If you want to get ready for the May 1 shareholder meeting of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., start now by reading the dozen-and-a-half books on subjects related to Warren Buffett published since the last meeting.
Most are on store shelves already, and they'll be on sale at the Bookworm on-site store at the Qwest Center's exhibition hall, where many of the authors will sign copies before and after the meeting.
There's an expanded, refined and re-covered version of Laura Rittenhouse's book on Berkshire Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, “Buffett's Bites,” with McGraw Hill as its new publisher.
Rittenhouse, a New York investment banker, self-published her first “Bites” analysis of Buffett's annual letters to shareholders in 2007. The new version has 224 pages and has a Walter Cronkite-style photo of Buffett at his desk. Subtitled “The Essential Investor's Guide to Warren Buffett's Shareholder Letters,” it's due out April 19.
“It's a field guide to Berkshire Hathaway,” Rittenhouse said. “What he's all about and what he's done at Berkshire is so important that everybody needs to know about it. But most people don't have the time or energy to plow through something big.”
The first book, a slim 95-page paperback, had a dish of bite-size desserts on the cover. The new hardcover is like a triple-decker sandwich, Rittenhouse said.
First it describes the shareholder letters, who reads them, why they're important and what makes Buffett's letter different from all others, she said. The letter is a major reason Buffett connects so well with his shareholders, she said, and their devotion to him helps keep him, as he says, “tap-dancing to work.”
The second section describes how to find great businesses run by great managers one of Buffett's basic investment criteria and how to become an intelligent investor, Rittenhouse said.
The third part discusses Buffett in a wider context.
“The principles in his shareholder letters, I think, are a blueprint for capitalism in the 21st century,” she said. “Ideals live outside of us. Ideals are something we serve, not the other way around. Warren Buffett has held fast to his principles and managed to succeed and succeed famously.”
Buffett and his vice chairman, Charlie Munger, are big on books and recommend some each year.
Munger's pick is “The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It” by Scott Patterson. It's about the folks who cooked up the algorithms and other calculations that were guaranteed to yield an investment profit (think derivatives, swaps, etc.) but which don't always work as planned.
Buffett's picks are closer to home, including two by sons Howard and Peter.
Howard's “FRAGILE: The Human Condition” describes in words and photographs the people he has encountered around the world who struggle with poverty, war, natural disasters and other calamities. His charitable foundation works with many of the countries he visits.
Peter's book, “Life Is What You Make It: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment,” gives his observations about growing up in the Buffett family, his pursuit of a career in music and the lessons he has learned along the way.
Warren also recommends a book about his sister, “Giving It All Away: The Doris Buffett Story,” by Michael Zitz. She operates the Sunshine Lady foundation, which takes a special interest in children and schools but supports a range of causes.
Other books published in the past year and on the list to be sold at the meeting:
“Buffett Beyond Value: Why Buffett Looks to Growth and Management When Investing” by Prem Jain.
“The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets” by Charles R. Morris.
“Warren Buffett on Business: Principles from the Sage of Omaha” by Richard J. Connors.
“Building the Next Berkshire Hathaway” by Daniel Braem.
“In FED We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic,” by David Wessel.
“On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System” by Henry M. Paulson.
“The End of Wall Street” by Roger Lowenstein.
“The Great Crash 1929,” by John Kenneth Galbraith and James K. Galbraith.
“Too Big to Fail” by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
“Affinity of Form” by Stanford Lipsey and Anthony Bannon.
“Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!” by Ralph Nader.
“War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the struggle to control an American business empire,” by Sarah Ellison.
And one old book that may be new to some shareholders:
“Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway” by Brian Solomon.
The Deal
Yvette Kantrow of The Deal Web site and magazine objects to what she sees as a “free pass” that the financial press gives Buffett, saying reporters gloss over his contradictory behavior and unconventional personal life with “an avalanche of cheery coverage” that portrays him “not only as a great investor but as a great man, a morally superior alternative to Wall Street.”
Buffett is praised for deriding derivatives yet uses them himself and disapproves of investment bankers but invests in “the vampire squid itself, Goldman Sachs & Co.,” Kantrow wrote.
While ignoring Buffett's unusual marital conduct, she wrote, news stories criticized Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld for having a long, happy marriage and valuing marriage among his senior executives.
“Maybe stock prices are our true moral barometer,” Kantrow wrote. “Lehman, of course, has evaporated while Berkshire Hathaway flies on.”
BYD Co.
Chinese auto and battery maker BYD Co. is looking for a location for its North American headquarters, and there's no word that La Vista is on its short list, despite last week's announcement that a Chinese shipping company, EasyWay International, would situate its North American headquarters in the Sarpy County community.
The Los Angeles Business Journal reported that BYD, which is 10 percent owned by Berkshire, may open the headquarters and an auto assembly plant in Los Angeles County, creating hundreds of new jobs. The headquarters decision may be made within a few months and the assembly plant decision by the end of the year, the Journal said.
BYD officials toured a building in Long Beach, Calif., and considered leasing a vacant car dealership for offices and a marketing center but wanted a location closer to the area's port. The City of Los Angeles is offering incentives if BYD situates there.
Meanwhile, in China, contrary to rumors of delays, BYD began selling plug-in hybrid cars with solar panels to consumers last week, the Star newspaper of South Africa reported.
Plug-ins are attractive because they recharge their batteries on regular household electric systems rather than with specialized rechargers. But they also haven't been produced in large quantities or proved by market forces.
BYD is selling its plug-in F3DM model, an ungraded version of cars sold earlier to government and corporate clients. They run on gasoline, electricity or solar energy, although the solar panels don't generate enough electricity to power the cars alone.
The Asia Pulse said the car would be priced at 169,800 yuan, or $24,855. BYD is counting on a proposed government subsidy to spark sales in China. Many buyers are waiting for the subsidy, which may become final in July.
BYD has said it wants to sell its e6 model in the United States this year. It's an all-electric vehicle said to go nearly 200 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery.
Congo project
Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Tirdad Derakhshani writes that Buffett's son Howard supports actor Ben Affleck's humanitarian project in Congo through his nonprofit foundation.
Affleck's Congo Initiative aims at helping women and children who were victims of atrocities there. He returned from his fifth tour of the region. He said he told Buffett:
“I want you to know that 3.5 million people have died over the last 12 years. I want you to know about the women who are being raped, about the child soldiers ... about the kids I just met who have HIV.”
Affleck said: “I kind of bored him for two hours and basically twisted his arm.”
MidAmerican case
Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. lost a decision in Douglas County District Court last week. For an account of the judge's ruling, see Omaha.com.
Contact the writer:
444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com
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