This content was published in 04 mayo 2025 – 01:27
The American billionaire Warren Buffett announced on Saturday that by the end of the year he will stop leading his Berkshire Hathaway business group, with which he has accumulated billions of dollars in more than half a century.
The smell for Buffett’s businesses, nicknamed “The Oracle of Omaha” in allusion to his hometown in the state of Nebraska, made him a very influential figure in the business and financial world.
A few years ago, Buffett had already indicated in an interview with the CNBC chain that Greg Abel, currently 62 years old and vice president of Berkshire Hathaway, would be his successor, but without putting a term.
“It was time for Greg to be the president of the company at the end of the year,” said the 94 -year -old magnate on Saturday during the Annual Shareholders of the conglomerate at its headquarters in OMAHA.
Buffett added that he believed that the Board of Directors would unanimously support its recommendation.
“I would remain active and could be useful in some cases, but the last word would have Greg in terms of operations, capital investment, or whatever,” he said.
Berkshire Hathaway was a medium -sized textile company when Buffett bought it in the 1960s. It made it a giant conglomerate, currently valued in more than one billion dollars and with liquid assets of 300,000 million dollars.
– “The Wall Street Magician” –
Peter Cardillo, an analyst at Capital Securities, described Buffett as “the Wall Street Magician” and said his announcement contributes to ending uncertainty about his succession.
“This helps relieve concerns about who will replace it and can be very well received by his followers,” Cardillo told AFP.
Berkshire Hathaway reported profits on the first quarter for 9.6 billion dollars, 14% less than the same period of the previous year. This is equivalent to $ 4.47 per share, also with a strong fall.
Buffett’s net assets until Saturday was 168.2 billion dollars, according to the list of real -time wealth of Forbes magazine.
“I have no intention of selling a single action of Berkshire Hathaway,” Buffett told the shareholders, who responded with a standing ovation.
“The decision to maintain every action is an economic decision because I believe that Berkshire’s prospects will be better under the management of Greg than mine,” he added. “So that is the news of the day,” he joked.
Abel, a central Berkshire figure for a long time, joined the group in the Energy Division in 1992 and has been on the Board of Directors since 2018.
“Greg Abel and the rest of the team have a great challenge to face, and have large amounts of cash to put to work if they wish,” said Steve Sosenick of Interactive Brokers.
“This is really the end of an era,” he said.
– «Act of war» –
During the annual shareholders of Berkshire, Buffet also said that “trade should not be a weapon,” in clear reference to the US President Donald Trump, for his aggressive use of tariffs against countries around the world.
“There is no doubt that trade can be an act of war,” he said.
Baffett spoke thus moments when analysts in the United States and in other countries have expressed their growing concern that tariffs can seriously stop global growth.
The tycoon had said two months ago in an interview with the CBS chain that tariffs “are a tax on goods,” and not a relatively painless income generator, as Trump has suggested.
On Saturday, Buffett urged Washington to continue trading with the rest of the world.
«We must do what we do better and they must do what they do better. That is what we did originally, ”he said.
He added that it can be dangerous for a country to offend the rest of the world proclaiming superiority.
“It is a big mistake, in my opinion, to have 7.5 billion people who do not love you much, and 300 million who are boasting how well they have gone,” Buffett told shareholders.
Compared to that dynamic, he said, the recent oscillations of financial markets are “really nothing.”
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