Warren Buffett said on Saturday he will step down as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway by year's end.The board has voted to make Greg Abel, now a vice chair at the company, its CEO and president.Abel is expected to maintain Buffett's existing investment approach.

Berkshire Hathaway’s board of directors has voted unanimously to appoint Greg Abel as chief executive, with Warren Buffett remaining chair of the group he built from almost scratch into a $1.2tn conglomerate.

Warren Buffett has done what he can to prepare his successor at Berkshire Hathaway. But there is one thing that can’t be simply handed off: the Buffett brand.