Buffett backs new CEO Abel with ‘huge endorsement’ in CNBC interview

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Warren Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick he would rather have new Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel handle his money “than any of the top investment advisers or any of the top CEOs in the United States.”

Buffett’s shares in the company are currently valued at $147.5 billion, so by managing Berkshire, Abel will, in effect, also be managing almost all of Buffett’s enormous net worth.

Quick interviewed Buffett in May, just a few days after he announced he planned to step down as CEO at year-end. Wednesday was his last day on the job, although he will remain chairman of the board and still plans to come to the office every day.

CNBC aired short excerpts on Friday from that conversation to help promote a special program later this month that will feature the entire interview.

In the clips, Buffett promised Abel will be “the decider,” and will be able to get more done in a week than he himself can accomplish in a month.

He praised Abel for not being a “distorted individual,” saying he “lives what would look like a normal life” even though he will run a company with 400 thousand employees that “has a better chance … of being here a hundred years from now than any company I can think of.”

And while Buffett won’t be on stage at this May’s annual meeting, he suggested to Becky that “maybe you’ll interview me” during CNBC’s coverage of the event.

Here’s video of Becky’s report on the interview from Friday’s “Squawk Box,” along with the text of Buffett’s interview excerpts.

WARREN BUFFETT: Everything will be the same. You know, I will come in.

I won’t — I won’t be up there speaking at the annual meeting, but I’ll be in the directors’ section.

Maybe you’ll interview me at — (laughs) — at half-time or something of the sort, who knows?

But Greg will be the decider. [I] can’t imagine how much more he can get accomplished in a week than I can [in] a month. I mean, he just —

And at the same time, he’s not a distorted individual. You know, I mean, he — he likes to play ice hockey with his kids.

And … he lives what would look like a normal life. And my guess is if the neighbors didn’t know who know who he was, they wouldn’t have any idea that — that on — on January 1st, he’s going to be the decider on a company that — that employs close to 400 thousand people and has got plans around — to be around fifty or a hundred years from now.

And who knows what’ll happen? But it has a better chance, I think, of being here a hundred years from now than any company I can think of.

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WARREN BUFFETT: And Greg’s operated more than I have when you get right down to it.

I mean, he’s gone over to England to run something. He went to — you know — we — he came to Omaha one time to run a business for a few years.

And it — he knows — there’s no secret formula that — that — only CEOs have or anything of the sort.

So, I’d rather have Greg handling my money than any of the top investment advisors or any of the top CEOs in the United States.

BECKY QUICK: That is a huge endorsement.

WARREN BUFFETT: It is a huge endorsement, but it’s an endorsement we’ve made. (Laughs)

And — and I am going to have him handling the money of the, you know, in effect, I —

He knows business. 

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Later in the day on “Money Matters,” a section of the interview was replayed, followed by CNBC’s Senior Markets Commentator Michael Santoli’s thoughts on Berkshire’s well-telegraphed transition to a new CEO.

The entire interview will be featured on a special program, “Warren Buffett: A Life and Legacy,” scheduled to air on CNBC on Tuesday, January 13 at 7 pm ET.

That gives the S&P an extremely early lead of 1.60 percentage points over BRKA year-to-date.

With S&P dividends included, the metric Berkshire uses for comparisons in its annual reports, the lead is 1.62 percentage points.

For 2025, the S&P with dividends outperformed Berkshire’s A shares by 7.0 percentage points.

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BRK.A stock price: $744,120.00

BRK.B stock price: $496.85

BRK.B P/E (TTM): 15.89

Berkshire market capitalization: $1,071,267,887,262

Berkshire Cash as of September 30: $381.7 billion (Up 10.9% from June 30)

Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $354.3 billion (Up 4.3% from June 30)

No Berkshire stock repurchases since May 2024.

(All figures are as of the date of publication, unless otherwise indicated)

Berkshire’s top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market value, based on the latest closing prices.

Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 14, 2025, except for:

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at [email protected]. (Sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

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Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire’s website.

— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch