Berkshire Hathaway 2026 Annual Meeting: Part 1 5/3/26

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**Becky Quick** (1:01)
Hi, podcast listeners. This is CNBC's Becky Quick, and I'm on assignment in Omaha, Nebraska. We'll be sharing with you here in its entirety our coverage of the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting. It's a special one this year. After 60 years, 95-year-old Warren Buffett is no longer the CEO.

**Warren Buffett** (1:19)
This is my 60th annual meeting, and the time has arrived where Greg should become the Chief Executive Officer of the company at year end.

**Becky Quick** (1:33)
Investors are keen to learn from his successor and longtime colleague, Greg Abel, what will stay the same in this new era of Berkshire and what changes may be coming.
You're about to hear me and Mike Santoli covering the events of the day. Then you'll hear what it was like to be in the arena in Omaha for two question and answer sessions, this time led by Greg Abel instead of Warren Buffett.

**Warren Buffett** (1:55)
Hi, my name is Warren, Warren from Omaha. I've recently undergone a, let's call it, a significant change in role.

**Becky Quick** (2:04)
It was a long day of surprises, a day where technology took center stage alongside Greg Abel. So settle in and let's get started.
Good morning everybody and welcome to CNBC's special coverage of the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting. I'm Becky Quick joined along with Mike Santoli and we are here live in Omaha, Nebraska on the floor of the CHI Center Exhibit Hall. It is a new day here in Omaha. After 60 years, Warren Buffett will not be answering questions from shareholders. Instead, Greg Abel will be taking center stage in his first meeting as the Berkshire CEO.

**Mike Santoli** (2:42)
He'll start this meeting with a one-hour business update, then move on to that first Q&A session, which also will include Vice Chair of Insurance Operations Ajit Jain. It starts in about 15 minutes. Let's give you a look at the rest of the day's schedule. The first Q&A session will be a little more than an hour. After that, you can catch our halftime show with big names, including Occidental's Vicki Hollub and Brooks running CEO Dan Sheridan. The second session starts at 1245 with the BNSF's CEO Katie Farmer and the new president of Berkshire's Consumer Products, Service and Retailing and NetJet CEO Adam Johnson joining Abel on stage. After another hour long break, the official shareholder meeting will start at 3 PM Eastern time.

**Becky Quick** (3:21)
In fact, just a few yards from here inside the arena, shareholders are starting to take their seats.
This has a little bit of a different feel this morning. It's quieter.

**Mike Santoli** (3:30)
Yes, it is.

**Becky Quick** (3:31)
There are still a lot of people here. In fact, when I was walking in, the lines were out around the corner to both ends of this arena. Right now, you see Tim Cook is on the floor kind of getting ready to take his seat. He's sitting with some of the directors. But the shopping here on the floor has been a little muted.
There are a lot of people here, but not as many as we've been used to seeing the last couple of years when you got 40,000 people who are crammed into this place at once.

**Mike Santoli** (3:57)
Definitely a lot of curiosity about how this is going to go and how Greg's going to handle it, but it does feel a bit lighter, not much of a press.

**Becky Quick** (4:04)
But this is an evolution in Berkshire Hathaway. Do have some news this morning, too.

**Mike Santoli** (4:08)
What have we got about it? Berkshire Hathaway also just released first quarter results, operating earnings totaled $11.35 billion. That's up 18% over last year. The big headline from the results is that Berkshire's cash pile jumped to a record of nearly $400 billion, about $397 billion. That's in new CEO Greg Abel's first quarter as a chief executive, of course. Berkshire, according to the filing, sold a big chunk of stock in the three months, just over $24 billion, but the company also bought $16 billion worth. That gives you a net sale number for the quarter of $8.1 billion out of the equity portfolio, which is over $300 billion in size. Berkshire's five main stock holdings remain the same in Q1. American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and Chevron. The company also bought back a total of $235 million in its own stock, the first buyback since the second quarter of 2024