Greg Abel became an American citizen at a minor league baseball game in Des Moines. The man who will inherit the largest cash pile in corporate America swore allegiance to the flag in front of a crowd that paid twelve dollars for parking.
He stood with two dozen other people from sixteen countries. They all dressed up for the Iowa Cubs. Abel wore a suit to a Triple-A game because when you're worth nine figures you don't own jeans anymore.
The ceremony happened Thursday night between innings. Some guy from Guatemala and the future CEO of Berkshire Hathaway both raised their right hands while a dad in section 114 explained to his son why the nachos cost eleven dollars. Democracy in action.
Abel has lived in Iowa since the 1990s. Took him thirty years to file the paperwork. Maybe he was busy. Maybe he forgot. Maybe he was waiting to see if Buffett would actually die first.
Born in Edmonton in 1962. Moved to Iowa. Ran MidAmerican Energy. Climbed the ladder at Berkshire. Never bothered with citizenship until someone at corporate probably told him it would look weird if the CEO of America's most famous conglomerate still carried a Canadian passport.
The Iowa Cubs host this ceremony every year. It's a promotion. They give out foam fingers afterward. Abel now owns the same foam finger as a nurse from Somalia and a line cook from Vietnam. He will never touch it again.
Retail traders will read this headline and think it means something about Berkshire's succession plan. It does not. It means a billionaire went to a baseball game and filled out Form N-400 like everyone else. The stock will not move. Your calls will still expire worthless. But at least Abel can vote now, which is more than you can say for your portfolio's chance of recovery.
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