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Berkshire Hathaway's board voting unanimously to name Greg Abel as Warren Buffett's successor. Abel will take over as president and CEO of the company starting January 1st of 2026. Buffett's plan to step down after 60 years at the helm was just one of the biggest takeaways from Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting. Our next guest, Sam Roe, he is the ticker.com editor. He was on the ground this weekend, and we're going to discuss with him. Sam, great to have you here. Uh, you know, I love getting your insights. Talk to me about the reaction in the room when Buffett announced that he would in fact be leaving the top position at the company by the end of this year. What did you hear from folks on the ground?

Well, yeah, I mean, initially it was stunned silence. Because, you know, if you listen to his words carefully, he didn't say I intend to retire. He says, I think it's time for Greg Abel to become CEO. And so your brain has to sort of, you know, make some logical jumps there to say, well, if Buffett's the CEO, then that means Buffett has to retire. So, you know, the wording was really interesting and and, yeah, it was stunned silence. Um, but uh, I I think uh, you know, as much as it came to a shock for a lot of people, it's also something that's been in the works for an incredibly long amount of time. Um, you know, first of all, he's 94 years old. You know, you're never going to be surprised to hear when a 94 year old decides that he's going to, not only retire, but retire at the end of the year. Um, and the other thing is that, you know, the uh, Berkshire succession planning has been one of the most carefully thought out, communicated, transparent processes, you know, maybe in the history of corporate America. Um, you know, we've known that Greg Abel, uh, very, you know, he became a, you know, vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway, I think in 2018. And so we've known him for a long time. And even in 2021, uh, Buffett and Munger actually announced their intention to to, um, you know, elevate uh, Abel to this position. So all that said, of course, when, you know, you've uh, been following someone for 60 years, or I mean, you know, much less for me and I'm sure you guys too, but like our entire careers, uh, for a lot of people, their entire lifetimes, they've seen him as a fixture at this company, who's also been giving all this wisdom to everybody. So, so yeah, it's it's definitely a surprise.

And so, Sam, is there a material difference that we anticipate or expect at all between the trading ideologies as instituted by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger for decades, for 60 years versus those of Greg Abel?

Yeah, you know, um, I think there's there's two ways to think of this. Um, inevitably it's going to change. Uh, the, but but that's actually kind of been the history of of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger themselves. You know, from a corporate standpoint, the company was founded as a a textile company that evolved into an insurance company that evolved into this multi-global conglomerate that also has this big stock portfolio. So that company's business has been changing forever. Um, and then even just strictly from an investment perspective, you know, Buffett started out as this guy who, you know, did quote unquote cigar butt investing, you know, finding extremely undervalued companies and uh stocks that that he believed were trading under, below their fair value, but then that ideology actually evolved into something where that gave him way to uh give him an excuse to, you know, buy stocks like Apple. So, you know, uh, I I think change is actually, you know, inherent in this company's culture. Um, that said, you know, again, Abel has been in a next in line to be CEO for years, and, you know, he's actually spoken at the shareholder meetings right next to Buffett. So, you know, the quote, I mean, if there's a question to be asked now, is well, how much of the past couple of years have actually been determined by Greg Abel's decisions? I'm sure a lot of it has already.

And Sam, investors were anxious to hear Warren Buffett's commentary, specifically on the development of the trade war, which he said trade should not be used as a weapon. And and he did say that it is a quote act of war. Uh, talk to me about how that impacts your thinking on the impact of the trade war on financial markets as you are writing about the impact of the trade war on financial markets.

Yeah, I mean, you know, uh, as blunt as as Buffett was when he was talking about trade and trade policy and how it should be implemented, um, I don't think he actually said anything particularly controversial. Protectionist trade policies is negative for everybody. Um, and especially when you're using it, not to, you know, advance your economy and not to, you know, build wealth for everybody, but if you're using as a tool to advance your political interest, then, yeah, you're weaponizing trade. And as Buffett said, it can be interpreted as an act of war. Um, protectionist trade policies hurt economies. So, you know, what happens when you hurt economies? People get unemployed. They can't afford groceries. They can't pay their healthcare bills. Uh, crime goes up. Um, so so, yeah, it's, you know, it's not an act of peace. So, you know, maybe it's not surprising when when Buffett comes out so clearly and and says that it's an act of war. But um, you know, just so that we're um, uh, you know, giving Buffett a fair shake here, um, you know, again, he words things very carefully. And at no point did he actually say address specifically Trump and Trump's policies uh along this way, but he just spoke as a general matter that when you do, um, you know, uh implement protectionist trade policies and you use trade policy as a tool to advance other interests, um, it's not a good thing.

All right. Sam, always great to speak with you. Thanks for making the time for us. Appreciate it.