My Second day in Omaha, Nebraska (Sat, May 3, 2008):

Today is the main day of 2008 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders meeting when Warren Buffett and Charles Munger meet and spend 6-7 hours meeting Berkshire’ loyal shareholders (9:30 am to 3:30 pm. Doors opened sharp at 7 am).  More than 30,000 people had waited inline for 1-2 hours outside Qwest Stadium in Omaha before finally the door opened at 7 am sharp. Once opened, people were flocking to the stadium without any regards whatsoever to the waiting line they formed previously. It was a mad house. Luckily, there were many security guards inside the building that helped to calm people down to manageable level. Within approx. 30 minutes, the stadium was almost full. They came from various places both domestically and internationally.  People from all around the world today were very excited to meet and listed to the oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, and his vice chairman and alter ego, Charles Munger.

After waiting for approximately 1.5 hours, finally Warren Buffett walked out from the front-left side of the podium and walked briskly to the middle of the stadium to find his usual seat to watch together with his shareholders a very funny and entertaining opening movie which started promptly at 8:30 am. People were cheering his name loudly. He is definitely a rock star in the business world. Many famous people attended this event including all his venerable board of directors and famous friends, most notably Mr. William Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft who sit at the front near the podium. It was an amazing scene where you could literally see the no. 1 and 3 richest men in the world (according to the latest Forbes 400 ranking) plus 20+ heavy hitters in the business world in the same location with thousands of people watching them. People took photos, recorded videos, although these were prohibited.  

After the movie finished (1 hour long), Warren went back inside behind the podium. At 9:30 am. Warren and Charlie walked out together to sit in front of the audience with their favorite food and beverage (you guess it: See’s Candy and Coca Cola). People were super excited to listen and soak every word both outstanding businessmen would like to say today. The event is totally a great experience for any business people and investors. Warren and Charlie right away started with welcoming people and thanking them for coming to Omaha. This annual meeting was a long Q&A session between Berskhire shareholders and these two men. There were 10 microphones located at various places in the stadium where people can ask any question they want in orderly manner. People asked various questions from silly to good. Warren and Charlie answered them all politely based on their best knowledge and information.

Note: I will post the Q&A in separate blog entry in the next few days as I am still compiling and editing them.

The event ended promptly at 3:30 pm (after 2 breaks: lunch break at 12-1 pm, and afternoon break at 3 pm). All people were very satisfied and left the stadium full with fresh wisdom and advices directly from the Oracle of Omaha and his right hand man. It was great to find that both Warren, 77 year old, and Charlie, 84 years old, could have such amazing energy to stay for more than 6 hours to answer questions from their shareholders. The Berkshire Hathaway’s international shareholders had event from 4 to 5:30 pm that the domestic shareholders would love to have (but could not due to the huge numbers of domestic people attending the event). Warren would like to meet and greet all the international shareholders who had travelled long hours to Omaha in other meeting place (credentials and passports are required to enter the meeting room). Everyone left wiser with happy faces after obtaining doses of investment advices from the masters (plus signatures on books and photos with Warren and Charlie). It was an unforgettable day for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders and their guests.

Latest News related to Warren Buffett (from Google News, as of May 03, 2008, 11:36 pm Omaha time):

Fed avoided chaos in Bear bailout: Buffett Sify, India - 16 minutes ago Omaha, Neb: Warren Buffett said on Saturday said the US Federal Reserve avoided financial market "chaos" in coordinating the March bailout of Bear Stearns ...BSC - JPM

Other news:

Would anyone dare suggest Berkshire's Buffett be ousted?
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA - 51 minutes ago
... that company's chairman, Warren Buffet, should be fired? Firing the Oracle of Omaha, as Buffett often is called, would seem to be a sacrilege. ...
Buffett and Munger share wit, wisdom with shareholders FinanzNachrichten.de

Buffett Says Credit Crisis Ebbs for Wall Street Firms (Update4)
Bloomberg - 5 hours ago
By Josh P. Hamilton and Betty Liu May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said the global credit crunch has ...
Buffett and Munger share wit, wisdom with shareholders BusinessWeek
Buffett says risk of financial meltdown has declined MarketWatch
Buffett Warns of Smaller Returns for Berkshire Hathaway TheStreet.com

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