Berkshire shares fall as Buffett names Abel CEO of $1.16 trillion empire

Berkshire Hathaway shares fell 2 per cent in premarket trading after famed investor Warren Buffett said he would step down as CEO of the $1.16 trillion conglomerate after leading it for 60 years, reports Reuters.

The company's board voted unanimously to name Vice Chairman Greg Abel as president and CEO starting next year and Buffett as chairman, it said on Monday.

The decision to hand over the reins to Abel was first announced by Buffett at Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday.

Berkshire, which owns railroads, insurance companies and an ice-cream maker, has been planning for decades for the eventuality when Buffett, 94, who has run the company since 1965, is no longer there.

Still, the timing of his announcement came as a surprise as the Oracle of Omaha had not before signaled a clear intention on when to step aside.

Class B shares of the conglomerate dipped to $528.80, putting them on course to wipe out billions of dollars in market value if losses hold through the session. They have jumped about 33 per cent in the past year, outperforming the 12 per cent gain in the S&P 500.