Thousands Line Up for Buffett's So-So News

(AP) - Warren Buffett said today the US government is taking the correct actions to help the economy recover. "The government is doing the right things," Buffett said before the opening of Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting. "They're acting in a countercyclical manner." But he said he can't predict how quickly the economy and the markets will improve. More»

Oracle confident as he prepares to be buffeted by shareholders

(NEWSER) - The Oracle of Omaha still sees tough times ahead for the US economy, but he says he thinks the worst is in the past, CNCBC reports. “We’re at a war now to some degree, but Pearl Harbor was September,” Warren Buffett says. “There was a strike at the heart of the American system, the financial system. And we got past that.” But “the war isn’t over,” particularly for Buffett, who will face antsy shareholders tomorrow. More»

(NEWSER) - Not even legendary investors can escape this mess. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway posted its worst year ever in 2008, the Wall Street Journal reports. A key indicator, book value per share, fell 9.6%, only the second loss since Buffett took control of the company in 1965. Berkshire reported fourth-quarter income of $117 million, 96% less than the $2.9 billion it made in the same period in 2007. More»

Insurance-industry woes mean 'that party is over,' Buffett says

(NEWSER) - Citing a decline in gains from insurance underwriting and sluggish investment returns, holding company Berkshire Hathaway said today that fourth-quarter income was off 18%—to $2.95 billion, from $3.58 billion—from a year earlier, the Wall Street Journal reports. Billionaire chairman Warren Buffett snuck in digs at Wall Street and the federal government while effectively promising declining profit margins for years to come. More»

Berkshire shareholders seem to believe him

(AP) - Warren Buffett insists that he's feeling good after his recent prostate cancer diagnosis. Based on the questions he got at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, shareholders are taking him at his word. Despite the fact that Buffett just disclosed his cancer diagnosis last month, he didn't face the first question about his health until well into this morning's questioning. Many of the questions at the meeting either focused in on technical aspects of Berkshire's many businesses or dealt with general economic or political topics. More»