End of ‘The Berkshire Way’? Combs’ departure isn’t only big change as Buffett transition nears
2025-12-13 14:11:43
(This is Warren Buffett Watch’s newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can subscribe here To receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
Todd Combs’ sudden departure from Berkshire Hathaway Most attention When it was announced this week.
However, there were also several additional personnel changes on Monday Three-page press release This signal indicates that the company is moving towards a more traditional structure as Warren Buffett prepares to transfer the CEO title to Greg Appel in less than three weeks.
Todd Combs in a 2014 interview with CNBC
Combs will JPMorgan Chase Next month, he will head the “Strategic Investment Group” with a value of $10 billion for the company’s new capital of $1.5 trillion.Security and Resilience InitiativeTo help “companies boost their growth, stimulate innovation, and accelerate manufacturing, especially in the United States.”
Coombs has been a member of JPMorgan’s board of directors since 2016, but will leave that position when he takes on the new job.
In it press releaseJamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan, called Combs “one of the greatest investors and leaders I have ever known.”
In Berkshire’s announcement, Warren Buffett was quoted as saying “JPMorgan, as is often the case, made a good decision,” praising Combs for making “many great hires at GEICO.”
Combs, 54, joined Berkshire in 2010 as a portfolio manager.
In 2020 he got an additional role CEO of GeicoBerkshire’s auto insurance company, raising speculation that he may become Buffett’s successor in the future.
At the May annual meeting, Insurance Chairman Ajit Jain Coombs said “He’s done a great job for us with the transition” Geico operations, citing improvements in ‘risk matching rate’ and consolidation telematics, Electronic monitoring of how policyholders lead in setting rates.
But Jain added: “I still think we need to do more on technology.”
The task of doing more with technology at Geico now falls to its new CEO, Nancy Pierce, who has moved on from the role of chief operating officer. I have worked for the insurance company since 1986, when I started as a claims associate.
However, the question of who will take over Combs’ duties as portfolio manager remains open.
Change “Berkshire Way”
Buffett says Abel will have overall responsibility for the portfolio, but it’s not clear how much of that responsibility will be delegated to the other portfolio manager, Ted Weschler.
Berkshire could also hire one or more additional portfolio managers, and Buffett himself, as chairman, could help fill the gap left by Combs.
Traditionally, Berkshire has been vague about who is in charge of the small holdings in its portfolio and has said little about the records of its portfolio managers.
In an email to buffett watch, Christopher Davis of Hudson Value Partners urges Berkshire to “become more transparent about the roles and responsibilities of Abel and Wechsler in managing the public equity portfolio.”
“We all like the Berkshire way, but there have to be some concessions to the fact that it is now a trillion-dollar organization going through its first leadership transition.”
Todd Combs walks into the morning session of Allen and Co.’s annual media conference. Sun Valley in Sun Valley, Idaho, United States on July 7, 2021.
Brian Lucness | Reuters
Several aspects of this shift move the company away from the famously decentralized “Berkshire Method.”
Greg Appel was already exercising more management oversight over non-insurance operating companies than Buffett had ever exercised.
Now some of them get an extra layer of management.
Adam JohnsonChairman and CEO of NetJets, has been appointed to the newly created role of “Head of Consumer Products, Services and Retail at Berkshire Hathaway.”
Describing him as “an accomplished leader with a proven ability to deliver long-term shareholder value,” Appel says in Monday’s press release that Johnson “will support outstanding CEOs across 32 consumer products, services and retail companies, and uphold Berkshire’s culture and values.”
The remaining non-insurance subsidiaries, including BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Pilot, will continue to report directly to Abel.
NetJets CEO Adam Johnson. (netgets.com)
Berkshire is also getting its first general counsel.
Michael O’Sullivan held this position at Snap Inc. Since 2017 after practicing law at Munger, Tolles & Olson for more than two decades.
Until now, Berkshire has turned to outside law firms to handle its legal affairs.
(I wouldn’t be surprised to see Berkshire add investor, media and government relations departments to its notoriously low-overhead Omaha headquarters sometime next year.)
On the other hand, I don’t think Berkshire will pay a dividend as long as Buffett continues to come to the office.)
Finally, in a more traditional transition, CFO Mark Hamburg will retire next June after 40 years at Berkshire.
In the press release, Buffett said Hamburg was “indispensable” and “has done more for this company than many of our shareholders will ever know.”
His successor will be Berkshire Hathaway Energy CFO Charles Zhang.
It’s a big change for a company that hasn’t changed much over the years.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Mayer Shields L said Wall Street Journal, “There is so much emotional investment in the continuity of Berkshire as a culture, that when you have changes of a large scale, that will cause more anxiety than exhilaration in the dynamism of the company. That’s not why people own Berkshire Hathaway.”
KBW downgraded Berkshire stock to “underperform” earlier this year, in part due to Buffett’s impending departure.
both of them A and shares b Shares weathered the storm well this week, falling nearly 1%, though they are still down more than 7% from their all-time highs in May, before Buffett announced he would step down as CEO at the end of the year.
Buffet around the internet
Some links may require a subscription:
Highlights from the archive
What is your best investment? (2005)
Audience member: What is the best investment in your career?
Warren Buffett: Probably, in terms of what’s already been done and where it’s going to go over time, probably the best single investment was the first half of GEICO, which we bought for $40 million. Now the second half cost us 2 billion. I’m glad I didn’t buy it for a third. (He laughed)
But, you know, 40 million – for half the company – would do very well.
But GEICO — some of our businesses have growth potential, some don’t. We don’t ask for growth potential as part of the job.
If a business makes good money and we can use it to buy other businesses, one of the advantages of Berkshire’s system is that we have a tax-efficient way and some sort of friction to move the money to the best opportunities. Internally, GEICO still has tremendous potential for growth.
Charlie Munger: Well, but GEICO, after all, cost $2 billion for the second half and–
Warren Buffett: right.
Charlie Munger:- A large number in the tens of millions for the first half.
Now the research expenses that brought us Ajit Jain, now there was an investment that brought real profits.
I can’t think of any higher-yielding investment we’ve ever made that was better than this one. (applause)
I think this is a good life lesson. In other words, getting the right people into your system more often may be more important than anything else.
Berkshire stock monitoring
BRK.A stock price: $748,887.00
BRK.B stock price: $499.52
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 15.97
Berkshire Market Cap: $1,077,426,505,703
Berkshire cash as of September 30: $381.7 billion (up 10.9% from June 30)
Excluding railroad funds and subtracting Treasury bills payable: $354.3 billion (up 4.3% from June 30)
Berkshire shares have not been repurchased since May 2024.
(All figures are as of date of publication, unless otherwise noted)
Berkshire’s Top Holdings – December 12, 2025
Berkshire’s top holdings of publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market capitalization, based on the latest closing prices.
Property as of September 30, 2025, as stated in Berkshire Hathaway Files 13F On November 14, 2025, except for:
The complete list of properties and current market values is available at CNBC.com Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
Questions or comments
Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@cnbc.com. (Sorry, but we don’t send any questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
If you are not already subscribed to this newsletter, you can subscribe here.
It is also highly recommended to read Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders. There it is collected Here on the Berkshire website.
— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
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