Attendance at the 2016 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting was down from the year before, Warren Buffett revealed on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday.
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“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.
The remarks build on the billionaire’s critique of derivatives, even after Berkshire entered such contracts to speculate on stock movements or borrowers’ creditworthiness.
When asked whether he was concerned about China’s credit growth, Buffett said, “Obviously, Soros is anxious more than me”.
Berkshire is seen as a friendlier owner, but Mr. Buffett said 3G’s cuts have been “extremely intelligent”, and did not appear a threat to Kraft Heinz’s ability to produce packaged goods. “Anything where discontinuities can exist can be real poison in markets”.
He believes the anger is rooted in the tough times many people faced during the 2008 financial crisis.
On another topic, Buffett said Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ practices were flawed, so he declined to invest Berkshire Hathaway’s money in the company after some Valeant investors urged him to look at the company.
Warren Buffett says it would be better to put your money under a mattress rather than a bank if negative interest rates kick in. “There can be enormous gaps in things that you thought were fully protected by collateral, or netting arrangements and that sort of thing”.
“I regard very large derivative positions as risky”.
Mr. Buffett also emphasized his worry that derivatives could cause major risks for most of the world’s largest banks if markets were disrupted. Buffett said he’s not anxious about that holding or a smaller investment in Bank of America Corp.
He says some of the country’s past presidents haven’t been great, but business has thrived over time.
“If either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becomes president, and one of them is very likely to be, I think Berkshire will continue to do fine”, Buffett said.
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Investor Warren Buffett said the US Federal Reserve and other policymakers are generally doing a good job, but noted it’s hard to predict the full impact of interest rates remaining low for this long.
