QuestionerI want to ask whether the issuance of Class B stock has achieved the objective which you announced for it when it was created.
WarrenWell, I would say this, that considering the alternatives we faced, which was the eminence of unit trusts that would have been promoted with heavy front-end commissions, with substantial annual fees, with bad tax consequences and with probably a misrepresentation of the historical record in such a way that people who really didn't know much about securities would have been enticed in. With that as an alternative, I think the B stock was the best thing we could have done, and I feel good about how it's worked out. I think that, you know, we didn't set out to issue it. We don't like talking anybody into buying our stock. I don't think in any way that the group we have here is diminished in the least by having a mix of B and A shareholders as opposed to A only. The B has worked out as well as possible. I hope that we haven't enticed anybody in with unreasonable expectations. That's the biggest thing that Charlie and I worry about. And it's hard not to have that happen with the historical record. know it would have happened in a big way with the unit trust. So, you know, it's like making the mistake originally of starting with Berkshire. I think we enjoy things as they come along, and we've gotten a good group with the B shareholders, and we're happy with the present situation.
WarrenCharlie?
CharlieYeah, we wanted to step hard on what we regarded as a disreputable financial scheme and that we did. And I think the way we sold the B was such as to not as to as to, as to, as a disreputable financial scheme, and that we did. And that we did. And I think the way we sold the B. to attract the kind of people who really did look at it on a long-term basis. We did everything we could to discourage people who thought they were going to make a lot of money in a hurry. So I think we attracted a whole new group of shareholders who were quite similar in perspective to the shareholder group that we already had, and that was our hope.