Warren Buffett visits India [Coverage]

Coverage from Indian Press

• At 80, Buffett has more energy than I have: Ajit Jain [TOI]
• I’m a retard for coming to India so late: Warren Buffett [TOI]
• I don’t consider India an emerging market: Warren Buffett [ET]
• As in the US, I’ll invest in industries I understand: Warren Buffett [DNA]
• First Photos: Warren Buffett in India [Rediff]
• Growth does not drive our investment decisions: Warren Buffett [ET]
• Indians are working smarter: Buffett [TOI]
• Warren Buffett in India: When India prospers, US will prosper better [ET]
• Warren Buffett unlikely to invest in an insurance business in India: Ajit Jain [ET]
• Life’s about planting trees for others: Warren Buffett [TOI]
• Buffett charms India, says this is a dream market for investors [CNBC-TV18]
• ‘Midas’ Buffett says India visit is for TaeguTec [CNBC-TV18]
• The opportunity to work for Warren is like winning a giant lottery: Ajit Jain [ET]
• Buffett: Euro’s Collapse Is Not ‘Unthinkable’ [CNBC-TV18] More
• Warren Buffett, Ajit Jain answer students [NDTV] [Video]
• Q&A: Ajit Jain, Berkshire Hathaway [Business Standard]
• Warren Buffett advises investors to focus on fundamentals and be patient [ET] More
• Buffet to PM: If you have more like Ajit Jain, send them over to me [TOI]
• Buffett hopes Monday will ring in new business from India [CNBC-TV18]

Warren Buffett’s Meeting with University of Maryland MBA Students

(Notes Taken by Professors David Kass and Sarah Kroncke, Department of Finance, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland)

Dr. David Kass with Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett (WB) met with 20 MBA students from each of eight universities, including the University of Maryland, on March 11, 2011.  He began his two-hour Q & A session by mentioning that he would answer questions on any topic except what Berkshire is planning to buy or sell.  He further stated that he tapes his mouth shut at night so he would not say what to buy or sell in his sleep.  The MBA students asked 21 questions in the following order:

(1) Do you believe that Africa will be the major driver of world growth in the years ahead?

WB: China will be a bigger driver of growth in the next 10-20 years. They are growing from a smaller base than that of the U.S.  The U.S. and the rest of the world will be growing rapidly as well.  The U.S. can’t grow as fast as China on a per capita basis.  People are becoming more productive, so output per capita will increase.  The question is how will this output get distributed.

Transcript of Warren Buffett Interview With FCIC

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CNBC Warren Buffett Transcript, March 2, 2011

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Warren Buffett at Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission [Interview]

Warren Buffett at Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission [Interview]

Warren Buffett Is Honored at the White House

Warren Buffett was smiling today at the White House as Barack Obama presented him with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

And the audience laughed as President Obama recounted recounted one of Buffett’s earliest investing mistakes:

In 1942, an 11-year-old boy from Omaha, Nebraska, invested his entire fortune in six shares of Cities Service Preferred at $38 per share. The stock soon dropped sharply, devastating his holdings. (Laughter.) But true to form, the boy did not panic. He held those shares until the stock rebounded, earning himself a small profit. Things got a little bit better after that. (Laughter.)

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Barrons on Warren Buffett

January 22, 2011

With cash pouring in, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway may do something big this year — maybe even pay a dividend.

A flush Berkshire Hathaway is in its best shape ever and piling up cash so quickly that it could be sitting on close to $50 billion at its core insurance operation alone by year end, and might even begin paying a dividend. Berkshire’s profit recovery, aided by some smart acquisitions and investments by CEO Warren Buffett — notably its purchase of the Burlington Northern railroad — has gone largely unrecognized on Wall Street, where Berkshire’s Class A shares (ticker: BRKA), now trading around $121,000, haven’t budged in nearly a year. Berkshire’s Class B shares (BRKB) trade around $81; each equals 1/1500th of a Class A share.

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Warren Buffett Speaks Candidly to Vanity Fair About Who Might Succeed Him at Berkshire Hathaway

The future of Berkshire Hathaway is the subject of intense speculation throughout the financial world, for millions of investors and at the company itself. “It is all we talk about [at board meetings],” Warren Buffett tells Vanity Fair’s Bethany McLean, who spent 11 hours in Omaha with the octogenarian Berkshire Hathaway C.E.O. to discuss who might lead the company he founded when, as David Sokol, one of his executives, puts it, “the bus hits.” Buffett, who has no plans to retire, tells McLean that he “tap dances to work.” His partner and vice-chairman for more than 40 years, Charlie Munger (who, at 86, is not a contender) also speaks to McLean for a profile that provides an in-depth look at Warren Buffett’s thinking on succession as well as the possible choices. Buffett also talks to Vanity Fair about the evolution of his investment strategy, his trust in the wisdom of American capitalism, his “pragmatic” investment style, and belief in luck.

Pretty Good for Government Work [NYT Op-Ed article]

November 16, 2010

By WARREN E. BUFFETT

Omaha

DEAR Uncle Sam,

My mother told me to send thank-you notes promptly. I’ve been remiss.

Let me remind you why I’m writing. Just over two years ago, in September 2008, our country faced an economic meltdown. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the pillars that supported our mortgage system, had been forced into conservatorship. Several of our largest commercial banks were teetering. One of Wall Street’s giant investment banks had gone bankrupt, and the remaining three were poised to follow. A.I.G., the world’s most famous insurer, was at death’s door.

Many of our largest industrial companies, dependent on commercial paper financing that had disappeared, were weeks away from exhausting their cash resources. Indeed, all of corporate America’s dominoes were lined up, ready to topple at lightning speed. My own company, Berkshire Hathaway, might have been the last to fall, but that distinction provided little solace.

Barclays on Warren Buffett successor

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