Thousands showed up on Saturday at the Chi Health Center, the convention center in Omaha, Nebraska, to participate in what Warren Buffett himself called the Woodstock for capitalists. Large and small investors – including from India – and savers crowded into the 20,000-seat arena, all shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company in listed companies among the largest in the world that Buffett founded and owns. a participation. They arrived at the general meeting of the holding company to grasp “crumbs of wisdom” on which securities to invest but also to understand where the US industry is going, the great changes that are affecting it, those on which the financier has also built his fortune and made investors rich, many with See’s Candies Squishmallows in their hands, one of the companies on which Buffett bet.
$188.9 billion in liquidity
Berkshire rests on stratospheric liquidity: 188.9 billion dollars, the result of an investment portfolio worth 364 billion. Buffett — who will turn 94 on August 30 — did not hold back: he answered questions from shareholders. For all those who work on Wall Street and invest in the stock markets, Buffett is “the immortal”, the prince of the Hall of fame of the markets who listen to him like an oracle (his nickname is the Oracle of Omaha). The first meeting of Berkshire Hathaway since the death of co-founder (and great friend) Charlie Munger also paved the way for choices related to the succession at the top, responsible for a large fortune in which many savers have also invested. So Buffett broke through and confirmed that Greg Abel (he accidentally called him Charlie) will take the helm of the company as CEO. In the past, Buffett had said that it would be up to two managers to enter the control room. On Saturday, Buffett endorsed Abel who, in addition to overseeing operational activities, will take care of acquisitions. And, he added, if the Berkshire board makes a different decision after his death, “I might try to come back to haunt them.”
Friend Charlie
After the tandem with Munger – who worked alongside Buffett since 1965 transforming Berkshire from a declining textile industry into one of the largest investors in the world – it is now the turn of Canadian Abel. Economist, with a career between CalEnergy and MidAmerican Energy, the manager joined Berkshire ten years ago. With him Buffett will design the new path that he sometimes tries to keep secret: from the SEC stock exchange authorities he would have obtained the OK to keep a new investment secret, perhaps in a bank, a sector he has always loved (in the portfolio Bofa and Citi ).
Coca Cola, American Express and Apple
So far there have been three pillars of his investments: Coca Cola, American Express and lastly Apple which until last year accounted for 45% of the value of Berkshire’s portfolio. Surprisingly, he sold a few shares, around 13% of the stake. «It is the best business we have – said Buffett – but «there are many beautiful companies». Apple aside, it has never loved Big Tech much, preferring transport, mining, oil & gas to accompany its tech transformation. On the share in the Paramount studios, in difficulty, “we lost money and the responsibility is entirely mine”. He presented the 2023 financial statements to shareholders, which closed with a profit down 64% to 12.7 billion. “Don’t look at the last line, always subject to volatility, but at the operating profit of 11.2 billion, up 39%.” After more than five hours of meeting Buffett took his leave: “I hope to see you again next year.”
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