Greg Abel

Berkshire announced that Warren Buffett had been named Chairman Emeritus effective immediately, remaining a director, and that the board had elected Howard G. Buffett — a Berkshire director since 1993 — as Chairman. Susan Decker stays lead independent director. In the attached letter Buffett wrote that Abel "has been making the decisions that matter for some time now" and described his son's role as guarding the culture rather than running the company.

Berkshire's second-quarter report put the cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury Bills held by its insurance and other businesses at $359.2 billion at June 30, 2026, against $340.8 billion of equity and fixed-maturity securities. It had repurchased $4.8 billion of its own stock in the first six months of the year, most of it in the second quarter — the first meaningful buybacks in a long stretch, and small next to the cash pile.

Berkshire signed a merger agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Taylor Morrison Home Corporation, a national community developer and homebuilder, for $72.50 per share in cash — roughly $6.8 billion in total. It is Abel's first acquisition agreement as chief executive and takes Berkshire deeper into housing, a sector it already touches through Clayton Homes and its building-products group.

Greg Abel led his first Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting as CEO. He said he would maintain the company's culture and its rejection of centralized bureaucracy.

Berkshire disclosed in an 8-K that it had begun repurchasing its Class A and Class B shares on March 4, 2026, under the standing policy that allows buybacks whenever the price is below intrinsic value. Berkshire does not normally pre-announce repurchases; it said it was doing so here "in the interest of transparency with our leadership transition." The company had bought back no stock for several quarters before this.

Greg Abel wrote his first annual shareholder letter as Berkshire's CEO. He said the Board appointed him CEO and that he succeeded Warren Buffett.

Berkshire completed its acquisition of OxyChem, Occidental Petroleum's chemicals business, for about $9.4 billion on January 2, 2026 — the day after Greg Abel formally took over as chief executive. The deal had been agreed under Buffett and is the largest Berkshire acquisition since Alleghany in 2022.

At the 2025 annual meeting in Omaha, Warren Buffett said he would recommend to the board that Greg Abel become chief executive at the end of the year. The directors voted unanimously two days later to appoint Abel president and CEO effective January 1, 2026, with Buffett staying on as chairman. Abel had been Berkshire's vice chairman for non-insurance operations since 2018 and had been named the designated successor in 2021.