Woodstock for Capitalists: All about Berkshire Hathaway before the grand weekend

"Woodstock for Capitalists" is the term often used for the annual shareholder weekend for Berkshire Hathaway Inc. This meeting is scheduled for May 3 - May 5 in which Warren Buffett hosts tens of thousands of people in Omaha, Nebraska. Millions more watch online.

Warren Buffett, 88, is the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire. He has not publically announced any plans to retire but vice chairmen Gregory Abel and Ajit Jain are often thought to be his suitable successors.

At Berkshire's annual meeting on May 4, Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger will answer more than five hours of shareholder questions. The meeting will be broadcast on Yahoo Finance.

Woodstock for Capitalists becomes a gala for whole Omaha with it featuring shopping discounts, a five-kilometre run and a cocktail reception that occupies an entire shopping mall. Young and old mingle with the wealthy, and sometimes Warren Buffett himself, in the mall. Investor conferences focused on Berkshire and "value" investing are also scattered around the city.

Berkshire Hathaway is the sixth-most valuable U.S. company. It's 2019 net income stood at USD 4.02 billion, reflecting USD 17.5 billion of investment losses and a $3 billion write-down on its 26.7 per cent Kraft Heinz stake.

Operating income in 2018 stood at USD 24.78 billion and revenue stood at USD 247.84 billion.

TALKING IN NUMBERS

Cash, equivalents and Treasury bills: $111.9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2018 Stock price: $325,080.01 per Class A share as of April 30, 2019. Widely held Class B shares are worth about 1/1,500th as much.

Market value: about $533 billion as of April 30, 2019, Compounded annual changes from 1965-2018: book value per share: 18.7 per cent; stock price: 20.5 per cent; S&P 500 including dividends: 9.7 per cent (pre-tax)

Float (insurance premiums collected before claims are paid, which help fund investments): $122.7 billion as of year-end

Employees at year-end: 389,373 Employees in main office: 26, including Buffett

BUSINESS UNITS AND ACQUISITIONS

Selected business units: Benjamin Moore, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, BNSF, Borsheims Fine Jewelry, Brooks, Business Wire, Clayton Homes, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, Geico, General Re, HomeServices of America, IMC International Metalworking, International Dairy Queen, Johns Manville, Lubrizol, Marmon, McLane, National Indemnity, Nebraska Furniture Mart, NetJets, Oriental Trading, Pampered Chef, Precision Castparts, See's Candies, Three (Berkshire Hathaway Direct Insurance)

Selected acquisitions (larger amounts rounded to nearest billion): See's Candies, $25 million (1972); Geico, $2.3 billion (1996); Dairy Queen, $590 million (1998); General Re, $16 billion (1998); NetJets, $725 million (1998); Clayton Homes, $1.7 billion (2003); PacifiCorp, $5 billion (2006); Marmon, $4.5 billion (2008); Burlington Northern Santa Fe, $27 billion (2010); Lubrizol, $9 billion (2011); NV Energy, $6 billion (2013); H.J. Heinz, $12 billion (majority stake, 2013); Van Tuyl, $4.1 billion (2015); Precision Castparts, $32 billion (2016), Pilot Flying J, $2.8 billion (38.6 percent stake, 2017).

Major stock investments: American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Wells Fargo.

Buffett on acquisitions: "We hope to move much of our excess liquidity into businesses that Berkshire will permanently own. The immediate prospects for that, however, are not good: Prices are sky-high for businesses possessing decent long-term prospects... We continue, nevertheless, to hope for an elephant-sized acquisition."

Buffett on stock buybacks: "It is likely that -- over time -- Berkshire will be a significant repurchaser of its shares, transactions that will take place at prices above book value but below our estimate of intrinsic value."

FUTURE LEADERSHIP

Now that Buffett is 88 years old, there are questions making rounds about who will succeed him and what will be the company's leadership structure in future.

Possible CEO successors: Abel, 56, who led Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Jain, 67, a top insurance executive, have since January 2018 had day-to-day oversight of Berkshire's non-insurance and insurance units, respectively. Buffett and Munger still handle major capital allocation decisions and investments.

Other possible successors: Combs and Weschler, who together recently managed $26 billion, may succeed Buffett as a chief investment officer. Buffett's eldest son Howard is expected to become non-executive chairman. Tracy Britt Cool, 34, chairs several Berkshire units and is chief executive of Pampered Chef.