Tens of thousands of people are expected to flock to Omaha, Nebraska, to soak up the wisdom of investing wizard Warren Buffett.
OMAHA, Nebraska — Tens of thousands of investors are expected to flock to an arena in Omaha, Nebraska, again on Saturday to glean a little wisdom from billionaire Warren Buffett. But his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting is missing a key element. This is the first time this has happened since Vice Chairman Charlie Munger passed away.
“He was the Sriracha sauce at the Berkshire Hathaway meeting. He gave it a lot of flavor,” said Bill Smead, an investor who has been a fixture at the event for 14 years.
For decades, Mr. Munger has shared the stage with Mr. Buffett each year in a marathon question-and-answer session that is the centerpiece of the event. Mr. Munger usually let Mr. Buffett take control with an extensive response that lasted several minutes. And Munger himself gets to the point directly. He called cryptocurrencies stupid, told people to “marry the best guy who will get you,” and compared many unproven internet businesses to “bastards” in 2000. remembered.
He and Buffett functioned as a classic comedy duo, with Buffett providing lengthy setups for Munger’s witty one-liners. They joined forces to transform Berkshire into a company comprised of a variety of interests, from an ailing textile mill to insurance companies such as Geico to BNSF Railway, several major power companies and various other companies. turned into a huge conglomerate.
Saturday is scheduled to begin with the company announcing its first-quarter results a few hours before the meeting. In addition to its largest profits, Berkshire Hathaway owns a vast collection of manufacturing and retail businesses, including Dairy Queen and See’s Candy. Its vast stock portfolio is backed by large stakes in companies such as Apple, American Express, and Coca-Cola.
Mr. Munger often summed up the key to Berkshire’s success as “rather than trying to be extremely smart, we try not to be consistently stupid.” He and Buffett were also known for sticking to businesses they understood well.
“Warren was always doing at least 80 percent of the talking, but Charlie was a great foil,” said Whitney Tilson, an analyst at Stansberry Research.
But that absence may give shareholders a chance to get to know the two executives who directly oversee Berkshire’s companies: Ajit Jain, who runs the insurance division, and Greg Abel, who runs everything else. Abel will eventually succeed the 93-year-old Buffett as CEO.
Morningstar analyst Gregory Warren said he hopes Mr. Abel will speak out more this year and let shareholders see the greatness that Berkshire executives say. Ever since Munger revealed at the company’s annual meeting three years ago that Abel would be his successor, Buffett has repeatedly reassured investors that he has confidence in the selection.
Experts say the company has a strong culture built on integrity, trust and independence, and a strong roster of executives ready to take over.
“Greg is a rock star,” said Chris Blomstran, president of Semper Augustus Investment Group. “The bench is deep. He’s not going to have the same humor in the meetings. But I think we all come here as a yearly reminder to be reasonable.”
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For more from The Associated Press on Warren Buffett, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/warren-buffett. For more Berkshire Hathaway news, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/berkshire-hathaway-inc. Follow Josh Funk online at https://www.twitter.com/funkwrite and https://www.linkedin.com/in/funkwrite.
