Warren Buffett went viral, stacked cash, and dropped a bombshell in 2025. Here are 6 highlights of his last year as CEO.

Buffett penned his yearly shareholder letter in February, foreshadowing his departure by talking up two of his planned successors, Greg Abel and Todd Combs.

He hailed Abel, Berkshire's non-insurance boss and his pick for Berkshire's next CEO, for his honesty and decisiveness. He praised Geico CEO Todd Combs — also one of Buffett's two investment managers, hired to eventually take over Berkshire's portfolio — for swinging the auto insurer from a pre-tax underwriting loss of $1.9 billion in 2022 to a $7.8 billion profit in 2024.

"Geico was a long-held gem that needed major repolishing," Buffett wrote, hailing the improvement under Combs as "spectacular."

Buffett touted Berkshire's tax payments during his tenure, noting the company had gone from paying zero income tax to almost $27 billion in 2024, the most of any US company in history.

He urged the federal government to "spend it wisely," saying it should go toward helping people who "get the short straws in life."

Buffett went viral during the market correction in March, as followers lauded his prescience in reducing core positions such as Apple and Bank of America and amassing a record cash pile before stocks slumped.

Social media was filled with people parroting Buffett's advice to "be greedy when others are fearful," and sharing memes about him celebrating or being nonchalant about the sell-off.

By late March, Berkshire shares were up 16% for the year while the benchmark S&P 500 index was down 2%, reflecting the conglomerate's appeal as a safe haven and Buffett's reputation for capitalizing on crises.

Tens of thousands of people descended on Buffett's hometown of Omaha in May for Berkshire's shareholder weekend, not knowing they were about to witness history.

As usual, Buffett held court for hours in an arena filled with his followers. He hailed Geico's turnaround, defended Berkshire's cash hoard, advocated for free trade, warned AI investments could temper returns, and voiced his confidence in Berkshire and America.

In the closing minutes of the Q&A, Buffett revealed he would step down.

"I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end," he said.

Buffett said he would continue to "hang around" at Berkshire and might be useful on occasion, but the "final word would be what Greg said — in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be."

After a lengthy standing ovation, Buffett quipped that his shareholders were either applauding his contributions to Berkshire or celebrating his departure.

"The enthusiasm shown by the audience's response can be interpreted in two ways," he said. "But I'll take it as positive. Thank you."

Buffett turned his Thanksgiving message into a love letter to Omaha, in which he reflected on how lucky he's been in life, and thanked the many people who helped him succeed.

The billionaire gifted Berkshire shares worth about $1.4 billion in total to four of his family's foundations, and said he would accelerate his giving as he wanted his children, now in their 60s and 70s, to distribute virtually his entire fortune.

Buffett hailed Abel as a worthy successor, saying he couldn't think of anyone better to "handle your savings and mine." He also encouraged readers to learn from their mistakes, choose good role models, live up to their desired obituaries, and care for others.

"When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world," he wrote. "Kindness is costless but also priceless."

Buffett and his team struggled to find bargains once again in 2025 as stocks marched to record highs.

Berkshire sold a net $11 billion of stocks in the first nine months of the year, marking 12 straight quarters as a net seller. It has skipped buybacks for five quarters in a row as well.

The stock sales and lack of spending helped increase its cash pile, after substracting payables for Treasury purchases, to a record $358 billion as of September 30.

Buffett and his team made several tweaks to Berkshire's stock portfolio. They continued paring Apple and Bank of America, exited Citigroup, and boosted their Occidental Petroleum stake.

They also unexpectedly built a position in Google-parent Alphabet worth $4.3 billion as of September 30, after placing billion-dollar bets on Constellation Brands and UnitedHealth.

Ahead of Buffett's departure as CEO, Berkshire announced sweeping changes to its management team.

The conglomerate revealed that Combs had resigned to lead a new investment unit at JPMorgan and advise CEO Jamie Dimon.

Berkshire also appointed its first general counsel, announced finance chief Marc Hamburg would retire in June 2027 after 40 years at the company, and disclosed that Abel would be delegating responsibility for more than 30 businesses to NetJets CEO Adam Johnson, in a new role as a divisional president.

Business Insider obtained a copy of Combs' farewell letter to Geico employees, which can be read here.