Warren Buffett resigned as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B), after leading the company to incredibly outperform stocks on the S&P 500 (^GSPC).

Berkshire Hathaway shares returned 5,502,284% from 1965 to 2024. During the same period, the S&P 500, which includes dividends, provided a 39,054% return. Berkshire Hathaway had a compound annual yield of 19.9% ​​during that period. The S&P 500 has a return of 10.4%.

Digging into details of Buffett's running skills, most of Berkshire Hathaway's gains came in the first 20 years since Buffett took control of the company. Berkshire's consistent resilience also stands out from the crowd compared to the broader market. Over the past 60 years, the S&P 500 S&P 500 has closed for one year, with Berkshire falling more than two benchmarks.

"The long-term trend is up," Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting on Saturday.

During the meeting, Buffett addressed Berkshire Hathaway. At the end of the first quarter, Berkshire amassed $347.7 billion in cash piles. Buffett pointed out that his confidence in raising cash and the need to invest fully at any time is one of the reasons why he has succeeded in such a long time.

“We would rather have the conditions to grow, like we would have $50 billion or something like that,” he said. “But it’s just how the business works.”

Buffett added that if he invested simply to reduce Berkshire's cash stake to $50 billion, "that would be the stupidest thing in the world."

On Saturday, Buffett announced that he plans to resign as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and transfer his role to Greg Abel.

"I think it's time for Greg to become CEO at the end of the year," Buffett said. "And I want to play effectively to the directors and as my advice."

Berkshire Hathaway's board of directors unanimously approved the move on Sunday. Abel will serve as CEO on January 1, 2026, and Buffett will continue to serve as chairman of the board.

Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschaffer.

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