As Warren Buffett ’51 Steps Down, Investing Legends Share Their Reflections

Warren Buffett ’51, an iconic figure in global finance, has announced that he will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway in January 2026, ending a more than 60-year tenure leading the conglomerate.

Buffett’s successor, Greg Abel—currently CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and vice chairman overseeing Berkshire’s non-insurance operations—is expected to take over the day-to-day leadership of the firm. The move confirms a transition plan Buffett has signaled for years.

This decision closes an extraordinary chapter in business history, defined by Buffett’s leadership at Berkshire and his commitment to value investing—a disciplined, research-driven approach to investing that was pioneered and developed at his alma mater, Columbia Business School. 

While Buffett will remain involved as chairman, a position he has held at Berkshire since 1965, his exit from day-to-day leadership operations closes a defining era for investors.

Under Buffett’s leadership, Berkshire Hathaway was transformed from a struggling textile company into a $1.1 trillion conglomerate spanning insurance, energy, railroads, consumer goods, and technology. 

Buffett’s Leadership: A Standard Few Can Match

"The most important thing to learn from Warren Buffett’s extraordinary success over sixty years at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway is just how extraordinary it—and he—is," said Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor Emeritus of Finance and Asset Management at Columbia Business School and the academic director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing.

"[Buffett] ran Berkshire, an enterprise that was involved in a very wide range of activities, with unparalleled effectiveness over a period when most successful companies were highly specialized—Microsoft in core computer software, Google in search, Oracle in data management, and Apple in smartphones. Managements at similarly broadly focused firms like IBM, General Electric, Siemens, and Xerox—which were initially equally widely admired—have all fallen by the wayside."

According to Greenwald, Buffett achieved this, together with his even greater success as a general equity investor, because of a unique combination of talents.

"First, he has been an exceptional and unusually disciplined analyst of financial reports and supporting information. His encyclopedic mastery of this material has never been equaled. Second, he has been an exceptional judge of industry economics and competitive dynamics. And third, he has been extremely insightful in understanding management capabilities and potential shortcomings and has been highly skilled at eliciting the best possible performance from them. This is a combination we are unlikely ever to see again. We all wish Greg Abel well, but the challenge he faces in replacing Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway is a daunting one."

Thomas A. Russo, a former Wall Street executive and managing member of investment advisory firm Gardner Russo & Quinn, has been deeply influenced by Warren Buffett’s principles. Russo built his career on long-term investments in high-quality companies with strong brands and a focus on reinvesting earnings. In 2015, he established the School’s 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Fund with a permanent $1.25 million gift.

“Mr. Buffett often suggests that the most powerful force in life, business, and nature is the force of compound interest. Mr. Buffett surely exemplified a life of compounding through his unrivaled performance with Berkshire Hathaway shares over the decades of my involvement,” said Russo.

Beyond the numbers, however, Buffett’s enduring legacy lies in how he demystified investing—advocating for long-term thinking, intelligent risk, and fundamental analysis over short-term speculation, all fundamental tenets of value investing.

Like many others, Li Lu ’96 drew inspiration from Buffett’s clear, practical wisdom.

Reflecting on Buffett’s influence and his partnership with Charlie Munger—who served as Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman from 1978 until his death in 2023—during a 2024 episode of the Founders podcast, Lu recalled being inspired by Buffett’s insights during a pivotal moment in his career. 

“Listening to Warren, a light bulb just went on, and I realized I could do something in this business,” he said.

In the same podcast, Lu highlighted one of Buffett’s most famous lessons on investment discipline: “Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.”

Lu also emphasized Buffett’s commitment to rational thinking, quoting him directly: “If Charlie and I have any advantages, it’s not because we’re so smart; it’s because we’re rational.”

A Modern Architect of Value Investing

Buffett did not invent modern value investing—that credit goes to David Dodd and Benjamin Graham, the latter of whom mentored Buffett at Columbia Business School. However, Buffett arguably became its most successful and public practitioner.

Buffett would go on to refine Graham’s approach, incorporating a deeper emphasis on business quality, long-term moats, and capable management. The result was what some have called “value investing 2.0”: a blend of rigorous analysis and intuitive judgment.

Buffett cited his time at Columbia Business School as a turning point. After reading Graham's The Intelligent Investor in his teens, he sought out the source. In 1951, he earned his Master of Science in economics from Columbia, studying under both Graham and Dodd. There, he laid the intellectual foundation for the investing principles he would practice for a lifetime.

“The best lessons are the ones I learned at Columbia,” Buffett told Glenn Hubbard, Dean Emeritus and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at CBS, in a 2015 interview. 

The two spoke in 2015 during The Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing “From Graham to Buffett and Beyond” dinner in Omaha, Nebraska. The dinner is held on the eve of the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting and features a panel of renowned speakers.

“I went there [CBS] because Ben Graham taught there and I think his advice is timeless … what I learned at 19 or 20 from him, I’ve applied it ever since,” Buffett added.

The Berkshire Model and Buffett’s Legacy

From 1965 to 2023, Berkshire Hathaway stock posted a compounded annual gain of over 19%, far outpacing the S&P 500. By reinvesting insurance float, minimizing unnecessary taxes, and fostering a decentralized ownership culture, Buffett created an engine for compounding capital unlike any other.

Buffett’s ability to identify undervalued companies—whether GEICO in the 1970s or Apple in the 2010s—demonstrated that value investing could evolve with the times. Rather than clinging to outdated definitions of value, Buffett embraced change where it made sense, saying, “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

Buffett’s investing acumen was accompanied by a leadership style that empowered managers with autonomy, trusted them to run their operations independently, and prioritized long-term thinking over quarterly results.

In the same interview with Hubbard, Buffett encouraged younger leaders to “develop a passion about something” and “then [put your] foot to the floor.”

He noted how during his time at CBS, he would spend hours reading in the School’s library, which led him to an interest in insurance companies, and eventually investing in GEICO.

“Leave yourself open for these chances in life that are going to just propel you forward,” Buffet said.