• Star investor Warren Buffett has officially appointed his successor
• Greg Abel takes precedence over Ajit Jain
• Buffett successor through hard work to the top
When asked about a successor at Berkshire Hathaway, 90-year-old Buffett said: “Management agrees that Greg would take the helm tomorrow morning if anything happened to me tonight,” he said US billionaire told CNBC. This refers to Greg Abel, a member of the board of directors at Buffett’s investment holding company Berkshire Hathaway, who has long been regarded by observers as a potential Buffett successor if the now 92-year-old star investor can no longer exercise his CEO office. Abel will be following in huge footsteps.
Greg Abel – Hard work to the top of Berkshire
Gregory Edward Abel was born on June 1, 1962 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Little is known about his childhood, but he is said to have grown up in a working-class neighborhood and played ice hockey regularly in his spare time, where he showed his early leadership qualities, as he told the Horatio Alger Association in 2018: “I think sport has helped me develop my leadership skills. […] From a young age, I felt an obligation to help our team get better, and for me that meant working hard to be a leader on the team,” Abel told the foundation. The non-profit organization recognizes the achievements of more outstanding people each year Americans Who Succeeded Against Adversity, with an award to highlight the importance of higher education In 2018, Abel was an honoree.
Abel grew up in a family environment, education was one of his most important concerns, this was also conveyed to him from his family environment, according to the Horatio Alger Association. He earned his first money with numerous student jobs, including filling fire extinguishers and distributing advertising flyers.
With a scholarship he made it to the University of Alberta, where he completed his accounting studies in 1984 with a “Bachelor” and from then on worked as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Francisco. His second job brought him to CalEngery, a power producer that later became MidAmerican Energy through an acquisition. It was there that he first came into contact with Berkshire Hathaway when Buffett’s investment company bought into the new company, of which Abel was president, in 1999. Nine years later, Abel rose to become CEO of MidAmerican, and under his leadership MidAmerican became Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a holding company with numerous holdings.
Looking back, Abel describes his career as a success through hard work: “I think hard work leads to good results. In my school days, in sports and in my business positions, I have learned that success is more likely if I do a lot of work and do well I’m prepared. I’ve been fortunate to have great partners and a great team who believe we’re on this long road to becoming the best in our industry. But to achieve that, it takes more than one leader at the top. It takes multiple layers of leaders who strive for what we want to achieve, believe in it, and then achieve it as a group,” the 60-year-old is quoted as saying by the Horatio Alger Association.
Berkshire in the blood
As head of the energy segment, one of the most important divisions of Berkshire Holding, he was appointed to the Berkshire Hathaway board of directors in 2018 – together with Ajit Jain, the ex-Deutsche Bank boss’s cousin Anshu Jain. Since then, the two executives have been considered potential successors to Warren Buffett, and Abel Jain has referred to number 2 in the internal race. Warren Buffett emphasized that age was the decisive factor: “They are both wonderful people, but the probability that someone has a 20-year journey ahead of them makes a real difference”. Ajit will take the lead if anything happens to Greg, the star investor continued.
Greg Abel wealthy – but with room for improvement
In order to be able to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Warren Buffett financially, Greg Abel will probably need some time. According to SEC filings, Buffett’s successor earned $16 million in base salary and $3 million in bonuses while working for Berkshire Hathaway in 2019 and 2020. Although Buffett himself only pays an annual salary of $100,000, according to Forbes he has total assets of $96 billion (as of October 2022). Meanwhile, Abel is not yet a billionaire, Forbes estimates his fortune at around 480 million US dollars.
At the shareholder meeting in 2017, when there was still no telling who would succeed Buffett, the star investor had emphasized with regard to the upcoming Berkshire CEO: “I actually hope that we have someone who is already very rich – what he should be when he’s worked long hours – and who really isn’t motivated by whether he has ten times as much money as he and his families can use, or a hundred times as much”.
So money shouldn’t be the motivation for the new Berkshire boss, Buffett emphasizes that. Instead, it is likely Buffett’s assessment of Abel’s competence that led to the decision about his successor. Back in 2013, the 90-year-old had said of Abel: “I always make time for Greg when he calls because he brings me great ideas and is really innovative in his thinking and approach to business”.
Abel describes himself as passionate and someone who does not shy away from hard work, but at the same time does not seem to lose sight of the work-life balance. Describing himself to the Horatio Alger Association in 2018, he said, “I want to make an impact. I want to roll up my sleeves and be an active part of the success of our company. I don’t just think attitude is important on the business side of life I also believe that one should strive equally for the well-being of one’s family. When the family is happy, healthy and moving, other positive things can happen in life. In the end, you have to find a balance between the two”.
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