Warren Buffett’s Final Year: 1 New Buy, 2 Exits, 6 Cuts, and 7 Increases
Inside Buffett’s Latest Portfolio Changes
“Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.”
— Warren Buffett
Aside from a confidential acquisition, Buffett exited two companies worth a total of $1.4 billion as of the most recent portfolio filing. He also reduced his investments in 6 companies and increased his investments in 7 companies. More about all of that below.
This will be Warren Buffett’s last year to run his company, Berkshire Hathaway. He announced that he plans to retire at the end of 2025. It will be hard to imagine Berkshire Hathaway without Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Munger, his long-time business partner, passed away in 2023. Truly, the end of an era.
Greg Abel, an executive within Berkshire Hathaway, has been chosen to become Buffett’s successor. Buffett said he will recommend to the company’s board that Greg Abel become the new CEO at the end of the year, replacing him.
Berkshire Hathaway is Buffett’s baby. He made it into one of the most successful investment companies in the world. Anyone who has put in that much effort would want to make sure it does well. That is why Greg Abel has already been the designated successor for a while, which gave him a lot of on-the-job training. That, together with Buffett’s continued involvement after his retirement, should bode well for Berkshire Hathaway for years to come.
Buffett made that announcement at the end of an almost five-hour 2025 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting. He made that announcement at time stamp 4:25.
Buffett further indicated that he will be around, even after his retirement, to help with the transition. More about Greg Abel – the new incoming CEO below.
As in prior quarters, Buffett made some major changes to his portfolio. Some are more significant than others. And of course, the big question remains – when will he deploy his amazing cash balance that is currently invested in US treasuries? Buffett is keeping his powder dry for a reason.
Interestingly, in his latest portfolio filing with the SEC, Warren Buffett received confidential treatment for a part of his portfolio from the SEC. While institutional investors with investments above a certain size need to publish their investments purchased in the US every quarter, portfolio managers can request confidential treatment status for a bit. When that happens, in the SEC filing, it only says that the manager has “received confidential treatment for one or more investments in the most recent 13F filing.”
What does this mean? Did Buffett buy one company or multiple companies? Was it a small investment or a large investment? The fact that he asked for it probably means that he is still in the buying process and doesn’t want the price to run away from him. Something to monitor, and more about that below.
Given that Warren Buffett is one of the most successful legendary investors, what can we learn from his portfolio moves? This year, 2025, is the last year in which we can see the master, Buffett, at work.
Let’s dive into it.
Warren Buffett’s Confidential Acquisition
Let’s jump into this juicy part first. While the name of the confidential acquisition is still, for now, well, confidential, there is a lot we can understand by putting several puzzle pieces together.