<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1474579,00.html>
Buffett turns from picking stocks to plucking strings
David Teather in New York
Monday May 2, 2005
Guardian
Warren Buffett, whose stock-picking prowess has made him the world's
second richest man, admitted over the weekend that he is considering
giving cash back to shareholders for want of anything attractive to
invest in.
At the annual shareholders' meeting of his company Berkshire Hathaway,
the self-styled Woodstock for capitalists, Mr Buffett also said he
intends to maintain his bet against the US dollar and criticised plans
to turn the New York Stock Exchange into a public company.
In a typically wide-ranging session, he also came to the defence of
America's less well off, launching an attack with vice chairman
Charles Munger on President Bush's plans to privatise social security.
The annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, is unlike any other. Mr Buffett
treats his admiring investors to a song and performs on film in skits.
He said the company is holding $45bn (�25bn) in cash and apart from an
unnamed insurance firm worth less than $1bn, has no significant
acquisitions in sight. Of late the company has shifted emphasis from
stock market investments to owning businesses outright. He said buyout
funds and hedge funds were driving up asset prices and making
acquisitions difficult. "At the moment we've got more money than
brains, and we hope to do something about that," he said.
"The test is whether the money can be used very successfully within
the business."
Mr Buffett parried questions about the involvement of Berkshire 's
General Re in an insurance scandal that toppled Hank Greenberg, the
head of the world's largest insurer American International Group,
though he did come to AIG's defence, telling 19,000 shareholders that
it was a "great company" and Mr Greenberg was "the number one man in
insurance".
In the past year, Berkshire Hathaway has more than doubled its bet
against the US dollar, increasing its ownership of foreign currencies
to $21bn. Mr Buffett has been betting against the greenback since 2002
amid concerns about America's widening trade and budget deficits.
Despite losing $310m on his currency positions in the first quarter,
he said: "I have a hard time thinking about any outcome from this that
involves an appreciating dollar."
On the NYSE Mr Munger, who forms a double act with Mr Buffett, said:
"I don't think you want to turn the stock exchange into an even larger
casino than it is already."
--
"We are what we compute" [Duncan Foley]
