Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) fell more than 5% on Monday as the group's board said it unanimously approved long-time CEO Warren Buffett to appoint vice chairman Greg Abel as his successor, starting in 2026.

Class A shares fell to $768,719 per share, while Class B shares fell nearly $512.

Buffett announced CEO Change Saturday at Berkshire Hathaway's 60th annual meeting. The board of directors said the transition will take place at the end of the year and Abel will officially take over on January 1, 2026. Buffett will continue to serve as chairman.

Buffett confirmed that Abel, who is in charge of the company's non-insurance business, is his successor in 2021.

"I do think that still caught a lot of investors off guard," said Kyle Sanders, senior analyst at Edward Jones. "I think a big part of the investor base, they just think that Warren will continue to run the company until he dies."

Berkshire Hathaway is the seventh largest company in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) with a market capitalization of approximately $1.1 trillion.

Abel joins Berkshire, part of the 1999 acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

At Saturday's meeting, Abel discussed in detail his views on the current outlook for Berkshire Hathaway, especially the $300 billion in cash the company currently holds. The cash pile, he said, is a "huge asset to the company."

“We do see it as a strategic asset that allows us to get through difficult times and… not rely on anyone,” Abel said, adding: “We will never rely on banks or other political parties to make Berkshire successful.”

Read more about Berkshire Hathaway's stock moves and market action today.

Buffett said he had no plans to sell Berkshire shares due to the change and would not be out of reach if needed.

"I'll still hang out and can be imagined to be useful in a few cases, but the last sentence is what Greg said in his operation, capital deployment," Buffett said.

Since Buffett's acquisition of Berkshire in 1965, the company's value per share has been aggravated at a rate of 19.9%, almost double the S&P's 500-year average annual earnings of 10.4%, and has earned 5,502,284% shareholder returns.

Berkshire Hathaway's shares have risen more than 13% so far, outperforming the S&P 500, down 4%.

Over the past few years, Berkshire Hathaway has accumulated cash on the balance sheet.