Berkshire’s Board Votes for Warren Buffett To Remain Chair, Make Greg Abel CEO at Year-End

Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.B, BRK.A) board said Monday it unanimously approved Warren Buffett’s successor Greg Abel to take over as CEO at the end of the year.

The 94-year-old Buffett had announced at Berkshire’s annual meeting Saturday that he intends to step down after 60 years in the role, and recommended the board approve Abel as his replacement. Berkshire said Buffett will remain chair of the board.

Berkshire’s Class A and Class B shares were down close to 6% Monday morning. They entered the day up about 19% since the start of the year.

“While the timing was somewhat of a surprise, the ultimate transition to Abel was not,” UBS analysts wrote Monday, adding that they “expect little change at BRK and the culture/strategy to remain unchanged under Abel.”