{"id":324142,"date":"2026-03-01T23:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T23:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/324142\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T23:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T23:24:09","slug":"greg-abel-tells-berkshire-hathaway-investors-that-cash-pile-not-a-retreat-from-deal-making-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/324142\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Abel tells Berkshire Hathaway investors that cash pile not a retreat from deal-making \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Berkshire Hathaway<\/a>\u2019s new chief executive, Greg Abel<\/a>, on Saturday said that he was committed to retaining the $1.1 trillion (\u20ac930 billion) conglomerate\u2019s fortress-like balance sheet and that its large cash holdings did not signal a retreat from deal-making.<\/p>\n

Abel used his first letter to shareholders to underscore his investment bona fides and his commitment to the principles that predecessor Warren Buffett<\/a> had long extolled.<\/p>\n

Abel, who took over in January, cast himself as a steward of Buffett\u2019s legacy and signalled that the company\u2019s investment philosophy was not changing.<\/p>\n

He told shareholders that Berkshire had been active in evaluating new investments and that it would remain a key port of call when companies wanted to sell. The Nebraska-based conglomerate would be \u201can asset, not a risk, to America and the global financial system\u201d, he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur balance sheet is a strategic asset to be deployed at the right time,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt allows us to act decisively, invest when others are tentative or fearful, and stand firm when financial storms roll through.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Warren Buffett hands over Berkshire Hathaway\u2019s reins to Greg AbelOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The 63-year-old said share repurchases would remain an \u201cimportant capital allocation option\u201d and the company would not pay a dividend so long as he and the board believed Berkshire could generate shareholder value with that capital.<\/p>\n

Berkshire\u2019s cash levels stood at $373 billion at year-end, a record when excluding the value of treasuries it had previously bought but had not yet paid for.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany times in Berkshire\u2019s history, some observers have suggested that our substantial cash position signals a retreat from investing,\u201d Abel noted. \u201cIt does not.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed to Berkshire\u2019s $9.7 billion purchase of the chemicals business of Occidental Petroleum, which it completed earlier this year, as well as its agreement to buy pest control business Bell Laboratories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will undoubtedly be incremental opportunities to deploy our owners\u2019 capital without compromising Berkshire\u2019s resilience. My role is to ensure our liquidity levels and capital deployment remain intentional and deliberate.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe will always aim for ownership of productive businesses over US treasuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investors and analysts traditionally scour Berkshire\u2019s annual letters for insights into how the so-called Oracle of Omaha saw the world. In the past, they were filled with Buffett\u2019s personal anecdotes. He also used the missive to highlight key Berkshire staff, including Abel, which shareholders saw as an indication of an individual\u2019s star rising within the notoriously decentralised company.<\/p>\n

Abel said that Buffett continued to come into the office five days a week and was \u201cavailable to us\u201d. But he has begun to reshape Berkshire\u2019s corporate headquarters. The company last year hired its first internal legal counsel and announced that a top executive from Berkshire\u2019s energy business, the unit Abel rose up through, would become its next chief financial officer later this year.<\/p>\n

One of Buffett\u2019s investment deputies, Todd Combs, departed for JPMorgan Chase as part of the reshuffle. Abel noted that the stock portfolio Combs had built was now being partially overseen by the company\u2019s investment manager, Ted Weschler.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Berkshire, equity investments are fundamental to our capital allocation activities; responsibility ultimately resides with me as CEO [chief executive],\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The letter struck a less folksy tone than Buffett often did. Abel\u2019s writing was straightforward, occasionally straying into corporate jargon, including when he detailed the push to improve railroad operator BNSF\u2019s operating margins.<\/p>\n

He continued Buffett\u2019s tradition of using the letter to highlight mistakes and areas in which the dozens of businesses owned by Berkshire needed to improve. He also detailed the cash generation of many of the company\u2019s subsidiaries, which touch vast parts of the US economy and financial system. Investors have in the past complained about the limited disclosure Berkshire provides on these units.<\/p>\n

Macrae Sykes, a portfolio manager at Gabelli, which is invested in Berkshire, said the letter \u201cshowed humility, expressed clarity in communication and confidence in his role\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"Could Trump\u2019s new global tariff scupper the US-EU trade deal?<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnically, a gold medal for annual letter review of corporate businesses,\u201d said Sykes, noting Abel touched on all of Berkshire\u2019s core businesses. \u201cShareholders should be convinced he has a comprehensive understanding\u201d of the business, he said.<\/p>\n

The letter accompanied fourth-quarter results that showed Berkshire\u2019s operating earnings had weakened, falling 30 per cent from the year before to $10.2 billion, as its insurance division\u2019s profits slumped.<\/p>\n

Net income fell 2.5 per cent from the year earlier to $19.2 billion. For the full year, net profits were down 25 per cent to $67 billion.<\/p>\n

Echoing Buffett\u2019s past remarks, Abel cautioned investors not to draw conclusions from the net figures, which are affected by the rise and fall in value of its $298 billion stock portfolio.<\/p>\n

The results were hit by writedowns of Berkshire\u2019s stakes in oil and gas major Occidental Petroleum and packaged foods giant Kraft Heinz, which knocked $8.3 billion off full-year profits.<\/p>\n

Abel characterised the investment in Kraft as a \u201cdisappointment\u201d, adding \u201cour return has been well short of adequate\u201d. Berkshire is considering exiting its stake in the foods group, which it played a key role in creating.<\/p>\n

He said the overall results \u201cunderscored the durability of our operating businesses, while also reflecting the fact that we have opportunities for further improvement\u201d.<\/p>\n

He noted that Berkshire\u2019s insurance businesses were experiencing intensifying competition as capital poured into the industry from private investment groups, which had weighed on pricing. Berkshire has traditionally cut back its underwriting activity when the insurance premiums it can earn are not attractive, a stance Abel said remained a core principle.<\/p>\n

Berkshire also continued to sell off part of its equity portfolio, which includes multibillion-dollar stakes in companies like Apple and American Express. The company trimmed the portfolio by $3 billion in the final three months of last year, taking its stock sales since it began disposing of positions in 2022 to $187 billion.<\/p>\n

Abel does not plan to provide quarterly earnings commentary, which Buffett has long eschewed. But he said he was keen for shareholders to get \u201cto know, over time, more of the Berkshire team\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he would be joined on stage at the company\u2019s annual meeting in May by several top executives, including Ajit Jain, who runs Berkshire\u2019s insurance operations, BNSF chief executive Katie Farmer and Adam Johnson, who was recently elevated to oversee the company\u2019s consumer products, services and retailing units.<\/p>\n

\u201cWarren is obviously a very hard act to follow,\u201d he wrote. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berkshire Hathaway\u2019s new chief executive, Greg Abel, on Saturday said that he was committed to retaining the $1.1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2355,72,6997,61,60,2354],"class_list":["post-324142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-berkshire-hathaway","tag-business","tag-greg-abel","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-warren-buffett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}