OMAHA, Neb. (AP) \u2014 Warren Buffett cautioned the tens of thousands of shareholders who packed an arena for\u00a0his annual meeting\u00a0that artificial intelligence scams could become \u201cthe growth industry of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doubling down on his cautionary words from\u00a0last year, Buffett told the throngs he recently came face to face with the downside of AI. And it looked and sounded just like him. Someone made a fake video of Buffett, apparently convincing enough that the so-called Oracle of Omaha himself said he could imagine it tricking him into sending money overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The billionaire investing guru predicted scammers will seize on the technology, and may do more harm with it than society can wring good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs someone who doesn\u2019t understand a damn thing about it, it has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm and I just don\u2019t know how that plays out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The day started early Saturday with Berkshire Hathaway\u00a0announcing a steep drop in earnings\u00a0as the paper value of its investments plummeted and it pared its Apple holdings. The company reported a $12.7 billion profit, or $8.825 per Class A share, in first the quarter, down 64% from $35.5 billion, or $24,377 per A share a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Buffett encourages investors to pay more attention to the conglomerate\u2019s operating earnings from the companies it actually owns. Those jumped 39% to $11.222 billion, or $7,796.47 per Class A share, led by insurance companies\u2019 performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
None of it that got in the way of the fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throngs flooded the arena to buy up Squishmallows of Buffett and former Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who died last fall. The event attracts investors from all over the world and is unlike any other company meeting. Those attending for the first time are driven by an urgency to get here while the 93-year-old Buffett is still alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is one of the best events in the world to learn about investing. To learn from the gods of the industry,\u201d said Akshay Bhansali, who spent the better part of two days traveling from India to Omaha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Devotees come from all over the world to vacuum up tidbits of wisdom from Buffett, who famously dubbed the meeting \u2018Woodstock for Capitalists.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a key ingredient was missing this year: It was the first meeting since Munger\u00a0died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting opened with a video tribute highlighting some of his best known quotes, including classic lines like \u201cIf people weren\u2019t so often wrong, we wouldn\u2019t be so rich.\u201d The video also featured skits the investors made with Hollywood stars over the years, including a \u201cDesperate Housewives\u201d spoof where one of the women introduced Munger as her boyfriend and another in which actress Jaimie Lee Curtis swooned over him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the video ended, the arena erupted in a prolonged standing ovation honoring Munger, whom Buffett called \u201cthe architect of Berkshire Hathaway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buffett said Munger remained curious about the world up until the end of his life at 99, hosting dinner parties, meeting with people and holding regular Zoom calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLike his hero Ben Franklin, Charlie wanted to understand everything,\u201d Buffett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For decades, Munger and Buffett functioned as a classic comedy duo, with Buffett offering lengthy setups to Munger\u2019s witty one-liners. He once referred to unproven internet companies as \u201cturds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, the pair transformed Berkshire from a floundering textile mill into a massive conglomerate made up of a variety of interests, from insurance companies such as Geico to BNSF railroad to several major utilities and an assortment of other companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Munger often summed up the key to Berkshire\u2019s success as \u201ctrying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.\u201d He and Buffett also were known for sticking to businesses they understood well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWarren always did at least 80% of the talking. But Charlie was a great foil,\u201d said Stansberry Research analyst Whitney Tilson, who was looking forward to his 27th consecutive meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Munger\u2019s absence, however, created space for shareholders to get to know better the two executives who directly oversee Berkshire\u2019s companies: Ajit Jain, who manages the insurance units; and Abel, who handles everything else and has been named Buffett\u2019s successor. The two shared the main stage with Buffett this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first time Buffett kicked a question to Abel, he mistakenly said \u201cCharlie?\u201d Abel shrugged off the mistake and dove into the challenges utilities face from the increased risk of wildfires and some regulators\u2019 reluctance to let them collect a reasonable profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morningstar analyst Greggory Warren said he believes Abel spoke up more Saturday and let shareholders see some of the brilliance\u00a0Berkshire executives\u00a0talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abel offered a twist on Munger\u2019s classic \u201cI have nothing to add\u201d line by often starting his answers Saturday by saying \u201cThe only thing I would add.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGreg\u2019s a rock star,\u201d said Chris Bloomstran, president of Semper Augustus Investments Group. \u201cThe bench is deep. He won\u2019t have the same humor at the meeting. But I think we all come here to get a reminder every year to be rational.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buffett has made clear that Abel will be Berkshire\u2019s next CEO, but he said Saturday that he had changed his opinion on how the company\u2019s investment portfolio should be handled. He had previously said it would fall to two investment managers who handle small chunks of the portfolio now. On Saturday, Buffett endorsed Abel for the gig, as well as overseeing the operating businesses and any acquisitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe understands businesses extremely well. and if you understand businesses, you understand common stocks,\u201d Buffett said. Ultimately, it will be up to the board to decide, but the billionaire said he might come back and haunt them if they try to do it differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, Buffett said Berkshire\u2019s system of having all the noninsurance companies report to Abel and the insurers report to Jain is working well. He himself hardly gets any calls from managers anymore because they get more guidance from Abel and Jain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis place would work extremely well the next day if something happened to me,\u201d Buffett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless, the best applause line of the day was Buffett\u2019s closing remark: \u201cI not only hope that you come next year but I hope that I come next year.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) \u2014 Warren Buffett cautioned the tens of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3302,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions\/3302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}