It’s always a ‘Must’ read every year….Living Investment Guru,Warren E Buffett’s Annual Letter to his shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway….his insights,his ‘packing a punch’ at many issues,his confessions,his core heartwarming values,his demystifying the rationale for his investment decisions,his philosophy and his fabulous sense of humour…and he’s all of 79!
Warren E Buffett has never authored a Book…does he need to!…If ever there was a Nobel Prize for Financial Journalism,his Annual Letter would be the Winner every year !
Access his latest one of February 26,2010 below
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2009ltr.pdf
….and I’m sure you’ll want to become a Shareholder of BH to access the Annual Meet which Buffett himself bills as the ‘Woodstock of Capitalists’!…it’s traditionally held on the First Saturday in May….this year it’s on May 1,2010
Mind you it’s BH share is not cheap….One Original ‘A’ Common Stock is quoted at US $ 124080 !…that’s Rs 57 lakh or Rs 5.7 Million Rupees (US $ 1=Rs 46)….To make it affordable BH issues in 1996 the ‘B’ Common Stock which was prescribed by BH to be valued at 1/30th of the ‘A’ Share but carried only 1/200th of Voting Rights
Interestingly on November 3,2009,BH passed a resolution to splt the ‘B’ Share 50:1 ratio to facilitate small shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe to get the BH ‘B’ share in the acquisition deal,should they opt for it…..This has resulted in the Share Quotation of the ‘B’ Share to be under US $ 83 yesterday (just Rs 3800)…this computes to a pre-split share price of US $ 4150 (Rs 1.91 lakhs)
In 1981,there were just 12 shareholders who attended the Omaha Meet…In 2009 there were 35000 who did !…This year they obviously expect much more….Both ‘A’ and ‘B’ Shareholders get the Annual Report and an Invite coupon attached with it for the Annual meet…they need to fill it and send it back to BH…and within a week their Credentials will arrive for the Meet…As I’ve said,the Meet is always held on the first Saturday in May…this year it’s May 1,2010…and the Report is send to shareholders as on Record Date ,which is normally 60 days before the Meet Date…It takes three days to register you as the shareholder from your date of purchase…so play it safe and buy the BH share by the third week of Feb if you intend attending the BH Meet that year…you will receive the Report early March and can initiate the process to attend the Meet
For a die hard Value Investor,Omaha is the ‘Mecca’…even for others,it would be an experience worth experiencing….So begin Planning to be in Omaha on Saturday May 7, 2011 now !
Cheers !