If Warren Buffett can be believed, he announced Saturday after Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting that he plans to resign as CEO at the end of the year, which is news for several close members outside his family.
Non-family directors or thousands of shareholders gathered in the annual Woodstock for Capital Essitals in his home country, Omaha, with a hint of the exact timing.
They probably should. His long-time business partner and Acerbic Fiendkick Charlie Munger at the Omaha Conference passed away in 2023 at the age of 99.
As an intimate observer of his own style of every move, the "Fothist" has been speculating and worried about inheriting at least a quarter of a century. After the Omaha party in 2003, when Buffett was a 72-year-old striptease period, I wrote a title titled "Stock shareholders think about life after Buffett." I quoted him as saying that if he starts "losing (his) marble," it will be persuaded by his family to step down. "It may take the entire family away," he added.
The inevitability of his departure did nothing to relieve the shock. Among Buffett's most dedicated followers, it recently passed away with Francis.
Although Buffett's letter to shareholders does not directly mention Donald Trump's second president, it does call on "Uncle Sam" to wisely spend billions of taxes and taxes Berkshire sent to the US Treasury: "Never forget, we need you to keep a stable currency and keep it stable need (His focus) Your wisdom and vigilance. ”
At a time when geopolitical and economic changes around the world are extremely changing, the same question that shareholders still care about in 2003 still applies: Can anyone replicate Buffett's performance? The core level of Berkshire's "A" shares ended Friday, with a record $809,808.50, up 20% from the year. When Buffett gained control over the textile manufacturer that was sick in 1965, the stock was worth less than $20.
Buffett always stands out from the CEO of self-stimulation, which has long attributed this success to the “ovarian lottery,” which has given him a white, male and relatively good, and the ability to invest in American capitalism in auspicious time. He likens this effect to snowballs (the title of Alice Schroeder’s excellent 2008 biography): “If you’re in the right snow, it happens, you’d better carry the snow with you because you won’t get back to the top of the mountain again.
However, this self-analysis underestimates the firmness, perfectionism, focus and intelligence behind his public figures. For example, when he invested in Goldman Sachs to help invest in banks onshore during the 2008 financial crisis, he did so in a way that was extremely favorable to Berkshire, embodying one of his most famous mottos: “When others are greedy, we just try to be greedy when they are greedy and only when they are greedy.”
Such Good things As long as financial markets exist, we will likely recycle them, and although we are almost certain that we will definitely read the last letter to shareholders, which are still the best and best written in Buffett’s philosophy of life and investment.
However, copying philosophy will be a huge challenge. Regardless of Greg Abel's talent, being selected to enter the biggest shoe in U.S. investment history in 2021, and the board's commitment to protecting the same culture and spirit, Berkshire is no longer an agile vehicle for Buffett and Buffett's past undervalued company assets in the last quarter of the 20th century. Sometimes, as Buffett said last year, even they have a hard time finding a large enough investment to "move" for shareholders.
Still, fluctuations have always created opportunities. Showing that he didn't actually lose the marble, Buffett left behind a huge and evolving war box of $34.8 billion. He said at some point that on Saturday, Berkshire will "bomb the product we're happy to have cash."
When Buffett's snowball stopped, his successor had created a new snowball. Will they have the momentum, conditions and skills to guide it like the saints of Omaha?
andrew.hill@ft.com