Chapters below.
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger open the 1995 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting with the vote to authorize preferred stock, then take shareholder questions on capital allocation, insurance float, and how they actually value the operating businesses. They explain the Helzberg acquisition, why technology sits outside the circle of competence, and what went wrong at USAir. Along the way they cover derivatives, stock option accounting, the culture problem at Salomon, and why reluctance to sell a wonderful business is a feature rather than a flaw.
0:00 - Opening remarks
3:09 - The preferred stock proposal
9:49 - Preferred stock and dilution
16:02 - Shareholder votes on the preferred
19:17 - Preferred share rights
21:41 - Hybrid preferred structure
25:29 - The vote and adjournment
27:41 - Helzberg Diamonds announcement
34:19 - Family members on the board
38:26 - Chrysler
39:10 - Capital allocation to subsidiaries
43:14 - Multi-year insurance policies
49:01 - Catastrophe insurance competition
52:46 - Technology investing
56:22 - Writing down USAir
1:01:30 - Economic value added
1:06:16 - Derivatives
1:12:46 - Salomon's outlook
1:17:46 - American Express
1:23:34 - Stock option accounting
1:29:12 - Meeting videotapes
1:31:25 - Borsheims sales
1:31:54 - Succession planning
1:37:01 - The discounting period
1:40:18 - Future use of preferred stock
1:42:40 - Insurance float
1:45:01 - The Beardstown Ladies
1:46:05 - Economic rules of thumb
1:52:04 - Valuing the operating businesses
1:56:41 - Salomon's culture
2:01:52 - Ben Graham editions
2:04:35 - Future returns and reluctance to sell
2:16:45 - Screening a first investment
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