Buffett successor Abel sends message on Berkshire Hathaway’s future

In 1965, legendary investor Warren Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway, a struggling textile maker. He then turned it into an investment conglomerate and one of the most closely watched companies in the world.

In May 2025, Buffett announced plans to step down as chief executive, starting in 2026. He handed the role to longtime lieutenant Greg Abel.

On Feb. 28, Abel posted his first shareholder letter as CEO, along with Berkshire Hathaway’s Q4 earnings report and full-year 2025 results.

The 63-year-old paid tribute to Buffett while vowing that Berkshire Hathaway will not pull back on investing or change its longstanding strategy.

“We maintain a fortress-like balance sheet, ensuring Berkshire’s foundation is never compromised,” Abel wrote. “We preserve this financial strength by using debt sparingly and prudently. Our substantial liquidity enables us to meet our obligations even under the most adverse conditions and to respond swiftly when opportunities arise.”

Buffett will continue to play a key role. After stepping off, he will still serve as Berkshire’s chairman, “in the office five days a week and available to us as we underwrite insurance, operate our non-insurance businesses and deploy capital including equity investments,” Abel said.

In 2025, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares (BRK.A) rose 10.85% and Class B (BRK.B) shares gained 10.89%, trailing the S&P 500’s 16.39% return for the year.

As of Feb. 27, the Class A shares are up 0.29% and B shares are up 0.46% year to date, compared with the S&P 500’s 0.49% gain.

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Still, Berkshire follows a value investing path and always tells investors to pay little attention to its short-term performance.

Berkshire remains financially strong, with its cash and U.S. Treasury holdings standing at $373.3 billion, down slightly from the third quarter’s $382 billion.

“While some of this capital is required to support our insurance operations and protect Berkshire against extreme scenarios, it also constitutes our dry powder,” Abel wrote.

Berkshire Hathaway on Feb. 28 reported a major decline in its operating earnings, partly due to weakness in its insurance business.

Earnings from operations were $10.2 billion in Q4, down more than 29% from $14.56 billion a year ago. For full-year 2025, Berkshire delivered operating earnings of $44.5 billion, below 2024’s $47.4 billion but above the $37.5 billion average over the past five years.

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Berkshire earned $7.2 billion from insurance underwriting last year, a 19.5% drop from 2024.

Abel said Berkshire’s insurance businesses in 2025 began to experience a deceleration or reversal of its past strengths, particularly in the latter half of the year.

“This likely means we will write less property and casualty business for a period of time,” he wrote.

Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings span tech, finance, consumer staples, consumer discretionary, energy, communication services, and health care. The portfolio is concentrated in a small number of companies, which Berkshire believes could “compound over decades.”

The fourth quarter of 2025 was the final quarter under Buffett as CEO. In this quarter, Berkshire again reduced its biggest holding, Apple (AAPL), by 10.3 million shares, leaving about 228 million shares worth $62 billion at the quarter’s end, according to Whalewisdom’s data based on 13F filings.

• Apple (AAPL) — 22.60%

• American Express (AXP) — 20.46%

• Bank of America (BAC) — 10.38%

• Coca-Cola (KO) — 10.20%

• Chevron (CVX) — 7.24%

• Moody’s (MCO) — 4.60%

• Occidental Petroleum (OXY) — 3.97%

• Chubb (CB) — 3.90%

• Kraft Heinz (KHC) — 2.88%

• Alphabet (GOOGL) — 2.04%

It reduced 7.7 million shares of Amazon (AMZN), down 77.24% from the previous quarter. Amazon now accounts for 0.19% of the portfolio.

Berkshire also sold 50.7 million shares of Bank of America, which remains its third-largest holding after the sale.

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Smaller trims included DaVita, Constellation Brands, and Aon, with DaVita down 401,514 shares, Constellation down 400,000 shares, and Aon down 497,005 shares.

On the buy side, Berkshire purchased 8 million shares of Chevron (CVX), increasing its stake by 6.63%. Chevron is Berkshire’s fifth holding.

It also added to insurance provider Chubb (CB), buying 2.9 million shares, a 9.31% increase. Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) was another add, up 368,055 shares or 12.34%.

“This concentrated approach will continue, with limited activity in these holdings, though we may significantly adjust a holding if we see fundamental changes in its longterm economic prospects,” Abel wrote.

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This story was originally published by TheStreet on Mar 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.