Two things disappointed me somewhat on my first visit to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska back in May 2002.
The first was that Warren Buffett didn’t completely speak his mind. Although he generously answered shareholder queries for six hours, I was left wondering what might have been on his mind that shareholders’ failed to ask about. Two years ago a new structure for shareholder questions was introduced, substantially lifting the quality of the queries and allaying much of my previous concern.
The other disappointment was that Buffett’s business partner, Charlie Munger, while always on hand for pithy and insightful comment, wasn’t as deeply involved as I might have liked. The Berkshire AGM is Buffett’s show (one can hardly complain!).
I remedied this deficit on all subsequent Berkshire AGM pilgrimages by making a follow up visit to the Wesco Financial annual meeting, held four days later in Pasadena, California.
Munger is chairman of Wesco, and he opens the meeting by spending an hour or so discussing whatever topics he wishes to expand on, generally related to the wider world rather than Wesco itself. He then takes queries from the crowd of die-hards for several hours and, unlike Buffett, pulls no punches in his responses. Munger is the wisest person I’ve ever heard speak. Here’s a link to one attendee’s notes from the 2010 Wesco annual meeting.
Unfortunately, Berkshire Hathaway is currently in the process of acquiring the remainder of Wesco that it doesn’t already own. Wesco will delist and will no longer be required to hold annual meetings.
Fortunately for us, though, Munger has decided to host ‘A morning with Charlie’ on 1 July 2011 in Pasadena, a replacement for the annual meeting. We’re unsure whether Munger plans on making this an annual event, or whether it represents a last chance to see him in full stride. At 87 years of age, who could blame him if he did opt for semi-retirement?
Either way, listening to Munger speak has been known to be a life changing event for many, including a few of our analytical team. Unfortunately, none of our team is likely to be able to attend this event, although we know a few investors in the process of booking last minute flights to LA. If you have an interest in hearing Munger speak, and have the means and the time, we’d highly recommend getting yourself to California for the event.