Berkshire CEO Greg Abel gets first strong scorecard after first annual meeting

OMAHA, Nebraska — On his first run Berkshire HathawayAnnual meeting, Greg Abel presents what many shareholders have come to see: a strong hand, a strong grip on a sprawling organization and his style is enough to convince investors that the post-Warren Buffett era is in strong shape.

Reviews from longtime shareholders and professional investors were broadly positive, with many acknowledging the notable absence of Buffett, whose wisdom, storytelling and investing have long defined the event.

“It’s very solid. There are no words left unsaid. Complete answers,” said Steve Check, founder of Check Capital Management. “He’s a good boy, but we don’t have the laughs we had with Warren and Charlie [Munger].”

“Greg and company have introduced content, business analysis and confidence in their approach,” said Macrae Sykes, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds.

David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and a Berkshire shareholder for decades, said he grew confident in Berkshire after seeing Abel’s performance firsthand. He pointed to the company’s “deep bench” — including executives like Berkshire vice chairman of insurance operations Ajit Jain; Adam Johnson, president of Berkshire’s consumer products, service and retail businesses; and BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer – as proof that leadership continuity goes beyond one person.

“Greg has demonstrated the knowledge and passion to manage all of Berkshire’s businesses,” Kass said. “His main goal is performance. In contrast, Buffett is more focused on the investment side of Berkshire.”

Granular ideas

That shift in emphasis was evident throughout the Q&A session, where Abel leaned into detailed discussions of Berkshire’s subsidiaries, a level of detail consistent with shareholders seeking reassurance about execution under new leadership.

“The responses were really good as they gave a lot of insight,” said Tilman Versch, a German shareholder and founder of the investment community Good Investing. “Everyone misses Warren. His clear, consistent and funny answers are hard to replace. But with more practice, I hope Greg can find his own style.”

Abel opened the session with a nearly hour-long presentation that walked investors through the inner workings of Berkshire’s largest businesses. He focused on the performance and overall outlook of the railroad, energy operations, insurance arms and retail subsidiaries, providing a level of operational detail that shareholders said felt more like an investor day than the free, anecdote-driven format of past meetings.

Reliance on tech

Artificial intelligence emerged as a central theme at the meeting. Abel said Berkshire is already testing AI-driven tools to improve BNSF Railway’s operations, and spoke favorably of technologies such as large-scale linguistic models, emphasizing their potential to improve the company’s existing businesses.

He also pointed to increased data center development as a key driver of Berkshire’s utility operations, with growing energy demand creating a significant opportunity to grow its power grid assets.

“He’s clearly been very comfortable with technology and AI, unlike Warren, who avoided technology-focused investments outside of Apple and, more recently, Google,” said Adam Patti, VistaShares chief executive officer and manager of an ETF that tracks Berkshire’s biggest stocks. “Perhaps that gives insight into how the portfolio could evolve over time.”

Buyback disappointment

Berkshire’s pace of share repurchases was a point of frustration for some shareholders.

The company repurchased $235 million in stock in the first quarter, according to the earnings report. The company had already disclosed that it bought back $226 million in stock on March 4, so this means that it has slightly increased its purchases as the quarter draws to a close.

“The only piece that was missing was any real guidance on additional purchases,” Patti said. “I was hoping they would be aggressive about this.”

“I’m disappointed with the lack of significant acquisitions,” Check said. “I think they’re waiting for a lower price, but they’ve bought a lot at this valuation before.”

The crowd may still be gearing up for a Berkshire meeting without Buffett on center stage. But after this initial outing, investors seem increasingly willing to give Abel the room and time to define the next chapter on his terms.

“They definitely brought more business together than ever before because it was always Warren answering Warren’s questions,” said Susan Chan, a longtime shareholder and her friend Wanda Lee decided to skip the meeting this year. They watched it from Chan’s home in New Jersey instead, and found that the new format instilled confidence in Berkshire’s future direction. “And now, it’s really more about ‘Our shareholders are our family. And we’re going to show you exactly what we’ve invested in, and what we’re doing.’

“We have decided not to go this year,” said Chan. “But we just said to each other that we will go next year.”