Berkshire Hathaway resumes buybacks and CEO supports Kraft’s decision to pause its split
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway is buying back shares for the first time in nearly two years, and new CEO Greg Abel said he has no immediate plans to sell off Kraft Heinz shares now that the packaged food giant has shelved its plan to split the company into two.
Abel appeared on CNBC Thursday — less than a week after releasing his first letter to shareholders after taking over the top job at Berkshire from legendary investor Warren Buffett in January. Berkshire also took the unusual step of filing a formal notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had begun repurchasing its shares Wednesday for the first time since May 2024.
When Kraft first announced its plan to split the company in two last fall, Abel and Buffett expressed concerns about that because of the costs involved and the current struggles for some of the brands. So Abel said he agreed with new Kraft CEO Steve Cahillane’s decision to pause the split.
“For Steve to come in and say we’re pausing it, there’s opportunities within Kraft Heinz to fix things and get the business back on track and then he’ll evaluate things. We thought that was absolutely the right approach,” Abel said.
Berkshire has long been Kraft’s biggest shareholder with 325 million shares ever since Buffett and the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital orchestrated the merger of Kraft and Heinz in 2015 because they already owned Heinz and believed in the power of their brands.
Over the years since Buffett had made comments about how Kraft’s competitive moat around its brands wasn’t as strong as he thought and Berkshire likely overpaid for the investment. Berkshire even took a $3.76 billion write-down on its Kraft-Heinz stake last summer. But until January there had been no hint that Berkshire might sell off its Kraft shares.
Abel also told CNBC that he felt it was important for Berkshire to let shareholders know that its approach to buybacks hasn’t changed. The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate will continue to use some of its $373.3 billion cash to repurchase shares whenever Abel and Buffett conclude that the stock is worth more than what it is selling for. It’s Class A shares gained more than 2% to sell for $745,451.75 apiece Thursday.
Abel also disclosed Thursday that this week he used all $15.3 million of his take-home pay for 2026 to buy Berkshire stock, and he told CNBC that he plans to continue doing that as long as he remains CEO so that his interests will be aligned with shareholders.
“As CEO, I absolutely obviously believe in Berkshire with — with the transition from Warren. And I inherited a company that has an incredible foundation. I believe in its — you know, future, the opportunities that exist there,” Abel said.
In his letter that was released last Saturday, Abel promised not to make any significant changes in the way Buffett has run Berkshire for the past six decades. The two men talk regularly because Buffett remains chairman and continues to come into the office every day to hunt for new investments.
Abel said that includes not paying a dividend because he and Buffett believe that they can generate better returns for shareholders by keeping Berkshire’s cash and reinvesting it instead or returning it in a dividend.
Berkshire owns dozens of companies, including major insurers like Geico, the BNSF railroad, well known brands like Dairy Queen, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing, retail and service businesses like fractional private jet company NetJets.