--- title: Warren Buffett Is Retiring as Berkshire Chair. Here's What It Means for Shareholders description: Warren Buffett is stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway chairman at 96. His son Howard Buffett will take over the role. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 353 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Investing - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2026-09-18T16:48:44.000Z' modified: '2026-09-18T16:48:44.000Z' section: Investing tags: - Investing - News word_count: 339 canonical: https://money.com/warren-buffett-berkshire-chairman-steps-down/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Warren and city background](https://img.money.com/2026/09/News-Warren-buffett-Steps-down-3.jpg) Famed investor and former CEO Warren Buffett announced Friday that he is stepping down as chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway board, effective immediately. In a [letter](https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/sep1826.pdf) posted to the company's website, he said, "The timing is right to complete the transition." Buffett, 96, noted, "Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am more confident than ever about what lies ahead." Under his six-decade tenure as CEO, the "Oracle of Omaha" transformed Berkshire from a struggling textile mill into a trillion-dollar colossus with a nearly $300 billion investment portfolio, including significant holdings of household names like American Express, Apple and Coca-Cola. Together with vice chairman Charlie Munger, who died in 2023, Buffett’s investing acumen delivered a compounded annual return of [19.7%](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/18/buffett-stepping-down-as-berkshire-chairman.html) to shareholders, roughly double the return of the S&P 500. Even a rumor that Buffett would buy or sell a company's stock could be enough to affect its share price. Over 60 years, Buffett's "buy and hold" philosophy yielded an astonishing overall [return](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/01/warren-buffetts-legacy-a-5-million-percent-return.html) of more than 5,000,000%. Buffett [stepped down](https://money.com/warren-buffett-successor-wealth-secret/) as CEO at the end of 2025 and was succeeded by his longtime lieutenant, Greg Abel, but initially retained his chairman role. He will remain a board member as chairman emeritus. His son, Howard Buffett, will become the new chairman, according to Berkshire’s succession plan. The younger Buffett, 71, has been a board member since 1993. Buffett, 96, famously eschewed the idea of a long [retirement](https://money.com/warren-buffett-investing-mistake-over-50/), writing in the company’s 1991 shareholder letter that he planned to retire “about five to ten years after I die.” Those annual letters became required reading for wisdom-seeking investors. Buffett also dispensed insights at Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, a gathering dubbed "Woodstock for Capitalists." At these events, Buffett would answer shareholder questions on a wide range of financial topics with plain-spoken humor. His most [memorable](https://money.com/smart-warren-buffett-quotes-you-dont-already-know/) folksy quips on [value](https://money.com/buffett-indicator-near-record-highs/), [volatility](https://money.com/warren-buffett-on-market-volatility-in-2025-and-3-ways-you-can-take-advantage/), [market bubbles](https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-bubbles-investing/) and [more](https://money.com/warren-buffett-money-tips-anyone-can-use/) have become iconic advice for a [new](https://money.com/warren-buffett-prediction-markets-gambling/) [generation](https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-gambling/) of investors. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-berkshire-chairman-steps-down/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "News", "item": "https://money.com/tag/news/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Warren Buffett Is Retiring as Berkshire Chair. 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