What Warren Buffett Wrote in His Thanksgiving Letter

Warren Buffett, 95, has launched a Thanksgiving letter to shareholders, one he plans to make an annual custom as he steps away from working Berkshire Hathaway and palms the CEO title to his successor, longtime Berkshire govt Greg Abel, on January 1, 2026.

Buffett, who will keep on as chair of Berkshire’s board, knowledgeable shareholders that he’ll now not be writing the corporate’s annual report or speaking for hours on the annual assembly, however he’ll “keep up a correspondence” with them via the Thanksgiving letter.

He started the letter asserting that he donated $1.3 billion in Berkshire shares to 4 household foundations: The Susan Thompson Buffett Basis, The Sherwood Basis, The Howard G. Buffett Basis and NoVo Basis.

Every group is run by considered one of Buffett’s three kids (Susan, 72, Howard, 70, and Peter, 67) and has its personal philanthropic focus, starting from reproductive well being to starvation.

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“All three kids now have the maturity, brains, vitality and instincts to disburse a big fortune,” Buffett wrote, including that he wanted “to step up” his tempo of lifetime presents to their foundations “to enhance the chance that they’ll dispose of what’s going to primarily be my complete property.”

Nevertheless, Buffett reassured shareholders that accelerating his donations to his kids’s philanthropic organizations “under no circumstances” impacts how he sees Berkshire’s future. He praised Abel as “a really quick learner.”

“I can’t consider a CEO, a administration advisor, an educational, a member of presidency — you identify it — that I would choose over Greg to deal with your financial savings and mine,” Buffett wrote.

Within the letter, Buffett additionally mirrored on his life and profession, sharing vivid recollections of rising up in Omaha, Nebraska. He recounted a time in 1938 when, as an 8-year-old, he had a “dangerous bellyache” that ended up requiring an emergency appendectomy. He practically died, however as an alternative spent three weeks recovering within the hospital.

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Buffett additionally talked about well-known figures in Berkshire’s historical past, like former vice chairman Charlie Munger, former writer Stanford Lipsey and former Berkshire board director Walter Scott Jr., who have been all fellow Omahans, pals and enterprise companions.

For instance, he wrote that Lipsey, who bought the Omaha Solar newspaper to Berkshire in 1968, performed an essential function in Berkshire’s early success within the newspaper enterprise. Within the early Nineteen Eighties, Lipsey reworked a Berkshire-affiliated paper from a struggling enterprise to at least one that allowed the corporate to earn over 100% yearly on its $33 million funding.

Trying ahead, Buffett provided a bit of recommendation: “Determine what you desire to your obituary to say and dwell the life to deserve it.”

“Get the correct heroes and replica them,” Buffett wrote.

Warren Buffett, 95, has launched a Thanksgiving letter to shareholders, one he plans to make an annual custom as he steps away from working Berkshire Hathaway and palms the CEO title to his successor, longtime Berkshire govt Greg Abel, on January 1, 2026.

Buffett, who will keep on as chair of Berkshire’s board, knowledgeable shareholders that he’ll now not be writing the corporate’s annual report or speaking for hours on the annual assembly, however he’ll “keep up a correspondence” with them via the Thanksgiving letter.