Warren Buffett’s Successor’s Life, Salary, and Accomplishments

Investors around the world have wondered for years who would take the reins of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) once current CEO Warren Buffett passes away or retires.

On May 3, 2025, 94-year-old Buffett gave them a clear answer, announcing that he intends to step down as CEO at the end of the year and plans to ask the Berkshire Hathaway board to replace him with Greg Abel. “I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett said during the company’s annual meeting.

Abel, 62, joined the Berkshire Hathaway board in 2018 as vice chair of non-insurance operations. He has over 30 years of experience in various roles at Berkshire Hathaway Energy, including 10 years as CEO.

“I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine,” Buffett said at the 2025 meeting in Omaha, Neb.

The first indication that Abel would become CEO came at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in 2021, when then-executive vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway Charlie Munger made an offhand comment indicating that Abel would succeed Buffett. Buffett then confirmed the news in a CNBC interview the following Monday.

“Greg will keep the culture,” Munger said at the time, discussing Berkshire’s decentralized operating structure. Abel had long been considered one of the front-running heirs apparent for CEO, along with his fellow board member Ajit Jain, vice chair of insurance operations.

In 2023, Buffett and Munger reaffirmed Abel’s place in the company and said they were “100% confident” in their decision. “Greg understands capital allocation as well as I do. That’s lucky for us,” Buffett said at the meeting. “He will make those decisions, I think, very much in the same framework as I would make them. We have laid out that framework now for 30 years.”

Let’s meet the man who is poised to preside over one of the largest U.S. corporations in the post-Buffett era.

Early Life and Education

Born on June 1, 1962, and raised in Edmonton, Canada, Gregory Abel graduated from the University of Alberta in 1984 with a commerce degree. He became an accountant and, after a stint with Big Four accounting firm PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), joined a small electricity company, CalEnergy, in 1992. In 1998, he rose to become president of the business, which expanded into a variety of energy operations, changing its name to MidAmerican Energy Holdings after one of the firms it acquired.

Abel became part of Berkshire Hathaway when the conglomerate bought MidAmerican in 2000. The firm eventually was re-named Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE). Abel served as its chief executive officer from 2008 to 2018. He currently serves as its chair.

With subsidiaries focused on coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal, and nuclear energy, BHE had nearly 24,000 employees and reported more than $25.9 billion in revenue for 2024.

Notable Accomplishments

BHE has accounted for and been involved in some of Berkshire’s largest acquisitions, including PacifiCorp in 2005, Nevada utility NV Energy in 2013, and Dominion Energy’s pipeline business in 2020.

Abel also nurtured Home Services, a small real estate brokerage that came with the purchase of another company. It’s now one of Berkshire’s most successful holdings.

At both MidAmerican and Berkshire, Abel was mentored by David Sokol, who seemed a likely successor to Warren Buffett until his resignation from Berkshire in 2011. Sokol was singing Abel’s praises to Buffett as early as 2007.

Warren Buffett’s Successor

Although he tended to avoid public appearances and shareholder meetings, Abel’s reputation began to spread throughout the financial and business world, as did speculation about his role at a post-Buffett Berkshire. In September 2017, JP Morgan analyst Sarah DeWitt wrote in a note, “The most likely successor in our view, who Warren Buffett regularly praises, is Greg Abel.”

Then, in 2018, came the move that marked Abel as a potential heir apparent: Buffett elevated and appointed Abel, along with Ajit Jain, to the Berkshire Hathaway board of directors, creating two new seats for them. Abel received his current title: Vice-Chair of Non-Insurance Business Operations.

As such, Abel oversees all of Berkshire’s railroad, auto utilities, manufacturing, and retail subsidiaries—over 90 companies in all. All told, the non-insurance operations represent $150 billion in sales and comprise 250,000 employees.

For some time, Jain and Abel were both seen as likely successors to Buffett—in fact, some gave Jain the edge.

It’s possible that Abel’s age—he’s over a decade younger than the 73-year-old Jain—ultimately was the decisive factor in being named Buffett’s successor.

While at MidAmerican, Abel acquired a reputation as a superb dealmaker, leading and growing the company in more diversified directions through smart mergers and purchases, and managing the new acquisitions intelligently and efficiently. His handling of purchases of Enron’s gas lines and of a British firm, Northern Electric, stood out in particular.

Management Style

A resident of Des Moines, where Berkshire Energy is based, Abel leads a relatively low-key life, like Buffett. Although something of an insider’s secret, he has stepped up public appearances in the last few years and has become a notable onstage presence at recent annual meetings. His answers to questions, especially about energy conservation and sustainability, went down well with analysts and shareholders.

The Bottom Line

Greg Abel will face challenges when he steps into the role of CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. An increasingly activist group of Berkshire shareholders is agitating for the company to spend more of its considerable cash reserves, to reduce its carbon footprint, and to promote diversity. All this, along with the fact that he’s not Warren Buffett.

But then, he won’t be inheriting Buffett’s exact role. The job Buffett did will probably be divvied up among various people. Abel would be the CEO of Berkshire, but Buffett’s son, Howard, is expected to be named Berkshire’s non-executive chairman.

Jain seems likely to continue as vice chair of insurance operations, and his job could expand further. He has also been cited as next in line for CEO, should anything happen to Abel.

Finally, there may well be a bigger role for Todd Combs and Ted Weschler. Both of these men are investment managers for Buffett and have been taking on greater responsibilities in managing smaller companies in the Berkshire portfolio. It is possible that both will be given more responsibility after Buffett’s departure.