Berkshire

[Bob from Omaha]

I was thinking this afternoon about Buffett stepping down. So here's my question:

What's the over/under for attendance at the next annual meeting? Longer term, when he no longer attends the annual meeting and even longer term, when he's no longer alive? (No, I don't wish ill health on him)

I just think the draw to the meeting was:
A) Buffett & Munger
B) The fact that the stock was up
C) Discounts at the Mart & Borsheims, etc.
D) The cult like status of owning the stock

So without Buffett & Munger will 40,000 people still make the trip? 10,000? 1,000? I used to attend the Conagra annual meeting with Harper was king. A few hundred came & there were Healthy Choice Ice Cream samples. Oh, and the stock was up.

So what do you think?

[riceweb]

This year likely very little changes. I suspect many people will hope for a Buffett appearance but will also be excited to see the new direction of the company. But this will be the last big Berkshire event IMO. Attendance will be way down, and frankly, I'm not even sure the Berkshire model makes sense any longer.

[nebugeater]

I was thinking this afternoon about Buffett stepping down. So here's my question:

What's the over/under for attendance at the next annual meeting? Longer term, when he no longer attends the annual meeting and even longer term, when he's no longer alive? (No, I don't wish ill health on him)

I just think the draw to the meeting was:
A) Buffett & Munger
B) The fact that the stock was up
C) Discounts at the Mart & Borsheims, etc.
D) The cult like status of owning the stock

So without Buffett & Munger will 40,000 people still make the trip? 10,000? 1,000? I used to attend the Conagra annual meeting with Harper was king. A few hundred came & there were Healthy Choice Ice Cream samples. Oh, and the stock was up.

So what do you think?

Since we are at this weekend does anyone have any guesses on the impact as this post from Bob brought up?

[skinzfan23]

From the OWH story:

Data from Omaha's Eppley Airfield, however, indicates the weekend is still shaping up to be one of the busiest of the year for air travel here, with an estimated 82,700 passengers expected to pass through.

The Sunday after the shareholders’ meeting is typically the busiest day of the year at the airport based on passenger volume, said Steve McCoy, the airport authority's chief strategy and technology officer.

Obviously no way to know for sure right now, but this would be a good idea that attendance might still be decent this year.

[Mr.Nuke]

Since we are at this weekend does anyone have any guesses on the impact as this post from Bob brought up?

I think it will be a slow death. This year there probably will be fair amount of interest to see what Abel says; but 90% of the people coming from out of town were here to see what Buffett and Munger had to say about the greater macro-economy outside of the stock. That is going to eventually die off when you don't have the guru there giving you the answers anymore. My first Berkshire meeting was at a Holiday Inn ball room (and I'm under 40). That is more akin to a standard shareholder meeting. That it is probably what it eventually returns to at some point.

From the OWH story:

Data from Omaha's Eppley Airfield, however, indicates the weekend is still shaping up to be one of the busiest of the year for air travel here, with an estimated 82,700 passengers expected to pass through.

The Sunday after the shareholders’ meeting is typically the busiest day of the year at the airport based on passenger volume, said Steve McCoy, the airport authority's chief strategy and technology officer.

Obviously no way to know for sure right now, but this would be a good idea that attendance might still be decent this year.

Without knowing how many passengers have passed through on previous Berkshire weekends that number alone is meaningless.

[Louie]

I live a couple blocks from Warren’s house and so far the normal looky-loo traffic has been less than in past years.

[skinzfan23]

The numbers from Eppley aren’t meaningless, it is clearly showing that at least for this year there is still demand for the event. By saying it’s the busiest travel day for the city of the year with record passengers, that alone is impressive to be higher than Thanksgiving weekend.

[Mr.Nuke]

The numbers from Eppley aren’t meaningless, it is clearly showing that at least for this year there is still demand for the event.

Like I said though that number alone literally means nothing without knowing how many passengers Eppley has historically seen on this weekend. 82,700 passengers tells me nothing without more context. What was the number last year?

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Early photos on social media look like there is still a decent turnout but it is significantly less than previous years i.e. the upper bowl of the arena is largely open 8 minutes before the start of the meeting.

[Cermak]

Heard crowds were down yesterday, but still should be a huge event. Listened to Greg Abel talk a little today he seemed to be doing a good job so far. It will probably take a few years to see how this transition really goes.

[Athomsfere]

I heard from some folks the international attendance seems way down this year, understandably.

[djc311]

it will die off for sure - it was a big win for the Omaha area for decades.

[OverlookedFarm]

People were going to the meeting to be seen, and to tell their friends they were within 300 ft of Bill Gates and that they saved 5% on 400% mark up retail items. Since that doesn't exist anymore, I expect this Omaha annual event to wind down.

It was a great refresher in business and economics, up until the point the in area grandstanding and the out of arena circus became too much for us.

[CrankyOldDude]

The Des Moines Register has always been a big homer for Des Moines, much more than the OWH is an Omaha homer. That's both good and bad. Good that the "hometown" paper hypes the city and in this case the state. Bad because as in the example below they MUST find something, anything to tie Iowa and Des Moines into a story. In the case below, Abel was hired to run an energy company that happened to be based in DSM and was acquired by BRK. He's not an Iowan. He was born in Canada. Anyway, it's cute that the reason the DMR ran any story about Berkshire is that he is "Des Moines' Greg Abel"! Woo Woo! (Sadly, he said that there is no reason to move BRK's HQ out of Omaha. THAT would have been a huge story for the DMR)

[ricko]

The Des Moines Register has always been a big homer for Des Moines, much more than the OWH is an Omaha homer. That's both good and bad. Good that the "hometown" paper hypes the city and in this case the state. Bad because as in the example below they MUST find something, anything to tie Iowa and Des Moines into a story. In the case below, Abel was hired to run an energy company that happened to be based in DSM and was acquired by BRK. He's not an Iowan. He was born in Canada. Anyway, it's cute that the reason the DMR ran any story about Berkshire is that he is "Des Moines' Greg Abel"! Woo Woo! (Sadly, he said that there is no reason to move BRK's HQ out of Omaha. THAT would have been a huge story for the DMR)

We’ll see what happens when Warren dies, but I hope he’s being honest.

[CrankyOldDude]

The Des Moines Register has always been a big homer for Des Moines, much more than the OWH is an Omaha homer. That's both good and bad. Good that the "hometown" paper hypes the city and in this case the state. Bad because as in the example below they MUST find something, anything to tie Iowa and Des Moines into a story. In the case below, Abel was hired to run an energy company that happened to be based in DSM and was acquired by BRK. He's not an Iowan. He was born in Canada. Anyway, it's cute that the reason the DMR ran any story about Berkshire is that he is "Des Moines' Greg Abel"! Woo Woo! (Sadly, he said that there is no reason to move BRK's HQ out of Omaha. THAT would have been a huge story for the DMR)

We’ll see what happens when Warren dies, but I hope he’s being honest.

He commutes to Omaha a bit, works from DSM a bit and mainly travels to subsidiaries. He also said he plans to stay in DSM til his kids graduate. He's not a native Iowan and mainly stays because his kids are in school there.

[Greg S]

The Des Moines Register has always been a big homer for Des Moines, much more than the OWH is an Omaha homer. That's both good and bad. Good that the "hometown" paper hypes the city and in this case the state. Bad because as in the example below they MUST find something, anything to tie Iowa and Des Moines into a story. In the case below, Abel was hired to run an energy company that happened to be based in DSM and was acquired by BRK. He's not an Iowan. He was born in Canada. Anyway, it's cute that the reason the DMR ran any story about Berkshire is that he is "Des Moines' Greg Abel"! Woo Woo! (Sadly, he said that there is no reason to move BRK's HQ out of Omaha. THAT would have been a huge story for the DMR)

We’ll see what happens when Warren dies, but I hope he’s being honest.

He commutes to Omaha a bit, works from DSM a bit and mainly travels to subsidiaries. He also said he plans to stay in DSM til his kids graduate. He's not a native Iowan and mainly stays because his kids are in school there.

That makes sense. I used to play beer league hockey against him in the 90's.