Todd Combs to leave Berkshire Hathaway for new JPMorgan investment role, jolting the post-Buffett transition

Todd Combs—longtime Berkshire Hathaway investment manager and CEO of Geico—is set to depart the conglomerate to lead a newly formed Strategic Investment Group at JPMorgan. The move lands during a pivotal handoff at Berkshire, with Greg Abel preparing to take the helm as Warren Buffett steps back at year’s end. For markets that have treated Combs as part of Berkshire’s next generation alongside Ted Weschler, the exit reshapes expectations for how the equity portfolio and key operating units will be stewarded in 2026.

What Todd Combs will do at JPMorgan

Combs will head an equity platform designed to deploy up to $10 billion in direct investments as part of a broader, decade-long Security and Resiliency Initiative aimed at bolstering U.S. economic security. The mandate spans defense, aerospace, energy, healthcare, critical minerals, frontier technologies, and adjacent supply chains. The group will collaborate across the firm’s corporate and investment bank and wealth units, with an external advisory council of high-profile business leaders helping shape priorities.

While calendars are still being finalized, Combs’ onboarding is slated to begin around the turn of the year, with full operational ramp in 2026. He previously served on JPMorgan’s board, a vantage point that gives him familiarity with the bank’s risk posture, deal funnel, and operating cadence.

Why the exit matters for Berkshire Hathaway

Inside Berkshire, Combs wore two consequential hats:

• Stock-picking lieutenant: Alongside Ted Weschler, Combs managed a portion of Berkshire’s $280–$300 billion equity portfolio, with Buffett retaining the majority. Their work added tech-tilted bets and a more venture-fluent lens to Berkshire’s traditionally concentrated holdings.

• Operator at Geico: As Geico’s CEO, Combs drove a multi-year turnaround emphasizing telematics, pricing discipline, and claims modernization after a period of margin pressure.

His departure raises immediate questions:

1. Who allocates capital in the Buffett afterglow? With Abel becoming CEO on January 1, the street had assumed Combs/Weschler would continue as core investment deputies. Without Combs, Berkshire may lean more on Weschler, elevate internal talent, or centralize decisions under Abel with tighter coordination from the insurance chiefs.

2. Geico succession and continuity. A leadership transition at Geico is expected, with the current chief operating executive positioned to assume top duties. The insurer’s recovery—rate actions, retention gains, and improving combined ratios—now depends on keeping the operational plan intact through the handover.

3. Signaling effect. Berkshire’s valuation has become more anchored to operating earnings than to equity gains, but the portfolio’s stewardship still carries symbolic weight. Investors will parse the next 13F cycles for any post-Combs rebalancing, especially in technology-adjacent names identified with his tenure.

How this reframes the JPMorgan initiative

Placing a value-oriented operator who also ran a large consumer insurer atop a strategic-sectors fund is a notable choice. It suggests the bank wants:

• Cross-cycle discipline: Berkshire veterans are trained to prize return on incremental capital over narrative heat. That ethos matters in sectors where policy tailwinds can tempt overpaying.

• Operator-aware underwriting: Combs’ Geico experience implies closer diligence on cost curves, unit economics, and pricing power—useful in defense platforms, grid upgrades, and healthtech where procurement frictions are real.

• Network leverage: Years inside Berkshire and on a major bank board cultivate relationships with founders, CFOs, and co-investors that can speed diligence and syndication.

Winners, risks, and open questions

Winners

• Mid-market companies in strategic sectors seeking patient, non-tourist capital.

• Co-investors that want a lead who blends public-market rigor with private-style governance.

• Geico peers and vendors if continuity at the insurer preserves modernization timelines.

Risks

• Execution complexity: Standing up a $10B direct-equity arm inside a global bank invites governance and conflict-management challenges that must be solved early.

• Policy whiplash: “Security and resiliency” themes can be policy-sensitive; returns depend on staying ahead of procurement cycles and regulatory shifts.

• Berkshire transition optics: If portfolio signals look muddled in early 2026, markets may over-interpret normal churn as strategy drift.

Open questions

• Will Berkshire expand Weschler’s remit or tap additional internal managers?

• How quickly will Geico’s successor team formalize guidance on telematics adoption and rate-filing cadence for 2026?

• Which subsectors will the JPMorgan group prioritize first—C4ISR, power electronics, biotech tooling, or critical-minerals processing?

What to watch next (near-term timeline)

• Year-end into January: Formal start date details, Geico leadership confirmation, and any immediate role adjustments within Berkshire’s investment office.

• 1Q 2026: Early deal announcements from JPMorgan’s new group; first hints of thematic focus and co-investment partners.

• Next two 13F filings: Clues on Berkshire’s internal allocation shifts and whether positions historically associated with Combs are trimmed, held, or expanded.

Todd Combs’ jump puts a Berkshire-trained allocator at the center of a high-profile push to finance U.S. economic security—and leaves a meaningful gap in Omaha just as the Buffett-to-Abel relay begins. For JPMorgan, it adds a disciplined investor-operator to a mission-critical mandate. For Berkshire, it’s a test of succession depth: keep Geico’s turnaround on track, clarify who owns the public-equities playbook, and signal—quickly—that the post-Buffett era will be defined by continuity, not drift.