Matt McAllister knows the exercise.
He has traveled from his home to Fairhope, Alabama to attend the annual meetings of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders in Omaha, Nebraska since the financial crisis. He ranks with friends outside the center of colossal conventions around 2am to grab a leading place to hear the instructions of Warren Buffett nearby.
This year, McAllister arrived in the dark to find a small portion of other shareholders had set up camp with sleeping bags – the earliest he had ever seen.
“There was a lot of concerns that it could be Warren’s latest meeting,” McAllister said.
The fear was confirmed several hours later when the 94-year-old Buffett told the crowd that he would withdraw as the chief executive of the widespread conglomerate after six decades.
Buffett has accumulated thousands of devout for something more than his investment acumen. While rarely leaving politics, he spends hours in annual meetings answering questions from shareholders on how to guide their lives – financially and differently – and in what way he thinks the global economy can be directed.
“He is a great inspiration for many people,” said Larry Knight, who traveled from Ohio for his first meeting this year. “We knew this could come, and that is why we came this year.”
Meetings have been a tradition since 1965. At that time they were small, with only two or three people appearing up to an event held in an old attic on one of the New England Textile Mulls.
They eventually moved to the premises of a security branch – with Buffett’s biographer, writing that recently in 1981, only 22 people participated. Employees were rounded so that the room would not appear empty.
Meetings now attract tens of thousands from all over the world thirsty to listen to the advice of human folly called “Oracle of Omaha”, which has built a $ 168 billion wealth and a reputation as one of the greatest investors in history. Shareholders returning year after year develop friendships and networks, making the annual event some kind of reunification.
Many were afraid that this moment was coming. Buffett submitted the news in his usual casual way, slipping into the announcement over the last five minutes after receiving questions for nearly four hours. It seemed to be a surprise for Greg Abel, his awarded descendant, who will take over the end of the year.
“Greg knows nothing about it up to what you are hearing now,” Buffett told the crowd.
It was an annoying end of an event that has become just as festival as a shareholder meeting. With a multi-day shopping event that presents Berkshire portfolio companies, a picnic and a 5K run, the weekend is called “Woodstock for Capitalists”.
Starting Friday, many of the Berkshire Portfolio companies – including the Queen Queen ice cream manufacturer, the Geico insurance group and the fruit laundry sellers of the Loom – raised Hawking Cabines Subtracted to shareholders and their guests. Long lines were kidnapped around the Congress Center while shareholders and executives of the portfolio company alike grabbed products.
In the center of Omaha city was full of Berkshire devotees of all ages, and steakhouses across the city gathered Friday evening with jubilee investors eager to meet other Buffett fans.
For many people, the meeting was emotional even before Buffett announces his pension plans. Ruben and Natalie Henriques, who live in Sydney, Australia, for the first time attended the Berkshire meeting in their honeymoon 15 years ago. This year, Henriques brought their 9-year-old daughter, Valentina.
“We just want to come back and be part of this. It is a bit of a pilgrimage,” Natalie said. They said they were still in shock from the news that he would soon withdraw. “I got tired a little.”
Thousands of investors participating in the Berkshire meeting every year have buffett to thank for the increase in modest amounts of investment in small assets. Cheryl Willis – who was just a note away from Susan Buffett, the daughter of Warren Buffett, at Central High School Omaha – and her husband Gary first bought the Berkshire shares years ago.
“This benefits from our legacy: our children and grandchildren,” Willis said. “A grandchild goes to Loyola (University) in Agoikago, and keeps all our children and grandchildren in professional songs.”
The Coupleifti does not plan to sell their shares while Abel prepares to take over in Berkshire, receiving a suggestion from one of the Buffett’s own investment editions to invest for the long run.
“I think Abel will follow investment plans in Berkshire,” Gary said. “At one point I was afraid that the stock would sink when the buffett goes down. But I think it will level and come out higher.”
After Buffett left the stage, hundreds of shareholders fled to the arena for the official meeting with the vote to follow. At first, Abel would keep the court alone.
Peg and Nelson Rathert, who had flown from Denver, remained in their main places on the floor to get them all inside.
“I am very happy that he is doing it that way,” said Peg, 73, her eyes shine.
“There were 40,000 hands of thanksgiving.”
Additional reporting from Eric Platt to New York
