On May 4, 2013 Berkshire Hathaway held its annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Around 35,000 people were in attendance to take part in Warren Buffett’s remarks regarding his company and events during the past year.
Earlier on that day, the company reported a 51 percent rise in Q1 profits. Berkshire netted $4.89 billion (about $2,977 per Class A share), up from the previous year’s $3.25 billion. Reporters and shareholders asked Buffett questions ranging from Berkshire’s specific operation protocol to broader opinions on the global economy.
Buffett offered plenty of advice on investing and other important issues throughout the weekend but was successfully able to dodge tough questions about succession at the company. No new information on the succession front was revealed but high ranking officials guaranteed that Berkshire’s deeply embedded culture would endure regardless of who was in command.
An interesting array of questions was asked during the day-long meeting. In terms of recent portfolio additions, many were curious why Berkshire has endeavored on a newspaper purchasing spree and continues to be confident in IBM. To respond to the first question, Buffett insisted the papers they have purchased will supply “a decent rate of return.” Similarly, in terms of IBM, Buffett said that despite not buying more shares with their recent earnings miss, he is still confident in the company’s position because of robust defensive protections.
Later in the day, the focus shifted towards the tricky succession issue. Buffett was asked about Ajit Jain, head of Berkshire’s reinsurance operations, as a possible successor but quickly dodged the question and changed topics. Additionally, a proposal about possible company decentralization was shot down as Buffett said: “breaking [Berkshire Hathaway] up into several companies, as far as I’m concerned, would produce a poorer result.”
The day of questioning ended around 5 PM and Buffett left each audience member with a piece of advice: “you just have to avoid getting excited when other people are excited.” Overall, it was a positive and productive shareholders meeting for Berkshire Hathaway as it looks to grow to even greater heights.
