Investors endorse Greg Abel—even as Berkshire crowd thins without Buffett as CEO. ‘This was definitely the meeting with the deepest insights’

At Greg Abel’s first annual meeting as Berkshire Hathaway CEO this weekend, the arena was about half as full and the tone was more business-focused—but by and large, investors gave the new CEO a thumbs-up.

After 60 years as CEO of the conglomerate that owns everything from Dairy Queen to insurer Geico, Warren Buffett handed over the reins to Abel but is advising him and still serving as chairman.

This year, the meeting celebrated the Oracle of Omaha’s legacy by hanging a jersey bearing his last name and the number 60, representing his time as CEO, alongside a jersey for the late Charlie Munger, with the number 45, which represented his time at Berkshire. 

Abel, a Berkshire veteran who joined the company in 1999 and oversaw all its noninsurance businesses starting in 2018, said “both those jerseys will remain in the rafters for the years to come.”

When it came to the business of the meeting, it was clear that Abel was the one running the show, sitting onstage while Buffett, 95, sat in the crowd. 

Buffett and Munger regularly attracted 40,000 attendees from all over the world to Berkshire annual meetings in Omaha. Many investors showed up for the duo’s famous Q&A sessions that covered the business, but often included bouts of comedy. In between Buffett’s thoughts on Berkshire’s operations, the longtime CEO also joked about his Read Entire Article