Warren Buffett’s advice on investing and business reached tens of millions of people during his long run at Berkshire Hathaway. But it is Buffett’s success in making shareholder letters sing that might have left the biggest mark on a particular cohort of his fans: fellow CEOs.
Buffett retired as Berkshire’s CEO in December, handing off his role as top executive (and shareholder-letter writer) to Greg Abel. Executives say Buffett, who infused his letters with his wit and personal anecdotes that often veered from the requisite review of Berkshire’s operations, elevated a dreary convention of corporate America and set a new standard. For those willing to step up their own letter-writing game, it can mean a lot more work.
“It’s hard,” said Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase and the writer of more than 20 shareholder letters. “I’m happy when it’s birthed.”
Dimon read investors Benjamin Graham and David Dodd’s book “Security Analysis” as a young man, which featured a foreword written by Buffett. Later, he discovered the letters Buffett wrote annually to shareholders of Berkshire and the investing partnership he ran before he took over the company.
What always struck him about Buffett’s writing, Dimon said, was his talent for explaining complex financial concepts in plain English. “I write it for people like my sisters,” Buffett told the Journal in 2016. “They’re smart, they read a lot, they have a lot invested in the company. They don’t know all the financial jargon, but they don’t want to be treated like 5-year-olds.”
“I’ve always tried to emulate that,” Dimon said.
Buffett’s letters could continue for more than a dozen pages, and their readership extended beyond Berkshire shareholders. Indeed, many of the Oracle of Omaha’s oft-quoted aphorisms found in past annual letters are applicable to investors in just about anything. His wise words included, “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful,” and “never bet against America,” among others.
Of course, writing in a way that makes the complex easy to understand isn’t as easy as it looks.
Dimon said his own process takes months. He tries to finish an outline for his letter before his January vacation, writes during weekends and fact-checks his words with employees across JPMorgan’s vast financial empire.
Tom Gayner, chief executive of holding company Markel Group, which has been called a “mini-Berkshire,” said he writes the bulk of his letters in the quiet period between Christmas and New Year’s Day before his wife edits them. He draws inspiration from Buffett’s letters, and tries to emulate his clear writing style, he said.
“I just think he’s a marvelous teacher,” Gayner said.
Buffett’s letters grew more popular beyond just Berkshire shareholders around Black Monday in 1987, said Lawrence Cunningham, author of “The Essays of Warren Buffett,” a book compiling Buffett’s letters. The stock-market crash led investors to speculate whether poorly designed automatic trading or other market-structure minutiae were to blame for the abrupt selloff. Many turned to Buffett during the confusion.
“That was just a huge conversation, and Warren was a critical voice in helping to explain what happened,” said Cunningham.
For Buffett, one of the most difficult aspects was accepting feedback. Carol Loomis, a former Fortune journalist and friend of Buffett who was among the first reporters to cover him, edited his letters for decades, starting in 1977.
At first, Buffett sent Loomis his draft via FedEx, with the pair discussing her edits over the phone. But Buffett, used to being his own boss, said he had a difficult time accepting her feedback. Also, he said, she added way too many commas.
“My first reaction would be to get irritated, which is totally inappropriate,” Buffett said by phone from his Omaha office. In his defense, Buffett said, “that’s the way you get when you’re writing.”
Loomis edited Buffett’s letters until 2024. Now, the pair play bridge against each other most Monday evenings over the computer. Buffett said those matches are friendlier than their previous spars over punctuation. “I finally matured a little bit, at 95,” he said.
Berkshire’s Greg Abel published his first shareholder letter in February. In the run-up to its debut, Abel had joked that writing it had been the most difficult challenge he had confronted during his first two months as CEO.
The early returns were positive. Abel said he received encouraging texts from friends and colleagues after the letter was published on Berkshire’s website.
Abel, though, gave himself little time to bask in the praise for his 2025 letter; he remembered he’d have to write another by February 2027.
“That was an enormous task,” Abel said of his experience. “Warren said ‘well, it doesn’t get any easier. The second letter will be as difficult and challenging.’”
Write to Krystal Hur at krystal.hur@wsj.com