OtherGood morning and welcome to Berkshire Hathaway.
OtherI understand that in the room adjacent that Charlie has been conducting a little insurgency campaign. I don't know whether you have seen these, but these are the buttons that are available for those of you who you keep asking questions about succession, and Charlie wants to answer that question by getting your vote today. This one says, maturity experience, why accept second best, vote for Charlie.
WarrenThe real thing is to buy stock, repurchase shares only when you think you're doing it. And at a price where the remaining shareholders have had are worth more of the moment after you've repurchased it than they were the moment before.
QuestionerWarren, you have been a longtime outspoken Democrat. How do you think about your own politics as a fiduciary? of our company.
WarrenMy position at Berkshire is not to be used to further my own political beliefs, but my own political beliefs can be expressed as a person, not as a representative of Berkshire, when the campaign is important. I will just say I'm a card-carrying capitalist, but I believe we wouldn't be sitting here, except for the market system and the of law and some things that are embodied in this country. So I, you don't have to worry about me changing in that manner, but I also think that capitalism does involve regulation and involves taking care of people who are left behind, particularly when the country gets enormously prosperous.
QuestionerDo you know anything about 5G?
WarrenI don't know. You probably know a lot about 5G. No, I know very little about 5G, but I do know a little about China, but I do know a little about China. And we have bought things in China, and my guess is we'll buy more.
QuestionerThere has been a lot written about the recent impairment charge at Kraft Hines. Clearly, major retail chains are being more aggressive in developing house brands.
WarrenKraft Hines is still doing very well operationally, but we paid too much. We paid $50 billion, you know, it would have been a different business. It's still be earning the same amount. You can turn any... You can turn any... any investment into a bad deal by paying too much. What you can't do is turn any investment into a good deal by paying little, which is sort of how I started out in this world. The people making the decision on Amazon are absolutely much value investors as I was when I was looking around for all these things selling below working capital
[3:05]
Charlieyears ago. So that has not changed. We're not the most flexible probably in the whole world. And, of course, if something is extreme as this internet development happens, and you don't catch it, why other people are going to blow by you. And I don't mind not having caught Amazon early, but I feel like a horse has for not identifying Google better. I think Warren feels the same way.
WarrenYeah. We screw it up. He's saying we blew it. We can see in our own way. operations, how well that Google advertising was working, and we just sat there sucking our thumbs.
CharlieRight. So we're ashamed. We're trying to atone. Maybe Apple was atonement. When he says sucking her thumbs, I'm just glad he didn't use some other example.
QuestionerThat kids can develop the delayed gratification skill. I think there's a lot to be said. We're doing things that bring you and your family. you and your family enjoyment rather than trying to sever every time.
CharlieSo I advise delayed gratification is not necessarily an unqualified course of action under all circumstances. I always believed in spending two or three cents out of every dollar I earn saving the rest. You don't see a correlation between happiness and money beyond a certain place. So don't go overboard on delayed gratification. Your vice chairman is getting new social distinction. I've been invited during this gathering to go to a happy hour put on by the Bitcoin people. And I've tried to figure out what the Bitcoin people do in their happy hour. And I finally figured it out. They celebrate the life and work. and work of Judas Iskariate.
WarrenI like our Apple holdings very much. I mean, it is our largest holdings. And actually, what hurts in the case of Apple is that the stock has gone up. And we'd much rather have the stock. And I'm not proposing anything we'd done about it. But we'd much rather have the stock at a lower price so we could buy more stock.