Warren Buffett, the 95-year-old investing icon, has announced he is “going quiet” after nearly six decades of writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual letters — a ritual that shaped global financial thinking and earned him a cult following far beyond Wall Street.
In a farewell note that read more like a memoir than a financial report, Buffett said he would step back from authoring Berkshire’s annual reports and speaking at the famed shareholder meetings. “I will no longer be writing Berkshire’s annual report or talking endlessly at the annual meeting,” he wrote. “As the British would say, I’m going quiet.”
Greg Abel, his long-designated successor, will formally take over as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway by the end of this year. Buffett praised him as “a great manager, a tireless worker, and an honest communicator.”
Buffett’s letter struck a deeply personal tone, laced with gratitude, humor, and mortality. “I am grateful and surprised by my luck in being alive at 95,” he wrote, recalling a childhood appendicitis scare in 1938. He described his hometown of Omaha as a key factor in his and Berkshire’s success.
The billionaire also paid tribute to his late partner Charlie Munger, who died in 2023. “Charlie could not have been a better teacher and protective big brother. ‘I told you so’ was not in his vocabulary,” he said.
In a rare moment of blunt reflection, Buffett acknowledged his privilege. “Being male, white, American and healthy in 1930 gave me a huge advantage,” he wrote. “Wow! Thank you, Lady Luck.”
He reiterated his commitment to giving away nearly all of his wealth, much of it through the Gates Foundation and family trusts. His lifetime charitable contributions have surpassed $50 billion.
While Buffett is stepping away from the investor spotlight, he said he will still send out an annual Thanksgiving message “to stay in touch with a very special group who are unusually generous in sharing their gains with others.”
