The eyes of global investors will once again focus on Omaha, a small city in the middle of the United States! On May 2, local time, Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting will be held as scheduled. Unlike previous years, although Warren Buffett will still attend the conference as the company's chairman, the much-anticipated question and answer session will be held by the company's new chief executive officer (CEO) Greg Abel.
This also means that Buffett will be absent from the Q&A session at the shareholder meeting for the first time since taking the helm of Berkshire in 1965. Since Buffett announced his retirement in May last year, Berkshire's Class A performance has lagged behind the S&P 500 Index by about 37 percentage points over the same period, and the former "Buffett premium" is disappearing.
Looking back over the past sixty years, the Berkshire shareholder meeting has grown from a gathering of a few dozen people in a small restaurant in Omaha to a much-anticipated feast for the investment community, and it has always been Buffett himself who has been on stage with his witty Q&A for hours.
Now, the 95-year-old Buffett has retreated behind the scenes, and Abel has stepped forward. Whether this conference can continue the excitement of previous years is not lacking in market scrutiny and expectations.
New CEO leads Q&A session
According to the schedule announced by Berkshire, this year’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting will be held in Omaha on May 2 (Saturday), local time.
Berkshire Shareholders Meeting Agenda Image source: Berkshire website
The day's event will start at 7:00 in the morning, with welcome speeches and company introductions at 8:30.
Subsequently, the highly anticipated first Q&A session will begin at 9:30, that is, at 22:30 on May 2, Beijing time, lasting approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes; the second Q&A session will begin at 11:45, that is, at 00:45 on May 3, Beijing time.
The official Berkshire Annual Shareholders Meeting will be held at 14:00 local time on May 2, which is 3:00 am Beijing time on May 3.
In the arrangement of the question and answer session, CNBC hosts will screen questions submitted by shareholders via email in advance and select the questions of most widespread concern to raise on the spot. Shareholders can also participate in the lottery at 8:15 in the morning that day and get the opportunity to ask questions on the spot at 10 microphone points set up at the venue.
During the meeting, Greg Abel will alternately respond to pre-screened questions and live shareholder questions.
Specifically, the first Q&A session will be conducted by Greg Abel and the company's vice chairman and head of insurance business Ajit Jain. In the second Q&A session, Greg Abel will also participate in exchanges with other heads of Berkshire's companies.
This Q&A session will be broadcast live online. As for this shareholder meeting without Buffett on the stage, there are many suspenses to be resolved.
Suspense one
Abel, can he support the "Buffett premium"?
This shareholders' meeting will be the first time Abel has led the question and answer session of the shareholders' meeting as the "head" since he officially took over as Berkshire CEO on January 1, 2026. The annual letter to shareholders released at the end of February this year was also the first time Abel wrote it.
"We are committed to strengthening the great legacy established by Warren Buffett and his business partner Charlie Munger and ensuring that this legacy continues forever through our commitment to excellence," Abel said in a letter to shareholders.
But the reality is that since Buffett announced his retirement in May 2025, Berkshire's Class A shares have fallen by about 12%, while the S&P 500 index has risen by about 25% during the same period. The gap between the two is close to 37 percentage points, and the "Buffett premium" is gradually disappearing.
Analysts believe that Berkshire's railway businesses BNSF and Berkshire Energy lag behind their peers in key profit indicators. Berkshire's overall operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2025 fell by about 30% year-on-year, and the insurance business is under significant pressure. The market needs Abel to come up with a concrete plan, not just a promise to "continue Buffett's spirit."
In this debut, Abel will face doubts. Under the pressure of slowing performance, how should Berkshire’s growth story be told? What style will Abel show? Can he continue Buffett's value investing philosophy while showing his own edge to truly convince investors?
Suspense 2
What is your attitude toward technology assets?
An eye-catching move is that Berkshire took a position in Google-A (GOOGL) in the third quarter of 2025, buying nearly 17.85 million shares. This was Berkshire’s largest purchase during the quarter and its only new holding.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Berkshire reduced its holdings of Apple by approximately 10.295 million shares, the third consecutive quarter of reduction in 2025; it also reduced its holdings in Bank of America, Amazon and other stocks, of which Amazon was close to liquidation; during the same period, its position in Google-A (GOOGL) remained unchanged, and it increased its holdings in Chevron (CVX), Chubb Insurance (CB) and other stocks; it added a new position in the New York Times, a media stock, with a market value of US$350 million at the end of the quarter.
This series of operations seems to imply that Berkshire in the Abel era is re-examining the structure of its technology holdings. Abel said in a letter to shareholders that he will personally oversee Berkshire's stock investment portfolio, worth approximately $274 billion, and that the ultimate responsibility rests with him as CEO. Todd Combs, who was previously responsible for managing part of the portfolio, has left to join JPMorgan Chase, and Ted Weschler continues to manage about 6% of the position.
At the same time, in this year's letter to shareholders, Abel continued Buffett's concept of concentrated investment, saying that the top five holdings (Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, Moody's, and Chevron) plus the investments of Japan's five major trading companies account for about two-thirds of the stock investment portfolio.
As the AI wave sweeps the world, what investors want to know is: Will Berkshire further embrace technology assets? What is the verdict on AI? What's your attitude towards Apple?
These questions were answered by Buffett last year, and this year, Abel and his management team responded for the first time.
Suspense three
How to spend $370 billion in cash?
The whereabouts of Berkshire's cash reserves may be one of the biggest concerns in the market.
As of the end of 2025, Berkshire's cash reserves exceeded $370 billion, setting a record. The proportion of cash to total assets has risen to approximately 30%, which is much higher than the historical average. Throughout 2025, Berkshire did not conduct any stock repurchases, continued to reduce its holdings in Apple, and almost cleared Amazon. Except for new positions in Google and the New York Times, it has not made any major moves.
Buffett once said that the probability of finding a good opportunity increases over time. Now, the "baton" is passed to Abel's hands.
In early March 2026, Berkshire announced that it would restart stock repurchases for the first time since the second quarter of 2024. At the same time, Berkshire plans to spend approximately US$1.8 billion to acquire shares of Japanese insurance giant Tokio Marine Holdings.
But these actions are still just a drop in the bucket compared to the huge cash pool.
How will Abel explain the logic of future investment allocation? When and where do you plan to invest the US$370 billion in cash reserves? Or it is the core issue worth pursuing at this conference.