Dairy Queen sells plenty of Dilly Bars at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, but this year the emphasis will be on Blizzards.
That's because the Berkshire-owned chain's brand-new “head-turning Blizzard®mobile” will be parked inside the Qwest Center's exhibition hall, part of an inaugural national tour of 25 cities that started last week in New York.
DQ spokesman Danny Grant said the tricked-out truck also will visit some Dairy Queen restaurants in the Omaha area during its April 30-May 1 stay. The “full Blizzard experience” includes free mini-Blizzards, an emcee, games, prizes, music and giveaways, with money raised for the Children's Miracle Network.
The occasion is the 25th birthday of the treat and the 70th anniversary of the Dairy Queen brand. Blizzards have blended ice cream, cookies, candy or other ingredients.
The body of the B'mobile is shaped like a 25th birthday Oreo Blizzard with big red lips on the front and sides. Windshield wipers are shaped like red spoons, and the side mirrors look like upside down Blizzard cups.
The DQ crew gives away 2,000 Blizzard samples in every city, but that number wouldn't go far with the Berkshire crowd, which last year totaled about 35,000 people.
Now, if the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile shows up ...
Online article
Robert Miles, who has written books about Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., now says that an online article he wrote recently was incorrect in identifying 10 dividend-paying stocks as making up Buffett's personal investment portfolio.
Miles, from Tampa, Fla., had written on the Morningstar and Gurufocus Web sites that he compiled the list from Berkshire's quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The article said Buffett personally owned the stock, which was worth $1.87 billion and paid him dividends of $42.6 million last year. It contrasted the dividend payout with Buffett's annual salary of $100,000 as CEO of Berkshire.
The article also discussed other topics, but the dividend and stock value figures attracted the most attention from the financial press around the world.
But responding to a call from The World-Herald last week, Miles said that after the article appeared, he learned that the SEC reports show Buffett manages that stock, not that he owns it.
The stock is owned by Berkshire, not Buffett, Miles said.
Buffett has said his Berkshire stock, currently worth about $48.3 billion, represents more than 95 percent of his wealth, which would mean he has other holdings worth about $2 billion. And it's true he receives dividend income, according to a 2007 Forbes magazine article in which he disclosed that his 2006 taxable income was $46.9 million.
In that article, Buffett said federal tax rates are unfair because he paid 18 percent of his income in federal taxes, at the low rates levied on dividends and capital gains, while employees at Berkshire's Omaha headquarters paid an average of 33 percent on their much-lower salaries.
Allegations
An ex-manager of Berkshire's Forest River RV manufacturer has sued Berkshire, saying he brought allegations of internal fraud to executives, including Buffett, but nothing was done to fix the problems and he was fired.
Bloomberg News reported that Brad Mart filed the lawsuit in federal court in South Bend, Ind., seeking damages, including costs from selling his home in Illinois because he was promoted to CEO of Forest River, based in Elkhart, Ind. He alleged breach of contract and charged that Forest River CEO Peter Liegl threatened his life.
A representative for Berkshire said that Mart never told Buffett about unethical behavior and that a company probe found no illegal activity, Bloomberg reported.
Mart said he helped arrange Berkshire's $800 million purchase of Forest River in 2005 and was named general manager of its financing division. He said he was told in 2007 that he would succeed Liegl as CEO but instead was fired early last year after making the fraud allegations.
He alleged that Liegl required Forest River to buy parts from a company that he owned and took money from factory vending machines for his own use, among other actions that hurt Berkshire shareholders.
Berkshire Secretary Forrest Krutter told Bloomberg that Mart did not alert Buffett to “any unethical, fraudulent or illegal activities” at Forest River and that Krutter's investigation into the matter revealed no such activities or death threats. Mart's dismissal was not related to his claims, Krutter said.
'Hike to Help'
Warren's son Howard will give a talk May 2, the day after the shareholders meeting, to benefit a fundraiser, “Hike to Help Refugees,” later in the month.
The talk will be from noon to 2 p.m. at the Milo Bail Student Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The luncheon and talk cost $100; the talk alone is $25.
Buffett's new book, “Fragile: The Human Condition,” includes picture and stories of refugees in Africa, Europe and Asia. Money raised from the hike will go to emergency relief services such as protection, shelter, water and food through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Hikers may choose a seven-mile walk from the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge in Omaha through Council Bluffs and back May 22; a two-day, 20.1-mile hike to Mineola, Iowa; or a weeklong, 72.8-mile hike to Blanchard, Iowa. The two longer walks follow the Wabash Trace, a former railroad route.
Contact the writer:
444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com
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