Berkshire shareholders like Greg Abel, but following Warren Buffett is tough

By Jonathan Stempel

OMAHA, Nebraska, May 3 (Reuters) – Greg Abel earns wide praise from shareholders for his leadership and management abilities at Berkshire Hathaway, but the aura created by his predecessor and mentor Warren Buffett has begun to fade.

Empty seats and diminished crowds were noticeable throughout Berkshire’s annual shareholder weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, the first since Abel succeeded Buffett as chief executive officer in January, according to Reuters’ observations.

Abel presided at Berkshire’s annual meeting in a downtown arena, without Buffett on stage, though the 95-year-old billionaire watched from the audience and spoke briefly there.

Shareholders came away impressed with Abel’s knowledge of Berkshire’s operations, which sprawl across many industries including insurance, railroads, energy, manufacturing and retail.

But he’s not the same draw as the Oracle of Omaha or late Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who died in 2023, who viewed themselves more as teachers when regaling shareholders in decades of prior meetings.

“I was a little bit disappointed,” said Xiao Zhang, a private investor from Boston. “In previous years, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger sat on the stage, sharing their investing experiences and also life experiences and philosophies. This year, I didn’t hear something like that.”

Other shareholders said Buffett and Munger laid the groundwork for Abel, instilling his respect for the conglomerate’s culture. Berkshire, these shareholders say, will do just fine with a new CEO as its face.

“They built something to outlast them,” said John Wichita, a utility systems analyst from Omaha, referring to Buffett and Munger. “And I think it will. And the ideas they presented are much more powerful than their physical presence, in a way.”

NO SELLOUTS

“Picture with the Gecko! There’s no line!”

So shouted a staffer mid-Friday afternoon outside the Geico display at Berkshire’s annual shareholder shopping event featuring Berkshire-owned businesses, in an exhibit hall next to the arena, referring to the car insurer’s mascot.

Lines were fewer and shorter. By the time registers were closing on Saturday, See’s had hundreds of unsold boxes of Berkshire commemorative chocolates. Dairy Queen had leftover ice cream bars. Fechheimer Brothers had plenty of Andy Warhol-like T-shirts featuring Buffett and Abel.

In prior years, these products sold better, or sold out, based on Reuters’ observations.

The main event was also less of a draw. Buffett drew capacity crowds. But a Reuters reporter and photographer estimated that around 12,000 of the arena’s approximately 18,000 seats were occupied when Abel started this year’s annual meeting.

Berkshire did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours about attendance and merchandise sales.

Lines to get in the arena before its 7 a.m. opening were also shorter, according to the Reuters reporters, though some still arrived early.

“I’ve watched it online, but flying here and communicating with people face to face is a better way to learn the meaning of value investing,” said Chandler Thien, a freelance writer from Beijing. “It was worth it to pay money for this trip.”

Many who stayed for the meeting came away impressed.

“Greg did a good job,” said Alexandra Cook, an accounting and finance professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida, who brought four students with her. “He had a job to do to reassure shareholders, and he did that. It was clear he knew the operations intimately, and it wasn’t just Warren’s opinion that that was the case.”

Others felt differently.

“Most people are here for investing knowledge and life philosophies. It was one of the reasons I was drawn to Berkshire,” said Sophia Deng, who runs an artificial intelligence startup in San Francisco. “With Greg Abel, the emphasis was very, very different. It (became) more of an operational excellence conference, and it’s not what I’m interested in as much.”

Deng plans to keep her Berkshire shares, but not buy more.

HOPE AND POSITIVITY

Some said the cost of travel, or resistance to traveling to the United States from other countries, may have dampened attendance.

But others see Berkshire – as a stock and for its culture – as a safe haven from torment elsewhere, and liked how Abel and other Berkshire executives who shared the stage focused on the company’s future.

“In light of everything that’s going on in the world, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hope and positivity,” said Julie Vargas, a healthcare logistics manager from Omaha. “Having someone tell us what’s going to possibly happen and where we can look forward is a positive step in the right direction.”

Cindy Chin, CEO and chief space officer of Planetary Systems AI, said staying the course is also part of Berkshire’s appeal.

“We have a lot of volatility in geopolitics, but Berkshire’s investing philosophy has always been staying true to value investors and shareholders, and I don’t think that’s going to change,” she said. “This is Warren and Charlie’s legacy, and being here is still someplace special.”

Abel is 63, and has signaled he would like to run Berkshire for a long time, perhaps decades.

He has shareholders’ respect. He may need more to ensure that shareholders continue viewing Berkshire, and the shareholder weekend, as something special.

“The throngs of shareholders may abandon the meeting with the lack of the unique homespun feel of Warren’s wit,” said Richard Callahan, a retail banker at BMO in Omaha. “Abel may grow into it. But he’s no Warren Buffett.”

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska; Editing by Megan Davies and Christopher Cushing)