Warren Buffett's Letter to Shareholders 2025 (Farewell Letter) Original Text and Analysis - Top Global Cryptocurrency Exchange Platform

Warren Buffett’s Letter to Shareholders 2025 (Final Letter)

To my fellow shareholders:

Starting this year,

I will no longer write Berkshire Hathaway’s annual reports,

nor will I give lengthy speeches at the annual shareholder meetings.

As the British say,

I am going to “go quiet.”

— Well,

let’s call it that.

Greg Abel will succeed as CEO at the end of the year.

He is an excellent manager,

a tireless worker,

and an honest communicator.

I wish him a long tenure.

I will continue to talk about Berkshire Hathaway with everyone and my children through my annual “Thanksgiving Letter.”

Berkshire’s individual shareholders are a special group,

they are eager to share their wealth with those less fortunate.

I cherish this connection.

Please allow me to reflect briefly this year,

then discuss how I plan to allocate my Berkshire Hathaway shares,

and finally share some thoughts on career and life.

Reflection and Gratitude

Thanksgiving is approaching,

and I am both surprised and grateful to still be alive at 95.

When I was young,

I never imagined I would live this long.

In 1938,

I nearly died.

Back then in Omaha,

hospitals were divided into “Catholic hospitals” and “Protestant hospitals.”

Our family doctor, Harley Hotz, was a kind Catholic,

who would come to see patients with a black bag.

He called me “Little Captain,”

and charged little.

One day I had severe stomach pain,

Dr. Hotz came to see me,

saying I would be fine by the next morning.

Later he had dinner,

played a few rounds of bridge,

but he remained uneasy about my symptoms.

Late at night,

he sent me to St. Catherine’s Hospital for emergency appendectomy.

For the next three weeks,

I felt like I was in a monastery,

and I quite enjoyed this “pulpit” life.

The nurses and nuns liked me,

and I loved to talk (that was just me then).

My third-grade teacher, Madsen,

had all thirty students write me letters.

I might have thrown away the boys’ letters,

but I read the girls’ over and over.

Hospital stays also had their rewards.

Most memorable was when my Aunt Edie gave me a professional fingerprint kit.

I immediately took fingerprints of all the nuns who cared for me.

My then-“theory”—of course, absurd—was that one day a nun would commit a crime,

and the FBI would find they hadn’t taken the nuns’ fingerprints.

At that time, J. Edgar Hoover,

founder of the FBI, was a national idol,

and I fantasized he would come to Omaha to see my collection in person.

Of course, that never happened.

But ironically,

later it turned out,

I should have taken Hoover’s fingerprints—he later fell from grace due to abuse of power.

That was Omaha in the 1930s.

Back then, the most desired gifts for children were a sled,

a bicycle,

a baseball glove, or a model electric train.

Fate and the People of Omaha

I must start with Charlie Munger,

my close friend of 64 years.

In the 1930s,

Charlie lived just a street away from my current home.

In 1940,

he worked at my grandfather’s grocery store,

earning $2 for 10 hours (thriftiness runs in the Buffett family gene).

The next year, I also worked there,

but we didn’t meet until 1959.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Charlie settled in California,

but he always said Omaha shaped his life.

For over sixty years,

he has been my best teacher and “older brother.”

We have disagreements,

but never argue.

In 1958,

I bought my first—and only—house,

and I still live there today.

Two miles from my childhood home,

two blocks from my parents’ house,

a seven-minute drive to my office.

Another Omaha native is Stan Lipsey.

In 1968, he sold the Omaha Sun to Berkshire,

later I sent him to Buffalo to save the Buffalo Evening News.

He turned that originally loss-making paper into a business with over 100% annual return.

Stan lives five blocks from my house,

and his neighbor is Walter Scott—

who later sold MidAmerican Energy to Berkshire,

and served on our board for many years.

Walter was a Nebraska philanthropist,

his influence spread across the state.

There’s also Don Keough,

who lived just 100 yards across the street from me in 1959.

At that time, he was a coffee salesman,

later became CEO of Coca-Cola and a Berkshire director.

In 1985, after a disastrous launch of “New Coke,”

he bravely apologized publicly and restored the original formula—

sales then skyrocketed.

That speech remains a classic.

Like Charlie and me,

Don is from the Midwest,

enthusiastic,

frank,

a true American.

Later, there are Ajit Jain and Greg Abel,

both of whom lived in Omaha within a few blocks at the end of the last century.

It seems the water in Omaha really has some magic.

Back to Omaha

I lived in Washington for a few years as a teenager,

moved to New York in 1954,

thinking I would spend my life there.

Back then, I was under the care of Benjamin Graham,

met many friends.

But a year and a half later,

I returned to Omaha,

and never left again.

All three of my children grew up here,

attended public schools.

My father,

first wife Susie,

Charlie,

Stan Lipsey,

the Blumkin family (who run Nebraska Furniture Mart),

and Jack Linvail (who sold National Indemnity to Berkshire) all graduated from the same high school.

Luck and Life

I have benefited greatly from Omaha.

It shaped me and Berkshire,

and also shaped our luck.

The heart of America,

a great place for entrepreneurship,

living, and raising a family.

My family’s longest-lived record was 92 years,

which I broke.

Thanks to excellent Omaha doctors,

who saved my life several times.

But old age requires luck—

to avoid banana peels,

car accidents,

lightning strikes, and other mishaps every day.

Lady Luck is very unfair,

often favoring those who are already lucky.

I was born in 1930 in America,

healthy,

smart,

white,

male—thank you,

Lady Luck.

My sisters are just as smart but do not have the same opportunities.

Facing aging and the future

The “Father of Time” spares no one.

Eventually, he will win.

Though I am slower,

my eyesight declining,

I still go to the office every day.

However,

my longevity also accelerates the need to distribute my estate.

My three children are now 72, 70, and 67.

I hope that while they are still healthy and clear-headed,

they will take charge of nearly all my charitable legacy.

I will keep some Class A shares,

until shareholders trust Greg as much as they trust Charlie and me.

That won’t be too long.

My children are wise,

experienced,

judgmental,

and compassionate.

They will live longer than I do,

and can adapt more flexibly to tax or charitable policy changes.

I have never wanted to “rule after death.”

About Berkshire and Greg

My increased charitable giving does not mean I have less confidence in Berkshire’s prospects.

Greg Abel fully meets my expectations.

He understands our business and employees,

and has a strong capacity to learn.

I believe no CEO in the world is better suited to manage our company and shareholders’ funds than him.

I wish him good health and longevity.

Berkshire will be bigger and more stable in the future,

but occasionally the stock price may drop 50%.

Don’t panic,

America will rebound,

and Berkshire will too.

Final Advice

I am more satisfied with the second half of my life than the first.

Don’t blame past mistakes—learn some lessons,

and keep moving forward.

Choose good role models,

and imitate them.

Remember the story of Alfred Nobel: he misread his own obituary,

and was frightened into changing his life.

You don’t have to wait for such an accident—decide now how you want to be remembered.

Greatness is not money,

fame, or power,

but kindness.

Kindness is priceless.

Janitors and chairmen are both human.

Happy Thanksgiving—

yes,

even to those “annoying” ones; it’s never too late to improve.

Thank you, America, for the opportunities,

even if the rewards are not always fair.

Choose your role models,

and strive to be like them.

You will never be perfect,

but you can always get better.

Warren Buffett

Analysis of Buffett’s Final Letter

On November 11, 2025,

Buffett issued his last shareholder letter at Berkshire,

an 95-year-old man,

reflecting on his 95 years of luck,

his good friends,

good role models,

I read it over and over,

combining my understanding of Buffett,

feeling very touched and emotional.

"Thank you,

Lady Luck"—Buffett has always been grateful for being born with the “ovarian lottery,”

born in 1930 in America,

white,

male,

healthy,

smart,

though his sisters are equally smart,

they did not have the same opportunities.

At age eight,

he nearly died from acute appendicitis,

rescued by a doctor in Omaha,

remember, that was before antibiotics.

He did not say he achieved great success because he worked hard,

nor that he was smart and diligent enough,

to make millions of times return on investments,

only that it was luck.

Admitting the role of luck,

requires not humility,

not wisdom,

but honesty.

Honest with oneself,

honest with others,

honest with the world.

Besides being grateful for three dangerous moments,

and being blessed by Lady Luck,

Buffett has also always been grateful for his country,

especially Omaha, this inland city, and his neighbors,

Charlie Munger,

Stanley,

Pushee,

Walter,

Scott, who all live within a few blocks of his home.

They did not know each other from childhood,

but grew up working together for decades,

trusting each other,

learning from each other.

To find a truly suitable place,

one must root there,

and root deeply,

and stay long enough,

to attract enough like-minded excellent people,

so that the big tree of career can grow tall enough.

Obviously,

Berkshire led by Buffett has achieved world-renowned success in investing,

and his character,

attracted these excellent partners,

their collective effort is inseparable.

"Choose your role models,

and strive to be like them.

You will never be perfect,

but you can always get better."

Buffett is not here saying he is a role model for others,

to be learned from,

but is talking about himself,

saying he has always been learning from his role models,

striving to be like them,

he will never be perfect,

but can always improve.

Since childhood, Buffett has been interested in doing business,

buying stocks,

but he struggled to get started in investing,

until he read Graham’s “The Intelligent Investor” at age 19,

immediately took him as a teacher,

and modeled himself after him,

later, after Graham disbanded his own company,

Buffett returned from Wall Street to his hometown Omaha,

and started his partnership business.

Later, he met another role model, Fisher,

Buffett once said,

"85% of my approach is Graham,

15% is Fisher."

According to Hargreaves Lansdown, author of “The Warren Buffett Way,”

"if given the chance to do it all over again today,

Buffett might admit that his method is 50% Graham,

and 50% Fisher."

Then Buffett met Munger,

and when talking about Munger’s influence,

Buffett said Munger “transformed him from an ape into a human.”

Therefore,

Buffett has always been seeking his own role models,

and working hard to learn,

though never perfect,

always improving.

It is this humble learning attitude,

and the interaction with enough talented people,

that has allowed Buffett to continuously optimize and evolve his investment theory,

forming today’s version 2.0 of value investing.

When he took over Berkshire in 1965,

the company was worth only $12 million,

now it is one trillion dollars,

achieving an 83,000-fold increase over sixty years.