Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway doesn't pay, can Greg Abel, the next chief executive, change that?

For years, co-founder and lifelong friend Warren Buffett and the late Charlie Munger were determined – despite the controversy, Berkshire Hathaway would not have a dividend.

But with the change of the Protection Agency, there is no clear investment plan, it is speculated that House sergeant Greg Abel may provide shareholders with nearly $350 billion in cash reserves.

Warren Buffett: “…you will be better for every dollar we keep…”

It is worth noting that under Warren Buffet, who was S&P's longest CEO in 500 years, co-founder Charlie Munger, Berkshire's problem only had one dividend in 1967. Billionaire investors were cited and said the decision “looks like a bad dream.”

Omaha’s Oracle answered the question of their decision at the 1997 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, explaining: “We don’t pay dividends because we think we can waste every dollar of every dollar in market value of more than one dollar.”

He added: “If we can create more than one dollar of market capitalization for every dollar per dollar, whether you want to sell a small portion of the stock or continue to cancel it or continue to give up. That's the test.”

He explained that if See’s Candy was an independent company, it would pay a “very large” dividend because the business would not allow the use of funds “smartly, expand the business”. But the money is integrated throughout the Berkshire Hathaway program and can have reasonable good prospects for smart use. “The dividend policy should really depend on the value of the remaining dollar in the business to shareholders more than the value paid by a dollar,” he stressed.

Charlie Munger jokes about the people who paid: “They're wrong”

After Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger made a lighthearted tone to emphasize that Berkshire’s decision was against the grain. “It’s interesting that you’re going to take such a simple standard: if you’re worth more than (given).

“Why do we (Munger and Buffett) have a simple idea, and they have one? Time and time again, I'm trying to understand why they think they are, and I have a lot of difficulties with that. I just concluded that they were wrong,” he said, laughing from the crowd.

Is Warren Buffett-Charlie Munger's strategy rewarding?

Yes, spectacular! According to a Bloomberg report, Berkshire Hathaway's stock return on value per share was 55,02,284% during the 60-year period from 1964 to 2024. If scaled based on the S&P 500 S&P stock index (including dividends), the return of 39,054% or nearly 20% of age is nearly twice that of the S&P (S&P) in the same period (1964-2024).

It added that as of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway is also the most valuable company in the world, not a tech giant or oil producer. Until 2024, all Berkshire companies collectively claim to have 392,396 employees.

Its market capitalization is $1.2 trillion, ranking eighth in the global public market. In addition, Warren Buffett's Class A shares are worth $167 billion.

Can Greg Abel change the “dividend-free” policy?

This will boil down to Greg Abel's performance as CEO. Specifically, how much return he can provide to investors, rather than dividends would be better.

Internally, Warren Buffett (who will continue to serve as chairman), the board (who voted to approve Greg Abel as CEO), and Berkshire executives of its 180 businesses expressed confidence in Greg Abel. However, according to Warren Buffet biographer Alice Schroeder, Greg Abel was keenly watched. “Abel is a business leader and he is not responsible for investing. It will be one of his biggest challenges and the board,” she told Bloomberg.

Berkshire Hathaway shareholder Cole Smead said in the publication that Greg Abel “struggled” to answer Questons about his capital allocation strategy during his last annual general meeting. “I think like Charlie and Warren, he would look back at a time in his life and tell about what he's going through with investing. He didn't,” Smead noted.

Greg Abel himself said he would follow the culture established by Munger-Buffett. So, let's look at Warren Buffett's own words again at the 1997 shareholder meeting: “…In our own case, we may have been too long, and we concluded that we are not using it effectively (reserving money) because we go through a certain denial because we go through a certain denial, and we'll say, “Okay, this is our approach, but we'll do our best.” ”

So, for now, waiting to be viewed.