Greg Abel's Strategic Shift: What the New Berkshire Leader Is Signaling Beyond Warren's Era

When the calendar flipped to 2025, one of Wall Street’s most closely watched power transitions officially took place. After six decades steering Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett stepped back from the CEO role, leaving the daily operations to Greg Abel, who had previously managed the company’s non-insurance business segment since early 2018. Though Buffett retained his board chairman position, the strategic direction of this trillion-dollar powerhouse entered genuinely uncharted territory. Warren’s departure marked the end of a remarkable era—under his leadership, Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares (BRK.A) generated nearly 6,100,000% in cumulative returns alongside Charlie Munger, the legendary vice chairman who passed away in late 2023.

Yet despite publicly embracing many of Warren’s core principles—value investing, long-term portfolio construction, and opportunistic share buybacks—Greg’s opening moves suggest a notably different approach to managing Berkshire’s staggering $309 billion investment portfolio. While the company maintains roughly $382 billion in combined cash reserves, Treasury holdings, and equivalents, early signals indicate Abel’s first strategic gambit centers on pruning holdings rather than deploying fresh capital.

The Kraft Heinz Playbook: Reading Between the SEC Filing Lines

Sometimes the most revealing corporate moves happen quietly through regulatory paperwork. On January 20, Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC) filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that authorized potential disposal of up to 325 million shares from Berkshire Hathaway’s position—essentially giving the green light for a massive liquidation. Berkshire currently controls approximately 27.5% of Kraft Heinz’s roughly 1.18 billion outstanding shares, with that stake valued at approximately $7.7 billion, representing 2.5% of its total investment portfolio.

While the filing doesn’t guarantee immediate action, Securities and Exchange Commission submissions of this nature typically precede significant selling activity. The timing is particularly noteworthy given that Greg and Warren had both publicly criticized Kraft Heinz’s planned split into two separate entities announced in September 2025. The original 2015 merger between Kraft Foods and Heinz—orchestrated by Berkshire and private equity firm 3G Capital—represented a flagship consolidation strategy. Yet years of cost-cutting and brand divestitures haven’t resolved the underlying challenge: stagnant innovation and negligible organic growth.

Breaking the company into two publicly traded vehicles won’t address these fundamental weaknesses, but Greg’s apparent willingness to exit the position suggests he’s willing to accept near-term selling pressure for strategic clarity. Warren historically showed reluctance to dump his sizable Kraft Heinz stake precisely because liquidating such a massive position would likely crater the stock price. Greg, it appears, operates with fewer such reservations.

The Broader Portfolio Reduction: Apple and Bank of America in the Crosshairs

Kraft Heinz won’t be an isolated incident. The stage was already set by Warren before his transition—and Greg seems poised to accelerate the trend. Between mid-2023 and late 2025, Warren systematically trimmed Berkshire’s Apple position by 677.3 million shares, slashing the company’s stake by 74%. During the same period, he reduced Bank of America holdings by 464.8 million shares, cutting that exposure by 45%.

The common thread running through these decisions points to a fundamental concern: valuation disconnect. Apple, now Berkshire’s largest holding, trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio exceeding 33 times earnings—a far cry from the 10-to-15x multiple Warren paid when initially building the position in early 2016. What makes this premium especially hard to justify is Apple’s stagnant device sales trajectory over the past three years. Despite minimal growth outside its subscription services segment, the company’s valuation has expanded dramatically. As a value-focused investor, Greg likely sees little appeal beyond Apple’s aggressive share repurchase program.

Bank of America presents a subtler but equally compelling case for redeployment. When Warren rescued BofA’s balance sheet in August 2011, common shares traded at a 68% discount to listed book value—a classic value opportunity. By early 2026, Bank of America stock had swung to roughly a 50% premium to book value. Considering that BofA ranks among the most interest-rate-sensitive of major U.S. banks and the Federal Reserve is in rate-cutting mode, this premium pricing becomes increasingly questionable. Net interest income faces headwinds in a lower-rate environment, making the current valuation less compelling.

The Bigger Picture: Why Abel’s Selling Spree Matters

Most investors fixate on Greg Abel’s future purchases—where will the next major deployment of Berkshire’s cash mountain occur? Yet his emerging pattern of selective exits may ultimately prove far more consequential. By systematically reducing exposure to overvalued positions, Abel is signaling adherence to Warren’s fundamental tenet: don’t overpay, regardless of past success. The prospectus filing on Kraft Heinz represents the opening move in what could become a comprehensive portfolio restructuring—one that repositions Berkshire for the next market cycle rather than defending yesterday’s winners.

Whether this strategy will generate superior returns remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Greg Abel is establishing his own identity as a portfolio steward, independent of Warren’s 60-year track record. The transition from legendary founder to successor is complete—and the market should watch closely.