Photo: Mark Hirschey / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Warren Buffett stepped down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025, handing the job to Greg Abel. He announced the plan at the company’s annual meeting in Omaha in May 2025, at 94.
Buffett took control of Berkshire, then a struggling textile company, in 1965 and turned it into a holding company that owns GEICO, BNSF Railway, See’s Candies, Dairy Queen and a long list of others, plus big stakes in Apple, Coca-Cola and American Express.
Berkshire has a close tie to Iowa. Berkshire Hathaway Energy owns MidAmerican Energy, which serves much of the state and has built more wind farms in Iowa than anyone. Abel ran that energy business before becoming Buffett’s successor.
Buffett, who stays on as chairman, has lived in the same Omaha house since 1958. His folksy annual letters to shareholders, written in plain English, are still read by investors who don’t own a single share.
Kim Sanders writes for Clarion News Online.