Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel speaks at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 2, 2026.
CNBC
Berkshire Hathaway shares rose in premarket trading Monday after a strong weekend performance from CEO Greg Abel, who took the helm of the company’s annual meeting for the first time, and a surge in the conglomerate’s profits.
The conglomerate’s Class B shares rose 0.5% after Warren Buffett gave a favorable reception to his hand-picked successor at Berkshire Hathaway’s rally in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday. While many in the investment community acknowledged that Mr. Buffett’s signature wit and storytelling were gone, they also took comfort in Mr. Abel’s firm grasp of Berkshire’s vast business and his insight into the conglomerate’s future direction.
“We believe Greg Abel performed well at his first annual general meeting as CEO and demonstrated a deep understanding of all of BRK’s key businesses and plans to drive operational excellence,” UBS’s Brian Meredith wrote in a note on Sunday.
Berkshire Hathaway’s first-quarter report released early Saturday showed the conglomerate’s operating profit rose a solid 18% year over year. These gains were primarily due to insurance underwriting, which increased 28.5% to approximately $1.7 billion. It was also revealed that the conglomerate had a cash hoard of nearly $400 billion.
One of the key topics Abel addressed during Saturday’s morning and afternoon sessions was artificial intelligence, a topic that shareholders wanted to hear more about before the event. The CEO made clear that Berkshire has no intention of doing “AI for AI’s sake,” a cautious stance that sets him apart from other executives rushing to integrate technology. At one point in the morning, Abel posed a question from a deepfake version of Buffett and turned it into a discussion about cybersecurity risks surrounding AI.
The CEO was joined by other members of his leadership team during the event, including Ajit Jain, Vice Chairman, Insurance Operations. Adam Johnson, president of Berkshire’s consumer products, services and retail operations. Katie Farmer, CEO of BNSF Railway. Investors were reassured by the addition of other Berkshire executives as Mr. Abel briefed shareholders on efforts to improve the company’s rail and insurance businesses.
Abel also added that he does not expect Berkshire to dissolve or sell any subsidiaries.
“We’re a conglomerate, but we’re also an efficient conglomerate,” Abel said. “We don’t have hierarchical management.”
Other highlights of the event include remarks from Chairman Buffett’s audience. Earlier in the meeting, Mr. Abel commemorated Mr. Buffett’s long tenure at Berkshire by hoisting a jersey to the rafters of the CHI Health Center, where the event is held each year.
At the midpoint of the event, Buffett said in a special interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick that the current investment environment is not “ideal.”
Read all the conference highlights here.
—CNBC’s Alex Harring, Yun Li and Christina Cheddar Berk contributed to this report.
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