At the end of this year, an unprecedented event will take place. After 55 years, one of the richest people in the world and probably the best investor in the world, Warren Buffett, is retiring (if we can call it that). He took the helm of one of the world’s largest companies back in 1970. Just to give you an idea, the average length of tenure for CEOs of companies in the S&P 500 index is 7-10 years, with the median value even lower, at around 5-6 years. Buffett is by far the longest-serving CEO among company bosses. The following infographic from March 2024 shows that Buffett has been in his position 15 years longer than the second longest-serving CEO from Blackstone. Another interesting fact is that Warren Buffett is an incredible 95 years old, while the average age of a CEO from the index is 57.

Source: Voroni, VisualCapitalist, Business Chief, Spencer Stuart
One of the fundamental pillars of Buffett’s philosophy is longevity, which he confirms with his extreme tenure at Berkshire. But what will happen to the company after he leaves? Of course, no one can answer this question with certainty at this time. There is a group of people who believe that Berkshire is synonymous with Buffett and that the company will lose its charm when he leaves. However, another group of people argue that Berkshire has enormous momentum and is built on a very stable and lasting foundation. The key figures at Berkshire have had several decades to learn everything they need to know from Buffett.

Buffett’s uniqueness lies mainly in how he managed to outperform the S&P 500 index. There are very few people who manage to outperform the market average in the long term, but Buffett was one of them. In the introductory pages of its annual report, Berkshire compares its performance with that of the S&P 500. The latest report shows that since 1965, the S&P 500 index has added 10.4% per year, which is a very nice cumulative 39,054%. However, if we look at Berkshire, the average annual performance is 19.9%, which represents a cumulative 5,502,284%. The total appreciation in Berkshire’s case is therefore almost 141 times higher.