Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway AGM 2023: Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger concluded the Q&A session today. They covered a lot of ground, including regional banking troubles, their scepticism around artificial intelligence “hype,” the rationale behind Berkshire’s recent investments in Japan, and the dollar’s status as a reserve currency, while offering up patented advice on investing. Earlier, Berkshire Hathaway announced that its fiscal first quarter net profit soared to as much as $35.5 billion, with the firm’s cash hoard topping $130 billion.
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Warren Buffett AGM 2023 Highlights: Berkshire Hathaway 59th shareholder meeting
02:18 (IST) 7 May 2023 Warren Buffett concludes Q&A session
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger concluded the Q&A session and thanked all the attendees for being part of the investors’ all-time favourite Berkshire Hathaway annual event.
01:43 (IST) 7 May 2023 Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett feel auto business is just too tough
“Charlie and I have long felt that the auto business is just too tough,” Buffett said, adding an anecdote about Henry Ford’s challenges in the industry in the early 1900s. Buffett said that there are too many global competitors for the automaking business to generate attractive returns. It’s also in the midst of a transition to electric vehicles, which imposes huge capital costs and risks in the near term before it becomes clear which companies will be successful and which won’t.
01:14 (IST) 7 May 2023 Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger don’t want to compete with Elon Musk in lot of things
“We don’t want to compete with Elon in a lot of things. Musk has a dedication “to solving the impossible and every now and then he’ll do it, but it would be torturous to me and Charlie” Warren Buffett says.
01:12 (IST) 7 May 2023 Elon Musk takes impossible job while Warren and I are looking for the easy one, says Munger
“Elon Musk would not have achieved what he has in life if he hadn’t tried for unreasonably extreme objectives,” Munger says. “He likes taking on the impossible job and doing it. We’re different. Warren and I are looking for the easy job that we can identify.”
01:10 (IST) 7 May 2023 Charlie Munger thinks Elon Musk overestimates himself
“I think Elon Musk overestimates himself, but he is very talented so he’s overestimating somebody who doesn’t need to overestimate to be very talented,” Charlie Munger says when asked about past implied criticism of the Tesla CEO and Twitter owner
00:35 (IST) 7 May 2023 Life advice from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger
“Do not make any mistakes that take you out of the game and you should spend a little bit less than you earn or you’ll never get out of debt,” said Warren Buffett.
Other life advice from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger includes “You need to know how people can manipulate other people, and you do resist the temptation to do it yourself,” and “Get toxic people out of your life, and do it fast.”
00:22 (IST) 7 May 2023 People behave very differently when inflation genie gets out of the bottle – Warren Buffett
“Nobody knows how far you can go with a paper currency before it gets out of control, particularly if you’re the world’s reserve currency. And you don’t want to try and pick out the point where it does become a problem because then it’s all over,” Warren Buffett said. “I think we should be very careful,” Buffett adds, noting how quickly inflation grew after the end of World War II. People behave very differently when the inflation genie “gets out of the bottle,” he added.
00:03 (IST) 7 May 2023 I liked it better when banks didn’t do investment banking – Charlie Munger
“I’m so old fashioned I liked it better when banks didn’t do investment banking,” Charlie Munger said. Bankers should be more like engineers, looking at how to stay out of trouble rather than getting fabulously rich, he adds.
00:01 (IST) 7 May 2023 Fear is contagious, says Warren Buffett on banking crisis
“The problem plaguing the banking system is an age-old one: “Fear is contagious.” But the current situation seems to defy the fact that the FDIC has made depositors completely whole,” – Warren Buffett
23:01 (IST) 6 May 2023 Why Berkshire sold TSMC in a matter of months? Buffett answers
When asked about why Berkshire sold Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in a matter of months, Warren Buffett replied that the company’s location made him rethink his position.
22:56 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett says he’s 100% comfortable with Greg Abel being Berkshire Hathaway’s successor
Greg Abel, the vice chairman for non-insurance operations at Berkshire Hathaway, is next in line to succeed Warren Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s chief executive. Warren Buffett says he’s “100% comfortable” with Abel being the conglomerate’s future leader. “I don’t have a second choice,” says Buffett. “If something happened to Greg, I would tell the directors they have a problem.”
22:53 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett takes break for lunch
The Q&A session breaks for lunch. Warren Buffett says they’ve taken 25 questions so far. They’re aiming to take around 60.
22:32 (IST) 6 May 2023 Buying back stocks can be smartest or dumbest thing – Warren Buffett
When asked that Berkshire has previously bought a lot of stock back, what will Greg do? Warren Buffett replied, “The answer is Greg understands capital allocation as well as I do and he will make those decisions in the same framework as I would make them.” “The framework has been laid out and really don’t see that framework changing. When opportunity presents itself we will be buyers of our shares,” Greg said. “It can be the smartest thing you do or the dumbest thing you do,” Buffett added.
22:07 (IST) 6 May 2023 Things can go bad if US & China push each other too far, says Warren Buffett
“U.S. and China are always going to test how much they can push each other, but if they push too far things can go bad. So need good leaders. You really want people who will convince the other country as well as their own how to engage to not give away the whole store and not take their whole store,” says Warren Buffett.
22:05 (IST) 6 May 2023 US should have lot of free trade with China, says Charlie Munger.
“There’s been some tension in the economic relationship between U.S. and China and wrongly created on both sides. The one thing we should do is have a lot of free trade with China. Think of what Apple has done by engaging with China as a big supplier. Everything that increases the tension is stupid,” says Charlie Munger.
21:51 (IST) 6 May 2023 ‘I don’t select managers based on where they got their degrees from’ – Warren Buffett
“Our operations have been better than other large companies because we don’t change managers like them,” said Charlie Munger. Warren Buffett hired Ajit Jain, the insurance biz head at Berkshire, even though Jain didn’t know much about the insurance business. He said, ” If I have the top pick of the 10 best insurance managers in the world, I would still pick Ajit.” Warren Buffett said he doesn’t select managers based on where they got their degrees from.
21:45 (IST) 6 May 2023 Berkshire Hathaway have lot of exposure to property cat business, says Ajit Jain
“Prices have not been attractive over last 15 years. In December we were hoping we would get a few days in the sun and I was very optimistic but didn’t happen on Jan. 1. Prices looked better on April 1 and now we have a lot of exposure to property catastrophe business,” says Ajit Jain.
21:41 (IST) 6 May 2023 We don’t need as many wealth managers as we have, says Charlie Munger
Too many smart young people are going into wealth management, Munger adds. “I think the solution of having a huge proportion of the young and brilliant people all go into wealth management is a crazy development in terms of its consequences for American civilisation,” Munger says. “We don’t need as many wealth managers as we have.”
21:40 (IST) 6 May 2023 US tends to tackle problems in “herky-jerky” manner – Warren Buffett
The U.S. tends to tackle problems in a “herky-jerky” manner, but has consistently produced an improvement in living standards over his lifetime, Warren Buffett says. “I’m slightly less optimistic than Warren is,” Charlie Munger says.
21:25 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett speaks on the next generation of leaders
“Everybody talks about the executive bench and all that sort of thing, which is baloney,” Warren Buffett says. “You don’t have that many people that can run five of the largest GAAP net worth companies and all kinds of diverse businesses, but you don’t need five people either. “You need a lot of good operating managers and you need somebody at the top who allocates capital and makes sure that you’ve got the right operating managers,” he says.
21:22 (IST) 6 May 2023 Greg Abel designated to succeed Warren Buffett
Greg Abel has been designated to succeed Buffett when he’s no longer capable of running Berkshire. At present, Ajit Jain runs Berkshire’s insurance operations, while Abel is in charge of non-insurance operations. “When the time comes, the major decisions will be up to Abel, with advice from Jain,” Warren Buffett says.
21:02 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger thoughts differ on value investing
Opportunity in value investing comes from others doing ‘dumb things, said Warren Buffet. Charlie Munger said value investors should be comfortable making less because there’s more competition.
20:58 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett speaks on commercial real estate market
Warren Buffett says the commercial real estate market value mainly depends on how much you can borrow non-recourse, and it’s starting to see the consequences of that. “It all has consequences,” he added. “We are starting to see the consequences of people who could borrow at 2.5% and find out it doesn’t work at current rates, and they hand it back to somebody that gave them all the money they needed to build it.”
20:56 (IST) 6 May 2023 Hollowing out of downtowns to be quite unpleasant, says Charlie Munger
Berkshire Hathaway has never been very active in commercial real estate, but the “hollowing out of the downtowns in the United States and elsewhere in the world is going to be quite significant and quite unpleasant,” Charlie Munger said.
20:47 (IST) 6 May 2023 Value investors should get used to making less says Charlie Munger
“I think value investors are going to have a harder time now that there are so many of them competing for a diminished set of opportunities,” Charlie Munger said. “My advice to value investors is to get used to making less.”
20:28 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffet says AI can not change how people behave
“AI can change everything in the world except how people behave” -Warren Buffet.
20:24 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett praises Ajit Jain
Warren Buffett praises Ajit Jain for growing Berkshire Hathaway Specialty from nothing and “without costing a dime of entry.”
20:23 (IST) 6 May 2023 Key to investment is to try to stay as rational as possible -Warren Buffett
We may make bad investment decisions plenty of times. The key is to try to stay as rational as possible said Warren Buffett.
20:22 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett agrees with regulators’ decision to protect failing bank deposits
Warren Buffett said that regulators made the right decision to intervene to protect depositors at banks including Silicon Valley Bank, which failed in March. Had they not, “it would have been catastrophic,” Buffett said.
20:15 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett says he was net seller of stocks in first quarter
Warren Buffett said he was a net seller of stocks in the first quarter. Berkshire sold $13.2 billion worth of stocks, buying only $2.8 billion.
20:12 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett says paying dividends once in life was a mistake
“Berkshire only paid dividends once in his life, and it was a mistake.” – Warren Buffett
20:04 (IST) 6 May 2023 “Berkshire Hathaway has a float of $165 billion” – Warren Buffett
Berkshire Hathaway has a float of $165 billion on its books at the end of March, says Warren Buffett.
19:59 (IST) 6 May 2023 “I don’t think AI is going to tell you what stocks to buy” – Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett earlier today said that while AI can help screen for stocks that fall under certain parameters, it has its limitations beyond that. “I don’t think it’s going to tell you what stocks to buy. It can tell me every stock that meets a certain criteria, or criteria in three seconds. But it has decided limitations in some ways. You ought to see the jokes it came up with.”
19:57 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett reads out Berkshire Hathaway fiscal first quarter earnings
Warren Buffett reads out Berkshire Hathaway fiscal first quarter earnings at the Q&A session ahead of the annual general meeting. Earlier today, Berkshire Hathaway reported a net profit of $35.5 billion in January-March.
19:54 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett acknowledges presence of Ajit Jain, Greg Able
Warren Buffett acknowledges presence of Berkshire Hathaway’s insurance business head Ajit Jain, amog Greg Able and other senior executives of the firm.
19:53 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger takes the stage
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have taken the stage to address a two-part question-and-answer session, ahead of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled later today.
19:45 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger along with Jamie Lee Curtis greets shareholders
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger greeted shareholders with a welcome video starring actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Buffett asked the actress to convince Munger to snap up stocks in “this something called the Internet.”
19:40 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett may talk about his investing mistakes
Warren Buffett will likely talk about some of his own investing mistakes during the Q&A today.
19:34 (IST) 6 May 2023 Thousands of people gather to listen to Berkshire Hathaway’s chief Warren Buffett
Today, thousands of people gather to listen to Berkshire Hathaway’s chief Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska. The annual gathering doubles as a showcase for the company’s businesses and a platform for its billionaire chairman and CEO to share his investing philosophy with thousands of fans.
19:27 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett key lessons for investors
Warren Buffett shares a letter with investors every year, along with the financial report of Berkshire Hathaway. Earlier this year, the most awaited letter was published in which Warren Buffett gave a few important lessons to investors. He called the critics of share-buyback economic illiterate or silver-tongued demagogues.
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19:25 (IST) 6 May 2023 Charlie Munger’s list of thoughts lauded by Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett earlier this year talked about his long-time friend and business partner Charlie Munger in his annual letter to the investors that was published along with Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report. Warren Buffett listed a few of Munger’s thoughts and gave a piece of advice to investors, “Find a very smart high-grade partner preferably slightly older than you and then listen very carefully to what he says.”
Read Charlie Munger’s list of thoughts
19:22 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold billions of dollars worth of stock
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold billions of dollars worth of stock and invested a tiny amount in the US equity market in the first three months of the year, as the famed investor saw little appeal in a volatile market. Berkshire disclosed on Saturday that it had sold shares worth $13.3bn in the first quarter and bought stocks worth just a fraction of that figure.
19:09 (IST) 6 May 2023 Berkshire Hathaway’s auto insurer Geico experiences a big turnaround
Berkshire Hathaway’s auto insurer Geico experienced a big turnaround in the first quarter, after profiting from higher average premiums and a reduction in advertising costs. Geico posted an underwriting profit of $703 million. The auto insurer suffered a $1.9 billion pretax underwriting loss last year as it lost market share to competitor Progressive.
19:05 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett urges investors to ignore resulting volatility
An accounting compulsion requires Berkshire Hathaway to report unrealized gains and losses with net results, and Warren Buffett urges investors to ignore the resulting volatility.
19:03 (IST) 6 May 2023 Berkshire Hathaway speeds up repurchases of its own stock
Berkshire Hathaway sped up repurchases of its own stock, buying back $4.4 billion, while paring its investments in other stocks such as Chevron Corp, which is still a major holding.
18:59 (IST) 6 May 2023 Investors shouldn’t expect change of leadership at Berkshire Hathaway – Ron Olson
“Investors shouldn’t expect a change of leadership at the top of Berkshire Hathaway anytime soon, even though Chairman Warren Buffett is 92 and his partner Charlie Munger is 99.” – Longtime board member Ron Olson.
18:57 (IST) 6 May 2023 Greg Abel to join Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger today
Greg Abel will be joining Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger on stage Saturday, answering questions about non-insurance operations.
18:53 (IST) 6 May 2023 Warren Buffett’s $347 billion portfolio consists of 11 stocks
Despite managing $347 billion in invested assets, Warren Buffett’s portfolio consists largely of just 11 stocks, accounting for 89% of his total holdings. Tech-stock Apple has been dubbed by the Oracle of Omaha as one of Berkshire Hathaway’s “four giants.” Apple is, by far, Berkshire Hathaway’s largest holding by market value, and has received $214 million in dividend income this quarter.
18:50 (IST) 6 May 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder NLPC Chairman plans to make a statement today
NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty plans to make a statement at the Berkshire annual meeting on Saturday, May 6 in Omaha, Nebraska.
18:49 (IST) 6 May 2023 NLPC criticizes Warren Buffett, Bill Gates for politicized philanthropy
National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), the sponsor of a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder has proposed to separate the roles of Chairman and CEO. Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder NLPC is criticizing Warren Buffett and Bill Gates for politicized philanthropy.