Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) entered a new era at the start of 2026 as legendary investor Warren Buffett officially handed the reins as CEO to his protégé, Greg Abel.
Buffett leaves behind stunning realized returns of 6,100,000% over the past 60 years, built on his value-investing philosophy of buying “wonderful companies at a fair price.”
The key question for investors now is what Berkshire will do with its record $380 billion cash pile as the AI boom sweeps across Wall Street and drives valuations higher.
“Berkshire is so big now that you have to find bigger opportunities to move the needle,” Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, told Yahoo Finance.
If it doesn’t spend that cash, Berkshire could soon face pressure to start issuing a dividend.
“As a shareholder, the amount of cash they have is excessive,” Boyar Research president Jonathan Boyar said.
“Since Buffett is gone, and he’s the greatest stock picker of all time, I’d like them to deemphasize the actual stock picking and start paying a dividend,” he added.
Buffett and his longtime business partner, the late Charlie Munger, were known for a hands-off, decentralized approach that allowed Berkshire’s sprawling subsidiaries to operate independently.
Those businesses span industries from railroads and energy to insurance and retail, with holdings ranging from GEICO to See’s Candies.
The conglomerate also has stakes in Apple (AAPL), a top-performing investment and, most recently, tech giant Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL).
Analysts expect Abel, a 25-year Berkshire veteran with deep experience in the company’s energy and industrial operations, to lean into that background as he takes the helm.
“Under his leadership, it’s likely to be an important segment for the company and, I think, investors. Given some of the industrial- and energy-related demands that AI is generating, I think that could be an interesting franchise to watch within the Berkshire framework,” CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert told Yahoo Finance.
Abel may also take a more hands-on approach to managing Berkshire’s businesses.
“There’s probably a lot of fat to cut,” Boyar said. “There’s probably divisions that could be consolidated. There’s many things that … they could do to enhance profitability.”
Glenview Trust’s Bill Stone agrees.
“Could Munger and Buffett have been very good managers?” he said. “They may have, they just decided they don’t want to do it. They prefer to spend their time looking for opportunities. There probably is, and I think we’ve seen it already, some real opportunity to add some professional management and skills … that I think Greg seems to bring to the table.”
