'It Was Unfair': Warren Buffett Finally Reveals Why He Stepped Down as CEO

Warren Buffett, 94, surprised investors earlier this month when he announced at Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, that his nearly 60-year career as CEO was ending. Buffett's successor, Greg Abel, 62, will take the reins on Jan. 1, 2026, though Buffett will continue as chairman of Berkshire's board.

Buffett revealed his decision to step down as CEO in the final five minutes of a five-hour question-and-answer session. Now, new details have come to light about why Buffett decided to pass the torch to Abel—and it has to do with his age.

"How do you know the day that you become old?" Buffett told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on Wednesday. "I didn't really start getting old, for some strange reason, until I was about 90. But when you start getting old, it does become—it's irreversible."

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Buffett told the WSJ that, in the last few years as he crossed his 90th birthday, he had started feeling the effects of his age. He had trouble remembering names and found it more difficult to read newspapers, which suddenly looked like they had unclear text.

Buffett was born in Omaha in 1930 and took control of Berkshire Hathaway, then a textile maker, in 1965 when he was just 34 years old. He became CEO and chairman of the company in 1970 and turns 95 in August.

^{Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett. Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage}

Buffett told WSJ that he never intended to be Berkshire's CEO for life and was "surprised" at how long his tenure had lasted. He also observed that his days had slowed down, while Abel brought more energy to the table and accomplished more during a workday.

Related: Warren Buffett's Successor, Greg Abel, Outlined Berkshire Hathaway's Critical Values at the Company's Annual Meeting.

"The difference in energy level and just how much he [Abel] could accomplish in a 10-hour day compared to what I could accomplish in a 10-hour day — the difference became more and more dramatic," Buffett told WSJ.

Buffett said that Abel was "so much more effective" in handling day-to-day operations at Berkshire that "it was unfair, really," not to have him serve as CEO.

Abel joined Berkshire in 1999 after the firm acquired MidAmerican Energy Holdings, an energy company where he served as an executive. Buffett made Abel Berkshire's vice chairman of non-insurance operations in 2018. At a shareholder meeting in 2021, Buffett disclosed that Abel would succeed him as CEO.

Buffett told WSJ that he plans to keep working at Berkshire and says his health is in good shape.

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