Berkshire Hathaway is increasing the salary of its new CEO this year, the company has said in a recent filing. According to the filing on Tuesday, Greg Abel, who recently succeeded Warren Buffett as the new chief executive of the company, is set to get an annual cash salary of $25 million, a 19% bump in his previous pay.
This also eclipses he $100,000 that his predecessor Warren Buffett earned for decades in the role, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Greg Abel, who spent eight years in the role of vice chairman overseeing Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, became the new Berkshire Hathaway CEO on 1 January.
Abel’s new salary as CEO would be a 19% increase from his $21 million salary in 2024, according to a regulatory filing. In all, he made a little more with other compensation.
According to Reuters, Abel got paid a $20 million salary in 2023, and a $16 million salary plus a $3 million bonus in 2022. Buffett had set his compensation during this period.
Berkshire’s Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, who oversees the company’s insurance businesses, got paid the same amount in 2022 to 2024, according to Reuters. Both Jain and Abel’s 2025 compensations have not been revealed yet.
Warren Buffett himself took a surprisingly low salary for a CEO, though his stake at Berkshire has made him one of the richest men in the world. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Warren Buffett’s net worth is around $150 billion.
While Greg Abel is making way more than Buffett, his salary is nothing compared to the moonshot incentive structures that have cropped up for tech executives in recent years. Last year, Tesla Inc. shareholders approved a $1 trillion package for Elon Musk.
Who is Greg Abel?
Greg Abel succeeded Warren Buffett as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway as the 95-year–old retired from the post effective 1 January. Buffett Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire for more than 60 years.
Abel joined Berkshire in 1999 through acquisition, when the company took over energy company MidAmerican through a controlling stake.
Greg Abel, who was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has been a close aide to billionaire Warren Buffett.
Abel became CEO of what later became Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2008 and rose to the role of Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman in 2018, with responsibility for all of the firm’s non-insurance businesses.
Abel also owns about $171 million of Berkshire stock, and in 2022 sold his 1% stake in the Berkshire Hathaway Energy business to Berkshire for $870 million.