3:57pm ET
On selling PetroChina holdings and why Buffett chose to sell after just a few years of owning it
"If it came down to a better valuation, we would buy PetroChina again... The Chinese people are starting to realize their potential."
--Buffett
The last question from the crowd: What's your fondest hope for BRK??
"I hope for performance and I fully expect that what we've built into Berkshire will live far beyond my tenure. We have about as strong a culture as you can find in American business. We want stong businesses with managers who want to run the businesses for the rest of their lives."
--Buffett
Buffett and Munger are getting a standing ovation from the crowd. How often do you see THAT today with all the embattled businesses out there?
So gang, I'm heading off to the Nebraska Furniture Mart to set up for our live show tonight. Make sure you join Fox Business at 7pm ET tonight because I will have an interview with Warren Buffett, all the big news coming out of the meeting today, interviews with the heads of See's Candies, NetJets, the Furniture Mart, the Mayor of Omaha, Morningstar's Pat Dorsey for post-game analysis, and of course the continuing festivities and hoopla that continue tonight.
Gotta go! See you at 7pm!
--Liz
2:45pm ET
Buffett and Munger are still going strong after 5 hours of shareholder questions. They're both sitting on the stage at a simple table, each with their own boxes of See's fudge and peanut brittle in front of them that they keep liberally sampling.
These two have the crowd riveted both with investment advice and one-liners.
"We waste a lot of time but we're not going to waste it on things we don't want to buy."
--Buffett
On whether he'd consider asking Coca Cola to pull out of the Beijing Olympics:
"I personally hope the Olympics are held every year. I mean, we didn't let women vote til 1920 and I would say that was a major human rights violation. It's a terrible mistake to try to (influence companies). I would not start getting punitive about it."
--Buffett
(Btw, BRK is Coca Cola's largest shareholder.
"Warren understates my position."
--Munger
2:15pm ET
Regarding the BRK-Mars-Wrigley deal...
"When we get a call like we did from Mars (to get in on the Wrigley deal) you say yes. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world, whether Ben Bernanke runs off to South America with Paris Hilton...no matter what, you say YES."
--Buffett
On his recent investment in Kraft...
"We feel you have to buy products that are runaway leaders in their field. If you buy a great product (companies) and you don't pay too much you'll probably end up rich."
--Buffett
On succession plan at BRK
"We've made firm or definite on four (candidates). It's very important to me to pick someone who understands and can envision serious risks...you need somone very solid, someone you trust with reasonable analytic skills, but also someone who has the ability to envision something that doesn't show up in your previous models."
--Buffett
12:55pm ET
Buffett is asked about how to invest small sums of money.
“I would go with Vanguard or another trusted name...I would think equities would outperform bonds....you've got a perfectly decent return over the past 30-40 years." --Buffett
"If you don't have any prospects of being a skilled investor, do not judge stockbrokers by the bad ones you meet." --Munger
"It's always better to save 10 percent of your income than 5 percent of your income.”
12:50pm ET
FLASH: Buffett and Munger discuss energy, Charlie endorses solar energy!!
"Oil won't run out but oil, at some point, daily productive capacity will first level out and then decline... So we're producing 87 million barrels in the world a day...but when it peaks the world will adjust to it. We will be producing oil far beyond this century. We've messed up the recovery of many oil fields... It's nothing like an on and off switch though..you may still have enormous political considerations in accessing it...but there's nothing anyone can do in the short term to wean the world from oil."
--buffett
"We can use the sun..there's no other alternative. I think it's perfectly crazy to use up hydrocarbons..."
-Munger
12:15 pm ET
From a fan who complained he can't buy See's Candies in his hometown of Bonn, Germany: the question; do you want a company with high profitability and kokay' growth, or a company with strong global growth and lower profits.
"It doesn't matter to us. We want a business with a durable, competetive advantage, good management and a price that's fair."
--Buffett
"We are happy to invest in businesses that earn their money in Euros, in the U.K.
Overall I think the US is going to continue its policies that will weaken the dollar."
--Buffett
11:55am ET
"In a general way we've done the same thing every year. We will have more businesses in the coming years. Most will do well, some won't, but it's a very simple formula..."
--Buffett
"You've got to remember that most small businesses will never be big businesses, and that most big businesses will be faced with mediocrity."
--Munger
After yet another question (the third so far) about pollution from a BRK-owned utility, the crowd got restless..some are getting up and moving around.
"You could have a national energy policy instead of leaving it up to the states."
--Buffett
Here's a question from a 12 year old shareholder from Philadelphia who asked what he should be reading outside of school assignments.
"Well you should read your daily newspaper..you wanna learn the most you can about the world around you. You should just sop it up...sports, finance, politics. I've found the more you learn, the more you want to learn."
"Charlie's 84 and I'm 77. We've slowed down but we pretend we haven't..."--Buffett
"We have great partners, great managers...there's just no reason to focus on any negatives in life...--Buffett
"I wish we were poster boys for the benefits of running marathons."--Munger
In response to a shareholder who asked "if you were to start all over again, what profession would you choose?"
"I would choose what I do now because I'm good at it and there's no heavy lifting. What's your passion in life? It's a terrible thing to sleep-walk through life... I got lucky because I found out early what my passion in life is."
