Live updates from the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting
LIVE UPDATES:
Here are some of the issues discussed at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting Saturday in Omaha. Chairman Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger will answer questions for up to five hours at CenturyLink Center.
FOLLOW ON TWITTER: Berkshire Hathaway meeting
Activist investors
Buffett said he doubts activist investors, who buy up shares to push corporate change, could gain much traction at Berkshire Hathaway, even after he and Munger are no longer leading the company.
"If run right, the company won't provide a premium if its broken up," Buffett said. "It's unlikely on any long-term basis that the parts would be greater than the value of its whole."
Buffett said the "best defense against activist is performance."
Buffett and Munger said large amounts of money continue to flow into activist funds. "In many cases, it's not constructive," Munger said. "It's not a desirable change."
Munger added: "There aren't many activists I'd like to marry into the family."
Energy:
Buffett called out Berkshire Hathaway Energy CEO Greg Abel during the Q&A to update shareholders about how much energy MidAmerican Energy will get from wind after the Des Moines utility completes its latest project.
Abel said the $900 million investment, announced Friday, will be the company's 10th, and will push the amount of energy MidAmerican customers get from wind to 58 percent.
Munger said distributed generation -- wind and solar generated at homes, businesses and nearby "gardens" -- will be disruptive to energy markets. But the nation has no other option, he said. "What the hell do you do when you run out of fossil fuels."
Unlike many utilities, Berkshire's corporate structure enables it to take advantage of tax credits that encourage investment in wind and solar, Buffett said. That's why Berkshire energy companies are putting "the foot the floor" on developing renewable energy.
MidAmerican said Friday it will have invested nearly $6 billion in wind energy since 2004, creating 4,000 megawatts of wind energy, enough to power about 1.2 million homes.
Branding
With more Berkshire Hathaway companies taking on the holding company's name, a shareholder asked if it might be possible that consumers will see Berkshire Hathaway underwear -- instead of the trademark, Fruit of the Loom?
Buffett and Munger said they didn't anticipate turning Berkshire Hathaway into a "huge asset."
Social responsibility
Questioned about the negative impact sugar is having on American's health, Buffett said companies like food and beverage companies like Coca-Cola and others must respond to changing consumer concerns.
"No one does well ignoring consumers," said Buffett, 84.
But he acknowledged he drinks a lot of Coke. "A fourth of all my calories come from Coca-Cola," he said. "I'm one-quarter Coca-Cola."
"If I would have been eating broccoli and brussel sprouts, I wouldn't have lived as long," he said, taking a piece of See's Candies from Munger. "I wouldn't be happy."
Munger, 91, said sugar "prevents premature softening of the arteries."
"The way I look at it, it means leaving a few months early from the nursing home," he said.
Investing
Buffett said he and Munger don't seek to "talk their book" -- or pump up companies they've invested in, such as Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, IBM, American Express.
"If we talked our book, we would say pessimistic things," Buffett said.
"Why would we want the stock to go up if we're going to be buying " more in a year or next year, he said. "People don't seem to get that point."
Said Munger: "If people weren't so often wrong, we wouldn't be so rich."
Attracting friends
Asked by a young man how to get the kids at school to like him, Buffett encouraged him to watch the students at school he likes and those who rub him wrong. Figure out the characteristics he likes and those he doesn't.
"If you find things you don't like in others, get rid of them in yourself," he said.
Like in marriage, Munger said, "it's easier to change yourself than your spouse."
Munger's advice for improved popularity: "Get very rich and very generous."
MORE COVERAGE: