QuestionerThe American public almost certainly benefits from Mr. Buffett's increasing media exposure. But is it the best use of your time for Berkshire's shareholders?
WarrenProbably not. I do a lot of things that aren't the best use of my time for Berkshire shareholders. I play bridge on the Internet 12 hours a week. I'm not sitting there thinking by improving my bridge skills that's going to do wonders for Berkshire. No, I do, I have seen over the years the development of broadcast television as opposed to print. And I would say that if you want to have a record of exactly what you said as opposed to interpreted through not only reporters, but editors who bounce back things and say, take six paragraphs down to four paragraphs, and why, Why don't you ask this question? I would much rather have a record on Charlie Rose, which is permanent, where people can go back and look at exactly what I said and my body language and whether I was kidding. I like the idea, whether it's, you know, in terms of CNBC keeping a record of it or Charlie Rose keeping a record of it, of being judged by my own words rather than somebody writing a few paragraphs trying to summarize some views. And I figured that out a few years ago. So that's the direction I go now. And whether it's the best use of the time, and it works fine. I'll tell you one story on that, but you even have to be a little careful about broadcast. After we made the Burlington deal, Charlie Rose, who may be here, did an interview with me, and we taped it on a Friday morning. And we did the tape, we had a good time doing it. And during the tape, there was a little section on it showing great railroads. scenes. And one had Kerry Grant and Grace Kelly, and another one had Marilyn Monroe and something like it hot, and then it showed a bunch of the kind of things we had about railroads in our movie this morning. And when we got all through that, he asked me some question. And just to give a flip answer, but it did tie in with what I'd just seen. I said, well, I would have paid more for the Burlington if they'd thrown in Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe. Well, this taped interview ran an hour and six minutes. So when they ran the tape that night, they had to take out six minutes, they took out these railroad scenes that showed Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe. So to anybody that viewed this thing, it looked like I was spending my time they were fantasizing about these while Charlie was talking to me. So even television isn't safe.