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The Warren and Charlie Showby Dina GanI've never had much reason to visit the Midwest, so when my husband asked if I wanted to go with him to Omaha, Nebraska, I didn't exactly jump at the idea. "Isn't Omaha famous for steaks?" I asked. We'd been abstaining from red meat lately, so if I could get a good filet mignon out of the weekend, I guess I'd go. 
My husband explained that yes, Omaha is famous for beef, but it's more famous as the headquarters of Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the 7th most profitable company in America. Buffett's value-investing philosophy has made him the richest man in the world and earned him a loyal following. Each May, tens of thousands of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders converge upon the largest city in Nebraska to bask in the glow of the corporation's success and soak up the wisdom of the "Oracle of Omaha."It sounded like it would be as fun for me as a Star Trek convention, except all the attendees would be khaki-wearing capitalists. And the price of admission is steep. Class A shares are priced at around $130K, although Class B shares can be had for less than five grand. I decided that if my husband was investing our money at that kind of clip, I better go see what the fuss was about. Cocktails and Diamonds 
We flew out on Friday, the day before the meeting. Events were scheduled throughout the weekend, beginning with a Friday cocktail reception at Borsheim's, the Berkshire-owned jewelry store that's like Omaha's version of Tiffany & Co.We drove west to Borsheim's along Dodge Street, a main artery through town. The six-lane road is wide, clean, sometimes hilly, and lined with suburban chain stores. We passed Farnam Street, the street where Buffett lives. His house is large and sits on the corner of a nice street, but it's pretty unassuming for a multi-billionaire. Then again, Buffett is known to be a simple, frugal man who eats hamburgers and drinks cherry Coke. No wonder he's called "the billionaire next door." When we arrived at the Regency Court mall, which is where Borsheim's is located, the crowd was spilling out onto the street. We made our way into the mall, where a long line of people snaked around a buffet line. We had already planned to eat at a Japanese steakhouse in the mall, so we elbowed our way through the crowd to Borsheim's to check out the shiny, expensive things that shareholders could purchase at a discount. Outside, there was a big white tent set up where even more food and drink were being served, but it was so crowded I nearly had an anxiety attack. The crowd was predominantly Caucasian, with enough Asians around that I didn't feel out of place. There were a fair amount of young and beautiful types who were there to see and be seen. Mostly, though, it was older, retired couples who had probably purchased Berkshire years ago and were millionaires today as a result. I was surprised at how long the food lines were. If you could afford Berkshire shares, why would you bother to stand in line for finger food? But then again, as my husband pointed out, those with the disposition to be Berkshire shareholders aren't likely to be the kind of people to turn down a free meal. Meeting Day 
On Saturday, we got up at 6am and had a quick breakfast before heading to the Qwest Center in downtown Omaha at 8am. We milled around the exhibit hall, where Berkshire companies displayed their wares and gave out free samples or sold products at a discount. I recognized many of the brand names: Geico, Dairy Queen, See's Candies, and Fruit of the Loom. These are just a handful of marquee names from the Berkshire empire, which also owns a sizeable stake in Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, and the Washington Post.The meeting itself took place in the Qwest Center's main arena, which has a capacity of about 18,000. The grand ballroom accommodates thousands more, in chairs that are more comfortable than the stadium seats. So we spent the morning there, close to one of the giant projection screens. The company movie started promptly at 8:30am. It reminded me of when I was a freshman in college watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time. I didn't get all the jokes, although I laughed anyway. The movie was a series of humorous skits. One was a cartoon about Berkshire's vice-chairman Charlie Munger running for president on a platform that involved solving global warming by requiring everyone to eat a Dairy Queen Blizzard every day. Another skit involved Warren Buffett being called upon to get soap opera star Susan Lucci out of jail. The movie ended on a perplexing note, until the start of the actual meeting, when Susan Lucci stepped out, live and on stage, pretending to be the new CEO, while Buffett presumably languished in jail. But Buffett quickly emerged from behind the curtains and sat at the table draped in blue, flanked by Munger. Then the real show began. 
For the next five hours, with a brief break for lunch, Warren and Charlie answered questions from shareholders with the kind of wit, aplomb, and humor it takes decades to perfect. Twelve microphones had been set up around the arena, each with six reserved spots for which people had camped out at the Qwest Center since midnight to secure.Buffett, who is 77 years old, and Munger, who is 84, look a bit like Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet show, but their words carry far more influence than those old men in the balcony. Even the presence of another famous billionaire, Bill Gates, who is a Berkshire director, was not enough to take away the spotlight from the Oracle and his partner. Speaking of men, the questions come from mostly males. There were small investors and a few precocious kids looking for advice, business professors asking what they should be teaching, and shareholders looking for a forecast on the economy. Topics ranged from the housing bubble to the credit crisis to whether Buffett has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior (the answer is no; Buffett is agnostic). Several questions were asked by people with Indian or German accents, inquiring about Berkshire's involvement in the international business arena. Amid the serious responses, Warren and Charlie zinged with more one-liners than a Vegas emcee. Someone asked how Warren maintains his good physical health. Buffett held up a piece of See's candy from the array of snacks on the table and said, "You start with a balanced diet." Warren always asked Charlie for his response to each question. While Munger usually expounded, he sometimes stated in a characteristically deadpan tone, "Warren understates my position," followed by mute silence, which would always get a chuckle from the audience. Question 42 A few questions were meant to stoke controversy. There were hecklers protesting damage to wildlife along the Klamath River in Oregon caused by a Berkshire holding. A shareholder asked what Berkshire could do about its toxic television advertising. My ears pricked up when a female MBA student from upstate New York asked whether Warren Buffett would set a good example and encourage Coca-Cola to boycott the Beijing Olympics. Citing the facts that the U.S. once prohibited women from voting and considered blacks only three-fifths of a person, yet no one ever banned our country from the Olympics, Buffett said withdrawing support for the Beijing Olympics would be "a terrible mistake." The more people who participate in them the better, he said, and there's no need to "get punitive" about it. Munger added that critics of China should turn the mirror on themselves. "I think it’s the worst thing to pick on something about somebody you don’t like and obsess about it,” he said. I applauded in my head. At that moment, I decided, I like these dudes. The Meat of the Matter After lunch, we moved to the main arena, where seats had become available in the nosebleed sections. The afternoon continued with more money talk. Since I stopped aspiring to financial greatness after I sunk half a year's salary in a tech fund back in the late '90s only to see it dissolve to near-nothingness the following year, I was surprised at how inspired I was by listening to the Oracle speak. Buffett's message is simple: Invest in good companies, not the stock market. One of the reasons Berkshire Hathaway stock is priced so high is because Buffett doesn't want investors who are merely looking for short-term gains. He wants investors who are likely to buy and hold and pass on their shares to the next generation. The companies he acquires are often family businesses that never want to be sold off in parts. They trust Warren Buffett. He's not a corporate raider. Like most gurus, Buffett is motivational. His message is hopeful. It's about investing in the future over the long haul and not focusing on the crises of the present. These too shall pass, and he knows from experience. For the first time in awhile, I felt optimistic about the economy. If everyone listened to Warren Buffett, the world would be a better place. 
At 3pm, the Q&A ended. There was a short break before some official business wass taken care of, i.e. re-electing the current board members. That took all of 15 minutes.That night, I finally got my Omaha steak dinner. My husband took me to Johnny's Café and we sat in a red-leather booth and feasted on filet mignon and a T-bone. Life was good. |
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