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Investing.com -- Warren Buffett shocked the investing world on May 3rd after announcing that he would step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) at the end of the year after six decades. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, the ‘Oracle’ revealed why he finally made the move.
Buffett, 94, told the publication that he stepped down after finally feeling his age, although he said there was “no magic moment.”
“How do you know the day that you become old?” he added.
Buffett said he didn’t start feeling old until he was about 90, “[b]ut when you start getting old, it does become—it’s irreversible.”
Buffett relayed that he started to lose his balance on occasion and had issues recalling a person’s name at times.
In the final minutes of Berkshire’s annual meeting this year, Buffett revealed he would step down and named Greg Abel as his successor.
Buffett called Abel a “rare” talent and explained he can accomplish much more than he can in a 10-hour day.
"He just was so much more effective at getting things done, making changes in management where they were needed, helping people that needed help someplace, but just all kinds of ways,” he told the Journal.
Buffett added that it was unfair not to put Greg in the job. “The more years that Berkshire gets out of Greg, the better,” Buffett added.
The Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) said his own talent for investing has not diminished and he “will be useful here if there’s a panic in the market because I don’t get fearful when things go down in price or everybody else gets scared.”
On Berkshire’s massive $348 billion cash pile, Buffett said, “Able will have ideas about where money should be invested.”