‘Woodstock for Capitalists’: Warren Buffett marks 50th year at Berkshire

Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders celebrated Warren Buffett’s 50th anniversary running the conglomerate yesterday. Buffett and his second-in-command, Charlie Munger, fielded five hours of questions from shareholders, analysts and journalists at Berkshire’s annual meeting, including some that criticised the business practices of firms that Berkshire owns or works with, such as Brazil’s 3G Capital. More than 40,000 people attended what Buffett calls “Woodstock for Capitalists”.

I wanted to be first in line. You’re not sure how many more years you’re going to have.

Kyle Cleeton, a research analyst for an investment firm, who started the queue for the Saturday meeting at 10 p.m. the night before

Berkshire holds more than 80 companies including the Burlington Northern railroad, Geico car insurance, Benjamin Moore paint, Dairy Queen ice cream, Fruit of the Loom underwear, and See’s candies, and owns more than $115 billion of stocks. Buffett denied that Berkshire needed special regulatory oversight by possibly having become too big to fail. The 84-year-old gave no hints about who would succeed him, but alluded in one answer to writing another of his popular letters to shareholders next February, suggesting no intention to leave soon.

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