Berkshire Shareholders Receive Update in Person

Thousands of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders returned in person Saturday for their annual meeting heard Warren Buffett update them about investments and rail about the widespread harm inflation is doing. The pandemic had prevented the gathering in Omaha for the past two years. After earlier saying that inflation "swindles" equity investors, the chairman was asked to elaborate, CNBC reports. "Inflation swindles the bond investor, too," Buffett said. "It swindles the person who keeps their cash under their mattress. It swindles almost everybody." No one can be sure of inflation's course, he told shareholders. On other matters, Buffett:

• Discussed stock buys: Berkshire spent more than $51 billion in the first quarter on stock, Buffett said. That includes $3.2 billion of its own shares, per CNN. Other significant investments included HP, Chevron, and Occidental. In fact, a Berkshire filing Saturday with the Securities and Exchange Commission listed Chevron as one of the four biggest investments in its portfolio, at $25.9 billion. The others are Apple, Bank of America, and American Express.
• Said it's not all him: "I see headlines in papers just time after time after time that say, 'Buffett's buying such and such,'" Buffett said. "I'm not buying such and such. Berkshire Hathaway is buying." Some stock picks are made without his having heard of it, he said. "The easiest thing to do is basically shut up and not have a bunch of people facing consequences they didn’t ask for in the first place."
• Raised Activision ante: After the announcement that Microsoft was going to acquire Activision Blizzard, Buffett said he upped Berkshire's stake in the video game maker to 9.5%. Another Berkshire manager had first bought into Activision months before, per the AP.
• Looked ahead: Sitting onstage with Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Buffett acknowledged the age issue with Berkshire's top leaders. "The two of us are 190 years old, and I really think you’re entitled, if you’re the owner of a company and got two guys—98 and 91— running the company, you’re entitled to actually see them in person." A Miami man attending his first shareholder meeting told a reporter: "I don't know how much longer they’ll be able to do this." Berkshire's decentralized decision-making will serve it well when he's gone, Buffett said. "Berkshire is built to forever," he said. "There is no finish point."

(More Warren Buffett stories.)