The Berkshire Hathaway board of directors will keep Warren Buffett as its chairman and appointed Greg Abel as new company president and CEO to replace 94-year-old Buffett.

Billionaire Warren Buffett will remain chairman of Berkshire Hathaway after Greg Abel takes over as CEO at the start of the new year.

Warren Buffett shook the investment world on Saturday with four words: "The time has arrived." At 94, Buffett's pronouncement that he will step back from CEO duties and hand the reins to Abel — which the company made official with a unanimous vote on Sunday — is less a shock than a matter of necessity.