Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting 2023 | Discussion of The Investor's Podcast (TIP551)
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Clay shares our favorite clips from the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting. Buffett and Munger delivered great insights during the marathon Q&A session, and Clay also shares his thoughts on their responses during this episode.
▶️ RELATED EPISODES: - What Is The REAL Intrinsic Value Of Berkshire Hathaway? w/ Chris Bloomstran: https://youtu.be/7jaFSJFYov8 - How To Attend Berkshire Hathaway's Shareholder Meeting: https://youtu.be/OJ8TrdaV-zU - How To Think Like Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger: https://youtu.be/bWaHNa89qME - Warren Buffett's Shareholder Letters: https://youtu.be/FXWBa9x4rMs - Value Investing Checklist & Philosophy: https://youtu.be/vD2JIWO0osQ
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:04:48 - Buffett and Munger’s thoughts on the commercial real estate. 0:08:52 - Why value investors must evolve to the increasingly competitive world of investing. 0:16:48 - How Buffett allocates capital to balance profits versus building out a competitive moat. 0:28:56 - Munger’s stance on position sizing 0:35:38 - Buffett’s updated thoughts on Taiwan Semiconductor which is a business Berkshire entered and fully exited over a matter of months. 0:38:35 - Buffett’s thoughts on the US Dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. 0:50:21 - Common mistakes to avoid to live a good life. 0:57:07 - Buffett and Munger’s most recent thoughts on Occidental. 1:08:47 - How Berkshire can continue to attract high quality subsidiary managers.
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Clay Finck analyzes key clips from the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, arguing that value investors must adapt to changing environments while focusing on avoidance of major mistakes, long-term thinking, and proper incentive alignment—principles that remain durable across market cycles.
- Value investing requires continuous adaptation as competitive dynamics shift, but human behavior and mispricing opportunities persist
- Berkshire's success derives from three pillars: continuous savings, American economic tailwinds, and avoidance of catastrophic mistakes
- Proper incentive alignment and thinking long-term create sustainable advantages in a short-term-focused market
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Many people with high IQ scores are dangerous because they overestimate their abilities and don't know the edge of their competence; practical intelligence requires knowing exactly where your smartness ends
“A lot of people who are geniuses on IQ tests think they're a lot smarter than they are, and what they are is dangerous. If you know the edge of your ability pretty well, you should ignore most of the notions of our experts about what I call the deification of portfolios.”
Nobody fully understands how much fiat currency printing is possible before credibility collapses, making currency debasement an existential risk that requires precaution rather than experimentation
“nobody knows how far you can go with the paper currency before it gets out of control, particularly if you're the world's reserve currency. Nobody knows the answer to that. And you don't want to try and pick out the point at which it does become a problem because then it's all over.”
Commercial real estate valuations are primarily determined by the amount borrowers can obtain without signing their name (non-recourse lending), meaning property values are backed by debt capacity rather than fundamental cash flows
“most people like to buy with non-recourse in real estate. And one time I asked Charlie, there was some real estate guy, we were talking to him, and you know, how do they decide how much they can a building like this is worth? And it's, the answer is, it's whatever they can borrow without signing their name.”
The world's overwhelming short-term focus, where companies optimize quarterly earnings and management tries to beat consensus estimates, creates an ideal environment for long-term investors willing to think in terms of 5, 10, or 20-year returns
“The world is overwhelmingly short-term focused, and if you go to an investor relations call, they're all trying to figure out how to fill out a sheet to show the earnings for the year. And the management is interested in feeding them expectations that will slightly be beaten. I mean, that is a world that's made to order for anybody that's trying to think about what you do that should work over five or 10 or 20 years.”
Commercial real estate downturns create ownership changes where lenders ultimately become property owners through defaults, but lenders typically do not want to own real estate, creating negotiation dynamics and 'extend and pretend' behaviors by banks
“it does mean then that the lenders are the ones that got the property. And of course, they don't want the property usually. So then the real estate operator counts on negotiating with them. And the banks tend to extend and pretend.”
Value investors will have a harder time now that there are many competing for opportunities, and this diminishment of opportunities means investors should expect to earn lower returns than in the past
“I think value investors are gonna have a harder time now that there are so many of them competing. First, a diminished bunch of opportunities. So my advice to value investors is to get used to making less.”
Success in life requires spending less than you earn, avoiding toxic people and toxic activities, continuous learning, deferred gratification, and making yourself likely to win without needing unusual luck
“It's so simple to spend less than you earn and, in death, shrewdly avoid toxic people and toxic activities and try to keep learning all your life, etcetera, etcetera, and do a lot of deferred gratification because you prefer life that way. And if you do all those things, you are almost certain to succeed.”
Once people lose faith in a currency's purchasing power, behavior changes fundamentally and permanently—people stop holding money in banks, stop believing in pensions, and fundamentally restructure their economic activity, creating cascading economic dislocations impossible to predict or recover from
“if people lose faith in the currency and behave in an entirely different manner than they do when they feel that if they put some money in the bank or have a pension plan or whatever it may be, they're going to get out something with roughly equal purchasing power. And it just changes the economy, and all kinds of things can happen then. And I can't predict them, and nobody else can predict them, but I do know they aren't good.”
Charlie Munger is philosophical about his grandchildren not thinking exactly like him, viewing this as a natural course of life; he practices silent acceptance of disagreements (especially regarding their choice of relationships) while internally maintaining his own values.
“I am quite philosophical about my grandchildren not thinking exactly the way I do. It seems to me that's almost a natural course of life... I just bite my tongue and keep silent.”
The major mistake to avoid above all is taking actions that remove you from the game, whether through catastrophic losses, excessive debt, or behavioral errors that force early withdrawal from investing
“Mistakes, you just wanna make sure you don't make any mistakes to take you out of the game or come close to digging out of your game.”
Politicians on both parties avoid confronting inflation and monetary policy risks because it's politically unpopular and uncomfortable; this mirrors historical examples where politicians punt on difficult decisions that require short-term sacrifice
“You have to be willing to be extraordinarily unpopular...there used to be a politician in Nebraska, and if you ask them some really tough question like, you know, how do you stand on abortion? Or he would look you right in the eye and say, 'I'm all right on that one.' And then they move next door. Well, that's what people have done basically on inflation”
Credit card debt as a behavioral sink: If you're paying 12-14% interest on a credit card while believing you can earn that return on invested capital, you're essentially claiming investment skill that Berkshire would want to hire, revealing the logical fallacy in high-interest debt.
“if you're effectively paying 12 or 14 or whatever percent, you're paying on a credit card, you're saying, I'm gonna earn more than 12 or 14% on money. And if you can do that, come to Berkshire Hathaway.”
Shale oil technology required 50 years of research to unlock despite the oil being present, and only one specific sand formation works, demonstrating how breakthrough technologies require extended development periods and serendipity
“they've been working at the existing shale production for about 50 years before they figured it out. And it was weirdly complicated when they finally were able to do it. There's only one type of sand that works.”
Modern university education teaches that vast diversification is mandatory for stock investing, but this is an insane idea because there aren't enough easily identified high-quality opportunities to justify maximal diversification
“I think one of the main things taught in modern university education is that a vast diversification is absolutely mandatory in investing in common stocks. That is an insane idea. It's not that easy to have a vast plethora of good opportunities that are easily identified.”
Understanding how people manipulate others is important knowledge, but the critical test is resisting the temptation to use those manipulation techniques yourself
“You need to know how people can manipulate other people. Then you need to resist the temptation to do it yourself.”
Identifying toxic people—those who lie, manipulate, or fail to meet commitments—and removing them from your life quickly is one of the most valuable life practices
“The toxic people who are trying to fool you or lie to you, who aren't reliable meeting their commitments. A great lesson of life is to get them the hell outta your life. Yep. And do it fast. Do it fast.”
You should never worry about investing decisions at night; if you're lying awake worrying, you've either taken too much risk or you're temperamentally unsuited for that investment
“You should never have a night when you're worried about investing. I mean, assuming you have any money to invest at all.”
Murphy also taught to 'praise by name, criticize by category,' preventing unnecessary personalization of criticism and avoiding vilification while making substantive points
“he said, 'praise by name, criticize by category.' Well, what makes more sense than that? I mean, who do you like that criticizes you all the time? And you don't need to vilify anybody to make your point on subjects of discussion.”
The US dollar will likely remain the world's reserve currency, and no other currency is positioned to replace it, though the future sustainability depends on not printing excessive money and losing credibility
“We are the reserve currency. I see no option for any other currency to be the reserve currency.”
Occidental's 2008 oil market collapse to minus $30 per barrel was economically irrational but demonstrates the cyclicality of oil: fixed production costs mean that halving oil price eliminates profitability, but also dramatically reduces the supply response.
“it got to minus one day it got to minus $30 or a barrel. That was crazy, of course. But if oil sells at X, you know, you do very well, and it sells at half of X. You know your costs are the same, and it doesn't change the production, and it doesn't work as well.”
Berkshire repurchased 5% of shares outstanding from 2019 to 2020, 4.3% in 2021, and 1.2% in 2022, resulting in shareholders increasing their stake by over 11% cumulatively without purchasing additional shares themselves
“From 2019 to 2020, Berkshire repurchased 5% of shares outstanding. In 2021, they've repurchased 4.3% of shares, and in 2022, they've repurchased 1.2% of shares. So on a cumulative basis from 2019 to the end of 2022, Berkshire's shareholders increased their stake in the company by over 11% without having to purchase more shares themselves.”
During post-WWII transition, US inflation was low in early 1946 (around 1%) but rose to approximately 15% by year-end despite lessons learned from WWII monetary policy, illustrating the difficulty of controlling inflation expectations once policy loosens
“And then the war ended in August of '45, and I think in January '46, and I'm not giving you exact figures at all now, but in January '46, I think the rate of inflation was at something like 1% or thereabouts. And by the end of the year, I think it was at like 15%.”
Politicalization of energy policy arguments (both for and against oil/coal) lends itself to demagoguery and fundraising rather than rational decision-making based on physics and actual energy requirements.
“the politicalization of positions on something that's enormously important in terms of energy. It just lends itself to demagogues and fundraisers and advisory organizations and everybody in sight.”
The investment opportunity advantage has shifted toward selling ideas and fundraising rather than outperforming through stock selection, because vast amounts of capital are in the hands of smart people all trying to outsmart each other in competitive arenas
“I don't think that investing has disappeared so much from this huge capitalistic market that anybody can play in, but that the big money is in selling other people ideas. It isn't in outperforming.”
Value investing when done right with proper diversification into multiple great businesses with strong earnings growth provides a reliable wealth-building approach, especially when powered by continuous compounding.
“value investing, when done right, is a reliable way to build wealth over time, especially when you diversify into a number of great businesses that are pretty likely to continue to increase their earnings power year after year after year”
Kindness is a fundamental predictor of life outcomes: Buffett has never known anyone basically kind who died without friends, and he has known many wealthy people who died without friends, suggesting kindness is more valuable than money for human flourishing
“I've never known anybody that was basically kind that died without friends. And I've known plenty of people with money that have died without friends, including their family.”
National Indemnity was the most important Berkshire acquisition in retrospect, not for its immediate financial performance but because it led to the insurance float business model that became foundational to Berkshire's subsequent value creation
“the most important purchase in retrospect that we may have made was National Indemnity. Not because specifically what it did, but what it led to.”
An investor with only three high-quality ideas should hold only those ideas rather than diversifying into lower-quality opportunities, as reading best ideas repeatedly outperforms diluting into worst ideas
“And if you've only got three, I'd rather read my best ideas instead of my worst. Some people can't tell their best ideas from their worst.”
Companies like Google and Amazon that successfully build products creating both short-term profits and long-term competitive defensibility are rare; most companies face a genuine dilemma where building long-term competitive modes requires sacrificing short-term profits.
“In the best case, you can build products that have both characteristics at the same time, like Google did. But most of the time, companies need to choose between short-term profits and long-term defensibility.”
Higher borrowing costs and increased interest rates will push down purchase prices of commercial real estate properties as builders and owners who borrowed at 2.5% rates find their projects no longer work economically
“people who could borrow at two and a half percent and find out it doesn't work at current rates, and they hand it back to somebody that gave them all the money they needed to build it”
Shale oil wells decline very rapidly—a well producing 12,000-15,000 barrels initially drops to nearly nothing within 1-1.5 years due to fundamental depletion characteristics of tight oil formations
“it may be 12,000 barrels, it may be 15,000 barrels...in a year, year and a half, it becomes frankly nothing”
The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is drawn down to 364 million barrels, 50% below its 2011 peak, and has been sharply drawn since mid-2021, reducing a critical buffer for energy security
“The SPR has been drawn down to 364 million barrels of crude oil, and that's down 50% from its highs in 2011, and that's really drawn down sharply since the middle of 2021.”
The hollowing out of downtown areas in the United States and elsewhere in the world due to remote work and other factors will be quite significant and quite unpleasant, though the country will eventually get through it, but often with a different set of property owners.
“the hollowing out of the downtowns in the United States and elsewhere in the world is going to be quite significant and quite unpleasant. I think the country will get through it all... it will often involve a different set of owners”
Berkshire is not very active in commercial real estate because it works better as a tax strategy for taxable investors than for corporations taxed the way Berkshire is
“Berkshire's never been very active in commercial real estate. It works better for taxable investors than it does for corporations taxed the way Berkshire is.”
Managing small amounts of capital creates greater opportunities for outperformance than managing large amounts of capital, because the smaller opportunity set is more achievable and flexible
“if you don't run too much money, which we do, but if you're running small amounts of money, I think the opportunities will be greater”
Acquiring coal production businesses would be like seeking to acquire cancer; coal cannot be expanded through borrowing due to regulatory and financial constraints, making coal mining investment fundamentally unattractive regardless of current prices.
“You're buying coal would be like going out and seeking to what? Acquire a cancer or something. You can't even borrow to expand a coal mine now. It's really unfashionable.”
Index fund growth creates distortions and mispricings in certain market pockets where investors aren't looking, providing opportunities for value investors who search beyond index components
“as more and more people pile into the index, this potentially pushes down the expected returns of just investing in the overall market through an index fund. This also can create distortions and potentially create opportunities in certain pockets of the market where many investors aren't really looking.”
Spending less than you earn is the foundational principle of building wealth; spending more than you earn traps you in permanent debt that's nearly impossible to escape without exceptional income
“you should just spend a little bit less than you earn, and you shouldn't spend a little bit more than you earn. And then, then you've got debt and the chances are you'll never get out of debt.”
Berkshire's primary incentive for acquiring subsidiary businesses is finding managers who love running their business but dislike the constraints of being a public company (analyst calls, trade association pressure, stakeholder management)
“what we really hope to find is managers who love their business but don't like a lot of what comes with it as a public company. I mean, if they have to spend a lot of time listening to people tell them what to do about this or that, and they can't afford to irritate them, or they have to go along with their trade association”
Opportunities for value investors persist and do not disappear due to technological change, because the world's opportunities come from other people making mistakes, and mistakes have actually increased at scale in the past 58 years of Berkshire's operation
“What gives you opportunities is other people doing dumb things, and I would say that, well, in the 58 years we've been running Berkshire, there has been a great increase in the number of people doing dumb things. And they do big dumb things.”
Many people have been able to become rich by starting dumb insurance companies in the last 10 years, even when the businesses ultimately failed, because underwriters and lawyers got paid regardless of business success, which was not possible 58 years ago when capital access was restricted
“you could start 10 or 15 dumb insurance companies in the last 10 years and you could become rich if you were adept at it, whether the business succeeded or not. And the underwriters got paid and the lawyers got paid and that creates, if that's done on a large scale, which it couldn't be done 58 years ago, you couldn't get the money to do some of the dumb things that we wanted to do”
Tom Murphy Sr. exemplified extraordinary life success by avoiding unkind acts for 50 years while also avoiding stupid acts, achieving both moral excellence and practical wisdom
“I never saw him do an unkind act. I didn't seem to very many stupid acts either. I mean, it wasn't that he was non-discriminating. He just decided that there was no reason to do it. And wow. What a difference that makes in life.”
Tom Murphy taught Buffett the principle 'always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow,' meaning to delay hostile responses by one day, allowing emotional cooling and preventing permanent damage from immediate reactions
“Tom Murphy took the first time I met him, said two things to me. He said, 'you always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow.' Well, that was great advice then. And think of what great advice it is when you sit down on a computer and screw your life up forever by telling somebody to go to hell or something else in 30 seconds, and you can't erase it”
Warren and Charlie have both grown significantly smarter over decades; this growth was enabled by early recognition of areas for improvement and willingness to learn rather than assuming expertise.
“my three children have grown a lot smarter than the last 30 years, and I think I've grown smarter than that... You needed a lot of help. That is for sure.”
Charlie Munger maintains that while tactful removal of toxic people is preferable, the action of removal is more important than the manner; tactical financial cost is acceptable if it achieves clean separation.
“I don't mind a little tact or even a little financial cost, but the question is getting them a hell outta the lot.”
The Permian Basin is the most promising oil basin in the United States due to recent technological breakthroughs in shale extraction, representing the future of US oil production
“there is no oil basin in the United States that compares to the Permian in terms of promise”
Berkshire learns about how consumers behave and how competitive advantages persist by acquiring and operating diverse businesses like See's Candy and Ben Rosch, and this continuous learning informs investment decisions across the portfolio
“Charlie and I have often mentioned how we learned so much when we bought See's Candy. We learned when we bought Ben Ros chain of women's dress shops spread all over the eastern part of the country...we're learning all the time how consumers behave.”
Charlie Munger's methodology of thorough document review (turning every page in Moody's and insurance department filings for years) represented the old way of finding investments, but in today's market, finding significant opportunities requires identifying 'big ideas' rather than individually reviewing thousands of pages.
“I turned every page in the past... I did it for thousands and thousands of pages in Moody's... that goes on for a while, but now we need big ideas in order to find things.”
Early career experience at US Steel fabrication department in Los Angeles provided obvious lessons about business failure that Charlie didn't comprehend at the time; he now views his earlier ignorance as shameful, despite his professors being even more ignorant.
“I worked a year for US Steel... The thing was utterly doomed, and three years later it went back to Greenfield... I did not see it coming. Now I would be ashamed to be that ignorant”
Berkshire's investment philosophy doesn't require deep technical understanding of individual business sectors; understanding consumer behavior and competitive dynamics is sufficient, as evidenced by Apple investment (5.6-7% stake that grows annually through buybacks) where management doesn't understand phones but understands consumer preferences.
“we've got a business at Apple, which is larger than our energy business, and we may only own 5.6 or 7%. But our ownership goes up every year. And I don't understand the phone at all, but I do understand consumer behavior, and I know how people think about whether to buy a second car.”
Charlie Munger has been receiving $70,000 per month in royalty payments from an oil investment made 50+ years ago for an initial $1,000 investment, demonstrating the extraordinary power of long-term compounding in quality assets
“that got him still paying me $70,000 a year. What'd you pay for them, boy? A thousand dollars...My dad bought a thousand or $1,500 worth of royalties before he died in 1964...and she gets these checks every month”
Nothing matches the freedom and satisfaction of owning your own business, but working for Berkshire is the closest practical substitute because it provides autonomy, long-term stability, and avoids the burdens of being a public company
“there's nothing like working for yourself, and if you can't own a big company, working at Berkshire Hathaway for running a company is the closest thing you will get.”
Occidental Petroleum is an exceptional operator in the Permian Basin, with strong management under Vicky Hollub who understands oil field dynamics from early career experience, making it an attractive long-term holding for Berkshire
“Vicky Hollub is an extraordinary manager of Occidental. Her first job was at City Service. That was the first stock I bought in 1942. She knows what happens beneath the surface...we love the position with Occidental, and yeah, we love having Vicky run it.”
Berkshire made a mistake selling Taiwan Semiconductor, which is one of the world's best-managed and most important companies, because Buffett reevaluated geopolitical risk and decided he was more comfortable deploying capital in Japan despite Taiwan's superior chip technology
“Taiwan Semiconductor is one of the best-managed and most important companies in the world, and I think this will remain true in five, ten, or twenty years. However, I don't like its location...I feel more comfortable with our capital deployed in Japan than in Taiwan. While I wish we hadn't sold Taiwan Semiconductor, I've reevaluated my position in light of certain events that were going on.”
Buffett's long-term employment under five different bosses was successful because he genuinely liked all five of them, including managers at JC Penney and Ben Graham, demonstrating the importance of employer-employee relationship quality
“I had five bosses in my life, and I liked all five of them, and two of them were just huge factors in making my life better. But I liked all five of them.”
Buffett would love to be born today and start with a small amount of money, knowing he could turn it into a large amount, and Charlie Munger agrees with this assessment of future opportunity availability
“I would love to be born today and go out with not too much money and hopefully turn it into a lot of money. But Charlie would too, actually. Just like he would find something to do. I will just guarantee you.”
Charlie Munger discovered a Japanese investment opportunity by analyzing Moody's financial data while others were analyzing less fundamental sources, finding five substantial understandable companies earning 14% on purchase price with dividend yields and share buybacks
“other people were going through Playboy and I was going through Moody's...I did it for thousands and thousands of pages in Moody's...here were five very, very substantial companies, understandable companies...they were earning, we'll say 14% on what we were gonna pay to buy 'em”
Apple is a better business than any Berkshire owns 100% of because it has an extraordinary position with consumers willing to pay premium prices, and this superior quality justifies the large investment position regardless of concentration concerns
“Apple is a better business than the railroad. It has an extraordinary position with consumers who are willing to pay a premium for their products. We don't have anything like that that we own 100% of, but we're very happy to have our current stake in Apple.”
Jack Ringwalt sold National Indemnity to Berkshire because he had grown frustrated with regulatory burden from the Nebraska Department of Insurance, and once Buffett took over regulator relations, Ringwalt became satisfied with the arrangement
“Jack Ringwalt controlled the company and I knew him and liked him. And he knew me. And once a year, he'd get irritated when the Nebraska Department of Insurance or somebody would come around...I told Charlie Heider, 'Next time Jack is in that mood where he is ready to sell just 'cause he's tired of fooling around with all these guys, be sure and find him.'”
Uncertainty about outcomes is a fundamental part of what makes businesses interesting and valuable; if you knew the exact results of all decisions, there would be no enjoyment or surprise in running businesses
“if you knew how you were gonna shoot all 18 holes, it wouldn't be any fun playing, you wouldn't get on the first tee. I mean, it's the uncertainty, the fun of playing the game, the opponent, all kinds of things that make a game interesting.”
Buffett can quickly determine if a business is of interest within 10 seconds of hearing about it because he understands the mathematical framework, price requirements, and consumer behavior patterns, not because he requires detailed financial projections
“we can also tell. In 10 seconds, whether it's something of interest. I mean, when I get these calls and we wanna send decks and all that sort of thing, which is nonsense. It's a bunch of guys sitting that get paid for drawing up these projections of the future and everything like that. They knew the future that, you know, we don't know the future, but we do know certain kinds of businesses.”
Berkshire has no interest in acquiring control of Occidental despite holding significant positions, preferring to let experienced management operate the business while Berkshire benefits as a minority investor
“there's speculation about us buying control. We're not gonna buy control. We don't wanna. We've got the right management running. We can. We wouldn't know what to do with it.”
Berkshire's initial plan to issue yen debt at 56 billion unexpectedly grew to 164.4 billion because terms were so favorable, providing substantial additional yen-denominated financing and creating a 400-500 million dollar annual value accretion to Berkshire
“an issue that we intended to be 56 billion yen that we were issuing and selling turned out to be 164.4 or something like that. Everything worked so well...this one will keep adding over the years to Berkshire's value with this very wide spread, probably four or $500 million a year”
Berkshire has warrants to purchase substantial Occidental shares at approximately $59 per share from the original preferred investment deal, providing long-term call options on Occidental equity with favorable strike prices
“we certainly have warrants on which we got as part of the original deal on a very substantial amount of stock at around $59 a share. And those warrants lasted a long time, and I'm glad we have them.”
Professor Damodaran's criticism that Apple at 35% of Berkshire's portfolio is near a danger zone misunderstands Berkshire's portfolio composition because Apple represents only a portion of a diversified holding that includes the railroad, energy business, See's Candy, and other operations
“I believe to make one comment first, but Charlie will come up with, I think he's out of his mind. Yeah, I knew that was coming. But Apple is not 35% of Berkshire's portfolio. Berkshire's portfolio includes the railroad, the energy business, See's Candy, and more.”
Berkshire is the largest corporate borrower outside Japan, not by initial design but as a natural outcome of opportunistic capital deployment, and continues to pursue investment opportunities there
“Berkshire is the largest corporate borrower outside of Japan that exists, and we didn't set out to be that, but it's turned out that way, and we're not done in terms of what may come along there”
Buffett considers running Berkshire to be one of the most interesting games in the world, reflecting deep satisfaction with the company's complexity, scale, and ongoing challenges
“I think Charlie and I are in the most interesting game in the world.”
Berkshire's Q1 2023 operating earnings increased from 7.1 billion to just over 8 billion, with expectations that 2023 business will be slower than 2022 due to 2022's exceptional performance
“Operating earnings came in at just over 8 billion, which was up from 7.1 billion in the previous year, and Buffett mentioned that he expected business to not be as good in 2023 as it was in the previous year just because of how good 2022 was.”