Berkshire Hathaway 2006 Shareholder Meeting (Part 1)
The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders' Meeting is a BIG event. This year, over 24,000 people attended. It was held in Omaha, at the Qwest Convention Center, which was pretty much filled with shareholders. It was also of interest that we were sitting in the same room as the two richest men in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Bill Gates happens to be on the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), while Warren Buffett is the founder of BRK.
In order to attend, you have to own at least 1 share of his company stock, which doesn't sound like much, but is actually quite a bit because he doesn't believe in splitting his stock. The class A shares, BRK-A, cost about $90,000 a share. The class B shares, BRK-B, cost 1/30 of that, about $3,000 a share today.
We got to the convention center around 6am, well ahead of the 7am door opening. There were already what seemed like a thousand people in line ahead of us. Fortunately waiting in line was not too boring, as there was entertainment to keep you somewhat occupied. Among the entertainers were a guitar player, a man on stilts, a bull(?) rider, and abortion protesters. As the doors opened, the crowed hurried in. Apparently, it's good to be at the front of the line because then you have a chance to snag one of the spots for asking questions by standing in front of a microphone. Since the meeting doesn't start until 8:30am, after snagging a set, you have about an hour and a half to wander around the exhibit floor filled with Berkshire company products.
The meeting portion starts off with a short fun movie about the company. They apparently make a new one each year. This year's movie featured "Omaha Idol", a spoof on American Idol, where entrepreneurs pitched ideas to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. My favorite invention was the Specks Pod (iPod with wearable video). Also featured in the movie was Bill Gates and his quest for a present for Warren's 75th birthday.
The meeting itself is rather long- over 4 hours of question-and-answer. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger field just about any investing-related question. Getting the views of one of the most successful investors of all time is a great experience. His knowledge of a wide range of topics gives you confidence that he's aware of the details in a wide range of economics topics. And, unlike many other CEOs, he's willing to share his opinion.
(Stay tuned, future posts will talk about specific things Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger addressed)
In order to attend, you have to own at least 1 share of his company stock, which doesn't sound like much, but is actually quite a bit because he doesn't believe in splitting his stock. The class A shares, BRK-A, cost about $90,000 a share. The class B shares, BRK-B, cost 1/30 of that, about $3,000 a share today.
We got to the convention center around 6am, well ahead of the 7am door opening. There were already what seemed like a thousand people in line ahead of us. Fortunately waiting in line was not too boring, as there was entertainment to keep you somewhat occupied. Among the entertainers were a guitar player, a man on stilts, a bull(?) rider, and abortion protesters. As the doors opened, the crowed hurried in. Apparently, it's good to be at the front of the line because then you have a chance to snag one of the spots for asking questions by standing in front of a microphone. Since the meeting doesn't start until 8:30am, after snagging a set, you have about an hour and a half to wander around the exhibit floor filled with Berkshire company products.
The meeting portion starts off with a short fun movie about the company. They apparently make a new one each year. This year's movie featured "Omaha Idol", a spoof on American Idol, where entrepreneurs pitched ideas to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. My favorite invention was the Specks Pod (iPod with wearable video). Also featured in the movie was Bill Gates and his quest for a present for Warren's 75th birthday.
The meeting itself is rather long- over 4 hours of question-and-answer. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger field just about any investing-related question. Getting the views of one of the most successful investors of all time is a great experience. His knowledge of a wide range of topics gives you confidence that he's aware of the details in a wide range of economics topics. And, unlike many other CEOs, he's willing to share his opinion.
(Stay tuned, future posts will talk about specific things Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger addressed)
posted by jasonz at
9:08 AM
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