Thousands of fans line up outside for hours, there are expensive merchandise and even secret movies.
When 40,000 people descend on Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday, it might sound like a Taylor Swift concert or a Coachella-style festival.
Instead, they sit raptly for five hours listening to a 93-year-old man answer questions about the economy, but not just any man: billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
Welcome to Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting. The conference has been dubbed “Woodstock for Capitalism,” and attendees liken it to going to church or seeing a Beatles concert.
Inside CHI Health Center Omaha, public shareholders interact with celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Murray, and Glenn Close, as well as business moguls such as Bill Gates, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, and Apple’s Tim Cook. I am.
The annual pilgrimage to Omaha includes the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, America’s seventh-largest company, which owns large stakes in companies such as Geico, Dairy Queen, BNSF Railway, and NetJets, as well as Apple, American Express, and Coca. These are the most enthusiastic followers of Buffett, who is also CEO. -Coke, Kraft Heinz, Chevron.
Admission is only $396 and is equivalent to one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock. Net worth $132 billion Participants say it’s invaluable.
Christopher Blomstran has attended every year since 2000 and calls the conference “the highlight of every year,” except once when his daughter was born two weeks before the conference.
“I met some of my best friends in the investment space at Berkshire,” said Blomstran, chief investment officer of Semper Augustus Investments Group. Located in St. Louis, Missouri.
“I usually go on Wednesday and stay until Monday.”
said Adam Mead, who runs Mead Capital Management and has been attending the church for 10 years. A lens of timeless wisdom.
“There’s Bill Gates, there’s Jamie Dimon. He shook my hand and took a picture. At one point, Warren held my hand. It was a memorable moment.”
Omaha’s conference center will open on Friday for the weekend, allowing conference attendees to qualify for events such as conferences, picnics and 5Ks. (Mr. Buffett will not participate.)
But the centerpiece of the event will be Saturday, when Mr. Buffett and other Berkshire leaders will address crowds, many of whom arrive at 3 a.m.
Pennsylvania attorney Chris Freed, who will be attending for the 10th time, usually stays within walking distance of the conference center, so he was in line by 3 a.m. when the doors opened and shareholders gathered. They are preparing to make a “mad dash” for the best seats. Flooding.
“By 4 a.m., I think the line was about 100 feet deep,” he said. “By 7 a.m. we’re down a few blocks.”
Mr. Freed said he discovered Berkshire 20 years ago when he first read Mr. Warren’s annual letter to shareholders.
“It seemed like beautiful poetry to me, so I bought my first B share within a week. I haven’t looked back.”
Along the way, he met Buffett fans from as far away as Australia, Japan, China, Germany and the UK, many of whom became friends.
“You never know who you’re going to hit,” the friend added. “One year I was sitting next to two NFL players.”
Mead said: “I’ve made some really good friends just by waiting in line. I’m planning on staying in an Airbnb with some of them this year.”
By 8:45 a.m., attendees will be ready for Buffett’s annual film to open the event. This movie will never be seen outside the hall.
Only two still images have been leaked so far. One he was in 2015. Pastiche of “Breaking Bad” Buffett appeared with star Bryan Cranston to dish on See’s Candy, not meth, but one of the brands that made Buffett rich. In 2002, Buffett played the ukulele.
“He’s done skits with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bryan Cranston, Manny Pacquiao and Jamie Lee Curtis,” said Mac Sykes, portfolio manager at Gabelli Equity Trust. . “It’s worth arriving early.”
This year will be different, in part, because for the first time Charlie Munger, Berkshire’s vice chairman and Buffett’s stage partner until his death at age 99 last November, will not be attending.
Portfolio manager Elie Chakib Abu Chakra, who will be attending for the second time from Canada, said the annual meeting is like watching McCartney perform on stage for Beatles fans.
“You can see your heroes on stage… If you’re a fan of McCartney or any of the old rock dudes, you never know when that’s going to be his last tour, but before they go… You want to see them on stage.”
Off the stage, the conference center features specialty products from Berkshire-owned companies. These include Squishmallow, which sells Warren Buffett stuffed animals, Brooks Sports, Fruit of the Loom and Dairy Queen.
Buffett tours in a golf cart, and people take selfies every time he passes. They also took photos with cutouts of him dotting the floor.
Last year, See’s Candies sold 11 tons of candy to Buffett fans, including “Warren’s Favorite Chocolate Walnut Fudge.”
Atlanta ophthalmologist Steven Tedder told the Post that he fell in love with Buffett’s wisdom after stumbling upon the Berkshire report during the 2008 financial crisis.
“We got to see real Midwestern morals in Warren and Charlie. [Munger]their clarity of thought, their written word, and their plain speaking style,” he told the Post.
This will be the third time they have met since 2022, as they have “made more good friends.”
Officials say only 20% of participants are women.
April Samuelson, a tech worker from Chicago, has attended twice, and each time she has had to explain why she was there alone.
“The weird thing about coming in as a woman is that other investors tend to assume I’m their wife or girlfriend,” Samuelson said.
“I had to make it clear that I had stock too. When asked why, I said, ‘Because I like money.'”
