Warren Buffett will step down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, less than a year after handing over the CEO reins, the company said Friday.
The big picture: The "Oracle of Omaha" is 96, and his insurance-to-railroads conglomerate is moving onto a new generation, with his son Howard as chairman.
- "Father Time always wins," Buffett said in a letter to shareholders announcing the news.
What they're saying: Buffett said the time was right to step aside from leading the board, after transitioning the CEO role to Greg Abel earlier this year.
- "Greg runs the company; Howard will guard its culture and values – both worth more than anything on our balance sheet," Buffett wrote.
- "Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against."
Zoom in: Berkshire said Warren Buffett would become "chairman emeritus" and remain on the board of directors.
- Long-time board member Susan Decker, the former president of Yahoo, will remain lead independent director.
By the numbers: Berkshire shares were flat in pre-market trading on the news.
- The stock has underperformed this year, rising just 1% versus a gain of about 12% for the S&P 500.
- If that doesn't change, it'd mark the fifth time in the last 10 years that Berkshire underperformed that benchmark.
- While Berkshire has beaten the S&P by nearly 10 percentage points since 1965, in the last decade it's lagged the index by half a point or so.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new details throughout.