced his retirement in May, after some investors questioned whether Abel could manage an expanding collection of businesses and an equity portfolio in a manner similar to Buffett, while achieving an above-market valuation.
Berkshire B shares, 1 year
Buffett, who will remain chairman, noted that Abel, like himself, was a sensible leader who lived a normal life away from the spotlight.
“He’s not a twisted person. You know, he likes to play ice hockey with his kids,” he said. “If neighbors didn’t know who he was, they would have no idea that he would be a decision maker at a company that employs close to 400,000 people on Jan. 1 and plans to do so 50 or 100 years from now.”
The 95-year-old investor also signaled a quieter public role going forward, saying he will not appear onstage at Berkshire’s annual shareholders meeting this year, a notable shift 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 speaking there at the annual meeting, but I’ll be in the directors’ area.”
