Berky Meeting Nuggets 2018

I managed to attend another Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this month.  I'm still not sure how many of these I've been at over the years, but I have a Warren Buffett-signed program from 2003 hanging on my office wall, so it's been more than 15 years now.

A general observation:  I've never seen as many people at this meeting.  Attendance had seemingly reached a peak once the meeting began to be live-streamed a couple of years ago.  However, this year there were more folks than ever waiting to get inside the arena at 7a.m., and more than ever in the overflow rooms.  I had my worst arena seat in years (although not bad) and I was a single.  But I got a great seat after lunch, and that's when the best Q & A happened anyway.

Some other observations:

On Buffett and Charlie Munger's active oversight of the organization
Buffett joked that he'd been semi-retired for decades.  He said, "I think, actually, semi-retired probably catches me at my most active point."  Charlie Munger then adds, "Warren is very good at doing nothing."

On Berky's huge investment in, and impression of, Apple
Buffett liked that Apple is spending a lot of money buying back shares.  That means Berky's stake will grow on its own.  Apple is similar to Berky in that they both have over $100 billion in cash to invest, and it isn't easy to find companies to acquire that are large enough to move the needle.

On cryptocurrency
Buffett and Munger couldn't say enough bad things about it.  "Cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings," said Buffett.  He mentioned how it's similar to gold as in that it's not a productive asset, so price was dependent on people who want it, not actual value.  Munger was more blunt, with what I though was the best line of the day:  "(It's like) someone else is trading turds and you decide you can't be left out."

On Amazon and Google (Alphabet)
Buffett and Munger both said they admired those companies, although Munger said he had been to the Google campus and thought it looked like a kindergarten. They wished they'd have invested in them, but they took their lack of foresight in stride, with Buffet saying, "There is not a penalty in investing if you don't swing at a ball in the strike zone as long as you swing at something eventually."