" The Greg Abel Era Begins
Greg Abel took the helm as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway on January 1, 2026. It appears that Warren Buffett has great confidence in him due to his track record in deal-making and company management. Greg Abel led Berkshire Hathaway Energy from 2008 to 2018, transforming it into an industry leader. Greg Abel also oversaw several energy sector acquisitions for this company. Since 2018, Greg Abel has managed dozens of companies including BNSF Railway and See's. Now that Greg Abel is CEO, he controls Berkshire Hathaway's record cash hoard of about $382 billion, which some speculate will be used for a major acquisition. He also seems to be moving quickly to make investment changes since Berkshire Hathaway recently revealed it might divest its stake in Kraft Heinz (KHC), which is worth about $7.7 billion. Kraft Heinz has lagged for years, and this might be a sign that Greg will remove non-performing assets from the investment portfolio.
With a background in the energy sector, I expect more energy investments from Greg Abel. On January 2, 2026, Berkshire Hathaway closed a $9.7 billion deal to acquire Oxchem from Occidental Petroleum (OXY). I also expect Berkshire Hathaway to continue expanding its tech investments, especially since its investments in Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) have yielded strong results.
A big question is what Greg Abel will do with the current cash hoard of about $382 billion. There is a belief that this will be used for a major acquisition, but I think this cash level has been built up because valuations are too high in the stock market. Berkshire Hathaway could deploy this cash after a major market correction, setting itself up to buy bargains that will fuel future gains.
It's worth noting that this huge cash reserve could increase pressure on Greg Abel to initiate a dividend. This goes against Warren Buffett's belief, as he correctly thought he could generate more value by investing the cash than by paying out dividends, but Greg Abel might be more open to it. A small dividend could make Berkshire Hathaway stock attractive to fund managers, many of whom can only invest in dividend paying stocks."

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