Warren Buffett to retire from Berkshire Hathaway by year's end

Influential billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Saturday he would retire from leading his Berkshire Hathaway business group by the end of the year and that he would recommend his chosen successor Greg Abel take over.

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Buffett's success, coupled with his ability to explain his thinking in clear soundbites, has made him highly influential in the business and financial communities, earning him the nickname "The Oracle of Omaha."

Buffett indicated several years ago 62-year-old Abel would be his pick for successor.

"The time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end," Buffett, 94, told an annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, the Midwestern city where Berkshire is based.

Buffett said he believed the board of directors would be "unanimously in favor of" his recommendation.

"I would still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases, but the final word would be what Greg said in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be," he added.

Buffett transformed Berkshire Hathaway from a medium-sized textile company when he bought it in the 1960s into a giant conglomerate, now valued at more than $1 trillion and with liquid assets of $300 billion.

'WIZARD OF WALL STREET'