2025 marked the end of an era for Warren Buffett's conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 0.37%) (BRK.B 0.32%). As of 2026, Buffett has officially stepped down as CEO of Berkshire and the day-to-day activities associated with the job.
New CEO Greg Abel will succeed Buffett in leading the company. However, Abel came up through one of Berkshire's operating businesses, MidAmerican Energy, which Berkshire purchased in 1999. That means Abel will probably be focused on Berkshire's varied wholly owned businesses across insurance, utility, retail, and industrial businesses.
So who's likely to be running Berkshire's $300 billion public stock portfolio?
NYSE: BRK.B
Key Data Points
Ted Wechsler is likely to oversee public market investments
In conjunction with Buffett's retirement, Berkshire also announced that Todd Combs, whom Buffett had hired in 2010 to run part of Berkshire's equity portfolio, would be leaving to run the new Strategic Investment Group at JPMorgan Chase (JPM 1.94%), overseeing the bank's direct equity investments in the defense, aerospace, healthcare, and energy sectors deemed critical to national security.
Combs had been hired, along with Ted Wechsler, in the 2010s, to manage part of Berkshire's equity portfolio, even as Buffett controlled most public investments. Therefore, it was presumed that one or both would take over responsibility for Berkshire's public market investments when Buffett retired. However, since Combs is now moving on to JPMorgan, Wechsler is likely to become the sole portfolio manager for Berkshire's $300 billion equity portfolio.
$300 billion... plus another $400 billion in dry powder
While the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio totals approximately $300 billion today, Wechsler will have significantly more money than that to potentially invest. As of the end of the third quarter, Berkshire had a cash and short-term Treasury pile of about $377.4 billion, exceeding the total amount invested in common stocks.
Buffett has been selling down some of Berkshire's largest equity positions as markets have climbed, most notably Apple (AAPL 2.05%) and Bank of America (BAC 3.24%). Berkshire's Apple stake was once worth roughly $200 billion. Today, it is valued at around $60 billion despite the stock's continued appreciation. That's because since the third quarter of 2023, Buffett has reduced Berkshire's stake in the iPhone giant by 74%. Despite that, Apple remains Berkshire's largest public equity holding, at 22.3% of the portfolio.
As is typical of Buffett's philosophy, Berkshire's portfolio remains heavily concentrated, with the top five positions in Apple, American Express, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Chevron making up 70% of the overall portfolio -- not counting the cash and Treasury bills, of course.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
What to expect from Ted
While Buffett will no longer manage Berkshire's investments on a day-to-day basis, Berkshire shareholders can expect Ted Wechsler to manage the public equity portfolio with the same value-investing philosophy as Buffett. After all, that was why Wechsler was hired in the first place.
Wechsler was highly successful at his former hedge fund, Peninsula Capital, but it's a bit difficult to track his performance at Berkshire, since Berkshire doesn't disclose which investments are his versus Combs'.
At Peninsula, Wechsler invested in off-the-radar companies, achieving big wins in stocks such as Cogent Communications (CCOI 6.00%) and the chemical company W.R. Grace & Co., along with other under-the-radar stocks such as Roto-Rooter and Wilsons The Leather Experts.
One position Wechsler has carried over to Berkshire is DaVita Healthcare (DVA +0.70%), a dialysis company. DaVita has performed fairly well for Berkshire since Berkshire acquired a stake in late 2011, roughly tripling in value over the past 14 years. And while Wechsler didn't buy the stock of Dillard's (DDS 2.86%) for Berkshire, Wechsler did buy it in 2020 during the pandemic in his personal account, making an incredible return of approximately five times his investment in a single year.
Another known investment of Wechsler's is Sirius XM (SIRI +0.22%), which has performed poorly since Berkshire first acquired it through the Liberty Sirius XM tracking stock in 2016. Still, Berkshire added to its Sirius stake in the most recently reported third quarter, showing continued faith in the company.
While Wechsler will be hard pressed to live up to his predecessor's record, which would be nearly impossible given the large sums he must deploy, look for Wechsler to still garner some wins in the portfolio manager's chair. Meanwhile, Berkshire's cash position puts it in an excellent position to capitalize on any market downturn or distressed situation that may arise in the future.
Fear not, Berkshire shareholders. You're still in good hands.
