, Columnist
How Buffett Became the Accidental Model for Smart Succession
The legendary investor named his replacement four years before announcing his retirement. More CEOs should follow his lead.
Quite a run.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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Even though Warren Buffett is 94 and decades past the average retirement age, the end of his run as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was always going to come as a shock.
But it’s given investors some comfort that, while they never knew when that day would arrive, they at least knew who would replace him. In 2021, Buffett announced Greg Abel as his successor, and would go on to use the subsequent years to hype him up. Abel is “ready to be CEO of Berkshire tomorrow,” Buffett wrote in his 2023 annual letter.