Warren Buffett's dining habits keep attracting attention.
At a French bistro in Calgary, Alberta, he ordered a $15 Montreal Hambourgeois, made from filet mignon and soon to be named the W.B. Burger, the Calgary Herald reported.
Restaurateur Martin Maheux of Laurier Lounge in Calgary's Beltline district said Buffett and family members stopped for an evening meal and then caught a train to Vancouver, about a 600-mile ride through the Canadian Rockies on Rail Canada, earlier this month.
It's the best burger in town, Maheux said. Buffett, through a spokeswoman, termed it “terrific.”
The 15-person contingent dined in a private room in the restaurant in the historic Stanley House, childhood home of Canadian flag designer George Stanley.
“I was so nervous about everything,” said Maheux, who had a month to prepare because of the advance booking. “But they were so nice, so friendly.”
He even created a chess game and gave it to Buffett as a gift.
Buffett had visited Calgary in 2008 to tour the region's oil sands with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who also is a board member of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Maheux said Buffett is the biggest celebrity to visit the restaurant.
“For me, it was bigger than if Brad Pitt was coming,” he told the Calgary newspaper. “Nothing against Brad Pitt. But my servers would have probably preferred Brad Pitt.”
Insurance market
Berkshire Hathaway is entering the insurance market in India through a small agency, the Economic Times reported.
Some sources had predicted Berkshire would purchase a large Indian insurance company, based in part on Buffett's plans to visit India and other Asian nations next spring.
Instead, Berkshire plans to set up a subsidiary in India with a license to sell auto insurance policies from Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources. The office would have a call center and make investments with the premiums it receives.
A spokesman for Bajaj Allianz declined to comment, the Economic Times said. The plan reportedly was through Ajit Jain, head of Berkshire's reinsurance business and a regular visitor to India, with contacts in the Indian insurance industry.
India sets limits on foreign direct investments in insurance, currently restricting ownership to 26 percent, but foreign corporations can become insurance agencies on their own, if their sales people undergo training.
Berkshire's experience with U.S. auto insurer Geico's direct marketing business may translate to Indian consumers, the newspaper said.
Cloud computing
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer explained cloud computing to 100 CEOs at a “CEO summit” in Redmond, Calif., recently, including Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Tendersinfo News reported.
Others attending included Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Queen of Jordan Rania al-Abdullah, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, Walmart Chairman Rob Walton, JPMorgan Chase Chairman James Dimon and IAC CEO Barry Diller.
Microsoft believes the next wave of computing will store software and data on the Internet, or the “cloud,” rather than on each person's own computer, with users gaining access from mobile devices, television sets, tablets and personal computers.
Ballmer said after his 30-minute talk that he hadn't been successful in explaining the implications of cloud computing to all the CEOs.
Ted Waitt
Among the wealthy folks responding to the appeal by Buffett and Gates to pledge at least 50 percent of their fortunes to charity is San Diego resident and former Iowan Ted Waitt, co-founder of the Gateway Inc. computer company, the Union-Tribune reported.
Waitt gave $20 million two years ago to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif.
“I've been planning for years to give away most of my assets while I'm still alive, but not to Bill Gates like Warren Buffett did,” Waitt wrote in an e-mail to the San Diego newspaper. “And if for some reason I met an untimely death, the bulk of my wealth would fund an entity dedicated to saving the oceans.”
Contact the writer:
444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com
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