Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)
The California homeless charity that benefits from the annual auction of lunch with investor Warren Buffett can only hope this year’s winning bid again tops $2 million. There are no guarantees someone will pay that much for a private audience with the billionaire chairman and chief executive of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A). But the auction has become a significant part of the Glide Foundation’s annual $17 million budget for helping the poor and homeless in San Francisco. Last year’s winner paid $3.4 million and the winning bids have topped $2 million for the past five years.
China approves Warren Buffett’s Heinz buy (SCMP)
After repeatedly criticising China’s anti-monopoly regulator for its slowness in approving global M&A, I finally have to congratulate the Chinese Commerce Ministry for improving its record with the relatively fast approval of a major deal. In this case, the ministry has given its official approval just over three months after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) announced it would partner with private equity firm 3G Capital to buy US ketchup giant H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) for US$28 billion. H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ) announced that the Chinese green light is just the latest in a necessary string of approvals for the deal to close. It said the deal has already been approved by antitrust regulators in the US, Brazil, India, South Korea, Japan, Israel, Mexico, South Africa and Ukraine, and has also received other necessary regulatory approvals in Russia, New Zealand and Ireland. It is still awaiting anti-trust clearance in the critical EU market, as well as in Russia.
Warren Buffett hears a pitch for a cupcake company from local fifth grader (WashingtonPost)
When Krissa Hillman met Warren Buffett last week, the 11-year-old gave him a chocolate cupcake. “He loved it,” she said. “When he tasted it, all he said was, ‘Mmmm.’” Krissa was in Omaha pitching her venture, Cupcakes for Literacy, to the billionaire investor as part of a competition hosted by the animated television show “Secret Millionaire’s Club.” The fifth-grader at Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup was one of 14 students selected to present their ideas to a panel of judges. Krissa started Cupcakes for Literacy about six months ago. She and her friends bake cupcakes — generally chocolate, but sometimes red velvet, too — and sell them at school bake sales. Profits are donated to libraries and literacy programs.
Investors Shouldn’t Fear a Buffett-less Berkshire (DailyFinance)
Someday, Warren Buffett will depart from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A). Should investors be concerned? As Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson discuss, Buffett has created a corporate culture at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) that won’t evaporate when Buffett is gone, thanks to a culture that’s been meticulous with its day-to-day operations, capital, and succession plans. Matt and David argue that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) is likely to benefit shareholders with its disciplined approach for years to come. …Thanks to the savvy of investing legend Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s book value per share has grown a mind-blowing 586,817% over the past 48 years.
Surve takes custody of a key asset (ioL)
When it finally emerged in 2010 that Warren Buffett had been pouring money into railway stocks, many people on Wall Street scratched their heads, wondering what in the world he knew that the rest of the markets did not. Some speculated, wrongly of course, that he probably saw a future that would involve putting internet traffic alongside the thousands of miles of railway tracks that criss-cross North America. Earlier this year, it emerged that he had also bought 28 daily newspapers for $344 million (R3.27 billion). What the speculators forgot were the wise words from the legendary investor. Buffett once said: “In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.” On another occasion, he pointed out that “you can’t buy what is popular and do well”.
Patrick Henry High student’s program ‘Health Matters’ wins kudos from billionaire Buffett (TriCities)
Emma Buchanan wants her classmates and their families to live more healthy lives. And the 16-year-old Patrick Henry High School student has a chance to do just that, thanks to a $4,000 grant that will help her launch an after-school wellness program next year. “It will be a monthly health class in three parts,” she said, adding that the hour-long program will focus on healthy eating habits, exercise tips and learning how to be healthy and live well. Her program, “Health Matters: Teaching Wellness for All Generations,” is getting off the ground after Emma won one of the five GENYOUth Foundation’s AdVenture Capital grants.
Ellie Kemper Asks: Can Men Be Funny? (GQ)
Reading a chapter from Warren Buffett’s Tap Dancing to Work the other day, I was surprised to find myself chuckling out loud. Now this guy is kind of funny, I thought to myself as I turned the page and grabbed another Danish. This guy is kind of making me laugh. And those thoughts that I had quietly, in my head, to myself, made me realize just how rarely I do have those thoughts in my head. And that thought led me to another thought, which was: why is that? Why, on the whole, are men just not that funny? I can’t exactly figure this out. Men, who certainly possess not only the savvy but also the know-how to be funny, for some reason, are just not. I began to notice this at a pretty young age, and unfortunately, a lifetime of living—and not a little bit of regret—hasn’t done much to convince me otherwise. Why do they even try? my 7-year-old self would wonder as I watched Alan Alda flounder helplessly through yet another failed rerun of M*A*S*H. Why is every single Korean-lady extra so much funnier than he is?
Buffett says women are key to growth (VancouverSun)
Billionaire Warren Buffett is optimistic about America’s economic future because the nation has begun to unleash the potential of women. Buffett’s views on the role of women appeared online Thursday in an editorial he wrote for Fortune magazine. He says that most of America’s prosperity was created using only about 50 per cent of its talent – the men. So he’s confident the country will prosper as more women excel in the workforce. “For most of our history, women – whatever their abilities – have been relegated to the sidelines,” Buffett writes.
Nuggets from Warren and Charlie (Telegram)
In early May, tens of thousands of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) shareholders gathered in Omaha to listen to Chairman Warren Buffett and his partner, Charlie Munger, answer their questions for five hours. Here are some paraphrased nuggets from the annual meeting: On Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s competitive advantage: Charlie: We’ve always tried to stay sane when other people like to go crazy. That’s a competitive advantage. … We’ve used the golden rule, treating our subsidiaries the way we’d want to be treated. … We try to be a good partner to people who come to us. That’s a competitive advantage. Warren: Our competitive advantage is that we don’t have any competitors — people who sell their businesses to us don’t have other attractive options.
Just a few bucks short of a power lunch (JournalNow)
I wouldn’t mind having lunch with the boss. Unfortunately for me, that costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million, which is a neighborhood I rarely visit unless I am stealing hubcaps off Bentleys to sell on eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). As a small-town newspaper editor in a big company, I have plenty of bosses, but when you quit blowing fur and get to the hide as Jed Clampett once said, my boss is Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, legendary investor and noted philanthropist who would never crack down on some knucklehead for writing a column about him, I hope. Last year, Buffett scooped up a bunch of newspapers, mostly in small cities and little towns, because he loves the medium and believes it is still viable in communities where there remains a true sense of community.
