Greg Abel’s net worth: Buffett’s successor’s wealth as Berkshire’s next CEO | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Quick facts:

Greg Abel will take over as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett steps down at the end of 2025.
Buffett, 95 years old, expects Abel, 63, to be CEO for a long time.
Abel is a billionaire, but he is nowhere near as wealthy as Buffett.

Warren Buffett will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025, punctuating an illustrious career as one of America’s greatest investors. His appointed successor, Greg Abel, will take over a celebrated entity that Buffett transformed from a struggling textile maker into the world’s most valuable holding company with interests in railroads, energy, and furniture making.

Abel will have big shoes to fill, but Buffett firmly believes he’s the best person for the job. Buffett, at 95 years old, has served as CEO since acquiring Berkshire in 1965, and he has expressed confidence in passing the company’s reins to Abel, who has held key executive roles within Berkshire for over a decade.

Here’s how much Abel is worth and how he made his money.

Greg Abel, Buffett’s successor as Berkshire CEO, has held other executive roles in the company for over a decade.

Photo by Bloomberg on Getty Images

What is Greg Abel’s net worth in 2025?

Abel’s net worth is estimated at around $1 billion as of late 2025, according to Bloomberg. He was placed on Bloomberg’s billionaires list shortly after being named Buffett’s successor during Berkshire’s annual meeting in May 2025. By comparison, Buffett has a net worth of around $151 billion.

How did Greg Abel make his money?

Abel’s billion-dollar wealth largely comes from the proceeds of a 2022 stock buyback in which Berkshire purchased his $870 million stake in Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a subsidiary Abel previously managed, according to Bloomberg. He also holds approximately $175 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock, accounting for most of the rest of his wealth.

Buffett alluded to Abel retaining a somewhat significant interest in Berkshire when he said in the 2024 annual report that Abel and “our directors and I all have a very large investment in Berkshire in relation to any compensation we receive.”

Who is Greg Abel? The new Berkshire CEO’s life & career

Gregory Abel was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on June 1, 1962. According to his profile by the Horatio Alger Association (where he was a 2018 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award, which is given to individuals who have made major accomplishments in spite of adversity), he was raised in a working-class neighborhood. His mother was a stay-at-home mom, and his father worked in sales.

Starting from his childhood through college, Abel took on various jobs, including delivering advertising flyers to homes, redeeming bottles for cash, filling fire extinguishers, and working as a program planner and sports camp counselor for the City of Edmonton’s Parks and Recreation Department.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting from the University of Alberta in 1984 and then started his career in accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Edmonton. He later worked in PwC’s San Francisco office, and CalEnergy, a geothermal electricity producer, was a PwC client.

CalEnergy hired Abel, and he served as a senior executive from 1992 to 2008. In 1999, CalEnergy became MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, and he was named president. In 2008, he became CEO, and three years later, he took on another title as chairman.

Photo by Bloomberg on Getty Images

In 2014, Berkshire took over MidAmerican, and it was renamed Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Abel served as the subsidiary’s executive chairman. In 2018, Abel was promoted to vice chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance operations, paving the way to become a potential successor for Buffett. He reported directly to Buffett.

At Berkshire’s annual meeting in May 2025, Buffett named Abel his successor. In 2021, Berkshire had listed Abel as Buffett’s successor in case of an emergency, and now Berkshire will have to outline a new succession plan should Abel become unavailable.

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In his last letter to shareholders released in November 2025, Buffett wrote words of encouragement for his successor: “Greg Abel will become the boss at yearend. He is a great manager, a tireless worker and an honest communicator. Wish him an extended tenure.”

Buffett has written annual letters to stockholders since taking over Berkshire in 1965, when it was a fledgling textile company, and he expects Abel to continue writing the annual note to shareholders in his stead.

In the company’s 2024 annual report, Buffett said, ”Greg shares the Berkshire creed that a ‘report’ is what a Berkshire CEO annually owes to owners. And he also understands that if you start fooling your shareholders, you will soon believe your own baloney and be fooling yourself as well.”

How long is Greg Abel expected to be CEO of Berkshire Hathaway?

While Abel is currently 63, Buffett—at 95 years old—sets no retirement age and expects him to remain in the CEO position for a long time. The average retirement age in the U.S. is around 65.

“My hope is that his health remains good for several decades,” Buffett wrote in his November letter. “With a little luck, Berkshire should require only five or six CEOs over the next century. It should particularly avoid those whose goal is to retire at 65, to become look-at-me rich or to initiate a dynasty.”

If other Berkshire employees serve as examples, there’s Pete Liegl. Liegl sold the company he founded, a recreational vehicle maker named Forest River, to Berkshire in 2005 and set some agreements regarding the transaction. In his 2024 annual letter, Buffett pointed out that Liegl worked until he died at 80 in November 2024. “No competitor came close to his performance,” Buffett said.

How does Greg Abel spend his money?

Not much is known about how Abel spends his money. If he’s like Buffet, Abel is probably frugal and likely has much of his wealth tied up in Berkshire stock.

In 2016, Abel bought a nearly 10,000-square-foot residence in Salisbury Heights, an upscale neighborhood in Des Moines, Iowa, for $1.3 million, according to Mansion Global, which writes about luxury residences. Whether Abel plans to sell his primary residence for a place in Omaha. Nebraska, where Berkshire has its headquarters, isn’t yet known. Mansion Global points out that Des Moines is just a four-hour drive, or a 15-minute flight, from Omaha.