Last weekend, the state of Nebraska played host to Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting to review first quarter business results. The two-day affair goes by the sobriquet Buffettpalooza – or “Woodstock for capitalists.”
On everyone’s minds was the question of succession. In April, Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett told shareholders that he was diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer. Non life-threatening nature of the diagnosis notwithstanding, the news led to wild speculations about the company’s fate after Buffett’s inevitable passing away.
When a shareholder asked for updates on the succession plan, Buffett replied, “I think we’re going to come up with a result that you’ll be happy with. Though I hope it’s not too soon.”
Speaking to a packed audience at Omaha’s CenturyLink Center (at capacity with some 18,300 shareholders in attendance), Buffett also discussed the ongoing debate about the “Buffett Rule,” his proposal to raise tax rates for the country’s wealthiest. According to DealBook, “The rule would essentially restore tax rates for the top wage earners back to what those rates were in the early-to-mid 1990s.”
Other topics of interest included Berkshire’s bet on coal:
“The United States will rely less and less on coal for energy production.”
Buffett’s idea of the ideal MBA course:
“A course on how to value a business and one on the markets.”
And management philosophy:
“I am the chief risk officer at Berkshire,” he says, “and it’s on me to make sure we don’t get into any catastrophic risk in any way.”
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May Jeong is Toronto Standard’s business editor. Follow her on Twitter @mayjeong.
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