Here is a detailed summary of all the major highlights from the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting of 2023:
The meeting was held on Saturday, May 6, 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska and attracted a large crowd of shareholders and fans of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, the CEO and Chairman, and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway respectively¹².
Buffett and Munger answered questions from shareholders for over five hours on topics such as the banking crisis, the U.S. economy, Apple, and their succession plans²³. They were joined by Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, the vice chairmen of Berkshire’s non-insurance and insurance operations respectively, for the first part of the meeting².
Buffett revealed that Greg Abel would be his successor as CEO if he were to step down, saying that “the directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning”². He also praised Abel’s performance and leadership skills².
Buffett and Munger discussed the banking crisis that led to the failures of several regional banks, including First Republic Bank and Signature Bank, which were among Berkshire’s holdings²³. They criticized some of the risky lending practices of these banks and said that depositors were safe but shareholders could face losses²³. They also contrasted banking with Berkshire’s insurance business, which they said was more resilient and profitable³.
Buffett and Munger expressed their optimism about the U.S. economy, saying that it was recovering from the pandemic-induced slowdown and that inflation was not a major concern²³. They also said that they expected most of Berkshire’s businesses to report lower earnings in 2023 than in 2022 due to the different economic climate³.
Buffett and Munger talked about their investments in Apple, which is Berkshire’s largest holding²³. They said that Apple was “a better business than any we own” and that they had no intention of selling their shares². They also said that they did not regret missing out on other tech giants like Amazon and Google, saying that they had their own “circle of competence” and that they were happy with their returns²³.
Buffett and Munger shared their views on value investing, saying that it was still a viable strategy and that there were more opportunities to make money by finding undervalued companies²³. They also said that sometimes portfolio diversification was “deworsification” and that they preferred to concentrate on their best ideas².
Buffett and Munger commented on artificial intelligence, saying that they were skeptical of some of the hype around it and that they preferred “old fashioned intelligence” over AI². They also said that they did not see any other currency replacing the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency anytime soon².
Sources:
(1) The Official Berkshire Hathaway Weekend Schedule for 2023 – Borsheims. https://www.borsheims.com/blog/the-official-berkshire-weekend-schedule/.
(2) 3 Takeaways From the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-warren-buffett-meeting-takeaways-dcf9a6ee.
(3) Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway just hosted its legendary annual investor weekend. Here’s what to know.. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/warren-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-just-hosted-its-legendary-annual-investor-weekend-heres-what-to-know/ar-AA1aTgaH.
(4) Highlights From Warren Buffett And Berkshire Hathaway’s 2023 Annual Meeting. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bill_stone/2023/05/07/highlights-from-warren-buffett-and-berkshire-hathaways-2023-annual-meeting/.
(5) Live Updates: Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/06/berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting-live-updates.html.
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