Key Takeaways
- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s 95-year-old CEO, wrote his first Thanksgiving letter to shareholders on Monday.
- He began the letter announcing that he donated $1.3 billion in Berkshire shares to four family foundations.
- Buffett plans to make the letter an annual tradition as he hands the CEO role to Berkshire executive Greg Abel on January 1.
Warren Buffett, 95, has released a Thanksgiving letter to shareholders, one he plans to make an annual tradition as he steps away from running Berkshire Hathaway and hands the CEO title to his successor, longtime Berkshire executive Greg Abel, on January 1, 2026.
Buffett, who will stay on as chair of Berkshire’s board, informed shareholders that he will no longer be writing the company’s annual report or talking for hours at the annual meeting, but he will “keep in touch” with them through the Thanksgiving letter.
He began the letter announcing that he donated $1.3 billion in Berkshire shares to four family foundations: The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation.
Each organization is run by one of Buffett’s three children (Susan, 72, Howard, 70, and Peter, 67) and has its own philanthropic focus, ranging from reproductive health to hunger.
“All three children now have the maturity, brains, energy and instincts to disburse a large fortune,” Buffett wrote, adding that he needed “to step up” his pace of lifetime gifts to their foundations “to improve the probability that they will dispose of what will essentially be my entire estate.”
However, Buffett reassured shareholders that accelerating his donations to his children’s philanthropic organizations “in no way” affects how he sees Berkshire’s future. He praised Abel as “a very fast learner.”
“I can’t think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government — you name it — that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine,” Buffett wrote.
In the letter, Buffett also reflected on his life and career, sharing vivid memories of growing up in Omaha, Nebraska. He recounted a time in 1938 when, as an 8-year-old, he had a “bad bellyache” that ended up requiring an emergency appendectomy. He nearly died, but instead spent three weeks recovering in the hospital.
Buffett also mentioned well-known figures in Berkshire’s history, like former vice chairman Charlie Munger, former publisher Stanford Lipsey and former Berkshire board director Walter Scott Jr., who were all fellow Omahans, friends and business partners.
For example, he wrote that Lipsey, who sold the Omaha Sun newspaper to Berkshire in 1968, played an important role in Berkshire’s early success in the newspaper business. In the early 1980s, Lipsey transformed a Berkshire-affiliated paper from a struggling business to one that allowed the company to earn over 100% annually on its $33 million investment.
Looking forward, Buffett offered a piece of advice: “Decide what you would like your obituary to say and live the life to deserve it.”
“Get the right heroes and copy them,” Buffett wrote.
Key Takeaways
- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s 95-year-old CEO, wrote his first Thanksgiving letter to shareholders on Monday.
- He began the letter announcing that he donated $1.3 billion in Berkshire shares to four family foundations.
- Buffett plans to make the letter an annual tradition as he hands the CEO role to Berkshire executive Greg Abel on January 1.
Warren Buffett, 95, has released a Thanksgiving letter to shareholders, one he plans to make an annual tradition as he steps away from running Berkshire Hathaway and hands the CEO title to his successor, longtime Berkshire executive Greg Abel, on January 1, 2026.
Buffett, who will stay on as chair of Berkshire’s board, informed shareholders that he will no longer be writing the company’s annual report or talking for hours at the annual meeting, but he will “keep in touch” with them through the Thanksgiving letter.
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