OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Billionaire Warren Buffett's
shareholders always look forward to the time he spends answering questions at
Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, a chance to learn from one of the world's
most successful investors.
Buffett said the question-and-answer period, when he and Berkshire vice
chairman Charlie Munger field any and all queries, is his favorite part of the
meeting too because he likes to know what's on shareholders' minds.
"Our attitude is partnership. These people are our partners," Buffett said
during interviews about three hours before he was scheduled to take the stage.
Buffett and Munger spoofed the presidential campaign in Berkshire's annual
cartoon, which is part of the humorous movie at the start of the meeting.
The cartoon depicted Munger running for president as a write-in candidate.
Munger's fictional "Financial Independence Party" was born over a lunch between
Munger, Buffett and Bill Gates, who is a Berkshire board member.
At a campaign event, the cartoon Munger delivered real change by offering a
boy two dimes for a quarter. Munger had an answer for all the nation's ills, and
all of them involved products made by Berkshire subsidiaries.
Global warming? Munger recommended eating a Dairy Queen Blizzard a day.
Health care? Munger said eat more See's Candy.
Economic problems? Munger promised to put Buffett in charge of the Federal
Reserve, the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department.
Cartoon versions of the real Democratic presidential candidates scoffed at
the notion of Munger's candidacy. An animated Hillary Clinton simply laughed
while Barack Obama lamented that he thought he was the candidate of change.
But the cartoon of Republican John McCain celebrated Munger's candidacy:
"Excellent! A candidate older than I am."
At the meeting later Saturday, shareholders will likely ask about the state
of the economy as well as Berkshire's latest earnings report.
Buffett told shareholders Saturday that the company's new business insuring
municipal bonds generated more than $400 million in premiums during the first
quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Assurance was launched to take advantage of credit
problems other bond insurers have been having. Buffett said most of the bond
insurance policies Berkshire has sold are on bonds that already were insured by
other companies, with Berkshire charging a higher fee than the original insurer.
On Friday Berkshire reported first quarter net income of $940 million, or
$607 per share, in the quarter ended March 31. That's down significantly from
the net income of $2.6 billion Berkshire generated a year ago.
The biggest reason for the drop in net income was an unrealized $1.6 billion
pretax loss Berkshire recorded on its derivative contracts.
Including the derivative losses, Berkshire's net investment losses in the
quarter totaled $991 million. A year ago, the Omaha-based company recorded a
$382 million investment gain.
Berkshire officials predicted the crowd at the Qwest Center Omaha would top
30,000 Saturday. The crowd has grown bigger every year as shareholders bring
family and friends to hear Buffett and Munger, and more business school groups
make the trip to Nebraska an annual pilgrimage.
The age of the two men has some shareholders wondering how many more times
they'll be able to listen to Berkshire's chairman and vice chairman hold court.
Buffett is 77, and Munger is 84.
That's part of the reason why Michel Paquet and Lorie Armstrong made their
second trip to the annual meeting from Calgary, Alberta.
"I will expect some volatility on the transition, but I'm ready for that,"
said Paquet, who plans to hold his Berkshire stock for many years to come.
To replace Buffett, Berkshire plans to split his job into three parts --
chief investment officer, chief executive officer and chairman.
In his letter to shareholders, Buffett said the company's board has three
internal candidates for CEO and four external candidates who could take over
managing the company's $75 billion stock portfolio and $35.6 billion cash.
Buffett has refused to publicly identify the candidates.
He has said previously that after he dies his son will take over as chairman
to ensure Berkshire's culture is preserved. Howard Buffett already serves on the
board.
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