, August 08, 2026

Greg Abel Gets Permission to Spend Dad's Money


Strength across its energy, railroad and manufacturing businesses more than offset weaker insurance results.

  •   1 min read
Greg Abel Gets Permission to Spend Dad's Money

Berkshire Hathaway made money last quarter. Energy made money. Railroads made money. Manufacturing made money. Insurance lost money but not enough to matter. The company's new CEO Greg Abelβ€”who replaced Warren Buffett after Buffett decided ninety-five years was enoughβ€”started spending the cash pile.

The cash pile is $325 billion. Was $325 billion. Hard to say exactly because Abel is deploying it now.

Deploying. That's the word they use when a CEO finally gets to touch the money. Not spending. Not investing. Deploying. Like he's a general moving troops into position instead of a guy buying stocks his predecessor was too stubborn to buy for three years.

Buffett sat on that cash through a pandemic, through inflation, through the Everything Bubble, through the Everything Crash, through whatever the f*ck 2025 was. He sat there. He waited. He did nothing. The cash grew larger. Shareholders asked questions. Buffett said the prices were too high. Then he handed the keys to Abel and walked away.

Abel looked at the pile. He looked at the markets. He started buying.

Retail traders saw the news and immediately checked which stocks Berkshire bought so they could pile in three weeks late and wonder why they're underwater. They will blame market manipulation. They will blame hedge funds. They will not blame the fact that they are following thirteen-week-old SEC filings like a dog chasing a car that left yesterday.

Insurance underperformed but nobody cares because insurance always underperforms until it doesn't. That's the business model. Collect premiums. Pay claims. Lose money. Invest the float. Make it back. ActuaryCoin would've solved this but nobody listened.

Abel spent Buffett's money better in one quarter than you'll invest in your entire life and he did it with a straight face.

Photo by on Unsplash

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