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DJCO annual Meeting 2/14/2018


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Did he stick around after the meeting for additional Q&A like last year?  Can we be expecting some youtube posts from anyone?

I couldn't make the meeting but would love to watch any videos from the formal or informal parts.  Thanks.

 

He did not. He rushed out of there rather quickly (as quick as a 94 year old can).

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I wonder if he caught any flak from last year when he was on video. His comments on Ron Burkle and Al Gore weren't flattering to them last year but I thought they were hilarious, and true.

If he did catch any flak, he probably doesn't care. Munger is very secure in his identity.

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Surprisingly there were

  • no book recommendations and
  • no questions on GE

 

 

There was a long article in the WSJ about GE today, 22 Feb. (Sometimes I wonder whether Buffett or Munger already know 95% about what is in these articles.)  Also, on GE, the much lauded Welch  chose Immelt, built up GE Capital and smoothed earnings, all of which arguably led directly to GE's problems today.

 

 

Just saying...

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I wonder if he caught any flak from last year when he was on video. His comments on Ron Burkle and Al Gore weren't flattering to them last year but I thought they were hilarious, and true.

If he did catch any flak, he probably doesn't care. Munger is very secure in his identity.

 

This makes sense to me. I talked to a couple of people who were late leaving the meeting last year, when Charlie was still there - and it turned into this long "off the record" discussion, that slowly became public, when some

of the cell phone videos were made public. Too bad that happened. Charlie was probably disappointed.

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Surprisingly there were

  • no book recommendations and
  • no questions on GE

 

 

There was a long article in the WSJ about GE today, 22 Feb. (Sometimes I wonder whether Buffett or Munger already know 95% about what is in these articles.)  Also, on GE, much lauded Welch,  chose Immelt, built up GE Capital and smoothed earnings, which arguably led directly to GE's problems today.

 

I don't think he had any book recommendations last year either. If my memory's correct, he said he'd gotten and read too many books to remember any particular ones.

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Surprisingly there were

  • no book recommendations and
  • no questions on GE

 

 

There was a long article in the WSJ about GE today, 22 Feb. (Sometimes I wonder whether Buffett or Munger already know 95% about what is in these articles.)  Also, on GE, much lauded Welch,  chose Immelt, built up GE Capital and smoothed earnings, which arguably led directly to GE's problems today.

 

There was a question or two on GE. Charlie talked about how GE ran the company for a long time like the military, where executives frequently moved from division to division, burnishing their resumes and moving up the ladder. He suggested this probably contributed to a lot of short term thinking and said that he thinks you shouldn't run a company that way. He made the point that at Berkshire, executives usually stay in one business line for 30-40 years, developing both a ton of expertise and experience, but also probably having much better incentives to focus on growing long term value over short-term performance.

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Surprisingly there were

  • no book recommendations and
  • no questions on GE

 

 

There was a long article in the WSJ about GE today, 22 Feb. (Sometimes I wonder whether Buffett or Munger already know 95% about what is in these articles.)  Also, on GE, much lauded Welch,  chose Immelt, built up GE Capital and smoothed earnings, which arguably led directly to GE's problems today.

 

There was a question or two on GE. Charlie talked about how GE ran the company for a long time like the military, where executives frequently moved from division to division, burnishing their resumes and moving up the ladder. He suggested this probably contributed to a lot of short term thinking and said that he thinks you shouldn't run a company that way. He made the point that at Berkshire, executives usually stay in one business line for 30-40 years, developing both a ton of expertise and experience, but also probably having much better incentives to focus on growing long term value over short-term performance.

 

Let me be a little more precise then.  No one asked about the specific issues that has led to GE's troubles today. The question he was asked was, what did you see that led you (Buffett probably) to getting out of the preferred.  It was not from a question about the true source of GE's troubles today. His answer was a general, well they should not rotate managers around and the vicissitudes of life (business), in the vernacular, shit happens.

 

Perhaps that is all he would say, after all he probably sees Jack Welch and sundry board members of GE socially. (Neither he nor Buffett ever called out GE's smoothed earnings under Welch.  Rather they both applauded Welch's 'tough minded' be 1st or 2nd or not be in that particular business.)

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