What Warren Buffett Wrote in His Thanksgiving Letter

95, has released a letter of thanks to shareholders, one he plans to make an annual tradition after his departure from Berkshire Hathaway and CEO Longtime Berkshire Executive Greg Abel, on January 1, 2026

Bafth, who will remain Berkshire’s chairman, will no longer write the company’s annual report to shareholders or talk for hours at the annual meeting, but will “keep in touch” with a thank-you letter.

Berkshire announced a letter announcing a $1.3 billion donation of its stock to four family foundations: the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Novo Foundation.

Each organization is run by Buffett’s three children (Susan, 72, Howard, 70, and Peter, 67) and has philanthropy ranging from reproductive health to hunger.

Related: Warren Buffett donates a record $1 billion to various foundations. Here’s how your money is split.

“All three kids now have the maturity, the brains, the energy and the instincts, they’re going to be very lucky,” he said.

However, Buffett assured shareholders that “No way” is how he sees Berkshire’s future, accelerating donations to children’s charities. He praised Abel as “a very quick learner”.

“I’ll pick a CEO, a management consultant, an academic, a government member—I can’t name them—from Greg to run your deposit and mine,” he said.

In the letter, Buffett also reflected on his life and career, sharing vivid memories of growing up in Omaha, Nebraska. He described a period in 1938, when he was 8 years old, when he had a “bad stomach ache” that required an emergency appendectomy. He nearly died, but instead spent three weeks recovering in the hospital.

Related: Warren Buffett made 95% of his wealth after the age of 65. Here’s how much his net worth increased past retirement age.

Buffett also noted notable figures in Berkshire’s history as friends and business associates, such as former publisher Stanford Lipsey and former Berkshire board director Walter Scott Jr.

For example, he wrote a selling lipsey Omaha sun The Berkshire newspaper in 1968 played a significant role in Berkshire’s early success in the newspaper business. In the early 1980s, Lipsey switched from a Berkshire-related paper to a Berkshire-related paper, allowing the company to earn more than 100% on its $33 million investment annually.

Going forward, Buffett offered a piece of advice: “Decide what your obituary says and how you lived a life to deserve it.”

“Get the right heroes and copy them,” Buffett wrote.

95, has released a letter of thanks to shareholders, one he plans to make an annual tradition after his departure from Berkshire Hathaway and CEO Longtime Berkshire Executive Greg Abel, on January 1, 2026

Bafth, who will remain Berkshire’s chairman, will no longer write the company’s annual report to shareholders or talk for hours at the annual meeting, but will “keep in touch” with a thank-you letter.