Foreword

Alyson Shontell

Editor-in-Chief

This week, two of the top CEOs in the world publicly passed the baton to their heirs apparent. In a farewell letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett handed the Berkshire Hathaway (No. 6) reins to longtime executive Greg Abel; and Walmart (No. 1) announced that CEO Doug McMillon would retire in February 2026 after more than a decade at the helm, to be succeeded by John Furner, Walmart’s head of U.S. operations.

Both Buffett and McMillon are tough acts to follow. The executive sometimes known as “McMillion” turned around stagnant sales, amped up e-commerce, and maintained Walmart’s position as the world’s biggest company by revenue.

And if you needed any more proof that Buffett is the GOAT of investing, here’s a fun fact: If you had put $1,000 into Berkshire back when Buffett took control of it in 1965, it would be worth $60 million today.

You can get caught up on each successor with these Fortune pieces on Berkshire’s Abel and Walmart’s Furner.

One more item worth your time this weekend: Fortune’s Jessica Mathews and Leo Schwartz investigated a curious case involving Elon Musk’s Boring Company and the Nevada governor’s office. Musk’s contributions to the overall Nevada economy are huge, thanks in part to a large Tesla (No. 43) gigafactory. But there have been numerous safety violations alleged against one of his biggest initiatives, the Boring Company, which is digging a transportation tunnel system under Las Vegas.

Mathews and Schwartz uncovered an incident where state regulators issued serious citations and fines against the company after two firefighters suffered chemical burns in a Boring tunnel. Steve Davis, the top Musk lieutenant who runs Boring, made a phone call; within 24 hours, the citations had been withdrawn, and later, evidence of the meeting taking place had disappeared from the record. Read their full investigation here.

Fortune 500 C-suite Power Moves

Walmart (No. 1) announced that President and CEO Doug McMillon will retire on Jan. 31, 2026. John Furner, currently the President and CEO of Walmart U.S., will succeed him. Walt Disney (No. 46) extended Hugh F. Johnston as Senior EVP and CFO of the company through Jan. 31, 2029. Intel (No. 86) announced that SVP, Chief Technology and AI Officer Sachin Katti has left the company to join OpenAI. Mutual of Omaha (No. 299) appointed Brody Merrill as CFO, effective Dec. 1. Ball (No. 349) appointed Ronald J. Lewis as CEO, effective Nov. 10, and named Daniel J. Rabbit, who has been serving as interim CFO since May, as CFO on a permanent basis.

And more in this week's Fortune 500 Power Moves.

Deals & Developments

Amazon (No. 2) and Microsoft (No. 14) have been lobbying for a change in the law that would keep Nvidia’s (No. 31) best chips in the U.S. market and curb its access to Chinese customers, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
SoftBank Group (No. 320 on the Fortune Global 500) disclosed this week that it sold its $5.8 billion stake in chipmaker Nvidia (No. 31) as it pivots to support its $30 billion investment in OpenAI. The company’s shares have tripled this year, fueled by the surge in OpenAI’s valuation.
Apple (No. 4) and Tencent Holdings (No. 116) have reportedly reached an agreement that will allow Apple to process payments within Tencent’s WeChat platform, per Bloomberg. In return, Apple will receive 15% of the revenue generated from WeChat’s mini games and apps, half of the usual share the company takes from in-app purchases.
Merck (No. 65) agreed to acquire Cidara Therapeutics, a developer of novel therapies including an experimental flu prevention drug, for $9.2 billion. The acquisition comes as Merck attempts to diversify its portfolio before losing exclusivity for the cancer drug Keytruda (which was until recently the best-selling drug in the world) in 2028.
Pfizer (No. 67) completed its acquisition of obesity drug developer Metsera for up to $10 billion. The companies agreed on the deal last month but were interrupted (as previously reported in Fortune 500 Digest) by an unsolicited rival bid from Novo Nordisk (No. 368 on the Fortune Global 500). Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports Pfizer is looking to sell its remaining stake in BioNTech (No. 207 on the Fortune 500 Europe), with whom it partnered on a widely administered COVID vaccine leveraging mRNA technology.
Apollo Global Management (No. 163) agreed to acquire a majority stake in Atlético Madrid, a Spanish football club. Financial terms were not disclosed, but sources with knowledge of the deal told the Financial Times that it values the football club at more than €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion). The acquisition extends Apollo’s growing portfolio in sports investments and represents one of the largest private equity transactions in European sports history.
Parker-Hannifin (No. 215) agreed to acquire Filtration Group, a developer of complementary filtration technologies, from Madison Industries in a deal worth $9.25 billion. In a statement announcing the deal, Parker-Hannifin Chairman and CEO Jenny Parmentier said the move will create “one of the largest global industrial filtration businesses.”

Overheard

“Most consumers want to make good health care decisions. They need information and the tools to be able to do that.”

—Jim Rechtin, CEO of Humana (No. 39), the health-insurance giant that primarily serves seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans

On earnings calls:

Walt Disney (No. 46) missed revenue estimates with $22.46 billion for the quarter, roughly flat from the same quarter last year. While its parks and streaming divisions were profitable, overall entertainment revenue fell 6%, weighed down by a 16% decline in linear TV revenue.
Tyson Foods (No. 85) reported quarterly net sales of $13.86 billion, a 2.2% year-over-year increase amid a $355 million increase in legal contingency accruals. On the earnings call, CEO Donnie King described beef as the company’s “only soft spot,” attributed to record-low cattle supplies, but argued that chicken is well-positioned to offset that. Read more: Trump asks Justice Department to probe meatpackers on prices
Cisco Systems (No. 83) posted $14.9 billion in quarterly revenue, up 8% year-over-year, driven by strong growth in