CEO Adam Johnson ‘transformed NetJets from a challenged business model into a successful enterprise that delivers value for Berkshire’.
NetJets CEO Adam Johnson will be on the dais for Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting this year, as new CEO Greg Abel offered praise for Johnson and the team in his first annual letter and report to shareholders.
Abel assumed the helm at Berkshire Hathaway from Warren Buffett on Jan. 1, 2026.
Buffett announced he was stepping down during the 2025 annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
The annual meeting draws around 40,000 attendees.
The 2025 Berkshire Hathaway annual report had 24 mentions of NetJets.
That’s up from 19 a year ago.
In his first letter to shareholders, Abel wrote, “We are fortunate to have Adam Johnson now serving as president of our consumer products, service, and retailing businesses.”
Johnson’s expanded responsibilities were announced in December.
He continues as NetJets chairman and CEO.
‘Their work transformed NetJets from a challenged business model into a successful enterprise that delivers value for Berkshire shareholders’
-Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel on NetJets CEO Adam Johnson and his management team
Abel said, “Adam, who has lived the Berkshire culture for nearly 30 years (10 as CEO of NetJets), is now responsible for a group consisting of 32 companies.”
He added, “Adam and his team at NetJets think like owners and earned their reputation for operational excellence over the past decade.”
Abel continued the past praise from Buffett for Johnson and the leadership team at the world’s largest private operator.
In the U.S., NetJets, Inc. remained a distant number one, increasing flight hours last year by 53,737 hours.
That increase would have placed it eighth on the list.
NetJets, Inc. includes aircraft management and charter arm Executive Jet Management.
Abel said of the management team at NetJets, “Their work transformed NetJets from a challenged business model into a successful enterprise that delivers value for Berkshire shareholders.”
Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO wants Johnson to bring that same game plan to other units within the company.
Abel wrote, “That same approach – accountability and a focus on avoiding complacency – will guide how he works with the CEOs across his portfolio.”
Berkshire Hathaway bought NetJets in 1998 for $711 million.
In 2010, Buffett wrote, “Even though NetJets was consistently a runaway winner with customers, our financial results, since its acquisition in 1998, were a failure.”
Buffett told shareholders that in his first 11 years of ownership, the private jet company incurred an aggregate pre-tax loss of $157 million.
Debt went from $102 million to $1.9 billion.
At the time, Buffett wrote, “Without Berkshire’s guarantee of this debt, NetJets would have been out of business.”
More recently, Buffett, then vice chair, and the late Charlie Munger said they valued NetJets like a major airline.
At the time, that would have inferred a valuation of around $9 billion.
Abel’s praise for NetJets continued throughout the 154-page report.
Abel noted:
‘NetJets is the largest business in our service group. NetJets maintains a relentless focus on safety and exceptional service to reinforce its position as a premium offering. That foundation has enabled NetJets to attract many customers, and today it operates nearly 1,100 aircraft in over 150 countries around the world. It is a prized asset in a very tough industry.’
Service group revenue, where NetJets sits, increased from $20.6 billion in 2023 to $20.7 billion in 2024 and $23.0 billion last year.
That represented 11.0% year-over-year growth in 2025.
Aviation services, which include both NetJets and Flight Safety, saw 2025 revenues advance 9.9%.
The gains were based on the number of aircraft in shared-ownership programs.
That increased 6.9%.
Flight hours across NetJets’ “various programs” were up 11.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway said results were also boosted by “higher average rates.”
The gains were “partially offset by higher flight crew and instructor costs and higher maintenance, fuel, and depreciation expenses, as well as increased government contract losses.”
After pre-tax earnings for the service group dropped from $3.0 billion in 2023 to $2.3 billion in 2024, earnings rebounded to $2.7 in 2025.
Service group pre-tax profits increase 17.2% year-over-year.
Other disclosures about NetJets included “operating lease liabilities and shared aircraft repurchase liabilities of NetJets.”
Estimated payments of the liabilities are $2.0 billion in 2026, $2.1 billion in 2027, $2.4 billion in 2028, $2.1 billion in 2029, and $2.3 billion in 2030.
In last year’s annual report, Berkshire Hathaway estimated the operating lease and aircraft repurchase liabilities as $1.8 in 2026; $2.0 in 2027; $2.2 in 2028; and $1.9 in 2029.
During the year, NetJets also upped its headcount.
NetJets ended 2025 with 9,438 employees, up from 9,106 at the end of 2024.
In 2015, Johnson’s first year at the helm, NetJets ended with 6,540 employees.
In 2019, the year before Covid, that number stood at 6,476.
Johnson will be on stage at the annual meeting on May 2, 2026, at 11:45 am for a Q&A session.
The panel will feature Abel, Johnson, and BNSF CEO Katie Farmer.
Headlines on Berkshire Hathaway noted earnings from operations dropped 29% in Q4 to $10.2 billion.
A decline in insurance underwriting and insurance investment income drove lower profits.
Insurance underwriting profits were $1.6 billion, down 54%.
Insurance investment income was down 25% to $3.1 billion
Full-year operating earnings ended at $44.5 billion, down from $47.4 in 2024.
Per CNBC, “Full year overall earnings, meanwhile, fell to $66.97 billion from $89 billion a year prior. To be sure, Berkshire always tells investors to pay little attention to its investments’ performance over short time frames.”
Per Berkshire Hathaway, “The amount of investment gains (losses) in any given quarter is usually meaningless and delivers figures for net earnings per share that can be extremely misleading to investors who have little or no knowledge of accounting rules.”
In terms of cash, CNBC noted the “conglomerate’s cash hoard did slip to $373.3 billion from a record of $381.6 billion in the third quarter.”
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