On May 5, 2014, Warren Buffett joined Liz Claman on Fox Business for an hour-long interview after that year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting.
And he didn’t come alone — with both vice chairman Charlie Munger and director Bill Gates hopping in front of the cameras to share their thoughts, as well.
The three men not only discussed that weekend’s headlines, but also fielded questions from college students via livestream and from the general public via social media.
This interview came at an interesting time. Buffett had only recently made his controversial decision to abstain — rather than vote against — Coca-Cola’s executive pay package. Russia-Ukraine tensions also loomed large. And unpopular cost-cutting moves at Heinz were branded by one shareholder as “un-Buffett-like”.
A couple of notes: I condensed and summarized some questions to keep the spotlight on Buffett’s answers. I also omitted a few of Gates’s responses that were not relevant to Berkshire.
Liz Claman: I’ve never seen crowds like the crowds that I saw — and I’ve been coming to this meeting for nine years. Do you have a final tally on the numbers?
Warren Buffett: We can’t really get a count because they come and go and all that, but we know we were up many thousands above the previous record. It certainly wasn’t less than 38,000 [and] probably wasn’t more than 40,000, but it was an all-time record.
Claman: It could very well be 38,000-39,000.
Buffett: Yeah, or 40,000 even.
Claman: When the doors open at CenturyLink Center and people start flooding in, it’s just amazing to me. It’s like you’re a rock star. I know that analogy has been made, but let it go to your head a little bit.
Buffett: They’re coming to see Charlie. (Laughs)
Claman: You’re sort of in the center of it and, yet, you probably don’t feel it. We had cameras on the floor and you can see the crowds descending upon you [when] you start walking through that floor. What is that like?
Buffett: Well, I’m having a good time. I know some of the people who are around. They’re Berkshire shareholders and they’re happy and they’ve come from a long way in many cases. We sent tickets to fifty or so countries this year — aside from every state in the union — so it’s fun. We have a good time.
Claman: But they bear down [on you]. Do you ever get nervous?
Buffett: No. It’s a friendly crowd.
I do bring along an extra suit in case anybody throws a pie. (Laughs)
Claman: I was amazed. Dairy Queen, See’s Candies, all kinds of things. Does it ever change? How do you plan that?
Buffett: We want to add companies from year to year. We’re sort of maxed out — that exhibition floor is almost 200,000 square feet, but we may have to figure [out] a way to get a few more feet somehow. But you mentioned Dilly Bars [from DQ]. I think we had 12,000 of them and I think they were gone.
Claman: [CEO] John Gainor told me 15,000.
Buffett: 15,000. Okay.
Claman: I just don’t see guys like Goldman Sachs’s Lloyd Blankfein or Kazuo Hirai of Sony doing this.
Buffett: Well, I might get Lloyd [to do this]. I don’t think he’ll pass on money, but maybe we can get him into the act.
Claman: You are the one who actually makes money. Do you have some final numbers on things like the Nebraska Furniture Mart?
Buffett: The Nebraska Furniture Mart will do something over $40 million in the week surrounding the meeting, which is more than most stores do in a year.
Claman: Speaking of the Nebraska Furniture Mart, you’re going to be opening a huge one [in Texas] in 2015. The minute I hit the ground here, the rumor that I heard was you might have the annual shareholders meeting in Dallas next year. You said no during the meeting, [but] what if the venue was larger [and] the hotels less expensive and more affordable for shareholders. Would you consider doing it in Dallas for at least one year?
Buffett: I really won’t. It is true that, physically, Dallas could handle it better than Omaha, but we’ll find a way to hold it in Omaha. I can’t leave Omaha behind.
Claman: From moving the meeting to moving the headquarters… You are from Omaha. You absolutely love Omaha. You would never leave. But the next guy who takes over may want to live somewhere else like Iowa.
Buffett: He better be prepared to be haunted by me every night. I’ll come back and make his nighttimes miserable. (Laughs)
Claman: Will it be required that your successor live in Omaha?
Buffett: I think the probabilities are almost 100%.
Claman: Are there any circumstances where you would consider a Pfizer-type deal of incorporating overseas — for example, in the U.K. — where you could get a better tax rate since it would be better for shareholders?
