"Munger slapped the table and asked me to buy BYD", "I can't make money by paying attention to stocks every day", Buffett's shareholder meeting came and talked about the succession plan

National Business Daily

2024-05-05 08:42Published on the official account of Sichuan Daily Economic News

At 9:15 a.m. local time on Saturday (10:15 p.m. Beijing time), the 59th anniversary shareholders' meeting of Berkshire Hathaway led by Warren Buffett entered a high-profile Q&A session. Warren Buffett, 93, answered shareholder questions.

This conference is the first solo appearance of Warren Buffett after the death of his old partner Munger. He was joined by shareholder questions from Greg Abel, who leads Berkshire's non-insurance business, and Ajit Jain, a leader in the insurance business.

Apple CEOs Tim Cook, Bill Gates and other celebrities were also in attendance, and Cook has attended Berkshire shareholder meetings several times over the past few years.

At the shareholders' meeting, Buffett answered hot topics such as reducing his holdings in Apple, cash reserves, succession planning, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving.

Screenshot of foreign media reports

Buffett said that Munger slapped the table and asked him to buy BYD

On May 4, after the short film at the Berkshire Annual Meeting, Warren Buffett asked staff to turn on the lights in the venue for the late Charlie Munger. About 30,000 shareholders stood up and applauded Munger and paid tribute to Buffett's business partners for more than 60 years. After that, Warren Buffett took the stage to start the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.

Buffett said that Charlie Munger used to always follow his wishes and agree with his proposals, but only twice slapped the table with him and asked him to "buy, buy, buy", once to take a stake in BYD, and the other time to take a stake in Costco. Warren Buffett believes that Charlie Munger was right when it came to investing in both companies.

Warren Buffett said: I fully trust my children and wife, but that doesn't mean I ask her what stocks to buy, and there is no better person in the world to talk about money than Charlie Munger.

Any labor-intensive industry can be threatened by AI

When asked about the possible threat posed by artificial intelligence, Buffett said: "That's a good question, but my biggest problem is that I don't fully understand artificial intelligence. I think any labor-intensive industry can be threatened by AI.

Warren Buffett said: Now many people think that there is a lot of deep content for artificial intelligence that is worth discussing, and I just said that it is a genie that has come out of the bottle.

About automobiles and Tesla's self-driving technology

When asked about the impact of Tesla's self-driving technology on the insurance business, Buffett said that autonomous driving may reduce the occurrence of car accidents, or reduce costs. In the past few years, there has been a lot of discussion about this, like Uber rides, and a lot of people didn't believe it at first, but it eventually succeeded, so you have to look at it with a development perspective. Now that many people have started to use autonomous driving, future data will show how well it performs. 

Berkshire Vice Chairman Ajit Jain added that today's technology sounds like it will change the probability of a car accident, not necessarily the overall average. In addition, Tesla is already about to enter the insurance market, and it is not yet possible to see whether it will succeed, because the cost of car insurance is still very large if it is to be completely transformed.

Warren Buffett says the best technique is to avoid risk

Warren Buffett said that luck plays a very important part, some people are always unlucky, he said that his best skill now is to avoid risks, to avoid bad luck, this is his best skill, because of this, he is in today's situation.

Warren Buffett said he paid more than $5 billion in taxes last year

Warren Buffett said he wants Berkshire to pay a lot of taxes. Last year, more than $5 billion was paid in taxes, and if 800 other companies did that, then the United States would not need anyone else to pay taxes.

Warren Buffett said that paying attention to stocks every day will not make money

Warren Buffett said that from the past five years, we can't issue as many shares as other companies, and we have so many investors that we need to control the number of outstanding shares.

Investors don't think about selling our stock, or don't pay attention to the price of the stock every week, and these people who pay attention to the price of the stock every day don't make money. A lot of times people buy our stock and put it there and don't even look at it much, and that's the story of Berkshire's past.

Warren Buffett on Apple: Consumers may not be able to afford a second car

But may be able to afford a second iPhone

Buffett gave an example when talking about investing in Apple: you may be able to afford a second iPhone, but you may not be able to afford a second car, and the second car is worth 20 times more than the second phone, although Buffett does not know how the iPhone works, but his insights into consumer behavior have convinced him that the iPhone is a very great product, maybe even the greatest product of all time, and that it is far undervalued. At the same time, Buffett also praised Cook for his excellent work and a very good partner.

Warren Buffett called hedge fund index funds too greedy

Buffett said that he and Charlie Munger both think that it is very fun to work with such a group of selfless people, rather than people who may be too greedy for money like hedge funds and index funds, and seeing what Berkshire Hathaway shareholders do will restore confidence in mankind.

Who will take over Berkshire's investment decisions?

Asked about his division of responsibilities with two investment deputies, Todd and Ted, when Abel took over Berkshire, Buffett said the decision would be left to Berkshire's board of directors, and that he might try to "come back and see if they do it differently" when he's gone.

But Buffett stressed that if he had been on the board at that time, he might have left the responsibility for capital allocation to Abel based on what he knew about him, because he knew the business very well. Warren Buffett said that if you know about businesses, you know about stocks, and if you really know how businesses work, you're an investment manager. Warren Buffett said that the responsibility that is now on him should be fully borne by the next CEO, that is, Abel.

I believe that India has a lot of opportunities

Warren Buffett said that he is indeed looking at India and believes that India has a lot of opportunities. But the question is, do we have an advantage in terms of our perception of India? Is our investment really something that India wants us to participate in? Maybe there are some opportunities in India that we haven't noticed yet, but the question is whether Berkshire will be able to pursue this opportunity?

Buffett also revealed that Berkshire is evaluating investment opportunities in Canada. You won't feel uncomfortable putting money into Canada in any way.

However, Buffett did not say what the investment is and whether it will be public or private.

Warren Buffett's sister was also urged to marry when she was young

Warren Buffett said that when my sister was in school, her family hoped that she would get married as soon as possible when she didn't become ugly, and even get married when she was in school, because all the good men were robbed when she graduated, and for many women like my sister, it was such a society at that time. It's incredible that we've come so far now.

Warren Buffett: Berkshire has liquidated Paramount shares at a loss

Warren Buffett said he had sold all of Paramount Global's shares at a loss. "It was all my decision, we sold it all and we lost a lot of money," he said. Buffett added that the experience made him think more deeply about what people prioritize in their free time.

According to the latest public filings, in the fourth quarter of last year, Berkshire has reduced its stake by about one-third, holding up to 63.3 million shares of Paramount by the end of 2023, and finally completely liquidated its position in the near future.

Warren Buffett on succession planning: Investors won't wait long

Buffett briefly talked about the future of Berkshire Hathaway without him at the helm, noting that while he still feels he can do the job, his aging age is just as important. "We'll see how Berkshire's next management makes a difference, [but] luckily, you won't have to wait too long. He added: "I shouldn't be like some people in this world who accept any four-year employment contract at an age where you're not quite sure where you'll be in four years." ”

Warren Buffett: I hope to be able to attend again next year

The 2024 shareholder meeting is over, Warren Buffett: We've only answered about 30 questions today, but thank you all for coming here from all walks of life, and welcome you to come here next year, of course, first of all, to make sure that I can come back next year.

Warren Buffett's "God Operation" in 2023

In this year's letter to shareholders, Buffett mentioned that from 1965 to 2023, Berkshire has risen by more than 40,000 times, equivalent to an annualized return of 19.8%, far exceeding the performance of the S&P 100 index over the same period. So far in 2024, Berkshire has returned nearly 12%, outperforming the S&P 500's total return of nearly 8%.

Looking back on 2023, Buffett's several shots can be described as "a stroke of genius". For example, Berkshire has increased its stake in Japan's five largest trading companies to 9% from 5% in 2020, while Berkshire has continued to increase its exposure to energy stocks such as Occidental Petroleum and Chevrolet in recent quarters, and reduced its holdings of Apple stock by about 10 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Since the beginning of this year, under the influence of geopolitical tensions such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, oil prices have risen, driving the trend of energy stocks; Apple's stock price has performed poorly compared with large technology companies such as Microsoft and Amazon, and has lost the crown of the highest market value of US stocks.

According to Berkshire Hathaway's previously released performance report, the net profit for the whole year of 2023 will be 96.223 billion US dollars, exceeding market expectations of 40.8 billion US dollars, compared with a net loss of 22.759 billion US dollars in the same period last year, and a revenue of 364.482 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 20.65%, and a net profit of 37.574 billion US dollars in Q4 of Berkshire Hathaway in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 107.8%.

Editor|Lu Xiangyong Gai Yuanyuan

Proofreading|Liu Xiaoying

The daily economic news is synthesized from China Business News, Securities Times, Wind, etc

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