Welcome to "Investment IN General Manager" Berkshire Hathaway, owned by stock god Buffett, held its annual shareholder meeting on May 4. This time Buffett also spent about 5 hours personally responding to shareholders' questions. I believe investors must We are all curious about what are the noteworthy points in the conversation of the stock god. So in today’s episode, let us talk about the 5 key points of the 2024 Berkshire Shareholders Meeting . You may still remember Buffett’s business partner, the former deputy director of Berkshire Hathaway. Chairman Charlie Monger passed away in November last year. In the past, Buffett and Monger would always make the shareholders in the audience laugh when they sang together at Berkshire’s shareholder meetings , and they could also get a lot of investment from their conversations. Revelation , but Buffett is obviously not used to shareholder meetings without Monger. At this meeting, he even called Berkshire Vice Chairman Abel sitting next to him Monger . This episode was also reported by Barron's Weekly. The report described it as a touching moment at the Berkshire shareholders' meeting. Although Monger was not available to help answer shareholders' questions this time , Buffett still answered all questions . Overall, Buffett's remarks at this shareholders' meeting can be summarized as follows. 5 Key Points No. 1: Berkshire’s cash level has hit a new high, which represents an ideal investment target that is hard to find. At this shareholder meeting, Berkshire released its financial report for the first quarter of this year, which showed that due to the good performance of its insurance business, Berkshire’s Berkshire's operating profit increased by 39% to US$11.2 billion from the same period last year , but its cash level increased to US$189 billion , a new high. Buffett estimates that Berkshire's cash level will further expand to US $200 billion by the end of the second quarter. He also emphasized that Berkshire is happy to spend the cash , but they will not spend it unless the money can buy investment targets with low risk and high profit. The US media CNBC interpreted Berkshire’s cash level to reach a new high, which means that Buffett has not found it yet. Suitable investment targets Therefore, Berkshire would rather invest a large amount of cash in U.S. Treasury bonds to obtain fixed income than make new investments. Buffett emphasized that choosing investment targets is like playing baseball. I only invest in what I like. Good Swing, Point 2: Berkshire reduced its Apple holdings by about 13% in the first quarter , but this does not mean that Buffett ’s view of Apple has changed. It can be seen from the content of Berkshire’s financial report that Berkshire It holds approximately 790 million shares of Apple stock worth US$135.4 billion , but its holdings have decreased by approximately 13% compared with its previous holdings. This is also the second consecutive quarter that Berkshire has reduced its Apple shares. However, Apple is still volatile. Berkshire 's largest holding, Kesha's reduction in its holdings in Apple , reminds the outside world that Apple's product sales performance in the last quarter was not very good. For example, iPhone sales fell by 10% compared with the same period last year. Is this why the stock gods decided ? Buffett also provided an explanation for the reduction of Apple shares. He said that the reduction of Apple shares was not based on his judgment of the company's long-term view , but on the tax considerations of investment profits because the tax rate may increase. In other words, he is not optimistic about Apple. The company's view has not changed. It is purely because it does not want to be levied too heavy a capital gains tax, so it reduces its holdings in Apple. Buffett emphasized that Apple is still likely to be Berkshire's largest holding. In addition to Apple, Berkshire will continue to hold shares. He holds shares in companies such as American Express and Coca-Cola , and he believes that Apple is a better company than American Express and Coca-Cola. However, regarding the sale of Berkshire Hathaway's shares in Paramount , Buffett simply admitted his mistake and said that it was 100% personal. Berkshire Hathaway decided to liquidate its losses and sold all Paramount shares , thus losing a large sum of money. Before sharing three other key points, you are welcome to join the channel. 2024 is the 50th anniversary of financial news. What remains unchanged is Recognition and persistence of Taiwan's values. If you also cherish this common concept, welcome to join the channel and support us. We will continue to accompany you to welcome the next 50 years. The third key point is that Buffett is worried about artificial intelligence fraud and compared artificial intelligence to nuclear weapons. Buffett is very He frankly told shareholders that he knew almost nothing about artificial intelligence , but he recently saw a video about artificial intelligence generating Buffett and found that the images generated by artificial intelligence were very realistic, which made him very nervous about the development of this technology. Buffett said that if he were interested in investment fraud, artificial intelligence fraud would probably become the largest growth industry. Buffett also compared artificial intelligence to nuclear weapons because he believed that artificial intelligence has the potential to create huge changes. Buffett described the time when humans developed nuclear weapons. Just like releasing the genie from the bottle, the genie did many terrible things , and the power of the genie also frightened him , and he didn't know any way to put the genie back into the bottle. Now artificially The development of wisdom is similar to this situation. The fourth key point is that Berkshire's main investment market is still in the United States. As for overseas investment, Buffett hinted that it may be in Canada. When asked by shareholders whether Berkshire would increase overseas investment , especially investment in China, Buffett hinted that it might be in Canada. Buffett clearly answered that Berkshire's main investment market has always been in the United States. He also believes that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has performed well in recent years , but he is more concerned about the growing U.S. fiscal deficit than the Federal Reserve's policies. Since Berkshire 's investments in five Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Sumitomo Corporation, Marubeni Corporation and Itochu Corporation, have shown good profits , the outside world is very curious whether Buffett will continue to look for overseas investment targets. On this issue, Buffett only hinted that he has While considering Canada , he did not disclose specific investment targets or investment methods . In fact, Buffett has invested in Canadian companies in the past. In 2017, Berkshire Hathaway spent $150 million to acquire an underperforming Canadian mortgage originator. Family Capital Group holds nearly 20% of the shares and has since increased its shareholding to more than 38%. As for the renewable energy field that has attracted much attention in recent years, Buffett seems to be still waiting and watching because he believes that the development of renewable energy will take some time and may not be possible in the future. See results in the short term. Buffett also made an analogy. He said that you cannot create a newborn baby in one month by getting 9 women pregnant. The fifth key point is that Buffett appointed Berkshire Vice Chairman Abel as his successor. Emphasizing that even if one day he is gone, the company's stock price will still rise. Buffett will be 94 years old at the end of August this year. If one day Buffett is no longer in charge of Berkshire Hathaway, Abel will have the final say in investment decisions. Buffett's decision on Berkshire Hathaway The operation is very confident and he does not shy away from talking about life and death issues. Buffett emphasized that even if he leaves, Berkshire's stock price will still rise the next day. Buffett also told shareholders that it will not be long before they can see how the new generation of management operates Berkshire. Buffett also started He made a joke and said that he shouldn't be like some people who signed a four-year employment contract without knowing where he would be in four years . Some media interpreted Buffett's remarks as a way to amuse himself and seek re-election. U.S. President Biden and Trump, who will face off against Biden again, at the end of the question and answer session at the shareholder meeting, Buffett smiled and said to the participants, thank you for coming. Not only do I hope you will come again next year , but I also hope I can attend the financial conference again next year. Fans, if you are Buffett with a lot of cash, where do you think the best investment opportunity is? A. Increase your holdings of Apple shares . B. Follow Musk’s advice and buy Tesla stocks. C. Increase your investment in Japan’s top 5 trading companies. D. Buy back TSMC stocks. Let us know in the comments. Today's "Investment IN General Manager" comes to an end here. Viewers who like this program, please remember to like and share for us. See you next time.
