THEAGE.COM.AU: Woodstock with Warren sure to delight

Christopher Webb

March 8, 2009

WARREN Buffett and Charlie Munger have tired of some of the questions asked during Berkshire Hathaway's marathon annual meetings and are taking action to bring shareholders back on course.

The problem has been that shareholders have hogged proceedings with questions that are unrelated to Berkshire and its operations. Not any more.

In future, shareholders will have to email their questions to three finance reporters — longtime Buffett buddy Carol Loomis at Fortune, Becky Quick at CNBC, and Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times.

The reporters will each then choose a dozen or so questions that they think are the most interesting and important.

"Neither Charlie nor I will get so much as a clue about the questions to be asked. We know the journalists will pick some tough ones and that's the way we like it," Buffett said.

Whether a bunch of reporters are the most appropriate people to sift through the questions only time will tell. But shareholders aren't being cut out completely. Buffett is planning to draw shareholders' questions out of a hat. Questions will alternate between those from the reporters and those from the winning shareholders.

"At least half the questions — those selected by the panel from your submissions — are therefore certain to be Berkshire-related. We will meanwhile continue to get some good — and perhaps entertaining — questions from the audience as well," Buffett said. "So join us at our Woodstock for capitalists and let us know how you like the new format."

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Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letter to Shareholders 2008 - Read the latest Berkshire Letter
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