At age eight, recovering from a near-fatal appendectomy in an Omaha hospital, Warren Buffett had a dream. His wonderful Aunt Edie had brought him a professional fingerprinting set, and young Warren promptly fingerprinted all his attending nuns. His theory, ‘totally nutty, of course’, was that someday a nun would go bad and the FBI would discover they had neglected to fingerprint nuns. He envisioned FBI Director J Edgar Hoover himself coming to Omaha to inspect his invaluable collection, and together they would identify and apprehend the wayward nun. National fame seemed certain.
‘Obviously, my fantasy never materialised’, Buffett wrote in his inaugural Thanksgiving letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders released on Monday. ‘But, ironically, some years later it became clear that I should have fingerprinted J Edgar himself as he became disgraced for misusing his post’.
A Quiet Handover After Six Decades at the Helm
The anecdote opens what will become an annual tradition for the 95-year-old investor, who announced he is stepping down as CEO at year’s end after six decades transforming Berkshire Hathaway from a struggling textile mill into a $1 trillion conglomerate. Greg Abel, 63, will take over as chief executive on 1 January, whilst Buffett remains chairman.
‘I will no longer be writing Berkshire’s annual report or talking endlessly at the annual meeting’, Buffett wrote. ‘As the British would say, I’m “going quiet”. Sort of’. He will continue communicating with shareholders through these annual Thanksgiving messages, allowing Abel to write the company’s legendary shareholder letters that have become essential reading across Wall Street since 1965.
The personal finance implications of Buffett’s letter extend far beyond sentiment. The Oracle of Omaha announced he converted $1.3 billion worth of Berkshire shares and donated them to four family foundations, accelerating his plan to give away his entire $149 billion fortune during his children’s lifetimes.
‘My children are all above normal retirement age, having reached 72, 70 and 67’, Buffett explained. ‘It would be a mistake to wager that all three will enjoy my exceptional luck in delayed aging’. By stepping up lifetime gifts now, he aims to ensure his children can distribute his estate before alternate trustees replace them.
Giving It All Away
Despite the philanthropic acceleration, Buffett reassured investors his confidence in Berkshire remains unchanged. ‘I can’t think of a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a member of government that I would select over Greg to handle your savings and mine’, he wrote, offering a ringing endorsement of his successor.
Buffett also provided crucial market guidance for long-term investors. He acknowledged that Berkshire’s sheer size limits future growth potential, warning that ‘a decade or two from now, there will be many companies that have done better than Berkshire’. However, he emphasised the company’s durability, noting its stock has fallen 50 per cent three times in 60 years under his management and recovered every time.
A Final Word on Markets and Meaning
‘Don’t despair; America will come back and so will Berkshire shares’, Buffett advised, echoing his famous philosophy of long-term value investing.
The letter also contained life lessons befitting a man who has accumulated one of history’s great fortunes. ‘Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money’, Buffett wrote. ‘When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless’.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
