Woodstock Of Capitalists/Berkshire Hathaway

 

I’m sure for those who are not enthusiastic equity investors, going to Omaha seems an odd way to spend a holiday.  It’s not exactly a short flight from London. 

But if you have read anything and are interested in value equity investing, the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett,  is well known to be one of the very best.  Going there during his company’s (Berkshire Hathaway) annual shareholder’s meeting seems to be part of an investor’s rite of passage. 

It’s been called the Woodstock of capitalism and it is a gathering which might just  be a curiosity for some, a networking opportunity for others, maybe a chance to worship at the altar of the oracle or  opportunistic shopping with shareholder discounts for company products in the conglomerate.  The focus of the shareholders’ meeting is listen to explanations of changes in the financial statements and get their opinions on the present investing landscape. 

I really enjoyed it. I went with one of my longtime best friends, Grace. We share the same interests:food, hiking, financial markets, travel, wine. We planned to combine the pilgrimage to Omaha with a hiking trip to Utah. 

Grace and I met up in Chicago and en route to Omaha. An interesting little fact, parts of Iowa seem to be interspersed with Nebraska so invariably, as a tourist, you hit two states with one stone so to speak. 

We set off the next day early to the numerous conferences, meet ups, blog receptions. You search and it’s easy to find like minded groups. 

On day 2 we set off before sunrise to brave the queues for the conference. No special treatment there unless you’re Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Mario Gabelli etc. Warren used to greet people at the door but the crowds shoved him away in their rush for good seat so, he stopped. 

The Q and A is from 9:15-4:30. Warren, 92, and Charlie 99, are there the whole time munching on chocolates and drinking cherry cokes non stop. I guess you need a lot of sugar to answer a barrage of questions from the audience and the press. Warren Buffett is the calm optimistic professor whilst Charlie is the pessimist man of few words. Both are hilarious and very quick witted.

A few more meals and meet-ups and we are off to the real casino, Vegas. From there we start our trek in Utah.