The board of Berkshire Hathaway voted to keep Warren Buffett as its chairman and appointed a new company president and CEO. On Sunday, board members voted unanimously to name Greg Abel as Berkshire Hathaway's president and CEO starting Jan.

Without question, Warren Buffett is the world's greatest living investor, maybe the best of all time. In his 60 years as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) (BRK-B), he has generated cumulative returns of 5.5 million percent, a compounded annual growth rate of 20%, twice as much as the S&P 500.

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.