Harding University student Fabio Rivera says he and some friends drove up from Searcy, Arkansas to attend the meeting to hear Buffett talk.
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But Buffett noted that he consumes about 700 calories of Coke a day, saying, “I’m about one-quarter Coca-Cola”, and that he had seen no evidence that switching to “water and broccoli” would make it easier for him to make it to age 100.
“Very few people in 2009 would have dreamt that we could have this duration of low rates”, Buffett said.
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has held major stakes in American Express and Coca-Cola for decades, so the company would face a noteworthytax bill on the gains if he did ever sell those investments.
Tim Rinne with the Nebraskans for Peace group that submitted the resolution says he knows the measure is likely to be defeated given that Buffett opposes it and he controls almost one-third of the votes, but he hopes they can persuade Buffett to speak out about climate change.
Buffett appeared from Omaha on CNBC’s Squawk Box Monday morning after meeting with roughly 40,000 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders who attended the annual weekend get-together.
When not listening to the Oracle of Omaha and his partner Charlie Munger, shareholders had two days to browse and buy Berkshire’s products.
Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc.is the largest investor in Coca-Cola Co., said his happiness from drinking soda outweighs health benefits from eating more vegetables.
Buffett also emphasized his worry about the potential for derivatives to cause major risks for most of the world’s largest banks, especially if markets were disrupted.
Valeant is dealing with intense scrutiny of its business practices, a huge drop in stock price and insurers are demanding discounts from its drug prices. Since its August peak, Valeant has lost more than 85 per cent of its stock-market value, failed to file its annual report on time and said it is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Valeant has been under significant pressure from lawmakers and shareholders after the company hiked prices for certain drugs.
“Valeant of course is a sewer, and those who created it deserve all the opprobrium that they got”, Munger said at Saturday’s annual meeting. Valeant’s board ousted Pearson in March.
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“In the last five weeks, we’ve recruited a phenomenal CEO and we’re going to work very hard to make Valeant a leader in the industry”, Ackman said on Saturday in a phone interview.
