Greg Abel has been CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for 90 days. He's already made four decisions Warren Buffett never made
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Greg Abel has been CEO of Berkshire Hathaway for 90 days. He's already made four decisions Warren Buffett never made.
In his first quarter, Abel restarted share buybacks after a 21-month pause, spending roughly $234 million. He committed to investing his entire after-tax salary in Berkshire stock. He put $1.8 billion into Japanese insurer Tokio Marine. And he joined a U.S. government-backed syndicate insuring ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Each decision is notable on its own. Together, they reveal how Abel intends to lead.
The buyback is the clearest signal. Buffett went his final 19 months without authorizing a single repurchase, even as cash grew to $373 billion. Abel resumed them within his first quarter. That's a capital allocation philosophy difference, not a minor adjustment.
The Tokio Marine investment expands Berkshire's global insurance footprint in a direction Buffett hadn't pursued at that speed. The Strait of Hormuz syndicate puts Berkshire into geopolitical risk Buffett deliberately avoided throughout his tenure.
The question for investors was never whether Abel could manage Berkshire. It was whether he'd have the conviction to lead it on his own terms. Ninety days in, that question is getting answered.
But it raises a harder one. Abel inherited $397 billion in cash. Moving fast at Berkshire isn't inherently a virtue. Buffett built the firm on patience and the willingness to do nothing when doing nothing was the right call.
The real test isn't whether Abel can make bold decisions. It's whether they're right. That verdict won't come in 90 days. It'll come in 90 months.
Do you read Abel's pace as conviction finding its footing, or a new CEO moving before he needs to?
🔗 Source: Berkshire Hathaway's New CEO Just Made a Move Buffett Never Did
