Warren Buffett and the Stockholder's Meeting

This was a big day for me in that I checked an off item that was on mine and Larry's Bucket List. Larry LOVED Warren Buffet and in time he has become a favorite of mine. He is able to explain stock stuff in easy to understand words. He is the 3rd richest man in the world yet lives here in Omaha, Nebraska in a house he paid $31,500 for in 1958 on an ordinary street of Midwest houses. Warren is 86 years old and his Charlie Munger, his partner, is 92 years old.

Nancy and I got up at 5 a.m. today and caught a 5:45 shuttle. It was cold, windy and pouring down rain. There is only one covered walkway from the street to the arena and that is where the shuttle dropped us off so we didn't have to stand out in the rain although it was blowing under the awning at time. There were several other entrances where people were standing outside in the rain. The doors were supposed to open at 7 but opened at 6:30 so we could get in out of the rain. Next came security and then a long walk to the arena. By the time we got into the arena, at least 1/3 of the 20,000 seats were already taken but we lucked out and snagged 2 good seats by an aisle. We got out seats, left our jackets to hold them and went in search of food - soda, packaged pastry, orange juice, coffee and water - not much but it worked.

The pic above shows the stage and the large monitors so we could see them. Bill Gates and his wife, good friends of Buffet, were also there. This is the first time that the meeting was streamed on Yahoo Finance - before it was only heard in the arena. They showed a movie at 8:30 that was various commercials for some of the companies BH owns and some short funny movies of Warren and Charlie. At 9:30 Warren and Charlie started the Q&A. That went on for 7 hours with an hour break for lunch. They did not know what the questions would be in advance. Questions ranged from really technical stock questions that I didn't have a clue what they were talking about to how could they be such a big shareholder of Coke when all that sugar is so bad for you? Warren's answer to that was that he consumes about 600 calories a day in his Cokes and at his age is going to do what brings pleasure to him and it is up to people to make decisions on what they want to do. Besides the coke on the table for them, there was a big box of See's Peanut Brittle and Fudge on the table between them that they ate on.

This is from Yahoo Financial with Warren on the left and Charlie on the right. You can see the candy is between them.

We left at noon and caught the shuttle back to the hotel. We had had enough of crowds, etc. I heard there was around 20,000 people there - about 1/2 of last year but then last year was the 50th Anniversary of the meetings. Both Nancy and I were amazed at how many young people were there - in their 20's and they were totally absorbed in what he was saying. There were people there from all over the world!. Fun day and I'm glad I did it but doubt if I will do it again. Been there, done that.... 8-)

Since the weather continues to be not tourist friendly, Nancy and I are heading back home tomorrow instead of on Monday. The zoo is the only thing we will miss.