By Pritam Biswas
Bengaluru /New York — Berkshire Hathaway announced a management shakeup on Monday, weeks before Warren Buffett hands control to Greg Abel, with a key executive departing for JPMorgan Chase to support its US investment project, alongside other leadership changes at the conglomerate.
The company’s veteran finance chief Marc Hamburg, who joined in 1987, will retire on June 1 2027 after four decades at the conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway said.
Investment manager Todd Combs will leave to head the strategic investment group of JPMorgan’s new security and resiliency initiative, according to the bank.
Charles Chang, CFO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, will succeed Hamburg next year.
“Marc has been indispensable to Berkshire and to me. His integrity and judgment are priceless,” Buffett said in a statement.
Abel’s transition to CEO on January 1 closes Buffett’s extraordinary six decades heading Berkshire Hathaway, where he became a household name, a multibillionaire and an American success story.
“Abel is positioning trusted lieutenants and fresh talent to balance continuity with modernisation at Berkshire; instilling changes under the eye of Buffet as chair allows him to make his mark while showing shareholders that the Oracle of Omaha approves,” said Michael Ashley Schulman, the chief investment officer at Running Point Capital.
Warren Buffett, the 95-year-old investor, is known for his market instincts and long-held nickname “the Oracle of Omaha”.
Combs and another Berkshire investment manager, Ted Weschler, were once expected to take over the company’s equity portfolio, having helped Buffett invest in stocks, but the CEO had in recent years said Abel could handle it.
The appointments underscore Berkshire’s tradition of choosing leaders who uphold its culture, show strong business judgment and support its distinctive operating model, the company said, adding it remains well positioned for the future.
Berkshire Hathaway also announced changes in its insurance and non-insurance operations and named Michael O’Sullivan as the general counsel, marking the creation of a new position at the company.
However, the lot of non-insurance businesses — including industrial products, building products, BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Pilot and McLane — will remain under Abel’s direct oversight once he takes over as CEO.
At JPMorgan, Combs will partner with the firm’s Commercial & Investment Bank and Asset & Wealth Management units to pursue opportunities spanning middle-market and large corporate clients in defence, aerospace, healthcare and energy, the bank said.
Earlier this year, the Wall Street giant launched its Security and Resiliency Initiative, a $1.5-trillion, decade-long plan to support industries deemed vital to US economic security and resilience.
JPMorgan has assembled a top-tier government, defence, tech, and industrial brain trust for its SRI advisory council that should well understand the interplay of Washington, DC, politics, government contractors, and corporate America.
— Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital
As part of the programme, the bank said it will commit up to $10bn in direct equity and venture capital investments to help selected US companies expand growth, drive innovation and accelerate strategic manufacturing.
Separately, JPMorgan Chase said it has set up an external advisory council of public- and private-sector leaders to help steer the bank’s Security and Resiliency Initiative.
The council will be chaired by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, and include members such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Combs will also be a part of this advisory council.
“JPMorgan has assembled a top-tier government, defence, tech, and industrial brain trust for its SRI advisory council that should well understand the interplay of Washington, DC, politics, government contractors, and corporate America,” Schulman said.
Combs, who previously served on the JPMorgan board, will join the bank in January and report to Dimon.
