The 94-year-old Berkshire CEO also announced that he plans to retire at the end of the year.
On May 3rd, Warren Buffett urged long-term investors not to be shaken up by short-term fluctuations and not to focus on the foundations amid recent market volatility.
“There’s really nothing that’s happened in the last 30 or 45 days,” he told shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3rd. “This wasn’t a dramatic bare market or anything like that.”
Buffett has made it clear that while he is unsure at this point, the shaking of the wild market will not panic.
“You need a slightly different investment philosophy if your stock is falling 15% or not, if it makes a difference to you,” he said. “The world is not going to adapt to you. You have to adapt to the world.”
He reminded attendees that Berkshire Hathaway’s stock has tripled 50% in history, each time the company’s basics remained healthy.
“People have feelings,” he said. “But I had to check them out at the door when I was investing.”
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A huge cash pile, larger than the GDP of many countries, is not just a warning about Buffett’s trademark, but also the challenge of finding investment opportunities in an uncertain economic environment.
The market shows signs of stabilization. The S&P 500 concluded its longest winning streak since last week in 2004, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising over 560 points on Friday.
In its quarterly application, Berkshire warned that “significant uncertainty remains” due to “ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical events,” including tariffs, supply chain inefficiency and fluctuations in customer demand. “It is reasonably possible that it could have a negative impact on most, if not all of our operating businesses,” the company said.
Buffett, 94, has revealed that he plans to leave the market and retire at the end of the year.
“I think it’s time for Greg to become the company’s chief executive at the end of the year,” Buffett said of Berkshire Vice-Chair Greg Abel. Four years ago, Buffett chose Abel as his successor at the helm of Berkshire, but before the announcement on Saturday he gave no signs when he retired.
Buffett also weighed heavily on broader policy issues, particularly trade and energy.
“Balanced trade is good for the world,” he said. “In the US, we should be trying to trade with other worlds. We want a thriving world.”
He also said that America’s fragmented energy infrastructure poses challenges and called for wise policies.
“It’s important to have an intelligent energy policy, just as it was important that the US learned how to make cars very quickly, just as it was important that it was during World War II,” he said. “And we found the answer. We combined the power of private companies and… government,” he said.
