Warren Buffett's successor Greg Abel expected to preserve Berkshire's culture

When Greg Abel succeeds Warren Buffett at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of this year, he is expected to preserve the culture at the organisation even if he does not match the star power of his legendary boss.

Mr Abel, 62, now a Berkshire vice chairman, is expected by investors and analysts to uphold the $1.18 trillion conglomerate's track record of investing in companies for the long haul and eschewing dividend payments to shareholders.

Berkshire, which owns railroads, insurance companies and an ice-cream maker, has been planning for decades for the eventuality when Mr Buffett, 94, who has run the company since 1965, is no longer there.

Mr Buffett is ending his career as perhaps the world's most famous and revered investor, saying he will step down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025. The move caps an era for Berkshire after Mr Buffett's extraordinary 60 years at the helm, which made him a household name, a multi-billionaire and an American success story.

Still, it came as a surprise when Mr Buffett announced on Saturday that Mr Abel should replace him as chief executive. The Oracle of Omaha had not before signalled a clear intention on when to step aside.

Mr Buffett has long alluded to his advanced age, and before announcing his planned departure at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha signalled Mr Abel was more up to the job than he was.

“It's working way better with Greg Abel than with me, because I don't want to work as hard as he works,” Mr Buffett said.

One questioner asked Mr Abel what his management approach to subsidiaries would be. “More active”, he responded.

Mr Abel also praised Mr Buffett, saying “Warren has obviously been a remarkable teacher, and I have benefitted from that for years”.

A details man

Gregory Edward Abel was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on June 1, 1962, to a working-class family.

Working odd jobs, he cleaned discarded bottles and filled fire extinguishers, according to the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, an education non-profit that honoured Mr Abel in 2018.

“It was a real working-class family where sometimes people had jobs and sometimes they didn’t,” Mr Abel said about his childhood in a video posted on the Horatio Alger website. “You realised we were all working hard to try to advance our family.”

Mr Abel graduated in 1984 from the University of Alberta and worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and energy company CalEnergy.

He joined Berkshire Hathaway Energy, then known as MidAmerican Energy, in 1992, which Berkshire later took over, and became MidAmerican's chief in 2008.

Mr Abel now oversees Berkshire's non-insurance operations such as BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway Energy and dozens of chemical, industrial and retail operations.

He has in the past year also taken over some of the capital allocation responsibilities that had been Mr Buffett's.

Mr Buffett said last year he would also want Mr Abel to have final say on decisions regarding Berkshire's portfolio of public stocks, a job previously thought would be left to others.

Many executives who work with Mr Abel call him a perceptive questioner who closely scrutinises financial metrics and wants to closely understand the businesses and how they are run.

Mr Abel's questions “ensure you are thinking through directives and plans as a company”, said Chris Kelly, chief executive of HomeServices of America, the largest US residential real estate brokerage. “You come away smarter from having a conversation with him.”