Greg Abel, the Berkshire Hathaway executive who is the presumed heir apparent to CEO Warren Buffett, has purchased Berkshire stock worth $24.6 million, according to an article in Barron’s. With this latest purchase, Abel’s stake in the conglomerate is now about $105 million. Abel snapped up 55 class A shares for $447,259, bringing his A shares total to 228 shares, in addition to the 2,263 class B shares that he already owns.
Since 2018, Abel has been the head of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, and he bought the shares on the same day that Berkshire released its proxy, which revealed a new requirement that board members must own “a significant investment in Berkshire shares relative to their resources for at least three years,” the article reports. Before his $68 million purchase of stock last fall, Abel would not have met that requirement; previously, he only owned 5 class A shares as well as the aforementioned class B shares, worth less than $3 million. Over the last three years, Abel has been paid more than $19 million per year for his work, though Berkshire doesn’t compensate their executives in stock grants; executives must buy Berkshire stock on the open market.
Abel could be in a position to buy even more stock in the company. Last year, he sold back his 1% stake in Berkshire Hathaway Energy for $870 million, a sale that could have netted him more than $600 million after taxes. Abel’s recent stock purchase was made through his Gregory Abel Revocable Trust on behalf of his family, according to Barron’s.
