Thousands of empty seats and unsold chocolates marked the Canadian-born successor's debut, even as he reassured investors the conglomerate is in safe hands
Warren Buffett’s Canadian-born successor Greg Abel wins shareholder respect at a quieter Berkshire annual meeting, but questions over the US$380bn cash pile linger
Abel presided over his first meeting as CEO in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, drawing praise for his operational grasp of the business but leaving investors with pointed questions about what he intends to do with a record US$380.2bn cash pile.
Berkshire’s shares closed nearly 1 percent lower on Monday after giving up earlier session gains.
Reuters observed around 12,000 of the CHI Health Center’s approximately 18,000 seats occupied when Abel took the stage — a stark contrast to prior years when more than 40,000 gathered to hear Buffett and, before his 2023 death, vice chairman Charlie Munger.
Lines in the adjacent exhibit hall were shorter, See’s Candies left hundreds of commemorative chocolate boxes unsold, and Dairy Queen had leftover ice cream bars.
The tone inside shifted too.
The meeting felt “very, very different” under Abel, said Sophia Deng, a San Francisco AI startup founder — more “an operational excellence conference” than its usual self.
Boston private investor Xiao Zhang told Reuters he was “a little bit disappointed,” saying the meeting lacked the investing wisdom and life philosophy that Buffett and Munger once offered.
Others were less concerned.
John Wichita, a utility systems analyst from Omaha, told the outlet the company “built something to outlast them” — its founding ideas more enduring than any individual presence.
Buffett watched from the arena floor and spoke briefly.
Buffett told the audience Abel is “the right person,” saying he has matched and surpassed everything Buffett himself did.
Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick that “we’ve never had more people in a gambling mood than now.” Investing wasn’t ruined, he said, but inflated prices would eventually “look awfully silly.”
According to Reuters, Berkshire reported first-quarter operating profit of US$11.35bn, up 18 percent year-over-year, driven by a 28.5 percent surge in insurance underwriting to about US$1.7bn.
Cash reached a record US$397.4bn as of 31 March — or US$380.2bn using Berkshire’s preferred metric — after the company sold a net US$8.1bn in stocks, its 14th consecutive quarter of trimming equity positions, the Financial Times reported.
Abel signalled patience, not urgency.
Abel told shareholders Berkshire sees “exceptional companies” in the market — but not at current prices, per the Times.
He called the cash pile a “unique opportunity,” one that would let Berkshire act “decisively and with significant capital” when the right deal appeared.
Christopher Rossbach, chief investment officer of J Stern & Co, told the Times that Abel should explain what was stopping Berkshire from “deploying capital in ways that generate higher returns than the returns you can achieve from Treasuries.”
One shareholder put it more directly to Reuters: “What are they waiting for? What are they seeing that we are not?”
Berkshire resumed buybacks in March after an almost two-year pause but repurchased only US$234m in stock during the first quarter, and share counts suggest no significant repurchases occurred in the first two weeks of April, CNBC reported.
Abel was unambiguous on Berkshire’s structure.
Abel flatly rejected a breakup, telling shareholders “absolutely not,” per CNBC.
The conglomerate structure works precisely because it avoids “bureaucracy and bloated costs,” he said.
Some investors detected a subtle shift, the Times noted.
Abel appeared more willing than Buffett to consider divesting underperforming subsidiaries.
Darren Pollock, portfolio manager at Cheviot Value Management, told the Times Berkshire moves like “a giant tanker” — slowly, and only by degrees.
UBS analyst Brian Meredith told CNBC in a Sunday note that Abel knows Berkshire’s businesses well and has concrete plans to improve performance.
An Oregon appeals court ruling spared Berkshire’s PacifiCorp unit from potential wildfire liabilities, Abel told Reuters — putting the company “back to first base.”
Even after customers “adapted and adjusted” to rising tariffs, BNSF CEO Katie Farmer told the same outlet uncertainty remains.
Abel is 63 and has signalled he intends to run Berkshire for decades.
Whether he can sustain the meeting’s cultural pull is less certain.
Richard Callahan, a retail banker at BMO in Omaha, told the outlet shareholders may drift away without Buffett’s folksy charm. Abel might develop his own style, he said — “but he’s no Warren Buffett.”
Paul Lountzis, a money manager attending his 34th Berkshire annual meeting, told the outlet Abel faces “a formidable challenge” — succeeding the greatest investor who ever lived.
