This weekend I went to the circus. In Omaha. My mom and I attended the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. Wow, it was awesome. We've both followed Warren Buffett for a couple years. In addition to being a financial whiz, he has some very witty quotes on the subject. The only way to attend the meeting is to be a shareholder (or get someone who is to give you one of their credentials).
Until last year, ownership in his company Berkshire Hathway was out of reach of most of us mere mortals as a single share trades in the 6 figure range (closing price today was $122,310). Last year a B share was created to help finance the purchase of BNSF Railroad. These shares are more attainable ($81.58 at the market close today). Mom and I each bought early last year. When we got our annual reports and shareholder meeting info a few weeks ago, we discussed going. Airfare was not totally astronomical, and we could still find affordable hotel and rental car arrangements, so off we went.
The event has two main portions: the business meeting and the exposition. Every year the meeting opens with a movie. Stars this year included Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cast of the Office, all of whom donated their time to shoot the skits. The majority of time is q & a with Warren and his #2 Charlie Munger. For nearly 5.5 hours they answered questions posted by shareholders. The questions were posed live, so they had to answer from the top of their heads. It was impressive to say the least.
My mom characterized the exposition as something to the effect of "capitalism in action", and she hit the nail on the head. Many of the companies that Berkshire owns whole or in part had their wares for sales. Among the offerings:
Blizzards and Dilly Bars (Dairy Queen)
Underwear (Fruit of the Loom)
Candy (Mars, See's, Ethel M)
Berkshire T-shirts (Fechheimer)
Insurance (Geico)
Shoes (Born, Justin)
Jewelery (Borsheims)
Furniture (Nebraska Furniture Mart)
Kitchen Supplies (Pampered Chef)
Yes, it was something to behold.
Two final thoughts on the circus
1. I would love to know the sum of the net worth of everyone in the building on Saturday. Even if you exclude Warren Buffett and Bill Gates (he's on the board and was there), it was a crowd with some bucks. There was no flashy bling, and everyone we spoke with was very nice and down to earth, but you could tell this crowd had cash. My being there probably lowered the per capita average quite a bit.
2. If Warren and Charlie ever get tired of finance, they could do stand up (or maybe sit down) comedy. They are simply a riot.
As you can gather, we had a great time. If you ever get the opportunity to attend the circus, you should. It's a must-do.
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