In 2003, I went over to Warren Buffett's house. Well, I was in a cab in Omaha and the cab driver asked me if I wanted to drive by Warren Buffett's house. We drove up to an ordinary suburban block. There was a big guy standing in the driveway of the house on the corner. He was looking at us. "That's Buffett's house," the cab driver told me. "He doesn't usually have a bodyguard there but all the crazies come out of the woodwork this weekend, know what I'm saying?"
Yes. I do. The next morning at 5:30am I went to wait outside the convention centre. There were about 3,000 people there ahead of me. Somebody was serving Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The man in front of me finished his doughnut, took his napkin and started scribbling numbers on it. “When you do your sum of the parts analysis of Berkshire Hathaway,” he asked me out of the blue, as if I carried that particular analysis around with me everywhere, “what do you come up with?”
At some point, I forget what time it was but the sun had risen, the doors opened and everybody started screaming and rushing in. About 20,000 people rushed to find the best possible seats to watch Mr Buffett and Charlie Munger, his second in command, teach their investment wisdom. First, though, was the shareholders’ meeting. One shareholder raised his hand and wanted to vote on letting Berkshire B shareholders have some determination alongside the A shareholders about where Berkshire’s charity donations should go. Mr Buffett gave his reasons why it would be unfair for the A shareholders and then asked if anyone wanted to second the proposed rule in order for a vote to occur. Out of the 20,000 shareholders there, nobody raised a hand.
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Yes. I do. The next morning at 5:30am I went to wait outside the convention centre. There were about 3,000 people there ahead of me. Somebody was serving Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The man in front of me finished his doughnut, took his napkin and started scribbling numbers on it. “When you do your sum of the parts analysis of Berkshire Hathaway,” he asked me out of the blue, as if I carried that particular analysis around with me everywhere, “what do you come up with?”
At some point, I forget what time it was but the sun had risen, the doors opened and everybody started screaming and rushing in. About 20,000 people rushed to find the best possible seats to watch Mr Buffett and Charlie Munger, his second in command, teach their investment wisdom. First, though, was the shareholders’ meeting. One shareholder raised his hand and wanted to vote on letting Berkshire B shareholders have some determination alongside the A shareholders about where Berkshire’s charity donations should go. Mr Buffett gave his reasons why it would be unfair for the A shareholders and then asked if anyone wanted to second the proposed rule in order for a vote to occur. Out of the 20,000 shareholders there, nobody raised a hand.
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