Warren Buffett ‘going quiet’ as Wall Street legend prepares to retire

Legendary Wall Street investor Warren Buffett is finally ‘going quiet’ and stepping away from his annual must-read letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders ahead of his retirement.

The billionaire investor, 95, will hand over the reins as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway to vice chairman Greg Abel at the end of this year as he retires after six decades.

Buffett took over Berkshire – then a failing textile company – in 1965 before turning it into a $1.16trillion conglomerate with nearly 200 businesses across the US economy.

The billionaire became known as the ‘Sage of Omaha’, combining investment success with homespun wisdom and a modest lifestyle.

Buffett told shareholders in a letter on Monday he would ‘no longer be writing Berkshire’s annual report or talking endlessly at the annual meeting’.

‘As the British would say, I’m “going quiet”,’ he added.

Retirement preparations: The ‘Sage of Omaha’, 95, is ‘going quiet’ 

Buffett, who plans to keep in touch with shareholders via an annual Thanksgiving letter, also revealed what he plans to do with his multi-billion-dollar Berkshire stake.

The Berkshire chairman is selling down his estate in a major philanthropic drive and has already donated more than half his Berkshire shares since 2006. 

But Buffett still owns roughly 14 per cent of the group, which has a market capitalisation of just under $1.1trillion.

The value of his stake was estimated at roughly $149billion at the end of the second quarter. 

He told shareholders he wants to keep a ‘significant amount’ of the group’s A shares ‘until Berkshire shareholders develop comfort with’ new boss Abel’s leadership.

It means Buffett will retain significant control over the group after he steps away from day-to-day duties in the new year.

Buffett assured investors that his three children – aged 72, 70 and 67 – are ‘already 100 per cent behind Greg as are the Berkshire directors’.

He also announced a donation of 2.7 million Berkshire class B shares, worth roughly $1.3billion, to four foundations managed by his children. 

While Berkshire stock rose 5,502,284 per cent from 1965 to 2024, Buffett never moved from a home he paid $31,500 for in 1958. His investment approach stressed the importance of company fundamentals and not overpaying for assets.

His best-known investment of recent years was buying shares in Apple in 2016 – in what turned out to be a lucrative bet that it would recover from a dip in fortunes. 

Speculation over Berkshire’s succession plans have weighed on the group’s share price this year, falling around 8 per cent since Buffett’s retirement was announced in May.

Buffett wrote on Monday: ‘In aggregate, Berkshire’s businesses have moderately better-than-average prospects, led by a few non-correlated and sizable gems.

‘However, a decade or two from now, there will be many companies that have done better than Berkshire; our size takes its toll. Berkshire has less chance of a devastating disaster than any business I know.

‘And, Berkshire has a more shareholder-conscious management and board than almost any company with which I am familiar (and I’ve seen a lot). 

‘Finally, Berkshire will always be managed in a manner that will make its existence an asset to the United States and eschew activities that would lead it to become a supplicant.

‘Our stock price will move capriciously, occasionally falling 50 per cent or so as has happened three times in 60 years under present management. Don’t despair; America will come back and so will Berkshire shares.’

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