Full recap of Warren Buffett’s comments at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting: ‘I hope I come next year’

Warren
Buffett
wrapped
up
the
Q&A
portion
of
the
annual
meeting
with
a
cheeky
farewell
remark.

“I
not
only
hope
you
come
next
year.
I
hope
I
come
next
year,”
he
said,
laughing.

The
crowd
once
again
gave
the
93-year-old
investing
legend
a
standing
ovation
and
a
round
of
applause.

—
Yun
Li

Warren
Buffett
praised
Federal
Reserve
Chair

Jerome
Powell
for
his
work
steering
the
economy
over
the
past
few
years.

At
Berkshire
Hathaway’s
annual
shareholder
meeting,
Buffett
called
Powell
a
“very
wise
man.”
However,
he
noted
the
central
bank
needs
help
from
lawmakers
to
rein
in
the
growing
U.S.
deficit.

Powell
“doesn’t
control
fiscal
policy,
and
every
now
and
then
he
sends
out
a
disguised
plea
…
because
that’s
where
the
trouble
will
be,
if
we
have
it,”
Buffett
said.

—
Fred
Imbert

Berkshire
Hathaway
will
continue
to
fight
lawsuits
brought
against
electric
power
company


PacifiCorp,
more
than
90%
of
which
is
owned
by
the
Buffett-owned
company.

“When
I
think
of
PacifiCorp,
we’re
in
a
place
where,
first
and
foremost,
all
that
litigation
will
be
challenged
because
the
basis
for
it,
at
least
we
believe,
there
are
places
where
it’s
unfounded,”
said
Greg
Abel,
who
is
considered
to
be
Warren
Buffett’s
successor
and
the
future
chief
executive
officer
of
the
company.
“And
we’ll
continue
to
challenge
it.”

PacifiCorp
is
facing
$30
billion
in
new
claims
made
last
month
from 1,000
plaintiffs
who
blame
the
company
for
causing
the
2020
Labor
Day
wildfires
in
Oregon.
PacifiCorp
has
already
paid
or
owes
$825
million
in
claims
due
to
other
wildfire-related
lawsuits,
Reuters

reported.

“The
challenge
we
do
have
is,
within
PacifiCorp,
as
we
go
through
both
the
litigation
and
through
continuing
to
operate
that
entity,
it
generates
a
certain
amount
of
capital
and
profits
that
will
remain
in
that
entity
and
be
reinvested
back
into
that
business,”
Abel
said
during
the
Saturday
meeting,
adding
that
both
legislative
and
regulatory
reforms
are
needed
across
the
PacifiCorp
states
if
Berkshire
is
going
to
make
incremental
capital
contributions
into
the
business.

“As
Warren
said,
we
don’t
want
to
throw
good
capital
after
bad
capital
…
so
we’ll
be
very
disciplined
there,”
Abel
said.

—
Pia
Singh

Warren
Buffett
said
the
entire


Paramount
Global
stake
has
been

sold
at
a
loss.

“It
was
100%
my
decision,
and
we’ve
sold
it
all
and
we
lost
quite
a
bit
of
money,”
he
said.

Buffett
added
that
the
experience
has
made
him
think
more
deeply
about
what
activities
people
prioritize
in
their
free
time.

Berkshire
Hathaway
owned
63.3
million
shares
of
Paramount
as
of
the
end
of
2023,
after
cutting
the
position
by
about
a
third
in
the
fourth
quarter
of
last
year,
according
to
the
latest
filings.

—
Alex
Harring

Warren
Buffett
asserted
on
Saturday
that
he
and
Charlie
Munger
certainly
missed
investing
opportunities
over
the
years,
but
only
regretted
a
select
few.

“We
missed
a
lot
of
things,
and
what
we
really
regretted
was
missing
something
that
turned
out
to
be
very
big,
we
never
worried
about
something
that
we
didn’t
understand,”
Buffett
said.

“Why
should
we
be
able
to
predict
the
future
of
every
business
any
more
than
we
can
predict
what
wheat
yields
are
likely
to
be
in
the
next
year?”
he
added.

—
Brian
Evans

Berkshire
Hathaway’s
investing
decisions,
including
those
involving
the
stock
portfolio,

will
fall
to
Greg
Abel,
Buffett’s
planned
successor,
according
to
the
“Oracle
of
Omaha.”

“I
think
the
responsibility
ought
to
be
entirely
with
Greg,”
Buffett
said.
“The
responsibility
has
been
with
me,
and
I
farmed
out
some
of
it,
and
I
used
to
think
differently
about
how
that
would
be
handled,
but
I
think
the
responsibility
should
be
that
of
the
CEO.”

“Whatever
that
CEO
decides
may
be
helpful
in
effectuating
that
responsibility,
that’s
up
to
him
or
her
to
decide
at
the
time
that
they’re
running
money.
…
I
would
say
my
thinking
has
developed
to
some
extent
as
the
sums
have
grown
so
large
at
Berkshire,”
he
added.
“We
don’t
want
to
try
and
have
200
people
around
that
are
managing
$1
billion
each,
it
just
doesn’t
work.”

While
Buffett
has
made
clear
that
Abel,
vice
chairman
of
non-insurance
operations,
would
be
taking
over
the
CEO
job,
there
were
still
questions
about
who
would
control
Berkshire’s
public
stock
portfolio.

Buffett
has
garnered
a
huge
following
by
racking
up
huge
returns
through
investments
in
the
likes
of
Coca-Cola
and
Apple.

Berkshire
investing
managers,
Todd
Combs
and
Ted
Weschler,
both
former
hedge
fund
managers,
have
helped
Buffett
manage
a
small
portion
of
the
stock
portfolio
for
about
the
last
decade.

—
Brian
Evans,
John
Melloy

Warren
Buffett’s
Berkshire
Hathaway
doesn’t
pay
a
dividend,
even
as
it
boasts
a
cash
hoard
of
tens
of
billions
of
dollars.
A
company
can
use
dividends
to
reward
shareholders
by
distributing
a
portion
of
its
earnings.

But
the
Oracle
of
Omaha
expects
that
he
can

use
his
capital
in
more
profitable
ways.
In
fact,
Buffett
has
said
he
would
use
a
buyback
program
to
return
capital
to
shareholders,
instead
of
dividends,
if
he
felt
he
couldn’t
use
his
capital
efficiently.

“Dividends
have
the
implied
promise
that
you
keep
paying
them
forever
and
not
decrease
them,”
Buffett
said
in
a 2018
interview
with
CNBC,
adding,
“We
would
probably
lean
toward
repurchase,”
between
the
two.

—
Sarah
Min,
Yun
Li

Warren
Buffett
took
a
few
moments
during
his
morning
session
to
honor
Carol
Loomis,
a
longtime
financial
journalist
who
edited
Buffett’s
revered
annual
shareholder
letters
for
years.

“Carol
is
the
best
business
writer
…
nobody
came
close
to
her,
and
she
started
from
scratch,”
Buffett
said
about
Loomis,
asking
the
crowd
to
give
a
round
of
applause
to
her.
“In
1977,
I
asked
her
to
edit
my
report
and
she
had
turned
out
to
be
as
good
an
editor
as
she
was
a
writer.
And
all
the
way
through
this
year,
including
this
year,
Carol
has
edited
the
Berkshire
report.”

Loomis
was
a
former
senior
editor-at-large
of
Fortune
magazine,
who
also
chronicled
the
start
of
the
hedge
fund
industry.

—
Pia
Singh

Real
estate
agents
will
continue
to
play
a
key
role
in
the
home-buying
process,
even
after
major
settlements,
according
to
Greg
Abel.

The
National
Association
of
Realtors
said
in
March
it
would

end
policies
that
set
agent
commissions
and
pay
more
than
$400
million
in
compensation
to
home
sellers
across
the
U.S.
Multiple
lawsuits
against
the
trade
group
had
alleged
that
the
rules
tied
to
listings
on
the
NAR-affiliated
Multiple
Listing
Services
elevated
commission
rates,
according
to
the
Associated
Press.

In
late
April,
Berkshire’s
HomeServices
of
America
said
it
would
pay
$250
million
to
settle
lawsuits
that
alleged
commissions
were
unnecessarily
high.
That’s
the

biggest
sum
paid
by
any
individual
brokerage
so
far,
according
to
the
Wall
Street
Journal.

“There’s
no
question
the
industry
will
go
through
some
transitions
because
of
that
settlement,”
said
Abel,
Buffett’s
successor.
But,
“the
real
estate
agent
is
still
an
important
part
of
these
transactions.
It’s
the
one
time
in
our
lives
where
we
make
these
massive
investments,
and
having
that
counsel
and
guidance
is
critical.”

With
the
broader
NAR
settlement,
Abel
said
essentially
all
players
in
the
space
were
“swept
up.”

Meanwhile,
Warren
Buffett
said
he’s
encouraged
the
expansion
of
its
real
estate
brokerage
business,
calling
it
“fundamental.”
However,
he
acknowledged
being
surprised
by
the
legal
decision.

—
Alex
Harring

Warren
Buffett
has
ended
the
morning
question-and-answer
session
at
Berkshire’s
annual
meeting
to
break
for
lunch.

CNBC
will
continue
programing
throughout
the
break.

—Christina
Cheddar
Berk

Buffett
is
making
good
returns
by
putting
his
mountain
of
cash
in
Treasury
bills
yielding
north
of
5.4%.

“We
only
swing
at
pitches
we
like,”
Buffett
said
when
asked
about
why
he
hasn’t
used
his
cash
pile
to
make
new
investments.
“We
don’t
use
it
now
at
5.4%
but
we
wouldn’t
use
it
if
it
was
at
1%.
Don’t
tell
the
Federal
Reserve,”
he
said
jokingly.

Berkshire’s
cash
reached

a
record
high
of
$188.99
billion,
up
from
$167.6
billion
in
the
fourth
quarter. Buffett
previously
revealed
that
he’s
been
buying
3-
and
6-month
Treasury
bills
every
Monday.

—
Yun
Li

Buffett
briefly
touched
on
Berkshire
Hathaway’s
future
without
him
at
the
helm,
and
noted
that
his
advanced
age
is
top
of
mind
despite
his
continuing
to
feel
up
to
the
job.

“We’ll
see
how
the
next
management
plays
the
game
out
at
Berkshire,
[but]
fortunately
you
don’t
have
too
long
to
wait
on
that.
I
feel
fine,
but
I
know
a
little
about
actuarial
tables,”
Buffett
said.

“I
shouldn’t
be
taking
on
any
four-year
employment
contracts
like
several
people
are
doing
in
this
world
at
an
age
when
you
can’t
be
quite
that
sure
where
you’re
going
to
be
in
four
years,”
he
added.

Buffett
will
turn
94
in
August,
and
has
already
named
Vice
Chairman
of
Non-Insurance
Operations
Greg
Abel,
who
was
sitting
at
his
side
Saturday,
as
the
Berkshire
CEO
successor.
But
investors
wonder
if
Berkshire
shares
would
trade
at
the
same
valuation
over
the
long-term
without
Buffett
at
the
helm
making
the
major
investing
decisions.

—
Brian
Evans

Warren
Buffett
said
renewable
energy
is
of
interest,
but
it
needs
time
to
be
developed.

“There
are
certain
things
that
just
take
a
certain
amount
of
time,”
the
“Oracle
of
Omaha”
said.
“My
daughter
hates
it
when
I
use
this
example,
but
it’s
really
true
that
you
can’t
create
a
baby
in
one
month
by
getting
nine
women
pregnant.”

But
Buffett
also
said
solar
will
likely
never
be
the
only
electricity
source.

Greg
Abel,
chair
of
Berkshire’s
energy
business,
also
said
reliability
and
affordability
are
important
factors
to
keep
in
mind.

—
Alex
Harring

Warren
Buffett
hinted
that
the
conglomerate
was
evaluating
a
possible
investment
opportunity
north
of
the
border.

“We
do
not
feel
uncomfortable
in
any
way
shape
or
form
putting
our
money
into
Canada.
In
fact,
we’re
actually
looking
at
one
thing
now,”
said
Buffett.

The
Berkshire
CEO
did
not
reveal
what
the
investment
was
and
whether
it
was
public
or
private.

Heading
into
the
meeting
there’s

been
a
lot
of
speculation
about
which
investments
Berkshire
is
building.
The
company
has
been
granted
confidential
treatment
regarding
one
mystery
stake
it’s
been
buying
for
the
last
three
quarters
in
the
financial
sector.

—John
Melloy

Warren
Buffett
said
Charlie
Munger
was
a
trusted
business
partner,
but
he’s
also
been
able
to
look
elsewhere
for
personal
support.

“I
trust
my
children
and
my
wife
totally,”
Buffett
said.
“But
that
doesn’t
mean
I
ask
them
what
stocks
to
buy.”

“In
terms
of
managing
money,
there
wasn’t
anybody
better
in
the
world
to
talk
to
for
many,
many
decades
than
Charlie,”
he
said.
“That
doesn’t
mean
I
didn’t
talk
to
other
people.”

Still,
“if
I
didn’t
think
I
could
do
it
myself,
I
wouldn’t
have
done
it,”
he
said
of
business
decision
making.
“So,
to
some
extent,
I
talk
to
myself
on
investments.”

Buffett
called
Munger
unfailingly
honest,
which
is
part
of
why
he
became
a
key
companion.
That
applied
to
both
his
work
and
personal
life,
Buffett
added.

“When
you
get
that
in
your
life,
you
cherish
those
people
and
you
sort
of
forget
about
the
rest,”
he
said.

—
Alex
Harring

Warren
Buffett
said
that
artificial
intelligence
scamming
could
be
the
next
big
“growth
industry,”
likening
the
technology
to
nuclear
weapons
in
its
potential
for
great
change.

The
“Oracle
of
Omaha”
said
he
doesn’t
“know
anything”
about
AI,
but
recounted
a
recent
encounter
with
an
AI-generated
image
of
himself
on
screen
that
made
him
nervous
about
the
technology.

“When
you
think
about
the
potential
for
scamming
people,
if
you
can
reproduce
images
that
I
can’t
even
tell,
that
say,
‘I
need
money,’
as
your
daughter,
‘I
just
had
a
car
crash,
I
need
$50,000
wired.’
I
mean,
scamming
has
always
been
part
of
the
American
scene,
but
this
would
make
me,
if
I
was
interested
in
investing
in
scamming,
it’s
going
to
be
the
growth
industry
of
all
time,”
he
told
a
crowd
of
investors
at
Berkshire’s
annual
meeting.

“I
said
we
let
the
genie
out
of
the
bottle
when
we
developed
nuclear
weapons
and
that
genie
has
been
doing
some
terrible
things
lately,
and
the
power
of
that
genie
is
what,
you
know,
scares
the
hell
out
of
me,”
he
added.
“And
I
don’t
know
any
way
to
get
the
genie
back
in
the
bottle,
and
AI
is
somewhat
similar.”

—
Sarah
Min

Ajit
Jain,
Berkshire
Hathaway’s
vice
chairman
of
insurance
operations,
is
well
aware
that
Geico
is
lagging
behind
its
peers
when
it
comes
to
data
analytics.

“As
Warren
has
pointed
out
in
the
past,
one
of
the
drawbacks
that
Geico
is
faced
with
is
it
hasn’t
been
doing
as
good
of
a
job
on
matching
rate
with
risk
and
segmenting
and
pricing
product
based
on
the
risk
characteristics.
…
Geico
hasn’t
been
that
good
at
managing
risk,”
Jain
told
Berkshire
investors.

“Technology
is
something
that
is
unfortunately
been
a
bottleneck,”
he
said,
adding
that
Geico
was
“still
playing
catch-up.”

“But
then
again,
we
are
making
progress.
…
Yes,
I
recognize
we
are
still
behind,
we
are
taking
steps
to
bridge
the
gap
and
certainly
by
the
end
of
2025,
we
should
be
along
with
the
best
of
players
when
it
comes
to
data
analytics,”
he
said.

—
Brian
Evans

In
a
slip-up,
Buffett
referred
to
Greg
Abel,
chair
of
Berkshire
Hathaway
Energy,
as
the
late
Charlie
Munger.

“I’m
so
used
to
that,”
Buffett
said
after
the
mix
up.

The
moment
underscores
the
strength
of
Buffett’s
relationship
with
Munger,
who
was
viewed
as
a
close
friend
and
key
business
partner
leading
up
to
his
death
late
last
year.

Buffett
admitted
he
would
probably
“slip
again.”

“It’s
a
great
honor,”
said
Abel,
who
is
Buffett’s
heir
apparent,
of
being
mistaken
for
Munger.

—
Alex
Harring

When
asked

why
Berkshire
trimmed
its
Apple
position,
Buffett
suggested
it
was
for
tax
reasons
following
sizable
gains
on
the
investment
and
not
any
judgement
of
his
long-term
view
of
the
stock.

He
also
suggested
it
could
be
tied
to
his
view
that
tax
rates
may
possibly
be
going
higher
to
fund
a
ballooning
U.S.
fiscal
deficit.

“It
doesn’t
bother
me
in
the
least
to
write
that
check
—
and
I
would
really
hope
with
all
that
America’s
done
for
all
of
you,
it
shouldn’t
bother
you
that
we
do
it
—and
if
I’m
doing
it
at
21%
this
year
and
we’re
doing
it
a
little
higher
percentage
later
on,
I
don’t
think
you’ll
actually
mind
the
fact
that
we
sold
a
little
Apple
this
year,”
Buffett
said.

Buffett
said
it’s
“extremely
likely”
that
Apple
will
remain
the
largest
holding
at
his
conglomerate
despite
the
recent
slowdown
in
sales.

The
Oracle
of
Omaha
said
Berkshire
will
continue
to
own
some
of
its
top
holdings
—


American
Express,
Apple
and


Coca
Cola
—
when
he’s
no
longer
at
the
helm
and
Vice
Chairman
of
Non-insurance
Operations
Greg
Abel
takes
over.
He
added
that
Apple
is
an
“even
better
business”
than
American
Express
and
Coca
Cola.

“That’s
the
story
of
why
we
own
American
Express,
which
is
a
wonderful
business,”
Buffett
said.
“We
own
Coca-Cola,
which
is
a
wonderful
business.
And
we
own
Apple,
which
is
an
even
better
business,
and
we
will
own,
unless
something
really
extraordinary
happens,
we
will
own
Apple
and
American
Express
and
Coca-Cola.”

—
Yun
Li

Warren
Buffett
finds
his
bet
in
Japanese
trading
houses
“compelling,”
but
said
he
finds
investments
in
other
countries
unlikely.

“We
bought
it
as
fast
as
we
could,”
the
investor
said
in
reference
to

five
Japanese
trading
houses
that
he

first
acquired
stakes
in
August
2020
on
his
90th
birthday,
in
an
initial
purchase
worth
roughly
$6
billion.

It’s
“unlikely
we
will
make
any
large
commitments
in
other
countries,”
he
added.

—
Sarah
Min

Warren
Buffett
said
Berkshire
has
avoided
making
“fatal”
choices
in
the
several
major
decisions
it
faced
over
the
years.

“Sometimes,
we’ve
done
things
that
were
big
mistakes,”
he
said.
“But
we
never
get
close
to
fatal
mistakes.”

And
“every
now
and
then,”
he
said,
they
did
something
that
“really
works.”

Buffett
also
pointed
to
the
company’s

accumulation
of
$571
billion
while
avoiding
those
unfixable
slip-ups,
far
ahead
of
runner-up


JPMorgan.
“This
does
show
what
can
be
done
—
really,
without
any
miracles
—
if
you
save
money
over
time,”
he
said,

—
Alex
Harring

Warren
Buffett
told
Berkshire
Hathaway
investors
on
Saturday
that
the
company’s
cash
stake
could
climb
to
$200
billion
by
the
end
of
the
current
quarter.

“Our
cash
and
Treasury
bills
were
$182
billion
at
the
quarter
end,
and
I
think
it’s
a
fair
assumption
that
they’ll
probably
be
at
about
$200
billion
at
the
end
of
this
quarter,”
Buffett
said.

“We’d
love
to
spend
it,
but
we
won’t
spend
it
unless
we
think
they’re
doing
something
that
has
very
little
risk
and
can
make
us
a
lot
of
money,”
he
added.

—
Brian
Evans

Warren
Buffett
called
Charlie
Munger
the
“architect
of
Berkshire”
at
the
conclusion
of
an
emotionally
moving,
at
times
humorous,
movie
tribute
to
his
long-time
friend
and
business
partner.
Munger
died
last
year
at
the
age
of
99,
just
weeks
before
his
100th
birthday.

The
short
film
detailed
the
life
of
Charlie
Munger,
including
his
life
in
Omaha,
Nebraska,
where
he
and
Buffett
were
born
and
raised
just
two
miles
from
the
arena
Berkshire’s
annual
meeting
is
held.
It
also
showcased
a
montage
of
many
of
the

short
quips
the
investor
had
come
to
be
known
for
over
the
years.
At
a
2015
meeting,
he
said:
“Warren,
if
people
weren’t
so
often
wrong
we
wouldn’t
be
so
rich.”

Many
of
the
quotes
are
chronicled
in

CNBC’s
Warren
Buffett
archive.

—
Sarah
Min

About
2,400
copies
of
Charlie
Munger’s
book
“Poor
Charlie’s
Almanack”
were
sold
on
Friday,
Warren
Buffett
said.

The
book
is
the
only
one
being
sold
at
the
annual
shareholders
meeting
this
year,
in
honor
of
Munger
following
his
death.
In
a
typical
year,
Buffett
said
there
would
be
around
25
books
for
sale.

—
Alex
Harring

Warren
Buffett
has
taken
the
stage
to
begin
the
Berkshire
Hathaway
annual
meeting.

At
the
end
of
Berkshire
annual
meeting
movie,
Buffett
asked
the
staff
to
turn
on
the
lights
in
the
arena
for
the
late
Charlie
Munger.
Some
30,000
shareholders
in
the
room
stood
up
to
give
Munger
a
standing
ovation,
paying
their
respects
to
Buffett’s
business
partner
for
more
than
60
years.

—
Yun
Li

This
year,
the
short
film
that
precedes
the
start
of
Berkshire
Hathaway’s
annual
meeting
was
a
tribute
to
Charlie
Munger.
Attendees
laughed
at
a
reel
of
the
investor’s
best-known
zingers
over
the
years,
including
“If
people
weren’t
so
often
wrong,
we
wouldn’t
be
so
rich.”

—
Sarah
Min

Ariel
Investments
CEO
John
Rogers
called


Berkshire
Hathaway
shares
a
top
investment
idea,
while
hedging
that
investors
don’t
need
to
jump
in
all
at
once
when
the
price
is
high.

Rogers
said
it’s
one
of
the
best
investments
of
all
time.
When
shares
are
considered
expensive,
traders
should
use
dollar-cost
averaging
to
build
a
stake
over
time
as
opposed
to
buying
in
all
at
once,
he
said.

“I
tell
people
all
the
time,
‘just
get
started,'”
he
said
during
CNBC’s
Saturday
stream
from
the
annual
shareholders
meeting.

Rogers
has
been
a
shareholder
for
over
two
decades,
but
said
he
“really
wished”
he
had
started
40
years
ago.

“I
keep
kicking
myself,
like,
‘How
could
I
have
missed
that?'”
he
said.

—
Alex
Harring

Apple
CEO
Tim
Cook
is
present
at
Berkshire’s
annual
meeting
Saturday,
sitting
in
one
of
the
front
rows
with
Luca
Maestri,
the
iPhone
maker’s
chief
financial
officer,
and
Kristin
Huguet
Quayle,
vice
president
of
worldwide
communications.

Cook
has
attended
multiple
Berkshire
meetings
in
previous
years.

Berkshire
has
been
Apple’s
biggest
shareholder
outside
of
exchange-traded
fund
providers.
However,
in
the
first
quarter,
the
conglomerate

did
cut
its
gigantic
stake
by
about
13%.

Cook
told
CNBC’s
Becky
Quick
that
the
company
feels
“privileged”
to
have
Berkshire
as
a
shareholder.

—
Yun
Li,
Steve
Kovach

Investors
hope
Warren
Buffett
will
provide
more
insight
into
the
next
level
of
management
at
Berkshire
Hathaway,
after
the
passing
of
Charlie
Munger
brought
the
question
of
succession
to
the
fore,
one
analyst
said.

“Succession
is
quite
frankly
a
top
of
mind
issue
for
most
investors.
And
it’s
kind
of
like
the
elephant
in
the
room
given
Warren
Buffett’s
age,
given
the
passing
of
Charlie
Munger,”
said
Cathy
Seifert,
senior
vice
president
at
CFRA
Research.

“It’s
my
hope
that
Berkshire
outlines
or
reassures
investors
that
the
management
bench
at
the
firm
at
the
broader
firm
is
deeper
than
perhaps
what
some
people
may
perceive.
I
happen
to
think
that
there
is
a
lot
of
talent
a
couple
of
rungs
below
the
people
we
see
sitting
on
the
desk
during
the
annual
meeting,”
Seifert
added.
“I
think
that
Berkshire
would
do
itself
a
favor
to
sort
of
maybe
highlight
some
of
those
people.”

—
Sarah
Min

Berkshire
Hathaway
shares
are
beating
the
market
this
year,
but
they
could
further
rally
should
the
Federal
Reserve
cut
interest
rates
given
its
mix
of
cyclical
businesses,
one
analyst
says.

“I
think
it’s
safe
to
say
that
interest
rates
are
stable,”
said
Cathy
Seifert,
senior
vice
president
at
CFRA
Research.
“And,
in
a
stable-to-declining
interest
rate
environment,
a
lot
of
Berkshire’s
economically
sensitive
businesses
should
do
reasonably
well.”

CFRA’s
Seifert

has
a
buy
rating
on
the
company.
Her
12-month
price
target
of
$472
implies
Berkshire
shares
can
climb
roughly
18%
from
Thursday’s
closing
price
of
$400.60
per
share.

—
Sarah
Min

The
gathering
could
be
a
chance
for
Buffett
to

explain
why
Berkshire
has
trimmed
investments
in
his
favorite
stock


Apple.

For
the

second
quarter
in
a
row,
Berkshire’s
Apple
holdings
have
declined.
In
the
fourth
quarter,
it
sold
about
10
million
Apple
shares
(just
1%
of
its
massive
stake).
Then,
in
the
first
quarter,
it
appears
Berkshire
sold
another
116
million
shares.

That’s
based
on
the
disclosure
that
Berkshire’s
Apple
stake
is
worth
about
$135.4
billion,
which
would
be
around
790
million
shares,
or
a
decline
13%
in
its
investment.

Buffett’s
sales
have
come
as
a
surprise
for
some
as
he
has
grown
to
become
such
a
big
fan
of
the
iPhone
maker,
even
calling
it
his second-most
important
business after
Berkshire’s
cluster
of
insurers.
Moreover,
the
last
time
Buffett
trimmed
this
stake
was
in
late
2020
and
he
called
it
“probably
a
mistake.”

The
move
could
be
prompted
by
valuation
concerns.
Apple
rallied
48%
in
2023,
making
up
50%
of
Berkshire’s
portfolio
at
its
peak.

—
Yun
Li

Berkshire
Hathaway
continues
to
sit
on
a
massive
cash
pile.
Its
first-quarter
earnings
report
reveals
cash
equivalents
climbed
to
$188.99
billion
from
$167.6
billion
at
the
end
of
2023.

Shareholders
will
be
eager
to
hear
how
Warren
Buffett
and
the
rest
of
Berkshire
management
plan
to
put
this
money
to
use.
Buffett
has
lamented
in
past
years
how
troublesome
it
has
been
to
find
appropriate
acquisition
targets.

The
increase
in
cash,
comes
as
operating
profit
in
the
first
quarter
rose
39%
to
$11.22
billion
from
a
year
ago.

—Fred
Imbert,
Christina
Cheddar
Berk

It
was
a
cold
and
drizzly
morning
in
Omaha,
where
tens
of
thousands
of
attendees
flocked
to
the
CHI
Health
Center
Omaha
arena
to
hear
Warren
Buffett
speak
the
2024
Berkshire
Hathaway
shareholders
meeting.

—
Sarah
Min

CFRA
is
bullish
on
B
shares
of


Berkshire
Hathaway
ahead
of
the
company’s
annual
meeting.

The
firm
called
the
stock
“undervalued
versus
historical
averages”
and
anticipates
catalysts
in
the
Berkshire
Hathaway’s
earnings
release
Saturday
morning.

Shares
of
Berkshire
Hathaway
are
up
nearly
13%
year
to
date.

To
read
more
about
CFRA’s
call
and
what
it
expects
from
CEO
Warren
Buffett
during
the
so-called
“Woodstock
for
Capitalists,”

read
the
full
story
here.

—
Michelle
Fox

There’s
a
chance
that
Buffett
will
reveal
the
mystery
wager Berkshire
has
been
buying
for
two
quarters
straight.

In
the
third
and
fourth
quarters
of
2023,
Berkshire
was
granted

confidential treatment
to
keep
the
details
of
one
or
more
of
its
stock
holdings
confidential.

Many
speculated
that
the
secret
purchase
could
be
a
bank
stock
as
the
conglomerate’s
cost
basis
for
“banks,
insurance,
and
finance”
equity
holdings
jumped
by
$3.59
billion
in
the
second
half
of
last
year,
according
to
separate
Berkshire filings.

It’s
relatively
rare
for
Berkshire
to
request
such
a
treatment.
The
last
time
it
kept
a
purchase
confidential
was
when
it
bought Chevron and Verizon in
2020.

—
Yun
Li

The
annual
meeting
could
start
on
a
somber
note
with the
absence
of
Charlie
Munger
on
everyone’s
mind.

Pandemic
lockdown
apart,
it
will
be
the
first
without
Munger,
Buffett’s
longtime
partner
who passed
away
in
November at
the
age
of
99.

For
the
first
time,
Berkshire
will
broadcast
its
annual
meeting
movie
that
had
previously
always
been
reserved
only
for
those
in
attendance
in
Omaha.
Many
speculate
this
year’s
will
be
a
tear-jerker
tribute
to
Munger.

Vice
Chairman
of
Non-Insurance
Operations
Greg
Abel,
Buffett’s
designated
successor,
will
fill
Munger’s
seat
in
the
afternoon
session,
helping
answer
shareholder
questions.

Munger
left
a
mark
on
generations
of
investors
in
a
host
of
ways
thanks
to
a
long
and
fruitful
life.
He

broadened
Buffett’s
investing
approach
to
focus
on
quality
companies
selling
at
fair
prices.
Shareholders
also
appreciated
Munger’s
one-of-a-kind
bluntness
and
humor.

—
Yun
Li

CNBC
will
be livestreaming Berkshire
Hathaway’s
annual
shareholder
meeting
on
Saturday,
beginning
at
9:30
a.m.
ET.
Viewers
can
expect
a
lively
discussion
that
will
provide
insight
into
Warren
Buffett’s
view
of
the
market,
what
types
of
deals
Berkshire
could
make
in
the
year
ahead
and
other
key
topics.

Here
is
a
rundown
of
the
day’s
events:

9:30
a.m.
–
10:15
a.m.:
Pre-show
anchored
by
Becky
Quick
and
Mike
Santoli

10:15
a.m.
–
1
p.m.:
Berkshire
Hathaway
morning
Q&A
session

1
p.m.
–
2
p.m.:
Halftime
show
anchored
by
Becky
Quick
and
Mike
Santoli

2
p.m.
–
4:00
p.m.:
Afternoon
Q&A
session
of
annual
meeting

4:00
p.m.
–
4:30
p.m.:
Post-show
anchored
by
Becky
Quick
and
Mike
Santoli

Note:
Schedule
reflects
Eastern
Time

—Christina
Cheddar
Berk