Stock guru Warren Buffett has long been synonymous with Berkshire Hathaway, but with the passing of his close ally and Berkshire's Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, and Buffett's advancing age, investors are also wondering who will succeed him.
At today's shareholders' meeting, 94-year-old Buffett officially announced that he will step down from his executive role by the end of 2025, with current Vice Chairman Greg Abel taking over.
"Tomorrow we will have a Berkshire board meeting, and we have 11 directors. Two of those directors are my children, and they know what I'm going to talk about tomorrow. The other directors, this will be new news to them, but I believe the time has come, Abel should become the company's CEO by the end of this year."
Who is Abel?
According to Business Insider's compilation, Abel was born on June 1, 1962, and graduated from the University of Alberta in Canada in 1984 with a business degree, subsequently demonstrating his expertise in accounting.
In the alumni magazine of his alma mater in 2013, Abel discussed his passion for accounting:
I initially had a strong interest in finance, but when I realized the importance of understanding income and cash flow statements, my study of accounting began.
Taking Over US and China Energy
In 1992, Abel joined CalEnergy, a geothermal power producer, as a certified accountant. After CalEnergy acquired MidAmerican Energy in 1999, it adopted the latter's name.
In the same year, Berkshire acquired MidAmerican Energy, bringing Abel into Buffett's view. He officially took over as CEO of MidAmerican Energy in 2008 and renamed it Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2014.
Currently, Abel is the Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and obtained a board seat from Berkshire Hathaway's board in 2018, being appointed Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway's non-insurance businesses.
Munger's Assessment of Abel: An Evolved Buffett
Abel is widely appreciated among his colleagues at Berkshire Hathaway, including the late Munger. Munger stated at this year's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting:
Abel is excellent in becoming a business leader, both as a thinker and a practitioner.
He is also a massive learning machine, you could say he is no less adept at learning various things than Warren. In some matters, he is even more skilled than Warren, and Warren knows this.
Similarly, Buffett mentioned in a press release on the 21st of this month:
Berkshire, one of the world's largest and most diverse companies, will inevitably encounter errors in judgment and behavior, but these errors will not be too severe at Berkshire. They will be acknowledged and corrected because we have suitable successors and a good board of directors.
How Does Abel View Cryptocurrencies?
It's worth noting that Buffett and Munger have long been skeptical of cryptocurrencies, repeatedly stating that investing in Bitcoin is a foolish act and predicting that most cryptocurrencies will ultimately be worth zero:
Don't let me invest in Bitcoin, it's the dumbest investment I've seen, and most of them (cryptocurrencies) will go to zero.
However, as Buffett's chosen successor, Abel has not yet made a clear comment on cryptocurrencies. Whether he will share Buffett and Munger's skeptical attitude or hold a "different" view remains to be observed.
