Buffett celebrates 50th year at Berkshire, faces tough questions

Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders on Saturday celebrated Warren Buffett's 50th anniversary running the conglomerate, as the billionaire expressed optimism the company would thrive over the long haul, even after he is gone.

Buffett and his second-in-command, Charlie Munger, fielded five hours of questions from shareholders, analysts and journalists at Berkshire's annual meeting, including some that criticized the business practices of firms that Berkshire owns or works with, such as Brazil's 3G Capital.

The meeting had a more festive air this year, with one of the more than 40,000 people who attended shouting out "Warren and Charlie, we love you" at the start of the main event of what Buffett calls "Woodstock for Capitalists."

"It's not Disneyland, it's Warrenland," said David Rolfe, chief investment officer of Wedgewood Partners Inc.

Berkshire holds more than 80 companies including the Burlington Northern railroad, Geico car insurance, Benjamin Moore paint, Dairy Queen ice cream, Fruit of the Loom underwear, and See's candies, and owns more than $115 billion of stocks.

Its breadth and depth, which includes $63.7 billion of cash, has given Berkshire a strong balance sheet that Buffett said will help it thrive should the economy, propped up by low interest rates that many expect to rise soon, heads south. "We will be very willing to act if economic turbulence of any kind occurs, and will be prepared, and most people won't be," he said. He denied that Berkshire needed special regulatory oversight by possibly having become too big to fail.

Buffett gave no hints about who would succeed him. He also alluded in one answer to his writing another of his popular letters to shareholders next February, suggesting no intention to leave soon.

Yet he said he would not want someone whose sole background is in investments to become chief executive. "I would not want to put someone in charge of Berkshire with only investing experience and not any operational experience."

Buffett also offered ringing praise for the turnaround at Burlington Northern, Berkshire's largest noninsurance unit, which was plagued last year by service delays. "The improvement has been huge, and I want to thank Matt Rose and Carl Ice for their really extraordinary performance," he said, referring to the railroad's executive chairman and chief executive.

Rose, considered by some a potential Berkshire CEO candidate, was not mentioned by Buffett in his annual letter, which led some to believe his standing had been lowered. Other potential CEO candidates include insurance executive Ajit Jain, whose decision to join Berkshire three decades ago was hailed by Buffett as one of the "luckiest" events he experienced, and Berkshire Hathaway Energy chief Gregory Abel, who talked at the meeting about renewable energy. He was the only person other than Buffett and Munger to field a question.