Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, has just celebrated a half-century as chief executive of his business at a time when others in the same position are lucky to reach double figures.
A good reason is that, under his control, Berkshire Hathaway has compounded its value at a market-trouncing 19.4 per cent annually since 1965.
Mr Buffett held the annual meeting of his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, on Saturday.
The result of both his performance and the esteem in which the investment community holds him, mean that more than 40,000 shareholders packed into, and spilt out of, an arena that is usually home to pop concerts and sporting events.
What really brings shareholders from around the United States – and the world – is that Mr Buffett, Berkshire chairman and chief executive, and Charlie Munger, the company's vice-chairman, also spent more than six hours on a small stage at the front of that meeting, answering questions from all-comers – journalists, analysts and shareholders – without warning, fear or favour.
They ranged from detailed questions on why and how Berkshire had changed some of its reporting arrangements to a request for advice from a 12 or 13-year-old boy on how to make friends. Most, though, centred on the duo's advice on how to invest, or the operations of the company.
Some of the more controversial topics included a news report, which Mr Buffett criticised, about the poor treatment of mortgage holders who bought homes from one of the company's subsidiaries; retrenchments by its joint venture partner, 3G Capital, at some of the joint venture's businesses; and a strike by pilots at its NetJets subsidiary.
Despite those more challenging questions, most of those in attendance were there to learn from 84-year-old Mr Buffett and 91-year-old Mr Munger, given the company's extraordinary performance over the time the two men have been in charge.
Mr Buffett's answer to one question, in particular, seemed to gain the audience's appreciation.
Asked whether his brand of investing would hold in other markets, including China, Mr Buffett made a broad point that market irrationality was widespread across all markets, and that if you think about investing as buying businesses for the long term ". . . it's an easy game, as long as you control your emotions".
Maybe the best laugh of the day came from one of Mr Munger's comments.
Speaking about the challenges facing the common euro currency, he suggested that getting countries to work together, when each had different governments, was something akin to forming ". . . a business with your shirtless, drunken brother-in-law".
Warming to the theme, he also called some of the financial statements created for European Union countries in the past ". . . investment banker-aided fraud. Not exactly novel".
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the audience lapped it all up, thoroughly enjoying their time at the meeting known colloquially as "Woodstock for Capitalists".
How long both men can continue in their roles is unknown, but it's hard to argue that either is anything but at the top of their game.
The Motley Fool
