The 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting occurred on May 2nd, 2026. Here is the () and a from Omaha. This is the first one where Warren Buffett was not on stage answering questions as the CEO, but it still felt very similar to past meetings. I think they are lucky that both Buffett and Abel don’t have enormous egos and are allowing for a gradual transition. In addition to the main meeting, there was also a (). Did you also know that as a shareholder since the 1970s and regular meeting attendee?
In a way, this meeting was a throwback in the way that focus was more the details of BRK as a company instead of Buffett and Munger talking about worldly wisdom. I still enjoyed watching and listening to the entire Q&A session with new CEO Greg Abel, Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, BNSF Railway CEO Katie Farmer, and NetJets CEO Adam Johnson. Of course, Charlie Munger’s unfiltered honesty was still sorely missed. It does get a bit sleepy when everyone is so polite.
Here are a few personal takeaways and notes.
Transition is going well, still lots of cash because they see prices as too high, and are still holding cash for the next inevitable crisis. From the Buffett interview, I thought this was a nice summary of the current situation.
Well, I think it’s all working. It’s all working. It isn’t our ideal surrounding area or environment, I should say, in terms of deploying cash for Berkshire, but in terms of how we got the right management, we got the right arrangement, and you know, we can pick our spots, and nobody can tell us what to do exactly. And so sometimes we’re doing nothing, but other times we get quite active.
Gambling is everywhere. I’m seriously disturbed by the amount of people who think that zero-day options are their path to financial freedom. More truth from Buffett:
Well, it feels like, you know, I’ve compared the markets to a church with a casino attached. And people can move between the church and casino. And I would say there are more people in the church and more people in the casino, but the casino has gotten very attractive to people. If you’re buying one day options, or selling them, I mean that is – that’s not investing, it’s not speculating, it’s gambling.
Investing and insurance both involve saying “no” a lot. From Ajit Jain:
You know, insurance, like investing, is a game of patience. It’s extremely difficult to get people to sit idle and do nothing. When I recruit people, my usual approach is to tell them upfront. I say, your job is to say ‘no.’ You will be bombarded day after day with various deals, but your fundamental responsibility is to say ‘no.’ I tell them, occasionally you’ll come across a deal that hits you like a plank, shouting ‘money here,’ and that’s when you come to me, and then we’ll decide together whether to proceed.
You know, joking aside, when everyone else is being hustled by brokers and taken to London, it’s really hard to just sit there and do nothing. I believe that in the insurance industry, and certainly in the investment field, the true test of success lies in the ability to say ‘no.’
This feels similar to what individuals face these days. There are so many things that will gladly take your money. Crypto memecoins, sports betting, prediction markets, risky options, Buy Now Pay Later debt, margin leverage.
As a shareholder, I feel that we’ll have to be patient as well to see what happens as Abel takes a more active role in improving the internal operations.
Past BRK meetings:
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