(Reuters) – Warren Buffett took the stage at Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE:) annual meeting on Saturday, paying tribute to his longtime business partner Charlie Munger, outlining the expanded roles of the executives who will eventually succeed him and discussing Berkshire’s prospects . possibilities.
Greg Abel, 61, named to succeed Buffett as CEO in 2021, sat on stage with Buffett.
Here are some of Buffett and Abel’s remarks during the meeting on various topics:
BUFFETT ABOUT LEGACY
“I don’t really get much done and I don’t operate at the same level of efficiency that I would have had thirty or forty years ago… when you have someone like Greg (Abel) and Ajit (Jain), why settle for me ? It worked very well.”
“The number of calls I get from managers is essentially awfully close to zero, and Greg handles them. I don’t quite understand how he does it, but we have the right person, I can tell you that.”
“We will own Apple (NASDAQ:) and American Express (NYSE:) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:) when Greg takes the helm.”
BUFFETT ON CAPITAL ALLOCATION
(On future capital allocations) “If I were on the board and making this decision, I would probably, knowing Greg, leave the capital allocations to Greg. He understands business very well, and if you understand business, you understand common stocks.”
BUFFETT ABOUT LIFE:
“You don’t know where life’s paths lead, you can’t beat yourself up, you try to do what’s important to you. I like to manage the money of people who trust me. I like the feeling of being trusted. I’m not going to change much. I believe in trying to find what you’re good at and what you enjoy. I think the only thing you can strive for is to be kind. And then the world will be a better place. I’m not sure the world will be a better place if I get richer.”
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ABEL ABOUT INHERITANCE
Abel said: “As we go through any period of transition, it is important to know that the capital allocation principles that guide Berkshire today will continue to exist.”
“We will always look at stocks as if we were investing in the business, 1% or 100%.”
BUFFETT ON CHARLIE MUNGER
Munger was “the architect of today’s Berkshire. An architect is a person who dreams, designs and finally supervises the construction of great structures. It takes carpenters and beavers, that is, me, but the architect is a Berkshire genius. “
“Charlie, in all the years we worked together, not only did he never lie to me, but he didn’t even structure the situation in such a way as to lie half or a quarter in order to sort of stack the deck in the direction he wanted. go.”
BUFFETT ON BERKSHIRE OPPORTUNITIES
“We made a commitment in Japan…five years ago, and it was just…extremely compelling…but you don’t see us making big investments outside of the United States.”
“I understand the rules, weaknesses and strengths of the United States… I don’t have the same sense of the economies of the world, I’m not very good at understanding other cultures.”
“We will be America-centric. If we do something really big, it’s very likely it will be in the United States.”
“Berkshire’s goal… is to increase operating income and reduce the number of shares outstanding. It’s so easy to describe, but not so easy to implement, but that’s what we’re trying to do.”
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BUFFETT FOR CASH
“We have a lot of fixed short-term investments that are very sensitive to changes in interest rates, so that number has gone up substantially and I can’t predict it will go up over the course of the year.”
“Our cash and Treasury bills at the end of the quarter were $182 billion, and I think it’s fair to assume that it (could) grow to $200 billion by the end of this quarter.”
“I am absolutely not against increasing my cash position in the current conditions. When I look at the alternatives, what’s available in the stock markets and the structure of what’s going on in the world, we find it quite attractive.”
BUFFETT ON US TAXES AND DEBT
“Almost everyone I know puts a lot more emphasis on not paying taxes than I think we’re comfortable paying taxes at Berkshire.”
“Fiscal policy has to give something, and I think higher taxes… are likely. If the government wants to take a larger share of your income, mine or Berkshire’s, they can do it. They may decide that someday they don’t want the budget deficit to be that big because it has some important implications, so they may not want to cut spending and they may decide that they will take a larger percentage of what we have and we will pay it.”
“My best guess is that US debt will be sustainable for a very long time because there are not many alternatives.”
BUFFETT ABOUT APPLE
“We own American Express, which is a great business, we own Coca Cola, which is a great business, and we own Apple, which is an even better business.”
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“Unless something truly extraordinary happens, we will own Apple, American Express and Coca Cola.”
“At the end of the year, I would say it is very likely that Apple will be the largest of our common stock holdings.”
BUFFETT ON COCA-COLA
“No company does business around the world like Coca-Cola. I mean, they’re the soft drink of choice in about 170 or 180 out of 200 countries. These are probably estimates from a few years ago, but this level of recognition around the world is virtually unparalleled.”
BUFFETT ON PARAMOUNT BETTING
“It was 100% my decision and we sold it all and lost a lot of money.”
BUFFETT ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
“I do think… it has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm.”