JOSH FUNK Business Writer, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks to reporters before presiding over the annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., May 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

Warren Buffett’s successor eyes selling off Berkshire Hathaway’s 325 million Kraft Heinz shares

January 20, 2026

Warren Buffett’s successor appears to be considering his first significant move after taking over as CEO this month. Kraft Heinz warned investors Tuesday that Berkshire Hathaway may be interested in selling its 325 million shares in the name brand food giant that Buffett helped create back in 2015. Buffett and the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital orchestrated the merger of Kraft and Heinz back then because they already owned Heinz and believed in the power of their brands. Now Greg Abel may be plotting a different course. CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert wonders if this could be just the beginning of a comprehensive review of Berkshire’s holdings that could lead to additional sales.

Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway

December 31, 2025

The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings. Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership. Buffett summed up his investing approach by saying “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” He also warned employees to make sure they’d be comfortable with anything they do being reported the next day on the front page of their local newspaper.

FILE - Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Greg Abel poses for pictures with shareholders while touring the booths Berkshires companies set up, May 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Josh Funk, File)

With the legendary Warren Buffett stepping back, Berkshire Hathaway enters a new era

December 30, 2025

Greg Abel faces the challenge of taking over Berkshire Hathaway from the legendary Warren Buffett this week. Many regard Buffett as the world’s greatest investor after he grew Berkshire from a struggling New England textile mill to the massive conglomerate it is today with shares that go for more than $750,000 a pop. Investors will be watching closely to see what changes Abel might make in Berkshire’s trajectory, but don’t expect any seismic shifts. Buffett isn’t going anywhere and Abel has already been managing all of Berkshire’s noninsurance businesses since 2018. Buffett will remain chairman and plans to continue coming into the office each day to help spot new investments and offer Abel any advice he asks for.

FILE - Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett speaks during an interview with Liz Claman on Fox Business Network's "Countdown to the Closing Bell," May 7, 2018, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

Top manager leaves Warren Buffett’s Berkshire as incoming CEO names team

December 8, 2025

Incoming Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel is assembling his team to help him lead the conglomerate Warren Buffett built starting in January after a couple of key departures. Berkshire said Monday that one of its two investment managers besides Buffett who has been leading Geico, Todd Combs, and longtime Chief Financial Officer Mac Hamburg are both leaving. Combs is taking a job helping JP Morgan decide how to invest $10 billion while Hamburg is retiring. Combs’ departure is the most significant news. But CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said that now the question is whether insurance Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, investment manager Ted Weschler and all the CEOs of Berkshire’s myriad businesses will remain.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, right, films a social media post on a combine with farm owner Tyler Everett during a farm tour in Lebanon, Ind., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

USDA data casts doubt on China’s soybean purchase promises touted by Trump

November 14, 2025

New data the Agriculture Department released Friday created serious doubts about whether China will really buy millions of bushels of American soybeans like the Trump administration touted last month. The USDA report released after the government reopened showed only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea. The 332,000 metric tons fell well short of the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to purchase by January and nowhere near the 25 million metric tons she said they would buy in each of the next three years.

Warren Buffett warns ‘Father Time’ is catching up but he trusts Berkshire Hathaway successor

November 10, 2025

Billionaire Warren Buffett warned shareholders Monday that many companies will fare better than his Berkshire Hathaway in the decades ahead as Father Time catches up with the 95-year-old icon, but he reassured them that he remains confident in his successor. Buffett reflected on life in a new letter to shareholders where he announced $1.3 billion in new charitable gifts to the four family foundations run by his children. Buffett said that “through dumb luck, I drew a ridiculously long straw at birth” by being born in Omaha, Nebraska, where he met many lifelong friends. He said he has been fortunate to have his life saved three times by doctors who lived nearby while managing to avoid the kind of calamities that often cut life short.

Berkshire Hathaway’s profits rise 17% as Warren Buffett prepares to step down as CEO

November 1, 2025

Warren Buffett’s company’s profits improved 17% thanks to a relatively mild hurricane season and more paper investment gains this year as Berkshire Hathaway continues to prepare for the legendary 95-year-old investor to relinquish the CEO title in January. But last month’s $9.7 billion investment in OxyChem won’t do much to diminish the $381.7 billion cash pile that Berkshire was sitting on at the end of September even though it is the biggest deal the company has made in years. The biggest thing on most investors’ minds right now is that Buffett Vice Chair Greg Abel is set to succeed Buffett as CEO in January although Buffett will remain chairman

Soybeans are harvested on the Warpup Farm in Warren, Ind., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

American farmers welcome China’s promise to buy their soybean but this deal doesn’t solve everything

October 30, 2025

American farmers welcomed China’s promise to buy some of their soybeans, but Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt cautioned this won’t solve all the problems as farmers continue to deal with soaring prices for fertilizer, tractors, repair parts and seeds. The Chinese promise to buy 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for next three years will bring their purchases back in line with where they were at before President Donald Trump launched his latest trade war. But the 12 million metric tons that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China will buy between now and January is only about half their normal purchases. China is the world’s largest buyer of soybeans but it quit buying from America earlier this year after Trump imposed his tariffs.

Berkshire Hathaway to pay $9.7 billion for OxyChem, potentially Warren Buffett’s last big deal

October 2, 2025

Berkshire Hathaway is buying Occidental Petroleum’s chemical division for $9.7 billion in what may be one of the last big deals of Warren Buffett. Buffett wasn’t mentioned anywhere in materials released by Berkshire Hathaway on Thursday, seemingly signaling the passing of the torch to Greg Abel. Berkshire’s cash pile has been steadily growing for years to hit $344 billion because Buffett has been unable to find any major acquisitions at attractive prices since completing the $11.6 billion acquisition of Alleghany Insurance in 2022. OxyChem will fit nicely within Berkshire alongside Lubrizol, which Buffett bought in 2011 for $9 billion, but Berkshire generally doesn’t consolidate its subsidiaries, so OxyChem will likely continue operating independently.

FILE - A Union Pacific train travels through Union, Neb., July 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern discuss merger to create transcontinental railroad, AP source says

July 17, 2025

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are in merger talks to create the largest railroad in North America that would connect the East and West Coasts. A person familiar with the talks who isn’t authorized to discuss them publicly said the merger discussions began during the first quarter of this year. Both railroads declined to comment. Within the industry there is widespread debate over whether such a merger would be approved by the Surface Transportation Board even though those regulators approved the deal that created CPKC railroad two years ago. The bar for major railroad mergers in the U.S. was raised substantially after several disastrous deals in the 1990s that snarled traffic.

JOSH FUNK Business Writer.