(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter with news and analysis about Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it in your inbox every Friday evening.)
Warren Buffett told CNBC's Becky Quick that he would rather have something new Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel manages his money “better than any of the top investment advisors or top CEOs in the United States.”
Buffett's shares in the company are currently valued at $147.5 billion, so by running Berkshire, Abel will also effectively manage almost all of Buffett's enormous net worth.
Quick interviewed Buffett in May, just days after he announced he was stepping down as CEO at the end of the year. Wednesday was his last day at work, although he remains CEO and still plans to come into the office every day.
Greg Abel speaks during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting on May 3, 2025 in Omaha, Nebraska.
CNBC
CNBC aired short excerpts from that conversation on Friday to promote a special broadcast later this month that will feature the entire interview.
In the clips, Buffett promised that Abel could be “the decision maker” and get more done in a week than he can do in a month.
He praised Abel for not being a “distorted individual” and said he “lives what would seem like a normal life,” although he will lead a 400,000-employee company that has “a better chance… of being here in a hundred years than any company I can imagine.”
And although Buffett won't be on stage at the annual meeting this May, he suggested to Becky that “maybe you would interview me” while CNBC was covering the event.
Here's a video of Becky's report on the interview from Friday's “Squawk Box,” along with text from Buffett's interview excerpts.
WARREN BUFFETT: Everything will be the same. You know, I'll come in.
I won't – I won't be up there speaking at the annual meeting, but I will be in the directors' department.
Maybe you’ll interview me – (laughs) – during halftime or something like that, who knows?
But Greg will be the decider. [I] I can't imagine how much more he can accomplish in a week than I can [in] a month. I mean, he just –
And at the same time he is not a distorted individual. You know, I mean, he – he likes to play hockey with his kids.
And…he lives what would seem like a normal life. And I suspect that if the neighbors didn't know who knew who he was, they would have no idea that on January 1st he will be making decisions about a company that – which employs almost 400,000 people and has plans – will exist in about fifty or a hundred years.
And who knows what will happen? But I think the chances of still being here in a hundred years are greater than any other company I can imagine.
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WARREN BUFFETT: And Greg has done more surgery than me, if you really think about it.
I mean, he went to England to run something there. He went to – you know – we – he came to Omaha once to run a company for a couple of years.
And it – he knows – there's no secret formula that – that – only CEOs have or anything like that.
Therefore, I would rather have Greg manage my money than one of the top investment advisors or one of the top CEOs in the United States.
Becky quickly: That's a big confirmation.
WARREN BUFFETT: It's a big endorsement, but it's an endorsement we made. (Laughs)
And – and I'm going to let him manage with the money from, you know, basically me –
He knows the business.
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Later in the day, Money Matters replayed part of the interview, followed by CNBC senior markets commentator Michael Santoli's thoughts on Berkshire's high-profile transition to a new CEO.
The entire interview will be featured in a special entitled “Warren Buffett: A Life and Legacy” airing Tuesday, January 13th at 7pm ET on CNBC.
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Berkshire shares slide on Abel's first day of trading
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This means that the S&P has an extremely early lead of 1.60 percentage points over BRKA since the beginning of the year.
Taking into account S&P dividends, the measure Berkshire uses for comparison in its annual reports, the advantage is 1.62 percentage points.
For 2025, the S&P with dividends outperformed Berkshire's A shares by 7.0 percentage points.
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE ON THE INTERNET
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BERKSHIRE STOCK CLOCK
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BRK.A Stock price: $744,120.00
BRK.B Share price: $496.85
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 15.89
Berkshire market cap: $1,071,267,887,262
Berkshire Cash as of September 30: $381.7 billion (up 10.9% from June 30)
Excluding Rail Cash and deducting T-Bills payable: $354.3 billion (up 4.3% from June 30)
No Berkshire share buybacks since May 2024.
(All figures are as of the date of publication unless otherwise stated)
BERKSHIRE'S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS – January 2, 2026
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Berkshire's largest holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the US and Japan, by market value based on recent closing prices.
Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reflected in Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filing dated November 14, 2025, except for:
For the full list of holdings and current market values, visit CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
Please send me questions or comments about the newsletter to alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (We're sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
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Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are also highly recommended reading. They are collected here on Berkshire's website.
– Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch