Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel speaks at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 2, 2026.
CNBC
OMAHA, Nebraska — On his debut run Berkshire HathawayAt the annual general meeting, Greg Abel told many shareholders what they came to see. It was his steady hand, his firm grasp of the vast conglomerate, and his style sufficient to reassure investors that the post-Warren Buffett era was on firm footing.
Reviews from longtime shareholders and professional investors were generally positive, but many acknowledged the notable absence of Buffett, whose wit, storytelling and investment acumen have long defined the event.
“It’s very solid. There’s no mistaking it. It’s a thorough answer,” said Steve Check, founder of Check Capital Management. “He’s a nice guy, but he certainly doesn’t have the same laugh that he had with Warren and Charlie (Munger).”
“Gregg and the firm have delivered on substance, due diligence on the business and confidence in the outlook,” said MacRae Sykes, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds.
David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and a longtime Berkshire shareholder, said his confidence in Berkshire has grown since seeing Abel’s work firsthand. He pointed to Berkshire’s “deep bench,” including executives like Ajit Jain, vice chairman of Berkshire’s insurance business. Adam Johnson, president of Berkshire’s consumer products, services and retail operations. And Katie Farmer, CEO of BNSF Railway, is cited as proof that continuity of leadership goes far beyond a single number.
“Greg has demonstrated knowledge and passion for operating all of Berkshire’s businesses,” Kass said. “His main focus is operations. Buffett, by contrast, is more focused on the investment side of Berkshire.”
Detailed insights
This shift in focus was evident throughout the Q&A session, with Abel leaning into a detailed discussion of Berkshire’s subsidiaries, a level of specificity that resonated with shareholders seeking reassurance about execution under new leadership.
“The answers were really good because they gave us detailed insights,” said Tilman Wersch, a German shareholder and founder of the investor community Good Investing. “Everyone will miss Warren. His clear, consistent and entertaining answers are priceless. But with more practice, I hope Greg can find his style.”
Abel began the session with a nearly hour-long presentation that provided investors with an inside look at Berkshire’s major businesses. He delved into the company’s performance and outlook across its rail, energy, insurance and retail subsidiaries, providing a level of business detail that shareholders said felt more akin to an investor day than the freewheeling, anecdote-heavy format of past meetings.
Greg Abel and Ajit Jain speak at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 2, 2026.
CNBC
lean towards technology
Artificial intelligence emerged as a central theme at the conference. Abel said Berkshire is already considering AI-driven tools to improve BNSF Railway’s operations and spoke fluently about technologies such as large-scale language models, highlighting their potential to enhance the company’s existing business.
He also noted that the surge in data center development is a major tailwind for Berkshire’s utility operations, and that rising power demand is creating significant growth opportunities for the company’s energy grid assets.
“He was clearly very comfortable with technology and AI, in contrast to Warren, who typically avoided technology-oriented investments outside of Apple and, more recently, Google,” said Adam Patti, CEO of VistaShares and manager of an ETF that tracks Berkshire’s largest holdings. “Perhaps it will give insight into how the portfolio evolves over time.”
Disappointing repurchase
The pace of Berkshire’s stock buybacks has been a point of frustration for some shareholders.
The company repurchased $235 million in stock in the first quarter, according to its earnings report. The company had already disclosed on March 4 that it had purchased $226 million in stock, so this means it only increased its purchases slightly towards the end of the quarter.
“The only thing that was missing was actual guidance on additional share buybacks,” Patti said. “I was hoping they would be more proactive about this.”
“We are disappointed that there was no significant share buyback,” Cech said. “They’re probably waiting for a lower price, but they would have bought a lot more at this valuation before.”
The audience may still be getting used to a Berkshire meeting without Buffett in the spotlight. But after this initial announcement, investors seem increasingly willing to give Abel the space and time to define the next chapter on his own terms.
“They’ve actually incorporated more business than they’ve ever done before, because before it was always just Mr. Warren answering Mr. Warren’s questions,” said Susan Chan, a longtime shareholder who along with her friend Wanda Lee decided to skip this year’s general meeting. They instead watched it from Chan’s home in New Jersey and found the new format gave them confidence in Berkshire’s future direction. “And now it’s just like, ‘Our shareholders are our family, and we’re going to show them exactly what we’re investing in and exactly what we’re doing.'”
“We made a conscious decision not to go this year,” Chan said. “But we just said to each other, ‘Let’s go next year.'”
