Buffett's associate is leaving Berkshire. Buying a stake in Google may have been his idea

One of the main associates of billionaire Warren Buffett Todd Combs will leave Berkshire Hathaway and move to JPMorgan Chase, according to Berkshire's announcement. JPMorgan confirmed Combs' appointment. His departure from Berkshire raises questions about how the company's portfolio will be managed in the transition period after Buffett steps down as CEO.

Combs now serves as Berkshire's investment manager and CEO of Geico, one of the group's key auto insurance assets. Combs was considered Buffett's "investment protégé" on Wall Street, the Financial Times notes.

JPMorgan said Combs will start work in January 2026. Combs has been a member of the bank's board of directors since 2016, but will now step down to fulfill his new responsibilities. The manager will head the $10 billion Strategic Investment Group, which was created as part of the Security and Resiliency initiative to invest in companies (mostly U.S.) operating in four strategic areas, including defense, energy security and technology.

"JPMorgan, as usual, made a good decision," Buffett said, his words quoted in a Berkshire statement.

Berkshire has announced several more management reshuffles. In particular, CFO Mark Hamburg will retire in June 2027. He worked with Buffett for 40 years, CNBC noted.

Combs ran a small hedge fund called Castle Point before Berkshire, and joined Buffett's company in 2010 after he wrote to Buffett's partner and friend Charlie Munger and asked to meet with him, the Financial Times reported. As Buffett stepped away from managing Berkshire's huge portfolio, Combs gradually took on an increasingly important role in the company's investment decisions - along with another manager, Ted Weschler, the newspaper said.

It was probably Combs or Weschler who were behind Berkshire Hathaway's decision to buy a stake in Internet giant Alphabet, which owns Google, although such a decision likely required Buffett's approval, CNBC wrote. In addition, it was Combs and Weschler who were behind several other Berkshire investments in the technology sector, including the purchase of Amazon shares in 2019, the network claimed.

Combs and Weschler manage about 10% of Berkshire's $300 billion portfolio, while the rest is still managed by Buffett, Barron's wrote in mid-November. When they joined Berkshire more than a decade ago, Buffett said they would be the ones to lead portfolio management when he stepped aside. However, he then leaned toward Greg Abel's candidacy, which raised questions about the future of Weschler and Combs, Barron's noted. It was Abel that Buffett chose as his successor as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway: he will lead the company from January 1, 2026.

Combs' departure raises questions about how Berkshire's large stakes in companies including Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola will be managed, CNBC added.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor