Buffett plans to attend, but not take questions, at next year's Berkshire shareholder meeting

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett plans to attend, but not take questions, at next year's Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting — a big change following his recent surprise retirement announcement.

Buffett's handpicked successor, Greg Abel, told the Omaha World-Herald that Berkshire plans a shareholder meeting for the first weekend of May that will have a question-and-answer session. But Buffett, who plans to remain as Berkshire's chairman, plans to sit with the conglomerate's board of directors and not be on stage taking questions.

The annual shareholder meeting attracts some 40,000 people to Omaha in what's been dubbed “Woodstock for Capitalists." The marathon Q&A sessions held by Buffett, the world's most important investor known for his wit and self-effacing humor, have been a major draw.

The 94-year-old Buffett shocked an arena full of shareholders earlier this month by announcing at the end of a five-hour Q&A that he will retire at the end of the year. Susie Buffett, Buffett’s daughter, told the World-Herald that Buffett wants Abel to handle the question-and-answer sessions going forward.