Jamie Dimon poached a senior figure from Warren Buffett’s inner circle, and the legendary investor was surprisingly OK with it.
The longtime JPMorgan Chase CEO hired former Geico CEO Todd Combs away from Berkshire Hathaway in December, hand-picking him to lead a $10 billion investment group as part of JPMorgan’s Security and Resiliency Initiative aimed at helping companies accelerate manufacturing.
During a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Thursday, Dimon said he had called Buffett personally to tell him the unwelcome news. He claimed Buffett accepted the outcome, preferring that his former executive land at JPMorgan than elsewhere.
“It’s a free country, and people make their own decisions,” Dimon said. “I did call Warren. He probably wouldn’t have preferred it, but he said, ‘if he’s going anywhere, at least he’s going to you.'”
Berkshire Hathaway did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment. Warren Buffett’s assistant confirmed the accuracy of the account.
In a market saturated with executive moves, Dimon’s Combs hire matters because Berkshire Hathaway is a decentralized empire that draws its strength from the long tenures of its leaders with minimal churn at the top. Its executives are often seen as stewards of a culture, built over Buffett’s own six-decade tenure, that prizes patience and discipline.
Combs, a former hedge fund manager, had been at Berkshire since 2010 and was brought on by Buffett to serve as one of two investment managers tasked with picking stocks for Berkshire. During the succession race to replace Buffett, Combs was positioned as a key leader to assist Greg Abel, who took over as CEO officially this month. Yet, he has also served for nine years on JPMorgan’s board, according to his hiring announcement.
In announcing the hiring, Dimon specifically called out Combs’s investment prowess and his work with Buffett.
“Todd Combs is one of the greatest investors and leaders I’ve known, having successfully managed investments alongside the most respected and successful long-term investor of our time, Warren Buffett,” Dimon said in a statement.
Combs’ hiring may have been directly influenced by his respect for Buffett, claimed University of Maryland finance professor David Kass, who runs a Warren Buffett blog, in an interview with Business Insider.
“Dimon may very well have viewed Combs as a close proxy for Buffett himself,” Kass told BI. “Although Dimon could not hire Buffett, he could hire one of his protégés.”
Dimon has long admired the 95- year- old legendary investor. In May, as Buffett announced he was stepping down from the CEO role, Dimon praised him as a friend and said he had learned from him.
“Warren Buffett represents everything that is good about American capitalism and America itself — investing in the growth of our nation and its businesses with integrity, optimism, and common sense,” Dimon said at the time, according to Reuters.
Though a couple decades younger than Buffett, Dimon, 69, has also faced questions about when he will step aside.
Dimon, who has served as CEO of JPMorgan since 2006, has been reluctant to put a clean end date on his tenure. He spent years responding to retirement questions with a rolling horizon, and only changed his tone in 2024 saying the timeframe had shortened and succession plans were “well on the way.”
On Thursday, Dimon changed his mind again, reverting to his past refrain that his retirement is still “at least” five years away.
