Warren Buffett Net Worth $161 Billion Ahead Of Retirement

Warren Buffett said he would hand over Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK-B) CEO job to Greg Abel. Buffett has a large retirement nest egg of $161 billion, which rose by $19 billion in 2025. Most of the increase is due to his significant stake in the company. This makes Buffett the sixth richest person in the world, just behind his friend Bill Gates ($169 billion).

Recent major market movements have slightly shaken Buffet’s belief in stocks. He is not alone. Worries about a global recession have driven people out of stocks. Some investors have even sold U.S. Treasury bonds, which are supposed to be among the safest investments in the world. The money from these sales has begun to move into cash.

At the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, he said his company had $345 billion of cash on hand. He said he was close to a “$10 billion deal” recently. For reasons he did not give, he dropped the plan. He also said he has been selling stocks recently. People cannot tell if this is due to a worry about the market or if he is waiting for lower-price entry points on stocks he already favors.

Buffett’s net worth is clearly due to the rise in Berkshire Hathaway shares this year. They are up 19%, while the S&P is off almost 7%. It is the 8th most valuable company in the world, with a market cap of $1.16 trillion.

Buffett has Berkshire holdings in about 30 stocks, some of which he has held for decades. Among them are stakes in Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO | KO Price Prediction), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), Visa (NYSE V), Chubb (NYSE: CB), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), and other public companies. Berkshire also has substantial investments in private companies, including insurance company giant GEICO and BNSF Railway, the largest freight railroad in the United States.

Buffett favors insurance companies. He owns Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, National Indemnity Company, and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, which focuses on business and commercial insurance. Describing these investments, he said, “It’s so much fun because you get the money at the start, you know, and then find out whether you’ve done something stupid later on.”