Warren – Our Story Insight

Warren blasts CFPB director Vought for undermining Trump credit card affordability

admin — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 14:53:24 +0000

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought.

Kevin Mohatt | Kevin Lamarque | | Reuters

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday accused the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of undermining President Donald Trump’s stated push to make credit cards more affordable, according to a letter obtained exclusively by CNBC.

In a letter to acting CFPB Director Russell Vought, Warren, D-Mass., noted that in the last year the agency has dropped a rule limiting credit card late fees, sided with lenders in lawsuits over deceptive practices and paused enforcement actions against the industry.

Earlier this month, Trump demanded in a social media post that U.S. banks voluntarily cap credit card interest rates at 10% for a year. When they didn’t, Trump this week called on lawmakers to pass legislation on the issue.

“I spoke with President Trump last week and told him that Congress could pass legislation to cap credit card rates, if he would fight for it,” Warren wrote in her letter to Vought.

“While Congress considers legislation to address the issue, your own actions are directly undermining the President’s stated goals,” she wrote. “Under your leadership, the CPFB has taken steps to make it easier—not harder—for big banks and credit card companies to rip off Americans.”

The letter from Warren seizes on Trump’s pivot to affordability and seeks to leverage his initiative against his own administration, escalating tensions over the financial regulatory agency that she helped to create under the Obama administration. Members of the Trump administration have sought to shutter the CFPB as part of a broader pro-business deregulatory agenda.

Current and former CFPB employees have said the agency is on life support under Vought, who has fought in court to enact mass layoffs and stop the agency’s funding.

An agency spokesperson said that the CFPB was disallowed from limiting credit card rates by the Dodd Frank Act.

Vought should be “using the full scope of [the CFPB’s] authorities to address excessive credit card costs and to crack down on bad actors,” instead of trying to dismantle the agency, Warren wrote.

She directed Vought to “immediately reinstate its rule capping credit card late fees at $8, which would save Americans more than $10 billion annually,” Warren said.

She contended Vought should also tamp down on deceptive practices around the industry’s deferred interest promotions, resume enforcement of rules around monitoring interest rate increases, respond to a mounting pile of consumer complaints, and halt bait-and-switch tactics with rewards programs.

“Either President Trump is not serious about making credit cards more affordable or you are insubordinately disregarding his direction,” she wrote.

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Berkshire Hathaway hikes salary of CEO Greg Abel, Warren Buffett’s successor, to $25M

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 08:42:41 +0000

Berkshire Hathaway said Tuesday it raised the salary of new Chief Executive Greg Abel to $25 million, far exceeding the $100,000 annual salary that his predecessor Warren Buffett accepted for more than four decades.

Abel, 63, became chief executive on Jan. 1, after spending eight years as vice chairman overseeing Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses.

His compensation was set by Buffett during that period, and included a $21 million salary in 2024, a $20 million salary in 2023, and a $16 million salary plus a $3 million bonus in 2022.

Greg Abel, 63, became chief executive on Jan. 1, after spending eight years as vice chairman overseeing Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses. REUTERS

Buffett awarded Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, who oversees Berkshire’s insurance businesses, the same amounts from 2022 to 2024. Abel’s and Jain’s compensation for 2025 has not been disclosed.

Buffett, 95, ran Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire for more than 60 years.

He built it into a more than $1 trillion conglomerate with nearly 200 businesses including Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad and an array of other insurance, energy, manufacturing and retail operations.

Abel with Warren Buffett at last year’s annual meeting. AP

Buffett remains Berkshire’s chairman and one of the world’s richest people. During his leadership, Berkshire had said in regulatory filings that its executive compensation program was “different” from that at most public companies.

Abel also owns about $171 million of Berkshire stock, and in 2022 sold his 1% stake in the Berkshire Hathaway Energy business to Berkshire for $870 million.

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Warren asks FTC to consider blocking Dick’s-Foot Locker merger

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 15:42:25 +0000

Foot Locker and Dick’s Sporting Good stores.

Reuters

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling on the FTC and DOJ to consider blocking Dick’s Sporting Goods’ proposed acquisition of Foot Locker, writing in a letter to the agencies that the merger could cut jobs, raise prices and reduce competition.

The missive, sent Tuesday evening, asks the agencies to “closely scrutinize” the $2.4 billion merger and “block the deal” if they determine it violates antitrust laws. Warren, D-Mass., argues in the letter, which was seen by CNBC, that the tie-up could create a duopoly in sneakers and other athletic shoes between the combined companies and its next largest competitor, JD Sports.

“This is particularly concerning given that more than half of parents ‘plan to sacrifice necessities, such as groceries,’ because of rising prices for back-to-school shopping,” Warren wrote, citing a July survey from Credit Karma. “Higher prices on athletic footwear could lead to further economic hardship for parents.”

Warren said the risks of the merger are compounded by the rapidly consolidating athletic shoe store sector. Britain’s JD Sports has set its eyes on the U.S. as its biggest growth market and, since 2018, has been on a buying spree, snapping up smaller competitors like Finish Line, Shoe Palace, DTLR and Hibbett.

If Dick’s Sporting Goods’ acquisition of Foot Locker is approved, two companies – JD Sports and the combined entity – would own 5,000 athletic shoe stores in the U.S., which could squeeze smaller businesses, Warren said.

“Dick’s and Foot Locker currently compete with each other and with independent retailers to secure deals with suppliers. The new giant would have significantly increased power to extract favorable conditions with manufacturers,” she wrote. “This could mean that independent retailers are at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiating with suppliers, which could give Dick’s and Foot Locker an incentive to engage in anticompetitive conduct to restrict suppliers from dealing with independent retailers.”

Under President Joe Biden, the Federal Trade Commission took an aggressive approach to mergers and quashed a number of high-profile planned tie-ups, including Tapestry’s proposed acquisition of Capri and Kroger’s bid to acquire Albertson’s. When President Donald Trump took office in January, many on Wall Street expected that his administration would make it easier for larger mergers to be approved.

So far, his administration has approved at least one deal previously blocked by Biden – Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel – but it’s unclear how new leadership at the FTC and Department of Justice will view mergers in the retail industry, which can be felt more acutely by consumers.

Amanda Lewis, who spent close to a decade scrutinizing mergers at the FTC and is now a partner at Cuneo Gilbert and LaDuca, previously told CNBC the merger is unlikely to raise many concerns because combined, Dick’s and Foot Locker would represent around 15% of the sporting goods market.

“Usually below 30% doesn’t raise too many agency red flags,” said Lewis.

Lewis said she expects the merger to be approved and at most, Dick’s could be required to divest some of its stores to competitors to preserve competition in local markets. The number of stores it would potentially need to divest could be lower and perhaps more palatable under Trump’s FTC than Biden’s, said Lewis.

The FTC declined comment. The DOJ didn’t return a request for comment.

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Who Is Gregory Abel, Warren Buffett’s Successor?

admin — Sun, 04 May 2025 15:36:34 +0000

Investors had speculated in recent years that Warren E. Buffett might eventually retire. But the 94-year-old billionaire still surprised many on Saturday, when he announced that he planned to step down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway after nearly six decades.

Less surprising is who he said he intended to succeed him as the leader of the $1.1 trillion conglomerate he built: Gregory E. Abel, his yearslong heir apparent.

Who is Greg Abel?

Since 2018, Mr. Abel, 62, has been vice chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance companies, the 189 operating businesses that include the BNSF railroad, one of the nation’s largest; Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a giant power utility; restaurant chains and retailers like Dairy Queen and the Borsheims jewelry chain; consumer brands such as Fruit of the Loom underwear, Brooks running shoes and Justin Boot; NetJets, the private jet service; and more.

Mr. Abel’s vast responsibilities came after a steady rise through Berkshire’s ranks. A native of Edmonton, Alberta, and an accountant by training, he joined the conglomerate in 2000 when Mr. Buffett bought a controlling stake in what was MidAmerican Energy, where he was president.

Mr. Abel was named vice chairman of Berkshire in 2018, anointing him as a potential successor to Mr. Buffett, a status that Mr. Buffett confirmed in 2021. “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning,” Mr. Buffett told CNBC at the time.

Aside from his work experience, Mr. Abel is known for his love of hockey, which he played as a child: He is a volunteer coach for his son’s team in Des Moines, where he lives and where Berkshire Hathaway Energy is based.

Why did he get the nod?

The relatively low-profile Mr. Abel has won praise from Mr. Buffett and others in the Berkshire orbit over the years for two key qualities.

The first is his operating expertise. He helped lead a string of acquisitions that turned MidAmerican — renamed Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2014 — into a major power producer. Since his elevation in 2018, he has overseen a much broader collection of businesses that together reported more than $5 billion in operating earnings in the first three months of this year.

Mr. Buffett has praised his heir apparent as an effective executive whom he trusted to make big decisions. By 2023, Mr. Buffett told CNBC, Mr. Abel “does all the work and I take all the bows.” The billionaire added, “He’s a big improvement on me, but don’t tell anybody.”

Mr. Abel’s other quality is that he is seen as fitting the Berkshire mold. He became a more serious contender to take over the conglomerate in 2011, when David Sokol, his former boss at MidAmerican who had been known as Mr. Buffett’s chief fixer, resigned. Berkshire had concluded Mr. Sokol violated company policies by buying about $10 million in shares of Lubrizol, a maker of specialty chemicals, while orchestrating an acquisition of the company.

The lower-key Mr. Abel, however, has been seen as cut from similar cloth as Mr. Buffett. “Greg will keep the culture,” Charles T. Munger, then Berkshire’s vice chairman and Mr. Buffett’s longtime business partner, told shareholders at the company’s 2021 annual meeting. The comment immediately set off succession speculation, which Mr. Buffett confirmed days later.

Mr. Abel has assumed more public duties in recent years, including sitting onstage for hours with Mr. Buffett at Berkshire’s annual meetings to answer investors’ questions.

How is Mr. Abel expected to run Berkshire?

Though Mr. Buffett won renown as one of the most successful stock pickers of all time, his successor’s strengths lie more in running businesses. That is in part a reflection of what Berkshire is today: an empire of often-disconnected businesses that together employ more than 392,000 workers.

Mr. Abel is not expected to choose the companies that go into Berkshire’s investment portfolio — the company already has two executives, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who were hired by Mr. Buffett to help with that. But he will oversee the kinds of big deals that the conglomerate is perhaps uniquely able to strike, given the $347.7 billion in cash that it is sitting on. (Mr. Buffett has called that his “elephant gun.”)

That will present a big challenge, however. For years, Mr. Buffett has not struck those kinds of acquisitions. And he has acknowledged that Berkshire is so large that it is hard to find a takeover target big enough to meaningfully augment its earnings.

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Warren Buffett Criticizes Trump’s Trade Policies

admin — Sat, 03 May 2025 18:16:57 +0000

Warren E. Buffett took a shot at President Trump’s efforts to use tariffs to batter global commerce on Saturday, as his $1.1 trillion conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, braced for potential hits from American trade policies.

“Trade should not be a weapon,” Mr. Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting, a perennially popular event that has been nicknamed the Woodstock of capitalism. “I don’t think it’s right and I don’t think it’s wise.”

The comments by Mr. Buffett, Berkshire’s chief executive, were long awaited by the conglomerate’s shareholders, tens of thousands of whom flocked to the company’s hometown in Omaha to hear directly from the investor — particularly on Mr. Trump’s trade policies. His comments on Saturday ended what had been months of Mr. Buffett maintaining a relatively low public profile.

Mr. Buffett’s comments were especially notable as the 94-year-old billionaire acknowledged that he had previously proposed an idea to help address trade imbalances. But on Saturday, the Berkshire chief defended the broader concept of global trade flows: “We should do what we do best and they should do what they do best,” he said, drawing applause.

Fears about the consequences of the tariffs have roiled markets and affected vast swaths of American companies. That includes Berkshire, which on Saturday reported a sharp drop in first-quarter earnings.

The company reported $9.6 billion in operating income, Mr. Buffett’s preferred measure, down 14 percent from the same time a year ago. Using generally accepted accounting principles, Berkshire reported a nearly 64 percent drop in net income, largely because of paper investment losses.

But while markets have grown much more volatile in response to Mr. Trump’s whipsawing approach to trade, Mr. Buffett professed little worry about the effects of that volatility on Berkshire. “It’s really nothing,” he told shareholders, suggesting that riding out market vicissitudes was part of stock investing.

Despite Mr. Buffett’s criticism of the Trump administration’s trade policy, he again repeated his longtime praise of the United States as a fount of opportunity. “If I were being born today, I would just keep negotiating in the womb until they said you could be in the United States,” he said.

The company reported that a “majority” of its businesses had lower sales and earnings in the first three months of the year, particularly in insurance underwriting income, which was hit by losses tied to the California wildfires.

In a regulatory filing on Saturday, Berkshire warned that Mr. Trump’s trade policies were generating “considerable uncertainty,” which could affect the company’s operating results. “We are currently unable to reliably predict the potential impact on our businesses, whether through changes in product costs, supply chain costs and efficiency, and customer demand for our products and services.”

That said, net earnings at BNSF, a company owned by Berkshire, rose in the quarter, as the railroad said it benefited from higher volumes in the first three months of the year. During the period, many companies raced to stockpile goods before Mr. Trump’s tariffs took effect.

One thing that stood out was Berkshire’s cash hoard, which Mr. Buffett has often called his “elephant gun” and used to make major acquisitions, only continued to grow as the investor found few attractive opportunities of size to spend on. Berkshire’s cash pile in the quarter grew to $347.7 billion, a record.

During his question-and-answer session with shareholders at the annual meeting, Mr. Buffett acknowledged stocking up on cash to prepare for any potential buying opportunity. He revealed that he had weighed a potential $10 billion investment — but later refused to elaborate.

Mr. Buffett has also acknowledged that given Berkshire’s size, it is nearly impossible now for Berkshire to find deals that could meaningfully augment its earnings.

The conglomerate continued to be a net seller of stocks: Berkshire sold $4.68 billion worth of equity in the quarter, compared with $3.18 billion in purchases.

Berkshire is often regarded as a bellwether for corporate America, given its wide array of businesses. Besides BNSF, one of the nation’s biggest railroads, the company owns a powerful insurance operation, an energy utility, many consumer brands — from See’s Candies to Fruit of the Loom — and more.

A number of prominent corporate and business leaders were on hand on Saturday, including the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Tim Cook of Apple (which is one of Berkshire’s biggest stock holdings) and the billionaire financier William A. Ackman. Two first timers, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Priscilla Chan, the wife of Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, were also present.

Andrew Ross Sorkin contributed reporting.

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Warren Buffett breaks silence on Trump’s planned tariffs: ‘Act of war’

admin — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:44:31 +0000

Warren Buffett broke his silence on President Trump’s trade policies, comparing his planned tariffs on Canada and Mexico to an “act of war.”

The legendary investor behind Berkshire Hathaway – which has large businesses in insurance, railroads, manufacturing, energy and retail – spoke before the president moved forward with implementing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 20% on China as of midnight Tuesday.

“Actually, we’ve had a lot of experience with them [tariffs],” Buffett said during an interview with CBS News for a documentary on Katherine Graham, the late Washington Post publisher.

Warren Buffett said President Trump’s tariffs are “an act of war.” AP

“They’re an act of war, to some degree,” he added.

Canada and Mexico had threatened to respond with their own taxes before Trump paused his decision for the levies last month.

Experts have warned the tariffs could reheat inflation, particularly impacting the automotive industry and sending prices for new cars soaring as much as $12,000.

Buffett, the 94-year-old “Oracle of Omaha,” seeming agreed during the CBS News sit-down.

“Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em!” Buffett said with a laugh.

“And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say, ‘And then what?’”

US imports and exports under Trump’s tarrifs. Mike Guillen/NY Post Design

Experts have warned the controversial tariffs could reheat inflation. REUTERS

Buffett has taken on an increasingly conservative investment strategy – dumping stocks and raising a record amount of cash. REUTERS

Buffett declined to comment on the current state of the economy.

“Well, I think that’s the most interesting subject in the world, but I won’t talk, I can’t talk about it, though. I really can’t,” Buffett said.

Buffett has adopted an increasingly conservative investment strategy – dumping stocks and raising a record amount of cash.

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Health-care stocks fall after Warren PBM bill, Brian Thompson shooting

admin — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:25:23 +0000

UnitedHealth Group signage is displayed on a monitor on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of major health-care companies fell as much as 5% on Wednesday as investors feared pressure from lawmakers and patients could force changes to their business models.

The declining stocks include UnitedHealth Group, Cigna and CVS Health, which operate three of the nation’s largest private health insurers and drug supply chain middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. They also own pharmacy businesses. Shares of all three companies closed at least 5% lower.

The stock reaction on Wednesday appeared to be in response to new bipartisan legislation that aims to break up PBMs, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. PBMs have faced yearslong scrutiny from Congress and the Federal Trade Commission over allegations they inflate drug costs for patients to boost their profits.

The share moves also come as insurance companies and their practices face heightened public criticism following the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance arm, last week. Health stocks had already fallen in the days after Thompson’s killing.

A Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would force the companies that own health insurers or PBMs to divest their pharmacy businesses within three years, the Journal reported. The lawmakers told the Journal that a companion bill is scheduled to be introduced in the House on Wednesday.

“PBMs have manipulated the market to enrich themselves—hiking up drug costs, cheating employers, and driving small pharmacies out of business,” Warren said in a release. “My new bipartisan bill will untangle these conflicts of interest by reining in these middlemen.”

The release added that health-care companies that own both PBMs and pharmacies are a “gross conflict of interest that enables these companies to enrich themselves at the expense of patients and independent pharmacies.”

The largest PBMs — UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx, CVS Health’s Caremark and Cigna’s Express Scripts — are all owned by or connected to health insurers. They collectively administer about 80% of the nation’s prescriptions, according to the FTC.

PBMs sit at the center of the drug supply chain in the U.S., negotiating rebates with drug manufacturers on behalf of insurers, large employers and federal health plans. They also create lists of medications, or formularies, that are covered by insurance and reimburse pharmacies for prescriptions.

The FTC has been investigating PBMs since 2022.

— CNBC’s Bertha Coombs contributed to this report.

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Trump names billionaire banker Warren Stephens as envoy to Britain

admin — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 09:05:11 +0000

President-elect Donald Trump has named billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens as his envoy to Britain, a prestigious posting for the Republican donor whose contributions this year included $2 million to a Trump-backing super PAC.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening, announced he was selecting Stephens to be the US ambassador to the Court of Saint James. The Senate is required to confirm the choice.

“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full time. I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies,” Trump said in in his post.

Billionaire investment banker and GOP donor Warren Stephens was named Donald Trump’s envoy to Britain. Bloomberg via Getty Images

Trump has already named many of his nominees for his Cabinet and high-profile diplomatic posts, assembling a roster of staunch loyalists. Getty Images

Stephens is the chairman, president and CEO of Little Rock, Arkansas-based financial services firm Stephens Inc., having taken over the firm from his father.

Trump has already named many of his nominees for his Cabinet and high-profile diplomatic posts, assembling a roster of staunch loyalists. Over the weekend, Trump announced he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.

During his first term, Trump selected Robert “Woody” Johnson, a contributor to his campaign and the owner of the New York Jets football team, as his representative to the United Kingdom.

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