First event of the Berkshire Hathway annual meeting: Warren Buffett gets his portrait painted by performance artist Michael Israel. It takes 8 minutes. Afterwards, Buffett goes to shake Israel’s hand… and then thinks twice.
Then Warren did some TV interviews and walked around the exhibition space, visiting the booths and displays …
One thing I meant to tell you about yesterday—before I got seduced by the blueberry martinis and diamond necklaces at Borsheim’s—was my conversation with Brad Kinstler, the CEO of See’s Candies.
In this year’s annual report, Warren Buffett bragged about See’s. Per-capita consumption of boxed chocolates might not exactly be a …
Berkshire Hathaway is expecting a record turn-out for tomorrow’s annual meeting. The crowd-control paraphernalia—what do you call those metal divider things?—is all set up in front of the Qwest Center and ready to go.
There’s plenty for shareholders to ask the Oracle—how his new bond insurance business is going, the deal for …
Got in last night for the big Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. They’re expecting more than 30,000 people this year, up from about 27,000 last, and way up from the 450 who showed up in 1986 or the 7,500 who came in 1996.
Even though it’s raining,there’s that Warren Buffett/Charlie Munger excitement in the air. Last night, the Avis ( …
Mark Dotzour, chief economist at Texas A&M’s Real Estate Center stopped by yesterday to chat. Lots of parts of Texas are doing just dandy, he reported, thanks to the booming energy and technology industries, trade with Mexico, internal population growth and people moving to Texas from other parts of the country. House prices last year …
There was a story this morning on the cover of the New York Times about the mortgage industry fighting back against new regulations coming down the pike from the Federal Reserve. The Fed wants to require lenders to do things like make sure people taking out subprime loans can afford them, and clearly disclose fees instead of rolling …
Let’s be honest. A lot of corporate mergers don’t make sense. But chocolate-maker Mars buying gum-maker Wrigley with all-around-smart-guy Warren Buffett helping to finance the deal? Do I get M&Ms thrown at me if I call that delicious?
On this morning’s conference call, there was a lot talk about the “strong cultural and strategic fit” …
Hi, That Anonymous Dude. Great to see you in the Comments section again. I rented a Ford Focus, which does, in fact, have pretty decent gas mileage.
It also has an E-ZPass transponder on the front windshield. I haven’t seen that in a rental car before, but it makes perfect sense. Apparently, the car rental companies have been trying …
This afternoon I’m driving home to Salisbury, which for a Manhattanite like me means renting a car and realizing, suddenly, that gas is expensive. $3.50 a gallon? Dang.
When I go for my $40 fill up, though, I will try not to guffaw too loudly in the direction of the person running the gas station, because chance are, he’s suffering …
Earlier this month, Justin told you about Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz popping by our offices and saying, among other things, that the coffee chain was really starting to feel the pinch from sluggish consumer spending.
Let’s put that one in the “you heard it here first” column. Today in reporting preliminary Q2 results, Starbucks played …
On Monday I got an email from the University of Iowa telling me that Barack Obama had a 75% chance of winning the Democratic nomination; Hillary Clinton was at 21%. I’m guessing I’m not the only business reporter out there who is most comfortable processing the horse race elements of national politics through
Lots of excitement at Citigroup’s annual meeting today, as recounted in Crain’s New York Business. Shouting shareholders, wailing employees, an angry, overflowing crowd. New chief exec Vikram Pandit tried to calm everyone down: We’re now closer to the end of the write-down cycle than we are to the beginning, he said. With more than $40 …
