Doug Kass, founder and president of Seabreeze Partners Management,
came out swinging at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s annual meeting on
Saturday when he got the microphone.
A Berkshire bear, Kass pointed out that the company is now so big, it
has to hunt “elephants” rather than “gazelles.” With the company in
danger of becoming an index fund because of its sheer size, Kass asked
whether it was time for Berkshire
BRKA
+1.25%
BRKB
+1.71%
to change, the Wall Street Journal reported.
As expected, Buffett parried the blow deftly, admitting that there
is no question that Berkshire won’t grow as much as in the past. But, he
added, it will still continue to generate tremendous value, according
to the New York Times.
Charlie Munger then chimed in with, “I can make the short-sellers argument even better than he did.”
Buffett then signaled the end of the first round by declaring: “You
haven’t convinced me to sell the stock yet, Doug, keep trying.”
In his second go at the microphone, Kass questioned whether Buffett’s
successor will continue to have the advantages that Buffett enjoyed,
to which the 82-year-old chairman of Berkshire responded that his
successor will have access to the funds that will supplant his name and
reputation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Noting his investments in Goldman Sachs, General Electric and Bank of
America were all made in times of crisis, Buffett said, “Berkshire is
the 800 number when there is panic in the market.”
“I think when you come to a day when the Dow has fallen 1,000 points a
day for a couple days and the tide has gone out and you find out who
has been swimming naked, those naked swimmers will call Berkshire. When
that happens and I’m not around, it will become an even more Berkshire
brand,” he said.
Kass, who is short on Berkshire stock, was invited to the meeting by Buffett
in March after answering the Oracle of Omaha’s call in Berkshire’s
latest shareholder letter for a money manager with a negative view of
the stock “to spice things up.”
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