Greg Abel: The New Captain of Berkshire Hathaway

Greg Abel is now the boss at Berkshire Hathaway. He took over from Warren Buffett, who ran the company for a very long time. Abel is 63 years old. He has been with Berkshire since 2000. Before that, he was the CEO of MidAmerican, a utility company. At Berkshire, he helped turn MidAmerican into a big wind energy producer. Buffett picked Abel to be his successor. Many people thought Abel would take over after Buffett passed away. But Buffett surprised everyone by stepping down earlier. He will still be around as the chairman. He will go to the office every day and help Abel.Abel is known for being hands-on. He might make some changes. But he is not expected to make big changes. He likes the way Berkshire is run. The company lets its subsidiaries run their own operations. Buffett has praised Abel many times. He said Abel is a fast learner. He also said Abel is better at running the company than he is. Buffett even said he would trust Abel with his money over top investment advisors. Abel has already made some changes. He appointed Adam Johnson to manage all of Berkshire's consumer, service, and retail businesses. Johnson was the CEO of NetJets. Abel might face pressure to pay dividends. Berkshire has always reinvested its profits. But investors might want to see some returns.