“The time has come” - Legendary investor Warren Buffett to retire

It’s the end of an era! In Omaha on Saturday local time, Warren Buffett said he’ll hand the baton as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway to his Canadian lieutenant, Greg Abel, by the end of this year.

“The time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” says Buffett, in the final few minutes of Berkshire’s annual shareholder 

The announcement came after Buffett warned that America’s current stance on trade threatens global prosperity.

“Trade should not be a weapon... I do think that the more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, it won’t be at the our expense, the more prosperous we’ll become, and the safer we’ll feel, and your children will feel someday,” Buffett says.

In its Q1 results, Berkshire echoed those concerns in more formal language, flagging the “accelerated pace” of tariff and policy changes as a key risk to its businesses - from supply chain disruptions to rising costs and weakening demand.

Still, Buffett opined that the market volatility investors have been subject to this year “is really nothing” in the context of previous crashes. 

“This has not been a meaningful bear market,” he says, but it is one that has provided select opportunities in which he’s put a bit of money to work.

“When a good opportunity arises, you don’t want to be patient then. You want to be patient to get the occasional call,” he says.

Early tariff FOMO, later hangover

Berkshire Hathaway Automotive (BHA), which books more than US$8 billion in annual revenue, saw a spike in Q1 sales as consumers rushed to buy cars before tariffs kicked in.

BHA CEO Jeff Rachor described it as “FOMO buying,” warning that while Q1 will look strong, it’s likely to be followed by a slowdown - a trend that could ripple across corporate America as the year wears on.

Profits dip, but not the share price

Group-wide operating earnings fell 14% to US$9.64 billion (or US$4.47 per Class B share), weighed down by a 49% drop in insurance underwriting profit. A US$1.1 billion loss from Southern California wildfires was the major hit. On top of that, a falling U.S. dollar triggered a US$713 million foreign exchange loss, reversing last year’s US$597 million gain.

Despite all this, Berkshire shares are surging. Class A shares are up nearly 19% year-to-date, easily outperforming the S&P 500, which is down ~3% as trade fears and tech sector weakness drag on sentiment.

US$347 billion and waiting

As for that famous war chest? It’s grown to a record US$347 billion, up from US$334 billion at the end of 2024. And for the tenth straight quarter, Berkshire remained a net seller of stocks.

Buffett says he isn’t chasing headlines or bargains. He’s holding fire. And so far in 2025, that boring discipline is beating the market.

Abel, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy - and Buffett’s chosen successor - says the cash pile is an “enormous asset” that can be deployed when opportunities arise, and to weather tough markets.

Abel stressed “we never want to be dependent on a bank” to secure capital.

Buffett says despite the trade war situation, he still believes in American exceptionalism.

“We’ve gone through great recessions, we’ve gone through world wars, we’ve gone through the development of an atomic bomb that we never dreamt of at the time I was born, so I would not get discouraged about the fact that it doesn’t look like we’ve solved every problem that’s come along,” Buffett says.