Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway at a glance
Updates with latest developments
By Jonathan Stempel
OMAHA, Nebraska, May 4 (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of people descended on Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual shareholder weekend for billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N.
Buffett, 93, and Vice Chairman Greg Abel, 61, are expected to answer five hours of shareholder questions at Berkshire's annual meeting on Saturday. Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, 72, will join them in the first three hours.
Abel is expected to succeed Buffett as chief executive. The meeting is the first since longtime Vice Chairman Charlie Munger died in November at age 99. It will be broadcast on CNBC and livestreamed on cnbc.com.
Here are some facts about Buffett and Berkshire.
FACTS ABOUT WARREN EDWARD BUFFETT
Born: Aug. 30, 1930, in Omaha
Education: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Columbia Business School
Family: Buffett has been married to Astrid Menks since 2006. His first wife Susan Thompson Buffett died in 2004, and he had three children with her: Susan, Howard and Peter. Susan Buffett and Howard Buffett are Berkshire directors.
Net worth: $132.5 billion as of May 2, ranking eighth worldwide. Bernard Arnault, who leads luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton LVMH.PA, and his family ranked first. (Source: Forbes)
Berkshire ownership stake: 15.1% as of March 6
Berkshire voting power: 31.2% as of March 6
How Buffett took charge: In 1965, Buffett was a shareholder in Berkshire, then a struggling New England textile company. He agreed to sell back his shares for $11.50 each, but management provided a term sheet that showed $11.375. That angered Buffett, and he decided to buy all the shares he could. He won control of Berkshire on May 10, 1965. The textile business closed in 1985.
Famous Buffett quotation: "Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless." - Sept. 4, 1991 congressional testimony about Salomon Inc, where Buffett became interim chairman to restore order after a Treasury auction bidding scandal.
Philanthropy: Buffett has since 2006 donated about $39.3 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $12.7 billion to four family charities. He has said "99%-plus" of his fortune will go to philanthropy over about a decade after he dies.
Home: Buffett has lived since 1958 in the same house on a well-trafficked Omaha street and does much of his work there. Built in 1921, the five-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath home on 0.72 acres was assessed at $1,224,500 in 2024, up from $1,003,500 in 2023. Annual taxes are $21,172. (Source: Douglas County, Nebraska)
Diet: Buffett likes steaks and eats candies from See's, which Berkshire owns. He estimates that one-fourth of his calories come from Coca-Cola, a longtime Berkshire investment.
Buffett on Berkshire's goal: "We want to own either all or a portion of businesses that enjoy good economics that are fundamental and enduring.... We particularly favor the rare enterprise that can deploy additional capital at high returns in the future.... We also hope these favored businesses are run by able and trustworthy managers, though that is a more difficult judgment to make, however, and Berkshire has had its share of disappointments." (Shareholder letter, Feb. 24)
FACTS ABOUT BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY
Leadership: Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer; Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, vice chairmen; Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, investment managers.
2023 net income: $96.22 billion, including $58.87 billion of investment gains
2023 operating income: $37.35 billion, up 21% from 2022
2023 revenue: $364.48 billion, up 21% from 2022
2023 share repurchases: $9.2 billion
Stock price: $606,413.45 per Class A share as of May 2. Class B shares are worth about 1/1,500th as much.
Market value: about $867 billion as of May 2, 2024, based on reported shares outstanding
Compounded annual gain from 1965-2023: stock price: 19.8%; S&P 500 including dividends: 10.2% (pre-tax)
Overall gain from 1965-2023: stock price: 4,384,748%; S&P 500 including dividends: 31,223% (pre-tax)
Selected businesses: Alleghany, Benjamin Moore, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, BNSF, Borsheims Fine Jewelry, Brooks, Business Wire, Clayton Homes, Duracell, Forest River, Fruit of the Loom, Geico, General Re, HomeServices of America, IMC International Metalworking, International Dairy Queen, Jazwares, Johns Manville, Lubrizol, Marmon, McLane, National Indemnity, Nebraska Furniture Mart, NetJets, Oriental Trading, Pampered Chef, Pilot Travel Centers, Precision Castparts, See's Candies, Shaw Industries
Selected acquisitions: See's Candies, $25 million (1972); Geico, $2.3 billion (1996); Dairy Queen, $590 million (1998); General Re, $15.9 billion (1998); NetJets, $725 million (1998); Clayton Homes, $1.7 billion (2003); PacifiCorp, $5.1 billion (2006); Iscar, $6.1 billion (2006-2013); Marmon, $8.9 billion (2008-2014); Burlington Northern Santa Fe, $26.5 billion (2010); Lubrizol, $9 billion (2011); NV Energy, $5.6 billion (2013); H.J. Heinz, $12.1 billion (majority stake, 2013); Van Tuyl (now Berkshire Hathaway Automotive), $4.1 billion (2015); Precision Castparts, $32.1 billion (2016); Duracell, $2.9 billion (2016); Pilot Travel Centers, $13.6 billion (2017-2024); Alleghany, $11.5 billion (2022). (Sources: Barclays, Berkshire)
Major stock investments: American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Occidental Petroleum. Berkshire also has approximately 9% stakes in Japan's five largest trading houses.
Employees: 396,440
Employees in main office: 26, including Buffett
Annual meeting attendance: 12 (1965), about 24 (1979), 1,000 (1986), 4,100 (1995), 13,000 (2000), 21,000 (2005), 42,000 (2015, Buffett's 50th anniversary running Berkshire). (Sources: Omaha World-Herald, Berkshire, Reuters)
FACTS ABOUT MANAGEMENT, OUTLOOK
Succession: Buffett has not publicly signaled any plans to retire. Abel is expected to become CEO when Buffett retires, cannot continue or dies. Combs, who has also been Geico's chief executive since 2020, and Weschler may succeed Buffett as chief investment officer. Buffett's eldest son, Howard, is expected to become non-executive chairman.
Management responsibilities: Abel and Jain have day-to-day oversight of Berkshire's non-insurance and insurance units, respectively. Combs and Weschler handle some stock investments. Buffett handles major capital allocations and investments.
Buffett on managing risk: "It's my job to think about risks that nobody else thinks about." (Interview with CNBC, April 12, 2023)
Buffett on outlook for shareholders: "Berkshire should do a bit better than the average American corporation and, more important, should also operate with materially less risk of permanent loss of capital. Anything beyond 'slightly better,' though, is wishful thinking." (Shareholder letter, Feb. 24)
Abel on stock buybacks after Buffett's departure: We "really don't see that framework changing. When the opportunity presents itself, we'll want to be an active repurchaser of Berkshire shares." (Berkshire annual meeting, May 6, 2023)
Jain on reinsurance exposure to a major Florida hurricane: "We could lose, across all the units, as much as $15 billion. And if there isn't a loss, we'll make several billion dollars as profit.... Given that we have about a little less than $300 billion of capital, we think of that as a 5% exposure that we're willing to take on." (Berkshire annual meeting, May 6, 2023)
Buffett set for 59th shareholder marathon as big questions loom ID:nL1N36S23K
Compiled by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
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