OMAHA, Nebraska: Warren Buffett has handed the chairmanship of Berkshire Hathaway to his son Howard, ending a tenure that began in 1970 as the US$1 trillion conglomerate continues a long-planned leadership transition.

The 96-year-old Buffett will immediately become chairman emeritus but remain a director of Berkshire Hathaway. Howard Buffett, who has served on the company's board since 1993, becomes chairman.

Greg Abel, meanwhile, will remain chief executive after succeeding Warren Buffett at the start of this year. Buffett continued going to the office each day after relinquishing the CEO position, looking for investments and deals and offering Abel advice. It is unclear whether his routine will change following his latest move.

"I have served Berkshire since 1965," Buffett said in a letter to shareholders. "Sixty-plus years in, I still have the best job in the world. That is not something many people my age can say, and I have never felt better about what comes next."

Buffett took control of the struggling New England textile company in 1965 and became chairman five years later.

He said he is confident in Abel and Howard Buffett as the company's new leadership team.

"Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values – both worth more than anything on our balance sheet," Buffett said. "Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against."

Abel has managed Berkshire's non-insurance businesses since becoming vice chairman in 2018. Those operations include BNSF Railway, utilities and manufacturing businesses, and brands such as Dairy Queen and See's Candy.

Berkshire also has a $365 billion cash pile, and CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said questions remain about how effectively Abel will deploy it.

"There was a premium awarded Berkshire stock because of its financial strengths and because of this famed investor who was allocating capital. I think it's naive to assume that this is business as usual. It's not," Seifert said. "What this does is amplify some of the execution risk in the strategy and the significance of the transition."

Buffett transformed Berkshire into an investment conglomerate by acquiring insurance companies and reinvesting premium income in stocks and other businesses. In 2024, Berkshire became the first non-tech company valued at more than $1 trillion.

During Buffett's tenure as CEO, Berkshire recorded a compounded annual growth rate of 19.9 percent, compared with a 10.4 percent gain for the S&P 500.

Buffett has also given away roughly $66 billion in stock since 2006, with most of it going to his friend Bill Gates' foundation. This summer, he announced that his three children would take over all charitable decisions and distribute the rest of his fortune by the end of 2035.

"Warren's impact on Berkshire and its owners is without parallel in the history of American business," Abel said in a prepared statement. "The culture Warren built and the values he championed will remain at the heart of Berkshire, and Howard will be their guardian."

Berkshire Hathaway shares dipped slightly after the market opened on September 18.