Berkshire Hathaway has formally drawn a line under one of corporate America’s most famous pay traditions, ending the $100,000 annual salary paid to Warren Buffett for more than four decades.
Greg Abel, who took over as chief executive on January 1, will receive an annual pay package of $25 million, a sharp break from the frugal compensation model that long defined the Omaha-based investment giant.
Abel, 63, had already been one of the highest-paid executives at Berkshire before stepping into the top job. In 2024, while serving as vice-chairman overseeing the group’s non-insurance operations, he earned $21 million. His new salary reflects both his expanded responsibilities and a more conventional approach to executive pay at the world’s most closely watched conglomerate.
Buffett, now 95, remains chairman of Berkshire and continues to rank among the world’s wealthiest individuals, with an estimated net worth of around $150 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He built Berkshire over more than 60 years into a sprawling $1 trillion-plus empire spanning insurance, railroads, energy, manufacturing and retail, including brands such as Geico and BNSF Railway.
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