- Warren Buffett shocked his shareholders when he announced he'd be stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO.
- I spoke to them about the bombshell news over drinks, at a picnic, during a run, and at a brunch.
- Many said they were sad but grateful, with some worried about the future.
Veron Wong told me he cried when Warren Buffett announced he would be leaving Berkshire Hathaway.
Wong was among the tens of thousands of Buffett's followers who had descended on Omaha, Nebraska, for the company's annual meeting.
After being in the room on Saturday for Buffett's shock announcement that he would quit at the end of 2025, I set about asking shareholders how they felt about losing the man at the center of it all.
I asked 20 of them the question anywhere I could at this "Woodstock for Capitalists" — in a furniture store's parking lot, during a 5K run through downtown, at a farewell brunch, and at bars.
That's how I found Wong. He was enjoying cocktails with his partner, Joanna Fadel, at the Marriott opposite CHI Health Center, the venue for Berkshire's meeting.
Wong, 31, said he loved and admired Buffett so much that the investor felt like a father to him.
"I cried," he said. "It was sad."
"Everybody was celebrating and commemorating," Fadel, 30, an innovation design strategist from New York, told me. "It was a beautiful moment. It was bittersweet, but I think it's a beautiful thing to be here for this community and to be part of this legacy."
And what a legacy: The world's fifth-richest person took over a failing textile business 60 years ago and transformed it into one of the world's most valuable companies.
The couple was there to celebrate their idol. Other Buffett followers I spoke to said they were feeling everything from shock and sorrow to gratitude and hope. But several said they worried that, without Buffett, Berkshire's tight-knit community and Omaha's allure could falter.
'He's got a wonderful moral compass'
Later on Saturday, I stopped by a shareholder picnic outside the Berkshire-owned Nebraska Furniture Mart. Friends and families munched on barbecue, played lawn games, and danced along to live music.
Vipara Rasphone, a 30-year-old Stanford MBA student from Laos, told me he was still parsing the day's events.
“I’m still processing it," he said. He pondered what Buffett's departure would mean for the investing world.
"Who are going to be our role models?" he asked.
Mike Schutz, 63, a warehouse worker from Omaha attending the meeting for the first time, was sitting near the stage where two singers were performing classic pop and rock songs.
He told me he applauded Buffett's decision to step aside, saying it was "better not to wait for the inevitable" and that Buffett could continue to guide Greg Abel, Berkshire's vice chair and Buffett's potential successor.
Early on Sunday, I joined the masses of shareholders taking part in a 5k run, organized by Brooks Running, a Berkshire subsidiary. A power-walking Gary Oberste, 74, a semi-retired educator from Oklahoma who said he'd owned Berkshire stock for about 10 years, told me he was optimistic about the company's prospects.
“I have faith in what he’s set up and done that it keeps growing and doing better," he added.
Sabina Coffiel, 57, a local medical researcher and member of a women's financial literacy group, told me as we walked through Omaha's downtown that she was saddened by Buffett's departure.
"I gasped," she said. "He’s done a great job for so long, and he’s got a wonderful moral compass."
"I hope Greg shares that compass and that Buffett still shows up sometimes,” she added, referring to Abel.
Fears about the future appeal of Omaha
A couple of hours later, back at the Marriott Hotel, hundreds of people were mingling over coffee, breakfast sandwiches, muffins, and fresh fruit while the insurer Markel held a meeting in the ballroom.
I struck up a conversation with Martin Wiegand, a 67-year-old small-business owner who said he's owned Berkshire stock for 40 years and has been coming to the meeting since the 1980s. He told me he saw Buffett as a "wonderful role model, teacher, and steward of capital."
Wiegand dismissed the idea that Berkshire stock might be valued lower without Buffett in charge. “There’s no Buffett premium now; it was gone 25 years ago," he said.
He said he hadn't seen Abel show the charisma of Buffett and his late business partner, Charlie Munger. Wiegand also worried out loud that Omaha would be less of a destination for investors in the future. Buffett was born in this city of 500,000 people, and his face was all over the "Bazaar of Bargains," where Berkshire businesses were selling at a discount to shareholders.
Sheldon Wasserman, 77, a retired businessman from Florida who said he's owned Berkshire stock for over 30 years, wondered whether Abel would move to Omaha. "Des Moines resident to become Berkshire Hathaway CEO" was how Abel's local paper reported the prospect of his accession. Des Moines, Iowa, is about two and a half hours from Omaha by car.
Wasserman compared the prospect of Abel succeeding Buffett to Tim Cook replacing Steve Jobs as Apple's CEO in 2011. Cook, who took over the company from its visionary founder, has since led it to new highs.
Wasserman also riffed on one of Buffett's famous sayings to underscore his point that Berkshire has more to it than its CEO, and that his successor would have a solid foundation to build from.
“We are standing in the shade of a tree that grew from a seed someone planted years ago," he said.
Wasserman told me he wasn't planning to sell Berkshire stock if it drops, not only because he has faith in its operations but also because "the taxes would be astronomical."
Signe Loenholdt, 44, a financial educator from Denmark who teaches Buffett-style investing, was grabbing a drink at the downstairs bar before catching a shuttle to the airport.
"I'm concerned about community continuity post-Buffett," she said, questioning whether future Omaha gatherings would retain their global appeal without Buffett as the star.
Would she sell Berkshire stock if it falls on the news of Buffett's departure? Loenholdt said she'd buy more of it.
After all, the "Sage of Omaha" always advocated buying a dip.
