Berkshire Hathaway stock picker Todd Combs departs to lead new strategic investment group at JPMorgan

Todd Combs, 1 of Warren Buffett's investing lieutenants and the CEO of GEICO, is departing Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) and joining JPMorgan Chase (JPM) successful a caller relation arsenic portion of a large shake-up astatine some firms.

Combs is leaving Berkshire Hathaway and his relation starring GEICO to tally the bank's caller concern radical arsenic portion of its wider "security and resilience" inaugural announced successful October.

Combs volition study straight to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and measurement down from the company's board, wherever helium has served since 2016. Combs volition besides service arsenic a peculiar advisor to Dimon and the bank's operating committee.

"Todd Combs is 1 of the top investors and leaders I've known," Dimon said successful a statement. "Having served 9 years connected our Board, helium genuinely understands each aspects of our company."

"JPMorgan, arsenic usually is the case, has made a bully decision," Warren Buffett said successful a property merchandise issued by Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett and Dimon person for years held a affable relationship, with Dimon often visiting Buffett successful Omaha, Neb. Before Buffett stopped traveling immoderate years ago, helium was known to look astatine JPMorgan events successful New York, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the matter.

JPMorgan's "security and resiliency" inaugural involves the slope committing $1.5 trillion to financing and lending efforts to fortify America's interests successful proviso chains, exertion capacity, and concern resilience. It besides includes a $10 cardinal excavation dedicated to strategical task superior and equity investments for companies progressive successful AI, minerals, and defence manufacturing.

JPMorgan besides unveiled an all-star outer advisory council, chaired by Dimon, that volition counsel connected the broader nationalist information initiative. The radical includes Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos, Dell laminitis Michael Dell, erstwhile Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and respective erstwhile defense, intelligence, and manufacture executives.

"We are rather a patriotic company, and past we conscionable started asking what much tin we do?" Dimon said during a fireside chat implicit the play astatine a defence league hosted astatine the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

"We'll person partners — a batch of people. We'll spouse with different banks if we person to," helium added.

The determination besides comes arsenic Berkshire announces a wider enforcement shuffle up of its planned CEO modulation aboriginal this month, with Greg Abel acceptable to instrumentality implicit from Buffett connected Jan. 1.

Berkshire announced that GEICO COO Nancy Pierce volition win Combs arsenic CEO effectual successful January. Berkshire besides announced that adjacent period it volition name Michael O'Sullivan arsenic its archetypal wide counsel and disclosed CFO Marc Hamburg's plans to discontinue successful the mediate of 2027.