Legendary investor Warren Buffett on Monday published a letter to shareholders letting them know he will be handing off the duties of writing Berkshire Hathaway's annual report and speaking at shareholder meetings to his successor, Greg Abel.
Buffett, the 95-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, wrote that, "I will no longer be writing Berkshire's annual report or talking endlessly at the annual meeting. As the British would say, I'm 'going quiet.' Sort of."
"Greg Abel will become the boss at yearend. He is a great manager, a tireless worker and an honest communicator. Wish him an extended tenure," Buffett wrote about Abel, who he and the board chose as his successor.
"I will continue talking to you and my children about Berkshire via my annual Thanksgiving message. Berkshire's individual shareholders are a very special group who are unusually generous in sharing their gains with others less fortunate. I enjoy the chance to keep in touch with you," Buffett added.
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Buffett wrote about his confidence in Abel to lead Berkshire Hathaway, saying that Abel "has more than met the high expectations I had for him when I first thought he should be Berkshire's next CEO."
"He understands many of our businesses and personnel far better than I now do, and he is a very fast learner about matters many CEOs don't even consider. I can't think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government – you name it – that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine," he added.
Buffett said that he plans to accelerate the sale of his Berkshire shares to speed up his pace of giving to his children's foundations, saying that the transactions "in no way reflects any change in my views about Berkshire's prospects."
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He also said that he plans to retain some of his "A" shares of Berkshire stock "until Berkshire shareholders develop the comfort with Greg that Charlie [Munger] and I long enjoyed. That level of confidence shouldn't take long."
Buffett said that Berkshire's businesses "have moderately better-than-average prospects, led by a few non-correlated and sizable gems," and that the conglomerate "has less chance of a devastating disaster than any business I know."
The man who earned the nickname the "Oracle of Omaha" reflected on his good fortune in business and in life. He encouraged readers to take their mistakes in stride and "learn at least a little from them and move on. It is never too late to improve."
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"Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in any thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it's hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior," Buffett wrote.
"I write this as one who has been thoughtless countless times and made many mistakes but also became very lucky in learning from some wonderful friends how to behave better (still a long way from perfect, however). Keep in mind the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman," he added.
"I wish all who read this a very happy Thanksgiving. Yes, even the jerks; it's never too late to change. Remember to thank America for maximizing your opportunities. But it is – inevitably – capricious and sometimes venal in distributing its rewards," he wrote.
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"Choose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them. You will never be perfect, but you can always be better," Buffett wrote.
