Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO Greg Abel hinted that he may depart from Warren Buffett’s longtime hands-off operating model at the conglomerate as he announced a $6.8 billion cash acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison.

Berkshire Hathaway will buy homebuilder Taylor Morrison for $8.5 billion.

"Over time, we expect to unify our site-built homebuilding operations into a combined platform enabling us to deliver the dream of homeownership to more Americans."