{"id":645309,"date":"2026-05-03T15:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T15:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645309\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T15:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T15:38:08","slug":"greg-abel-rules-out-break-up-stressing-continuity-with-buffett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645309\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Abel rules out break-up, stressing continuity with Buffett"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here<\/a> to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)<\/p>\n

It wasn’t his show but there was still plenty of Buffett<\/p>\n

New CEO Greg Abel did most of the talking at his first Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, but Warren Buffett was still a major presence as chairman of the board, even as he sat on the arena floor with his fellow directors.<\/p>\n

Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, NE on May 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

CNBC<\/p>\n

Six minutes after the meeting began, a Buffett “jersey” with a large 60, reflecting his 60 years as Berkshire CEO,\u00a0was raised to the rafters<\/a>\u00a0of the CHI Health Center arena.<\/p>\n

That was followed by a\u00a0three-minute video<\/a>\u00a0produced by Berkshire showing videos and photos from those six decades.<\/p>\n

Buffett then spoke from his seat<\/a>\u00a0on the floor saying, “This is not my show today, but there are two anniversaries that we are kind of celebrating today.”<\/p>\n

It’s been about one year since the board approved Abel as CEO in the wake of Buffett’s surprise announcement that he would be stepping down, and “you couldn’t have made a better decision.”<\/p>\n

“That’s been a hundred percent successful. Greg is doing everything I did and then some, and he’s doing it better in all cases. He’s the right person.”<\/p>\n

It’s also been roughly 10 years since Berkshire bought $35 billion of\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0shares. Buffett said that’s turned into roughly $185 billion, “and I didn’t have to do a damned thing.”<\/p>\n

He praised outgoing CEO Tim Cook<\/a>\u00a0for making that investment so successful.<\/p>\n

The first Q&A session began with\u00a0a “deepfake” video version of “Warren from Ohama”<\/a>\u00a0asking Abel why Berkshire shareholders should hold on to their stock for the long term.<\/p>\n

In his reply, Abel highlighted the company’s now almost $400 billion in cash, saying it “creates a unique opportunity” for investment.<\/p>\n

If there is a “strong value proposition,” Berkshire “will be prepared to act decisively and with significant capital. That’s what it’s there for.”<\/p>\n

And then, during the lunch break, viewers of the CNBC.com live stream and attendees in the arena saw a live interview of Buffett by CNBC’s Becky Quick.<\/p>\n

Asked why it’s not a good environment for Berkshire to invest right now<\/a>, Buffett said, “We’ve never had people in a more gambling mood that now [in the financial markets] but that doesn’t mean that investing is terrible.<\/p>\n

“It does mean that prices for an awful lot of things will look very silly.”<\/p>\n

He also repeated his long-held practice of only investing in companies that he understands, and “I understand fewer of the businesses as a percentage of the whole than I did ten years ago. I’ve not learned new industries for some years.”<\/p>\n

The entire\u00a025-minute interview<\/a>\u00a0appears below.<\/p>\n

Abel stresses continuity<\/p>\n

The theme of the meeting was “The Legacy Continues,” and Abel assured shareholders the company’s culture will be maintained even as he keeps a closer eye on the subsidiaries than Buffett did.<\/p>\n

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting kicks off in Omaha, NE on May 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Yun Li | CNBC<\/p>\n

Asked, “Is there a point where it doesn’t make sense for Berkshire to be a conglomerate, where you would break up the company?” Abel replied, “Absolutely not<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

“We see our conglomerate structure working without the bureaucracy and bloated costs.<\/p>\n

“We do not see ourselves divesting subsidiaries for that reason or ever breaking off a group.”<\/p>\n

Abel and insurance chief Ajit Jain recalled the interplay between Buffett and Charlie Munger in past years when Jain was asked if Berkshire would insure ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The short answer is, it depends on the price,” which prompted laughter from the audience and praise from Abel. “I like your Charlie answer.”<\/p>\n

Operating profits and cash pile increase in first quarter<\/p>\n

Before the meeting began, Berkshire reported an\u00a018% increase in operating profit<\/a>\u00a0in the first quarter, with insurance underwriting up more than 28%.<\/p>\n

The company was a net seller of stocks, with around $24 billion in sales vs. $16 billion in purchases.<\/p>\n

That helped boost its cash to a record $397.4 billion as of March 31, up 6.5% from the end of the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Excluding BNSF’s cash and subtracting T-bills payable, which is Berkshire’s preferred metric, the total was $380.2 billion, up 3.0%.<\/p>\n

Berkshire resumed buybacks, but it’s not buying back all that much<\/p>\n

In what it called a one-time announcement two months ago, Berkshire said it had resumed stock buybacks on March 4<\/a> after an almost two-year pause. The SEC filing<\/a> didn’t include any details.<\/p>\n

A week later, however, Berkshire filed a definitive proxy statement<\/a> ahead of its annual meeting that included a count of the company’s outstanding shares as of March 4, the meeting’s\u00a0record date<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As we reported at the time, a comparison to a share count in late January revealed Berkshire had bought back the equivalent of 309 Class A shares, or roughly $226 million worth, on that day.<\/p>\n

Some investors hoped it would be the start of some aggressive repurchasing.<\/p>\n

It hasn’t happened, at least so far.<\/p>\n

The company’s first quarter 10-Q<\/a> released Saturday says Berkshire bought back $234 million of stock in all of March, only $8 million more than the March 4 amount, even though the shares slipped lower through the end of the month.<\/p>\n

And the share count as of April 14 listed in that 10-Q indicates there weren’t any significant repurchases in the first two weeks of last month, either.<\/p>\n

Attendance slips with Buffett not on the stage<\/p>\n

Greg Abel would likely admit himself that he isn’t as much of a draw as Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger were.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0AP\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that “attendance is down significantly this year with the [18-975-seat<\/a>] arena only a little over half full,” but adds that even with the empty seats, “No other corporate meeting can come close to matching the crowds at Berkshire’s Woodstock for Capitalists.”<\/p>\n

Lines are seen at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, NE on May 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

Yun Li | CNBC<\/p>\n

CNBC.com’s\u00a0Yun Li wrote<\/a>\u00a0there was “a bit more breathing room this year” in the exhibit hall where Berkshire-themed merchandise is sold.<\/p>\n

“Unlike past years, lines were shorter and the crowds noticeably thinner.”<\/p>\n

Signage for Marmon Holdings on display at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, NE on May 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Sarah Min | CNBC<\/p>\n

Even more clipsCNBC’s full interview with Warren BuffettPaul Tudor Jones publicly apologizes to Buffett for ‘railing on him’<\/p>\n

Legendary trader\u00a0Paul Tudor Jones<\/a>\u00a0now says he’s sorry he downplayed Warren Buffett’s investing successes over the years, by saying “he just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” catching a bull market for U.S. stocks.<\/p>\n

Appearing on the\u00a0Invest Like the Best<\/a>\u00a0podcast with Patrick O’Shaughnessy, CEO of Positive Sum, Jones now acknowledges Buffett is a “flipping genius” for understanding the power of compound interest when he was just 9 years old and staying calm when facing stock losses.<\/p>\n

“Warren, if you happen to hear this, deeply apologetic. You are the OG of compound interest, and I wish I was one-tenth as smart as you are.”<\/p>\n

Here’s the section<\/a>\u00a0in which Jones talks about Buffett and trading vs. investing:<\/p>\n

Charity lunch auction expands to signed collectibles<\/p>\n

The charity auction of “A Seat at the Table<\/a>” for\u00a0lunch with Warren Buffett, Golden State Warriors’\u00a0Stephen Curry<\/a>\u00a0and his wife, lifestyle entrepreneur\u00a0Ayesha Curry<\/a>, is being expanded to include a series of weekly, limited, timed online auctions offering signed collectibles.<\/p>\n

Among the items to be sold: a Warriors jersey signed by Stephen Curry and a $1 bill sign by Buffett.<\/p>\n

The auctions will run from April 29 through May 15 at\u00a0\u00a0ebay.com\/glide_eatlearnplay<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lunch auction starts on May 7 and ends on May 14 at\u00a0A Seat at the Table.<\/a><\/p>\n

Proceeds will be split between San Francisco’s\u00a0Glide Foundation<\/a>\u00a0and the Currys’\u00a0Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation<\/a>\u00a0that is “working to transform the school experience for a generation of Oakland students.”<\/p>\n

BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE AROUND THE INTERNET<\/p>\n

Some links may require a subscription:<\/p>\n

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCHZoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsZoom In IconArrows pointing outwards<\/p>\n

BRK.A stock price: $710,300.00<\/p>\n

BRK.B stock price: $473.01<\/p>\n

BRK.B P\/E (TTM): 15.24<\/p>\n

Berkshire market capitalization: $1,020,622,694,116<\/p>\n

Berkshire Cash as of March 31: $397.4 billion (Up 6.5% from Dec. 31)<\/p>\n

Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $380.2 billion (Up 3.0% from Dec. 31)<\/p>\n

Berkshire resumed stock repurchases on March 4, 2026.<\/p>\n

BERKSHIRE’S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS – May 1, 2026Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards<\/p>\n

Berkshire’s top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market value, based on the latest closing prices.<\/p>\n

Holdings are as of December 31, 2025, as reported in\u00a0Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing<\/a>\u00a0on February 17, 2026, except for:<\/p>\n

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com’s\u00a0Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS<\/p>\n

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at\u00a0alex.crippen@nbcuni.com<\/a>. (Sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)<\/p>\n

If you aren’t already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected\u00a0here on Berkshire’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch<\/p>\n

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7175,29961,1386,45,161,49,48,7152,177350,100,212096,772],"class_list":["post-645309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-inc","tag-berkshire-hathaway-inc","tag-breaking-news-markets","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dominos-pizza-inc","tag-greg-abel","tag-markets","tag-mitsubishi-ufj-financial-group-inc","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}