Berkshire Hathaway 2000 Annual Meeting Transcript

by Edward · Published April 15, 2019 · Updated May 12, 2019

Transcript of the 2000 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting held on April 29, 2000 on Omaha, Nebraska:

(Click here to skip to the Q&A section)

(To see the full transcripts of all Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meetings on record, click here)

Meeting Start – Introduction and Warren explains how the meeting will proceed

Warren Buffett:

Good morning.

Well, first thing I’d like to do is to thank everybody that’s helped us put this on.

As you saw in the movie, I think, at the time, we may have had 45,000 or so people working with Berkshire, with 12.8 at headquarters.

We’re probably up to about 60,000 now, and we still have 12.8, and they take care of putting on this whole meeting.

We get help from people in internal audit, and we get terrific help from the people at all of our companies who work very hard to put on the exhibits. And we hope that you not only visit them, but patronize them, and we’ll give you ample time to do that.

As you can see, I enlisted my family for the movie, and I want to thank them. I want to particularly thank Kelly Muchemore and Marc Hamburg for their work in putting this on. It’s a real project to…

A lot of companies have a whole department that does this and, at Berkshire, Kelly processes 25,000 requests for tickets, and coordinates everything with the exhibitors, and it’s a fabulous job.

Now, we’ll follow our usual routine. We do have a surprise at… a small surprise… at 11:45. It’s not that Charlie’s going to say anything… that would be a big surprise, but… we’ll… well, we’ll have this small surprise for you at 11:45.

The plan is to go through the business part of the meeting here in just a second, and we’ll run from 9:30 to 12:00. Then, after conducting the business meeting, we’ll take your questions.

We’ll go around the room. We have 10 stations. I guess we’ll probably only be using eight stations in this room.

And we have microphones everyplace that the eight stations… that you’ll see, and you can step up to those. And we’ll just keep answering questions.

And we’ll break at 12 o’clock, and there will be food available down below, where you can also purchase things from us.

And we’ll reconvene about 12:45, and then we’ll stay until 3:30 and we’ll try and answer whatever questions you have. And then we will have to cut it off at 3:30.

We have… we had about the same number of ticket requests as in the past, but we had a different mix this year. We… as most of you know… we had change the venue, and the time, because Ak-Sar-Ben is winding down.

And so, there’s a little different rhythm to this meeting. A much higher percentage of our tickets than usual were requested by people from Omaha.

And, of course, you’ve heard me say before that we’re a little suspicious of these figures because we know that a lot of people claim to be from Omaha that aren’t, for status reasons, and so… we can’t really give you the geographical breakdown we normally would.

Introduction and Election of Berkshire’s Board of Directors

Warren Buffett:

I’d like to introduce, first, our directors, and then we’ll proceed into the formal business of the meeting. On my left here is the ever-animated Charlie Munger, our vice chairman.

And if the other directors will stand up as I announce their names. We have the better voice in the movie, my wife, Susan Buffett. Susie?

We have Howard Buffett.

You can see we find these names in the phone book, I mean…

And Kim Chace. Kim?

Walter Scott, the star of “How to be a Gillionaire.”

And Ron Olson. Ron?

OK, we’ll now take on the formal part of the meeting.

We’re going to try to set a new record, I think, 5:38.4, but the four-minute mile has always been our ambition on this. So I will go through this and then we’ll get to the questions.

The meeting will now come to order. I’m Warren Buffett, chairman of the board of directors of this company.

I welcome you to this 2000 annual meeting of shareholders. I’ve introduced the directors. Also with us today are partners in the firm of Deloitte & Touche, our auditors. They are available to respond to appropriate questions you might have concerning their firm’s audit of the accounts of Berkshire.

Mr. Forrest Krutter is secretary of Berkshire. He will make a written record of the proceedings.

Miss Becki Amick has been appointed inspector of elections at this meeting. She will certify to the count of votes cast in the election for directors.

The named proxy holders for this meeting are Walter Scott Jr. and Marc D. Hamburg.

Does the secretary have a report of the number of Berkshire shares outstanding, entitled to vote, and represented at the meeting?

Forrest Krutter:

I do. Yes, I do. As indicated in the proxy statement that accompanied the notice of this meeting that was sent by first-class mail to all shareholders of record on March, 3, 2000, being the record date for this meeting, there are 1,341,174 shares of Class A Berkshire Hathaway common stock outstanding, with each share entitled to one vote on motions considered at the meeting, and 5,385,320 shares of Class B Berkshire Hathaway common stock outstanding, with each share entitled to 1/200th of one vote on motions considered at the meeting.

Of that number, 1,116,151 Class A shares and 4,342,959 Class B shares are represented at this meeting by proxies returned through Thursday evening, April 27th.

Warren Buffett:

Thank you. That number represents a quorum and we will therefore directly proceed with the meeting.

The first order of business will be a reading of the minutes of the last meeting of shareholders. I recognize Mr. Walter Scott Jr., who will place a motion before the meeting.

Walter Scott Jr.:

I move that the reading of the minutes of the last meeting of the shareholders be dispensed with.

Warren Buffett:

Do I hear a second?

Voice from Audience:

I second the motion.

Warren Buffett:

The motion has moved and seconded. Are there any comments or questions? We will vote on this question by voice vote. All those in favor say, “Aye.”

Voice from Audience:

Aye.

Warren Buffett:

Opposed? You can signify by saying, “I’m leaving.” The motion is carried.

The one item of business of this meeting is to elect directors. If a shareholder is present who wishes to withdraw a proxy previously sent in and vote in person on the election of directors, he or she may do so.

Also, if any shareholder that is present has not turned in a proxy, and desires a ballot in order to vote in person, you may do so.

If you wish to do this, please identify yourself to the meeting officials in the aisles who will furnish a ballot for you. Would those persons desiring ballots please identify themselves, so that we may distribute them?

I now recognize Mr. Walter Scott Jr. to place a motion before the meeting, with respect to election of directors.

Walter Scott Jr.:

I move that Warren E. Buffett, Susan T. Buffett, Howard G. Buffett, Malcolm G. Chace, Charles T. Munger, Ronald L. Olson, and Walter Scott Jr. be elected as directors.

Warren Buffett:

Is there a second?

Voice from Audience:

I second the vote.

Warren Buffett:

It’s been moved and seconded that Warren E. Buffett, Susan T. Buffett, Howard G. Buffett, Malcolm G. Chace, Charles T. Munger, Ronald L. Olson, and Walter Scott Jr. be elected as directors.

Are there any other nominations? Is there any discussion? The nominations are ready to be acted upon. If there are any shareholders voting in person that should… they should now mark their ballots on the election of directors and allow the ballots to be delivered to the inspector of election.

Would the proxy holders please also submit to the inspector of elections a ballot on the election of directors voting the proxies, in accordance with instructions they have received? Miss Amick, when you are ready, you may give your report.

Becki Amick:

My report is ready. The ballot of the proxy holders, in response to proxies that were received through last Thursday evening, cast not less than 1,136,497 votes for each nominee.

That number far exceeds a majority of the number of the total votes related to all Class A and Class B shares outstanding.

The certification required by Delaware law of the precise count of the votes, including the additional votes to be cast by the proxy holders in response to proxies delivered at this meeting, as well as those cast in person at this meeting, if any, will be given to the secretary to be placed with the minutes of this meeting.

Warren Buffett:

Thank you, Becki. Warren E. Buffett, Susan T. Buffett, Howard G. Buffett, Malcolm G. Chace, Charles T. Munger, Ronald L. Olson, and Walter Scott Jr. have been elected as directors.

Does anyone have any further business to come before this meeting before we adjourn? If not, I recognize Mr. Walter Scott Jr. to place a motion before the meeting.

Walter Scott Jr.:

I move that this meeting be adjourned.

Warren Buffett:

Is there a second? A motion to adjourn has been made and seconded. We will vote by voice. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor say, “Aye.”

Voice from Audience:

Aye.

Warren Buffett:

All opposed, “No.” This meeting’s adjourned. Thank you.

We will advise Guinness of those results, and maybe we’ll get in the book.

A Quick Announcement for those who will be attending the Baseball Game

Warren Buffett:

Just want to make one more announcement and then we’ll start in the questions with area 1, which I believe will be right over here.

About… I think about 3,500 of you are attending the ballgame tonight. You know what you’re supposed to do, incidentally.

And we… in the past, we’ve had some traffic jams at… where the interstate goes off into 13th Street. So, the police, who are wonderfully cooperative throughout this whole weekend, in many ways, are going to do their darnedest to make sure that we don’t have much of a jam.

But if those of you who are attending the game would like to go a little early, that will probably be quite helpful.

And I might say that we have probably got… well, we think it’s probably the best zoo in the world here, thanks in very large part to our director, Walter Scott, and his wife Sue, who have really turned our zoo into a huge attraction, draws well over a million people a year.

It’s right adjacent to the ballpark. So if you get out a little early, and you want to go to the zoo, and then you won’t even have to move your car. You can come over to the ballpark, and then there’s also food there. And we have a… we serve Coca-Cola products.

And if you don’t all try to come at 6:45, it will be a help to us.

I will be pitching at 7:05, but my fastball will arrive at the plate almost instantaneously with the moment that it leaves my hand, so unless you’re there, you’ll miss it. And…

Q&A – Morning Session

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See’s new Barbie doll

Warren Buffett:

At this moment, I think we have a small interruption in the program here.

Charlie, on your left.

It’s just a sample of what it’s like to be an officer at Berkshire.

Oh, OK.

This is the new See’s Barbie doll. And… never before seen, it will be in the exhibitors section, lower level.

And believe it or not, we’ve come up with three more just like this young woman. And they will be down there to take your orders.

We can’t ship them now, we won’t charge your credit card until they… until they’re available for shipment, which will probably be, I guess, around September or so.

But we wanted our shareholders to be the first ones to have a shot at this new product, and…

The model is not included in the… delivered price.