Shares in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B:NYSE) fell 5% on 5 May, after chair and CEO Warren Buffett announced plans to step down after 60 years at the helm.

The 94-year-old saved the surprising news until the dying minutes of Berkshire’s shareholder meeting on 3 May, when he declared it was time for his successor Greg Abel to step into his shoes at the end of the year.

One of the biggest challenges facing Abel and Berkshire is finding opportunities to deploy its burgeoning cash pile which grew to a record $347.7 billion in the first quarter.

When asked about deploying the cash Buffett said he and Abel came close to making a $10 billion acquisition but declined to offer further details.

The company was a net seller of equities for the 10th straight quarter and refrained from buying back its own shares for the third consecutive quarter.

In early 2024, Shares examined the succession plan at Berkshire in detail and you can read that article here.

The plan for vice chair Abel to succeed Buffett has been an open secret since 2021 when the late former vice-chair and Buffett’s business partner Charlie Munger let the cat out of the bag in 2021.

Only two of Berkshire’s eleven directors, Buffett’s daughter Susie and son Howard knew of Buffett’s announcement before it emerged, which prompted the 40,000 people in the audience and Abel on stage, to stand to their feet in a rapturous ovation.

‘The enthusiasm shown by the response could be interpreted in two different ways,’ quipped Buffett in his customary self-effacing manner.

Tributes from business leaders poured in for Buffett including Apple (APPL:NASDAQ) CEO Tim Cook who said: ‘There’s never been someone like Warren, and countless people, myself included, have been inspired by his wisdom. It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to know him.’

The board of directors voted unanimously in favour of Buffett’s recommendation, as well confirming Buffett would remain chair. Buffett’s son Howard is expected to succeed him eventually.

Prior to the shareholder meeting Berkshire’s B shares closed at a record high of $540, valuing the conglomerate at $1.16 trillion. The the stock is up by a third over the last year compared with a 10% gain for the S&P 500 index.

Buffett intends to keep going to the office, saying, ‘I would still hang around, and could conceivably be useful in a few cases, but the final word would be what Greg said, in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be,’ he explained.

Longstanding Berkshire director Ron Olson told CNBC he hopes Buffett takes on an advisor role to Abel in the same way Munger had done under Buffett’s leadership.

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