NEW YORK, May 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced Saturday that he would retire as Berkshire Hathaway CEO by the end of 2025 at the firm's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.

Aged 94, Buffett has been working as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970.

Buffett said he would recommend Greg Abel, the company's vice chairman for non-insurance operations, as his successor.

"I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end," said Buffett.

He said the transition process would take a few months and that he anticipates unanimous support from all 11 board members for his proposal.

"I would still hang around, and conceivably be useful in a few cases, but the final word would be what Greg said, in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be," said Buffett. ■