2010 Berkshire Hathaway Meeting

[Adam]

I attended the 2010 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this Saturday. This is an event known as the Woodstock for Capitalists with people traveling to Omaha from all over the world. Last year there were 35,000 attendants, and it’s expected to be 40,000 this year. I was excited to go. I have admired this company for some time but only recently became a shareholder through its purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

The managers of Berkshire, Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger, are both investing and business geniuses. The highlight of this event is a question and answer session where shareholders can ask Warren and Charlie about the company or economy in general.

My trip began with an over 2 hour drive from Iowa starting at 4:30 am. I wanted to show up early to try to get at least a mediocre seat for the meeting. I’m pretty lucky that I live so close to Omaha compared to most of the people attending, which is why I decided to make a day trip out of it. It turns out that if I wanted a decent seat I should have left even earlier because I had to go pretty high up in the back before I found seats.

Things started of at 8:30 with a movie which included animated versions of Warren, Charlie, and Bill Gates. There was another section which featured the ladies of Desperate Housewives discussing whether they would date Warren over a game of cards. One of them leaves saying she is going to go “pick him up” but comes back saying she wasn’t his type. That’s okay though because she found another billionaire, at which point Charlie walks in.

Next starts the Q&A. Imagine an opportunity to ask two of the greatest business men and investors anything wanted. What would you ask? That is what this is like. Questions ranged from Goldman Sacks, to the sustainability of the Euro given the Greece debt problems, to what would happen if Ajit Jain (an important manager at Berkshire Hathaway’s reinsurance company) were to retire.

During the lunch break I took I headed to the exhibition area where there are booths set up for many of the companies Berkshire owns. There was See's Candy, Geico, Dairy Queen (with $1 mini blizzards!), and Business Wire, just to name a few.

After the meeting is the Berkyville picnic at Nebraska Furniture Mart. $5 got you a pulled pork sandwich, chips, a cookie, and a coca-cola while a local band played live music. Waiting in line was a good chance to talk to other shareholders where I met people from as far away as Germany.

This was a great experience and I can see why people come back each year from all over the world. If you want a chance to meet other investors, hear Warren and Charlie answer questions, and maybe even ask them something yourself, buy a share of Berkshire and plan on attending next year. With the 50 for 1 stock split there was a few months ago, it costs much less than it used to!