From Omaha to Davos: Why Buffett’s exit looks ideal and Schwab’s feels chaotic

Key topics:

• Warren Buffett and Klaus Schwab both retire after decades leading major institutions.

• Buffett’s smooth succession contrasts with Schwab’s abrupt, troubled exit.

• Buffett’s shareholder meetings and Schwab’s Davos forum attract global followers.

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By Barry D. Wood*

In many ways these two titans of finance and economics – Warren Buffett and Klaus Schwab – are a lot alike.  The Oracle of Omaha is approaching 95 and handing over leadership of Berkshire Hathaway after 60 years. Klaus Schwab, 87, the King of Davos, is leaving the World Economic Forum which he founded 55 years ago.

Warren Buffett and Klaus Schwab host annual events which attract thousands.  Buffett’s Berkshire shareholders meeting—the Woodstock of capitalism– is about investing: an opportunity for the faithful to learn directly from the master.

They come from everywhere to Omaha, Nebraska, literally in the middle of America, for a single day of listening to Buffett answering questions.  It’s been this way for decades.

Schwab, born German but a decades-long Swiss resident, gathers his devotees on the magic mountain ski village in the Alps and keeps them there for three days each January. The great and good from every continent pay thousands to hear thinkers and celebrities ruminate on global challenges. The forum’s mantra is “improving the state of the world.”

I’ve been lucky enough to have been nine times to Omaha for Buffett’s shindig. Similarly, I’ve been eight times to the WEF in Davos.  Interestingly, it’s not easy to get to either venue.

Challenge

To reach Omaha you typically fly via Chicago or Kansas City.  Davos is a bigger challenge. From Zurich airport, you make your way to the main train station and then travel east for more than an hour to Landquart. There you change to a branch line train that climbs for an hour into the Alps before reaching Davos Platz. Altogether it’s at least four hours from airport to destination.

For both men, 2025 marks the end of an era, but there are significant differences in the transitions.  Buffett’s exit is a case study in doing it right.

Succession planning went on for a decade, and by 2021 it was known that 63-year-old Canadian-born Greg Abel would ascend to the top job.  A 25-year Berkshire executive, Abel ran the conglomerate’s energy business and more recently all its non-insurance operations.

Berkshire owns over 60 companies outright and has big stakes in leading companies like Coca Cola, Apple, and several big banks.  At this year’s meeting Abel shared the dais with Buffett.

Problematic

Schwab’s departure is more problematic and could be a disaster. He had wanted a phased transition before fully retiring in 2027.  But employee accusations of harassment and financial irregularities including $1 million in questionable expenses prompted Schwab’s abrupt resignation in April.

An outside report confirms misconduct, prompting Schwab to protest that he had been deceived. His and the forum’s reputation and legacy have been tarnished. A successor has not yet been chosen. Schwab has intimated that current European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde is interested.

Both Schwab and Buffett have made major contributions. While Schwab didn’t invent the term globalization, he popularized it and brought this apt description of modern trade into our vocabulary. Here in the States. it’s common for the political right to demonize “the Davos man,” but this is unfair.

Further, relationships are formed and nurtured at Davos and not just among the rich. Schwab has done much to bring the third world—Africa and Latin America—into the global dialogue.  Davos is the biggest annual news event in Europe.

One of a kind

Having interviewed Warren Buffett for Voice of America television, I call him one of a kind.  What you see is what you get. He is modest, living in the same Omaha home that he purchased at age 28. He really does dine regularly at McDonalds. Berkshire’s headquarters is similarly modest: two floors in a downtown building. Its corporate staff numbers 25.  By contrast, the World Economic Forum occupies a sprawling campus overlooking Lake Geneva, and employs 600 people.

Buffett is worth $150 billion and is regularly cited among the world’s richest people. He intends to give almost all his money away, much of it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Schwab’s wealth is not publicly disclosed, but it is estimated to be as much as $1 billion.

I don’t think we’ve heard the last of these luminaries. Buffett has already said he will be at the 2026 annual meeting, seated not on the stage but in a front row with other Berkshire board members.  Schwab?  That’s a different story. But I would suspect he won’t simply fade away.

Washington writer *Barry D. Wood for two decades was chief economics correspondent at Voice of America News

This article was originally published by Daily Friend and has been republished with permission.