2025 Buffett's 60th Anniversary Diamond Shareholders' Meeting Guide
(See You in Omaha During the May Day Holiday)
This year marks the 60th anniversary of Buffett's acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway, which should be an extremely significant annual meeting. A marriage of 60 years is referred to as a "diamond wedding," a level higher than the 50th-anniversary "golden wedding." The vast majority of corporate management teams are unlikely to successfully manage a company for several decades.
Therefore, the annual $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.A)$ $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B)$ shareholders' meeting in 2025 should be the ultimate feast for global value investors. This year's meeting will, as in previous years, be held on the first Saturday in May (May 3) in Omaha, a midwestern U.S. city.
Each year, more than 50,000 people from around the world attend this meeting (for more information on the attendees, please refer to the author's article "Who Attends the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders' Meeting?"). Coinciding with the May Day holiday, in recent years, thousands of participants from China have attended the meeting each year. I believe that this year, the number of Chinese participants from around the world will set a new record high. Based on our years of experience attending the meeting and combining it with the invitation letter to shareholders recently released by Mr. Buffett, this article summarizes some tips for attending the meeting.
01 One Week Before the Shareholders' Meeting
The author recommends that all friends planning to attend the Buffett shareholders' meeting arrive in Omaha a few days early. Omaha is a relatively small city. Flights on and around the day of the meeting are very expensive, and there are few direct flights from the Midwest to other countries. Considering the need for layovers and time differences, arriving two or three days early (for example, on April 30 or May 1) to familiarize yourself with the environment in Omaha is an excellent choice. Of course, more importantly, there are many pre-meeting events in Omaha during the week before the shareholders' meeting that are worth attending. For example, Buffett's undergraduate alma mater is the University of Nebraska. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska College of Business for over twenty years. Every year, during the week before the shareholders' meeting, the University of Nebraska offers a special one-week course on value investing. Many top figures in the global value investing field will come to give lectures. Interested friends can register to attend. The University of Nebraska also has a deep relationship with China. The founder of the university's computer science department is Professor Shi Yong, a world-renowned scientist. Professors Sun Di and Li Yong, as well as the author, run the Omaha Value Investing Center, which holds the China-U.S. Investment Summit on the campus of the University of Nebraska every year. Our company, Huisheng Financial, will also continue to be one of the supporting institutions for this summit. (2019 China-U.S. Value Investing Summit held at the University of Nebraska: Dr. Li Yong, Professor Sun Di, the author, and Professor Shi Yong, photo: Kevin Chen)
(Omaha Value Investing Center/China-U.S. Investment Summit 2023 Dinner, photo source: Kevin Chen)
02 The Main Event: The Shareholders' Meeting
The annual shareholders' meeting is held at the CHI Health Center Omaha (CHI Health Center). The address is 455 N. 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68102. This convention center is located near the downtown area of Omaha, about a 20-minute drive from the Omaha airport. It is very convenient with many parking lots nearby.
The meeting opens its doors at 8 a.m. on Saturday (May 3), but many die-hard Buffett fans will camp out in front of the entrance on Friday night to rush in and secure the best seats when the doors open. In recent years, with the development of the sharing economy, some apps have started to offer paid queuing services for a night in front of the Berkshire meeting venue. There is a free simple breakfast and coffee inside the venue, and many fast-food restaurants are available for lunch. There are various types of tickets with priority access, including those for shareholders, executives, and media representatives.
Buffett, who earned money by delivering newspapers as a child, will lead everyone in a paper airplane contest on the Friday afternoon before the meeting. Many people will also take the opportunity to take photos with him. It is recommended that attendees visit the main exhibition hall in the afternoon of May 2 to wander around and possibly catch a glimpse of Buffett. In recent years, he has been known to tour the venue in a golf cart. Of course, other executives from Berkshire-related companies, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, may also be seen taking a walk in the venue on Friday afternoon, offering investors a chance to meet them unexpectedly.
(Photo of Buffett at the venue on the Friday afternoon before the shareholders' meeting: Kevin Chen)
In the past, the meeting usually started with a short film at 8:30 a.m., telling the story of Berkshire over the past year, with cameos from sports stars, singers, actors, and comedic interactions with Buffett, Munger, Bill Gates, and other prominent figures. This year, Buffett announced that there will be no short film. Instead, the meeting will begin at 8 a.m. with a report from the company's management on its operations, lasting for about an hour and a half. Following that, journalists from media outlets such as CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune will ask questions based on issues submitted by shareholders. Berkshire executives and board members, including Bill Gates, will answer questions as appropriate. There will be a 30-minute lunch break, after which attendees can line up to ask questions on a wide range of topics, from investments to elections, education, and healthy eating. I was fortunate enough to ask Buffett a question about his international investment strategy. This year's meeting is expected to end around 2 p.m., an hour earlier than in previous years.
In recent years, with the increasing number of Chinese investors, a separate room has been set up to provide simultaneous Chinese translation. I once met an investor from Iceland who was very envious of this, saying that due to the small population of Iceland, there is no special translation service for Icelandic. It is regrettable that Mr. Munger passed away 33 days before his 100th birthday in late 2023. I believe Mr. Buffett will surely express his remembrance for his old comrade-in-arms of over 60 years, Mr. Munger, at the venue.
The friends around Buffett are truly outstanding. In 2024, the wife of his old friend Gottesman announced a donation of $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, making all students at the medical school permanently tuition-free. This $1 billion, the largest single donation in human history, is actually the profit earned by the Gottesman couple from their investment in Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway over the past forty years!
03 Company Exhibitions
Berkshire Hathaway owns and invests in hundreds of companies, many of which take this opportunity to interact with attendees. On the first floor of the meeting venue, there is an exhibition hall featuring displays of consumer products ranging from Coca-Cola to Brooks running shoes, Berkshire underwear, Dairy Queen ice cream, and more. The commemorative running shoes (3D printed and made on-site) and commemorative T-shirts of the annual meeting are limited editions and are usually sold out in the morning of the meeting day. Every time I go to Omaha, I buy a box of gifts; there are just too many good things to purchase. So if you want to buy something nice, do it early!
You can also see booths from Berkshire's subsidiaries, such as the aircraft engine manufacturer, the railway company BNSF, the private jet company Netjet, and the drilling platform manufacturer. Since the Omaha airport is not far from the convention center, interested friends can line up to take a bus to the airport to experience a flight on one of Berkshire's private jets. Berkshire Hathaway has a total of 193 wholly-owned subsidiaries. The executives of these companies, along with the leaders of many publicly traded companies in which Berkshire has invested and the heads of many institutional investors who have invested in Berkshire, will all be present to interact with everyone. It can be said that this is a super social gathering!
Since Buffett enjoys reading, there is a bookstore in the exhibition center every year, selling many books on investment. Some books that are not available in bookstores, such as biographies about Buffett's Brazilian partners 3G, can be purchased here. Friends who are interested in investment-related books can take this opportunity to buy many classic value investment books that may not be readily available on the market.
Mr. Buffett has already announced in advance that a 60th-anniversary special edition of Berkshire will be released this year, with a limited edition of 5,000 copies. The first 20 people to purchase will receive his autographed inscription, and the proceeds will be donated to a charity in Omaha.
Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.
When in Omaha, be sure to try the famous steaks. Buffett often dines at Gorat's Steak House on Sunday evenings after the annual meeting. If reservations are not made in advance, it is usually possible to get a table by waiting in line at the restaurant. Enjoying country music while savoring steak and wine is a delightful experience. www.goratsomaha.com 4917 Center St, Omaha, NE 68106 (402) 551-3733. (Buffett's favorite steakhouse, Gorat's)
The author also highly recommends the following two steakhouses:
- Sullivan’s Steakhouse: Named after the famous American boxer, located at 222 S 15th Street, Suite 152 S., Omaha, NE 68102.
- 801 Chophouse at the Paxton: Voted the best steakhouse in Omaha and the best place to enjoy a tomahawk steak. Located at 1403 Farnam St, Omaha, NE 68102-2200.
In addition to steakhouses, downtown Omaha offers a variety of specialty restaurants, including Japanese, Italian, seafood, Sichuan Chinese cuisine, and hot pot, all of which are within walking distance from the convention center. A popular beverage in the Midwest, and Buffett's favorite, is the Ice Cream Float (a mixture of ice cream and cola), which is definitely worth trying.Omaha's unique geographical location hosts not only Berkshire Hathaway but also several other outstanding company headquarters:
i. Gallup Headquarters: The world's largest public opinion research organization has its headquarters in Omaha. The company's campus is located by the river and resembles a university campus.
ii. First Data Headquarters: The largest U.S. credit card data processing company.
iii. Union Pacific Headquarters: The largest U.S. railroad company.
iv. PayPal Data Center: The data center for the online payment company.
v. TD Ameritrade Headquarters: The largest U.S. online brokerage firm.
vi. Buffett Cancer Research Center: Established with a donation from Buffett's uncle and aunt, Fred & Pamela Buffett, this is a highly advanced medical research center.
vii. University of Nebraska at Omaha: Buffett's alma mater.
These institutions and company headquarters may host activities during the conference, and specific details can be arranged through individual contact.
Despite having hundreds of subsidiaries and over 300,000 employees, Berkshire Hathaway's headquarters has only 20 employees and is located in an inconspicuous Kiewit building. The headquarters is not open to the public, but you can take a look at the simple office building from the outside. The address is: 3555 Farnam St, Omaha, NE 68131. (Kiewit Building, headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway)
Buffett grew up in Omaha and has lived at the same address since he bought his house in 1958. For privacy reasons, the exact address of his residence is not disclosed in this article. However, numerous articles and web pages suggest that he lives near the intersection of 55th Street and Farnam Avenue, about a 7-minute drive from his office. Every year, many investors visit Buffett's home to take photos as a memento.
Every year during the conference, numerous companies and institutions organize forums, networking dinners, and visits. Some notable events include the Asia Investors Summit, the China-U.S. Venture Capital Summit, the Value Investing Dinner hosted by Columbia Business School (the birthplace of value investing and Buffett's alma mater), welcome events by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce and the Nebraska state government, dinners hosted by tech companies like $Microsoft(MSFT)$ , cocktail parties organized by Chinese and American media such as $TENCENT(00700)$ , sina, and Yahoo Finance, the value investing conference hosted by Peking University alumni and Chinese financier Charlie Tian, and investment seminars organized by large institutional investors, securities firms, and insurance companies. (Value Investing Dialogue hosted by Swiss-American value investing master Guy Spier and Indian value investing master Mohnish Pabrai in Omaha)
Given the overwhelming number of activities, it is advisable to select a few to attend and engage with investors from around the world. The headquarters or regional headquarters of companies such as Gallup, $PayPal(PYPL)$ , and TD Ameritrade are located in Omaha and can be arranged for visits.
Berkshire Hathaway is extremely hospitable to attendees and organizes a variety of activities. The main events include:
- Saturday, May 3: A large barbecue event outside Nebraska Furniture Mart (700 S 72nd St, Omaha) after the conclusion of the annual meeting. No pre-registration is required.
- Sunday, May 4: A 5K run (Buffett or other Berkshire Hathaway executives will fire the starting gun). The starting point is at the entrance of the Omaha Hilton. Pre-registration is required. (Photo source: Kevin Chen)
- Sunday, May 4, morning: An investors' breakfast at Borsheims, Berkshire's jewelry store (120 Regency Pkwy, Omaha, NE 68114). No pre-registration is required. Buffett, Bill Gates, and others often arrive around 11 a.m. to play table tennis, bridge, and perform magic tricks with attendees. (Photo source: Kevin Chen)
Additionally, at 5 a.m. on Monday, May 5, Buffett and Bill Gates will participate in a live interview with CNBC at the Omaha Hilton. Many of their family members, including grandchildren, will also attend. Those who are willing to rise early like Buffett can join and may even have the opportunity to request autographs or take photos.