15 ms·
Buffett to step down following six-decade run atop Berkshire
- drumhead 1y agoHe dropped the mic and left the stage.
- jll29 1y agohttps://web.archive.org/web/20250503183427/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-03/warren-buffett-to-step-down-from-berkshire-hathaway-at-year-end https://web.archive.org/web/20250503183427/https://www.bloom...
- nu11ptr 1y agoWow, not sure why this surprises me, but I guess I figured he would be like Charlie and keep working until he passed.
- Lammy 1y agoHad to look this up because I am not rich enough to be on a first-name basis with my close personal billionaire friend Charles Thomas Munger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger
- palmotea 1y ago> Had to look this up because I am not rich enough to be on a first-name basis with my close personal billionaire friend Charles Thomas Munger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger It's almost certain that the GP isn't either, and is only parasocially on a first name basis.
- danielmarkbruce 1y ago"had to look this up because i've been living under rock"
- pests 1y agoEveryone lives under a rock, just different rocks. I'm sure there is plenty you don't know too.
- danielmarkbruce 1y agoYeah but most people don't go around making out that anything they don't know is some esoteric thing that should be laid out in detail for them personally.
- Lammy 1y agoTell Ray I said “hey” when you see him at the Summer Jinks this year
- rufus_foreman 1y agoI would assume this means that he is not in great health. Hopefully I'm wrong and he just decided that 85 years or so of hustling for dollars was enough.
- unsnap_biceps 1y agoAt 94, if he had a health concern, I don't think he'd be planning out 7 months for stepping down.
- Supermancho 1y agoI heard he has a knack for prediction. Pair that with advantageous events (or prior to) and 7mo ahead is the result of a calculation.
- unsnap_biceps 1y agoSure, but at his age, heath issues spiral out of control very very very fast. I fully expect that he doesn't have a specific health concern right now and is planning ahead because if he did have a specific health issue, I don't expect that he would be able to plan 7 months ahead.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 1y agoI suspect there has been succession a plan in place for at least 20 years.
- nabla9 1y agoHe probably took a health insurance and plans to cash in.
- paulpauper 1y agoStepping down ASAP would look worse than doing it 7 months out
- 1y ago
- andsoitis 1y agoYou want an orderly succession.
- bloodyplonker22 1y agoThe difference is that Charlie didn't have his partner die.
- danielmarkbruce 1y agoI bet he does. He has money outside berkshire and I'm sure the thought of spending hours every day investing his own money in smaller things, taking more risks etc sounds like fun.
- lokimedes 1y agoAnd now after decades of stock buybacks, quantitative easing and other mad financial manipulation, comes again the time for value investors, and he leaves?! :)
- Supermancho 1y agoWhat are you trying to say? It's not clear at all.
- lokimedes 1y agoJust finding it mildly amusing to consider that in the messed up economics we are entering with Trump, there may be a shift to value investing, something I have always associated with Buffett.
- lucianbr 1y agoPretty clear and funny to me. Not sure how to explain it without just repeating the same thing. It seems the markets will soon go through a period when Buffet's approach will work best, which makes it an inoportune moment for him to retire. Of course at his age retirement is expected, maybe even inevitable - that's the joke.
- HarHarVeryFunny 1y agoI don't know how much of Bershire's funds Buffet personally manages nowadays - he's had other people managing a lot of it for years.
- Supermancho 1y ago> And now after decades of stock buybacks, quantitative easing and other mad financial manipulation, comes again the time for value investors These are things that have happened in the past. Mad financial manipulations? Like what is "mad"? "Comes again the time." How is it different than any other day? > Pretty clear and funny to me. You're making up your own interpretation of nonsense then calling it obvious. Good luck with that.
- riffraff 1y agoHe's 94 years old, it's honestly impressive he was still there. Still, end of an era.
- heresie-dabord 1y ago> Still, end of an era. That is an enormous understatement. At 94, Buffet has witnessed history and has represented a vision of betterment, a just society, and sound economic stewardship. These things were not and are not hallucinations. But for many, it seems, the lessons about co-operation, stable economic growth. the sane application of democratic principles, and the rule of law must be learned again. It's the end of an era bona fides and respect for truth and accountability as the structural integrity of democratic society.
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 1y agoI always run across great quotes from Warren Buffett, but I never spent any time actually reading any of his writings or anything written about him. What's the best place to start to absorb some of his wisdom? Anything that's applicable to startups, tech, and life in general, beyond being the CEO of a holding company?
- Spooky23 1y agoHis shareholder letters are on the Berkshire website and are excellent.
- xNeil 1y agoNot by Buffett, but you'll love Poor Charlie's Alamanack, by Charlie Munger, his lifelong business partner. https://www.stripe.press/poor-charlies-almanack/cover https://www.stripe.press/poor-charlies-almanack/cover
- cromulent 1y agoBuffet said of Munger: > “In terms of managing money, there wasn’t anybody better in the world to talk to for many, many decades than Charlie.” Buffet gets all the press, but he acknowledges Munger as a huge part, if you listen.
- nabla9 1y agoMunger really gave Buffet wings. They did it together.
- _uoud 1y agoFor Buffett I recommend Essays of Warren Buffett. Regarding Munger’s Almanack, I wrote a nice summary just before his death: ”A real estate investment of $24 by the Dutch to buy the island of Manhattan would today be roughly equivalent to $3 trillion. Across 378 years, that’s about a seven percent annual compound rate of return…” https://www.lostbookofsales.com/notes/poor-charlies-almanack-the-wit-and-wisdom-of-charles-t-munger/ https://www.lostbookofsales.com/notes/poor-charlies-almanack...
- ivape 1y agoIt's kind of a damn shame a man like that was not tapped for any major economic position in the government. I don't know how men like Peter Navarro got so far. In a sense, all the money in the world didn't actually fulfill his true potential, and I say that with the utmost respect.
- xNeil 1y agoNot convinced working for government is the best use of your potential, though considering he owns 5% of all US Treasury Bills, I wouldn't say his impact is any less than being a government employee.
- curiousgal 1y ago> best use Well I don't think him sitting on billions of dollars at 94 is better from a societal perspective.
- dghlsakjg 1y agoThat money has already been committed to charitable use for the most part, or already donated. He is essentially managing billions of dollars on behalf of charitable causes. Seems like a pretty good use of his money management skills. Besides all that he has advocated for that money to be taxed away from him for decades. He pretty famously lives below his means in a normal suburban house and drives around in a car that most software engineers could afford (Cadillac sedan). From a societal perspective, I’m not sure you could ask for much more from any one man.
- mulmen 1y ago“Sitting on”? He famously invests in companies that do things.
- knorker 1y agoThe money isn't "out of circulation". That's not how money works. Even as T-bills they're doing something.
- 1y ago
- Apocryphon 1y agoThe Mahathir bin Mohamad of the financial world
- tchalla 1y agoBuffet on Tariffs > “It’s a big mistake, in my view, when you have seven and a half billion people that don’t like you very well, and you got 300 million that are crowing in some way about how well they’ve done - I don’t think it’s right, and I don’t think it’s wise,” Buffett said. “The United States won. I mean, we have become an incredibly important country, starting from nothing 250 years ago. There’s not been anything like it.”
- disambiguation 1y agoAlso buffet on tariffs (2003) https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/growing.pdf https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/growing.pdf Though he makes the distinction between "import certificates" and Trump's version of tariffs.
- throw0101b 1y agoContra: > A common response I’ve seen to this is Warren Buffett repeatedly expressing concern about the trade deficit. Buffett’s main concern has always been that we’re sending pieces of paper abroad that give foreigners claims on US assets. And this is true, but I’d argue it’s been a massive net positive on the whole. First, as a percentage of total ownership, foreign ownership of US securities is actually flat since 2008. So despite 20 years of a persistent current account deficit there hasn’t been a huge change in foreign ownership as a percentage of the total. But the current account deficit also reflects the way many firms in the USA outsource their comparative advantage. And that accrues to US firms (and households) as increases in net worth. This is a big reason why corporate profit margins have expanded so much in the last 30 years. Global competition has made US firms more efficient and that’s accrued to Americans as a huge gain in net worth. So this isn’t a situation where we’re just sending Dollars abroad for no good reason. We’re doing it in large part because that is investment in our businesses that has added value to those very firms and their owners. Could that all reverse? For sure. And weirdly, the thing that would cause it to reverse is ultra protectionist measures thereby reducing demand for US Dollar assets and reducing investment in US firms. * https://disciplinefunds.com/2025/04/24/three-things-you-guessed-it/ https://disciplinefunds.com/2025/04/24/three-things-you-gues...
- behnamoh 1y agoAll that money and he's still a mortal just like the rest of us. I wonder if mega billionaires like him have done private research on life longevity, cryosleep, mind-upload, etc. It's the only useful thing they can do with that much money that directly benefits them. Anything else (legacy, influence, children, etc.) doesn't benefit them when they're gone.
- locallost 1y agoThere are things I don't like about him, and the way he is idolized by people that want to accumulate money. But I will say you can't really throw that "all that money and he's still mortal" thing at him because in reality he lived really below his means. So the money part is interesting, why did he try to get so much if he didn't really need it? I think (without really knowing anything about him), that he wanted money like everyone else to be independent, but at one point it turned into a game to see how much he can win.
- DontchaKnowit 1y agoHes literally like, autistic or something. If you've ever watched the documentary on him he has a got a weird way about him. Hes got an obsessive knack for numbers and just got into the finance game where literally your job is to make as much money as possible. Its your fiduciary obligation. The rest os history.
- deadbabe 1y agoWith all the billionaires we've had, the fact that no one is living unnaturally long or in some kind of cryosleep or AI simulation probably means one thing: It's simply not possible, and if it is, all the money in the world won't get you there.
- D-Coder 1y ago> the fact that no one is living unnaturally long or in some kind of cryosleep or AI simulation probably means one thing: It's simply not possible _Yet_. If you looked at the Wright Brothers aircraft, what real use is there for a vehicle that carries one person, maybe 50lbs of cargo, and moves at 80 mph?
- andrewl 1y agoBuffett worked, at least informally, with the Obama administration on some financial policy issues. And he is a proponent of greater taxes on the very rich. Here's one short video (2:46) in which he talks about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzTsTU1xL8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzTsTU1xL8
- buckle8017 1y ago[flagged]
- omer9 1y agoTax is mandotary, gift isn't. Why should Joe Average pay more %% in taxes and Billionair and Co not?
- ceejayoz 1y agoI, similarity, can opt not to murder people. It is still an issue if others do it.
- buckle8017 1y agoSo you're saying it's no different than a murder complaining about murders. Hard to take him seriously when he doesn't himself pay more tax
- gameman144 1y ago> Hard to take him seriously when he doesn't himself pay more tax Why? Advocating for a change doesn't imply that you need to act like that change has been made already. For instance, I am a huge advocate for building out more sidewalks in my city. I don't currently walk everywhere, though, because the sidewalks today aren't suitable for that -- the change needs to be made first. Likewise, I could donate all my spare money to the city to fund sidewalks, but this goes against my visceral sense of fairness: I am advocating for my local government to build sidewalks, not saying that sidewalks should be built by any means necessary and that I'm willing to foot the bill alone.
- aliljet 1y agoHow much of Berkshire actually relied on Buffet toward this announcement? I'm increasingly suspect of 90+ or 80+ adults operating the machinery of massive entities. Lots of examples of this.
- Frost1x 1y agoYou’re probably right, but I suspect he guided the general direction of investments. I suspect they had very clever highly qualified younger people dealing with most the day to day decisions within those boundaries. I wouldn’t discount the contribution of either: both broad vision and narrow focus can add a lot of value.
- blitzar 1y agoIf he did nothing it would be a lot, he sets the tone. A young investor who thinks the whole portfolio should be in shitcoins because they are going to moon next week won't get a look in and the culture holds. Take away the figure head and things can creep in a bad direction.
- moomin 1y agoSomeone at my firm went to a BH AGM. There’s literally nothing like it; it’s like a Star Trek con, but for capitalism.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- apexalpha 1y agoI’m not sure if it’s originally his but a small talk by him about getting a car made an impression on me and since watching it it’s become a good motivator to stay in shape. This seems like a good moment to share it. https://youtu.be/0fMRHpguTPM?si=75lLHzDynMCKhT9H https://youtu.be/0fMRHpguTPM?si=75lLHzDynMCKhT9H
- bamboozled 1y agoReal talk.
- bloodyplonker22 1y agoCharlie would scorn this "real talk."
- brandon272 1y agoThe interesting thing about this is that Buffett himself has never really had a reputation for taking care of his body in terms of getting exercise or eating well.
- colechristensen 1y agoAt 94, there have probably been a dozen contradictory versions of what "eating well" meant to a large consensus of people. There should be a lot of skepticism for any particular version of "healthy" is when it comes to diet. "Variety and moderation" is probably good enough advice for most people without specific health conditions.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- brandon272 1y agoYes, but Buffett’s diet has been famously bad and well documented in the media. Cookies and ice cream for breakfast according to one article on LinkedIn by Bill Gates. Daily McDonalds, hamburgers, and a lifelong love of (addiction to?) Coca Cola. So while the definition of eating well has always changed, I’m not sure it was ever what Buffett reportedly does. And if Buffett’s diet is actually as reported, he is likely an outlier in terms of typical effects of such a diet into old age. “If I eat 2,700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola. I do it every day.” https://fortune.com/well/article/warren-buffett-birthday-longevity-habits/ https://fortune.com/well/article/warren-buffett-birthday-lon... https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/warren-buffetts-upside-down-business-philosophy-bill-gates https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/warren-buffetts-upside-down-b...
- neonate 1y agohttps://archive.ph/zXRmj https://archive.ph/zXRmj
- Jhsto 1y agoNice paper that was linked on Marginal Revolution: http://docs.lhpedersen.com/BuffettsAlpha.pdf http://docs.lhpedersen.com/BuffettsAlpha.pdf
- khazhoux 1y agoFor all I've heard about WB the last few decades, I couldn't tell you a single thing he's done that's impacted my life, the country, or the world. AFAIK he's a guy who makes a ton of money, plays bridge with Bill Gates, gives advice, and has a fund that made money for other people. Am I missing something?
- zhivota 1y agoBuffett invested in boring industries like insurance. As unexciting as it is, businesses like that basically are the invisible infrastructure that makes society work smoothly. Don't misunderstand flashy at the only way to be important.
- khazhoux 1y agoWhich kind of investment was it though? * An investment that makes something possible that otherwise wouldn’t happen. Like the US investing in NASA * Investment that is not consequential in the big scheme except it makes people money. Did his insurance investments keep some companies alive?
- derivagral 1y agoGenerally the latter. The very short version is that he focused on cash flow, and liked (re) insurance due to success managing float and risk. From there, he'd buy/invest stable businesses and brands. Insurance wasn't his first go, he started bookie work as a kid. As for saving, he was the guy with a big pile of money in '08 (and other times). Someone you call when your business is dying or you want to retire; he gets the deal, not you. His Bank of America warrant play was a big one from that time. I didn't finish snowball, but the first half goes over a lot of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snowball%3A_Warren_Buffett_and_the_Business_of_Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snowball%3A_Warren_Buffett...
- thunky 1y agoI like WB as much as the next guy and while he was wildly successfully at making money, he hasn't really done anything else. His main motivation has always been to make money for himself and his shareholders, so why would we expect anything else? Some of his biggest investments are in things like candy, soda, beer. Not exactly great for society overall and not really enabling anything other than diabetes. He was already an massively wealthy in 2008 and just having a huge pile of cash and using it to make more deals is not some great achievement to be celebrated. Yes he made billions off of his 2011 bofa investment, so good for him and brk but what did this do for anyone else? If BH didn't exist would it really matter? I don't think so.
- havaloc 1y ago94 years of age isn't too bad for someone who is a legendary Coke drinker - five cans a day! https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-switched-cherry-coke-pepsi-neighbor-don-keough-2019-11 https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffe...
- cyanydeez 1y agoI'm guessing the real problem is he's irrationally bullish on the US stock market when there's no sane reason to be.
- zahlman 1y agoI have been hearing about him being overall bearish for quite some time (or at least, more cautious than average). I have no idea what your sources might be. He does pick individual stocks that he expects to do well, of course.
- danielmarkbruce 1y agoSelling billions of dollars in equities to hold cash doesn't scream bullish.
- y-curious 1y agoI wish there was a way for me to automatically show you this post in 10 years in a smug and hostile fashion
- deeg 1y agoConventional wisdom (which I believe) is that long term individual investors do not beat the market. However, from my mostly-uniformed view, Buffett did exactly that. What was his "secret"? Did he build most of his wealth outside the market?
- Flatcircle 1y agoCharlie Munger used to talk about how easy it used to be because there was so much less competition and the competition wasn't that smart. Think by the 70's once they figured out how to accurately price options with the Black-Scholes model things started to ramp up. By that point, Buffett was already a player and had the funds to make moves.
- deeg 1y agoInteresting. I've never heard of that model. So what Munger is implying is that by the 80s even Buffett wasn't beating the market but was leveraging his money for gains. Thanks!
- Flatcircle 1y agoSorry I didn’t mean Buffett and munger used the option pricing, I mean regular people did. They also got more money by buying up insurance companies and investing the float
- tim333 1y agoBuffett did one time write some option but he got a lot of grief from the credit rating people over it.
- ETH_start 1y agoBuffett's father, Howard Buffett, was perhaps the most libertarian congressman in U.S. history. He was also a vehement opponent of foreign military intervention, including military aid: "Even if it were desirable, America is not strong enough to police the world by military force. If that attempt is made, the blessings of liberty will be replaced by coercion and tyranny at home. Our Christian ideals cannot be exported to other lands by dollars and guns. Persuasion and example are the methods taught by the Carpenter of Nazareth, and if we believe in Christianity we should try to advance our ideals by his methods. We cannot practice might and force abroad and retain freedom at home. We cannot talk world cooperation and practice power politics."
- martin82 1y agoNow count the days until they finally load up on Bitcoin.
- incomingpain 1y agoIm predicting the stock market dies with him; or probably more accurately becomes far more chaotic and unstable with far higher profits for those who follow his rules. Something that's happening in the markets is that nobody owns anything anymore. With the exception of elon and bezos. Most fortune 500s have no owner; they are all on low risk autopilot.
- meerab 1y agoWarren Buffett’s decision to step down as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO is both wise and timely, capping an incredible career that transformed the company and inspired investors worldwide. Check out transcription of his speech: https://videotobe.com/play/youtube/or0rgxnkOfE https://videotobe.com/play/youtube/or0rgxnkOfE