Warren E. Buffett had a chance for the efforts of President Trump to use tariffs for Battery Global Commerce on Saturday, since its conglomerate of $ 1.1 billion, Berkshire Hathaway, prepared for possible successes of US commercial policies.
“Commerce should not be a weapon,” Buffett said at the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire, a popular perennial event that has been nicknamed Woodstock of capitalism. “I don’t think it’s correct and I don’t think it’s wise.”
The comments of Mr. Buffett, Executive Director of Berkshire, were expected by the conglomano shareholders, tens of thousands of which they went mass to the company’s hometown in Omaha to directly listen to investors, particularly in the commercial policies of Mr. Trump. His comments on Saturday ended what had been months of Buffett accommodated a relatively low public profile.
Mr. Buffet’s comments were especially notable since the 94 -year -old billionaire acknowledged that he had previously proposed an idea to help address commercial imbalances. But on Saturday, the Chief of Berkshire defended the broader concept of world commercial flows: “We should what we do better and should do what they do best,” he said, causing applause.
The fears of the consequences of tariffs have discarded markets and affected fixed stripes of US companies. That includes Berkshire, who on Saturday reported a strong drop in the first quarter.
The company reported $ 9.6 billion in operational revenues, the favorite measure of Mr. Buffett, 14 percent less than the same time a year ago. Using generally accepted accounting principles, Berkshire reported a drop of almost 64 percent in net income, largely due to paper investment losses.
But while the markets have become much more volatile in response to Trump’s trade approach, Mr. Buffet professed little concern about the effects of that volatility in Berkshire. “It really is nothing,” Shareholders told that traveling in vicissitudes of the market was part of the investment in shares.
Despite Mr. Buffett’s criticisms of the Trump administration’s commercial policy, he again repeated his praise for a long time to the United States as a source of opportunity. “If I was born today, I would continue to negotiate in the uterus until they said you could be in the United States,” he said.
The company reported that a “majority” of its businesses had lower sales and profits in the first three months of the year, specularly in insurance subscription income, which was reached by losses linked to Forest Fires in California.
In a regulatory presentation on Saturday, Berkshire warned that Mr. Trump’s commercial policies were generating “considerable uncertainty”, which could affect the company’s operational results. “Currently we cannot reliably predict the potential impact on our businesses, white through changes in products, costs and efficiency of the supply chain, and customer demand for our products and services.”
That said, only the profits in BNSF, a company owned by Berkshire, increased in the quarter, since the railroad said it benefited from higher volumes in the first three months of the year. Duration The period, many companies ran to store goods before Trump tariffs taught effect.
One thing that stood out was Berkshire’s cash treasure, which Mr. Buffet often called his “elephant weapon” and used to make important acquisitions, only continued growing as the investor found few attractive opportunities of size to spend. Berkshire’s cash battery in the quarter grew to $ 347.7 billion, a record.
Duration of his question and answers session with the shareholders at the annual meeting, Mr. Buffett acknowledged to enter cash to prepare for any potential purchase opportunity. He revealed that he had weighed a possible investment of $ 10 billion, but then refused to prepare.
Mr. Buffett has also recognized that, given the size of Berkshire, it is now almost impossible for Berkshire to find agreements that could significantly increase their profits.
The conglomerate continued to be a seller of shares: Berkshire sold $ 4.68 billion in capital in the quarter, compared to $ 3.18 billion in purchases.
Berkshire is considered a bell for corporate America, given its wide range of business. BNSF BNSF, one of the largest railroads of the nations, the company has a powerful insurance operation, an energy services company, many consumer brands, from SEE sweets to Fruit of the Loom, and more.
Several prominent corporate and business leaders were present on Saturday, including the co -founder of Microsoft Bill Gates, Tim Cook of Apple (which is one of Berkshire’s biggest shares of shares) and Billonario Financial William A. ACKMAN. Also present were two first timers, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Priscilla Chan, the wife of the executive director of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg.
Andrew Ross Sorkin Contributed reports.
