Buffett Sits in Audience as Abel Presides Over First Berkshire Shareholders Meeting in Post-Buffett Era

Warren Buffett attended Berkshire Hathaway's 2026 annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska yesterday (May 2) as a board member in the audience, marking his first participation since stepping down as CEO. Greg Abel presided over the meeting for the first time, taking the helm one year after Buffett announced his succession.

Buffett praised Abel's performance, calling the CEO transition "100% successful" and stating that Abel "has done everything I did, and even more." During the Q&A session, the meeting featured an AI-generated deepfake video of Buffett asking Abel about long-term investment reasons. Abel revealed the video was not authentic footage, using the moment to highlight cybersecurity risks to shareholders.