Buffett/Berkshire - general news

[ajc]

Well, I guess that running a highly regulated business just means that lobbying is part of managing and running the business.

Mr. Buffett has several times in his shareholder letters written about a "social contract" with society in which the company operates.

BRK has so far commited about USD 25B to wind power and solar power.

Just take a look at the german energy companies E.ON and RWE to see what happens "when a social contract is not any longer needed". [It's about nuclear power in the first place [after the Japaneese TEPCO incident], and now also coal powered plants].

Clearly they're great lobbyists. And not just of politicians and regulators.

[fareastwarriors]

Buffett will apparently webcast the annual meeting for the first time this year. Great move.

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/01/29/for-the-first-time-ever-warren-buffett-plans-to-webcast-berkshires-annual-meeting/

That's wonderful. Can't wait!

[adesigar]

Buffett will apparently webcast the annual meeting for the first time this year. Great move.

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/01/29/for-the-first-time-ever-warren-buffett-plans-to-webcast-berkshires-annual-meeting/

That's wonderful. Can't wait!

Its about time. He should've done this years ago.

[Liberty]

Its about time. He should've done this years ago.

Agreed. What a wonderful archive of videos it would be if they had started in the early Youtube days..

[Parsad]

Its about time. He should've done this years ago.

Agreed. What a wonderful archive of videos it would be if they had started in the early Youtube days..

Probably no choice at this point...crowds are just too big.  There is no other venue big enough if the crowd gets significantly larger.  People are renting cars after flying into Lincoln, Nebraska or Iowa, because you can't get rental cars in Omaha.  Hotels in Omaha and Council Bluffs are fully booked...many a year ahead of time. 

Also, a lot of the old-time BRK shareholders are approaching their 70's, 80's and 90's, so many might prefer to just watch it online now instead of dealing with the crowds...and only going to get worse.  Cheers!

[longinvestor]

Its about time. He should've done this years ago.

Agreed. What a wonderful archive of videos it would be if they had started in the early Youtube days..

Probably no choice at this point...crowds are just too big.  There is no other venue big enough if the crowd gets significantly larger.  People are renting cars after flying into Lincoln, Nebraska or Iowa, because you can't get rental cars in Omaha.  Hotels in Omaha and Council Bluffs are fully booked...many a year ahead of time. 

Also, a lot of the old-time BRK shareholders are approaching their 70's, 80's and 90's, so many might prefer to just watch it online now instead of dealing with the crowds...and only going to get worse.  Cheers!

I suppose this was inevitable. I'm committed to going this year, it's a ritual that I perhaps will continue at least as long as "the current management" sits up front. There's no other such event that has shaped my thinking as much in recent times. In a sense, it helps in uncluttering my mind from crap that builds between Mays. I go there in gratitude.

Won't miss the standing in line part. Hotels will become more reasonable too. Value!

[longinvestor]

Facebook and BRK at the same market cap

[Mephistopheles]

Well, I guess that running a highly regulated business just means that lobbying is part of managing and running the business.

Mr. Buffett has several times in his shareholder letters written about a "social contract" with society in which the company operates.

BRK has so far commited about USD 25B to wind power and solar power.

Just take a look at the german energy companies E.ON and RWE to see what happens "when a social contract is not any longer needed". [It's about nuclear power in the first place [after the Japaneese TEPCO incident], and now also coal powered plants].

Clearly they're great lobbyists. And not just of politicians and regulators.

Lol

[John Hjorth]

The PCP aquisition expected to close on January 29^th 2016 :


www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/JAN2516.pdf .

The deal announced completed on January 29^th 2016:

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/JAN2916.pdf .

[longinvestor]

The letter should be in the final stages of editing, readied to go to press.

Coming in the heels of the 50th, would this be underwhelming?

As a shareholder I'd like to hear more about,

- Where's the insurance business going? Specifically float growth expectations
- More on the place of subsidiaries within BRK over the coming 2 decades - role of the Omaha Chairperson at the subs
- A progress report / table showing how much capital deployed across the 5 allocation priorities in per-share terms - hope they go back retroactive to 2009 and make this a standard going forward.

On the parable side, would like more commentary on the "ignore the macro" theme.

Looking forward to March 1