By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -Warren Buffett on Monday gave a full-throated endorsement to Greg Abel, who will replace him as Berkshire Hathaway’s chief executive in January, and said he will continue holding a significant number of Berkshire shares to reassure shareholders about the changeover.
In a letter to Berkshire shareholders, possibly his last public communication with them until he steps down, Buffett, 95, said Abel has “more than met” his high expectations when he first thought the 63-year-old was CEO material.
“I can’t think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government – you name it – that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine,” wrote Buffett, who will remain Berkshire’s chairman.
Buffett also said he will speed up his charitable donations to family foundations led by his daughter Susie, 72, and sons Howard, 70, and Peter, 67, but that it “in no way reflects any change in my views about Berkshire’s prospects.”
Buffett also donated more than $1.3 billion of Berkshire stock, the equivalent of 1,800 Class A shares, to four family foundations led by his children.
They will also oversee a charitable trust that will contain nearly all of Buffett’s remaining wealth after he dies. Potential successor trustees have been named if they cannot serve.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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