Berkshire Hathaway 2006 Annual Report Download - page 24

The Annual Meeting
Our meeting this year will be held on Saturday, May 5th. As always, the doors will open at the
Qwest Center at 7 a.m., and a new Berkshire movie will be shown at 8:30. At 9:30 we will go directly to
the question-and-answer period, which (with a break for lunch at the Qwest’ s stands) will last until 3:00.
Then, after a short recess, Charlie and I will convene the annual meeting at 3:15. If you decide to leave
during the day’ s question periods, please do so while Charlie is talking.
The best reason to exit, of course is to shop. We will help you do that by filling the 194,300
square foot hall that adjoins the meeting area with the products of Berkshire subsidiaries. Last year, the
24,000 people who came to the meeting did their part, and almost every location racked up record sales.
But records are made to be broken, and I know you can do better.
This year we will again showcase a Clayton home (featuring Acme brick, Shaw carpet, Johns
Manville insulation, MiTek fasteners, Carefree awnings and NFM furniture). You will find that the home,
priced at $139,900, delivers excellent value. Last year, a helper at the Qwest bought one of two homes on
display well before we opened the doors to shareholders. Flanking the Clayton home on the exhibition
floor this year will be an RV and pontoon boat from Forest River.
GEICO will have a booth staffed by a number of its top counselors from around the country, all of
them ready to supply you with auto insurance quotes. In most cases, GEICO will be able to give you a
special shareholder discount (usually 8%). This special offer is permitted by 45 of the 50 jurisdictions in
which we operate. (One supplemental point: The discount is not additive if you qualify for another, such as
that given certain groups.) Bring the details of your existing insurance and check out whether we can save
you money. For at least 50% of you, I believe we can. And while you’ re at it, sign up for the new GEICO
credit card. It’ s the one I now use (sparingly, of course).
On Saturday, at the Omaha airport, we will have the usual array of aircraft from NetJets available
for your inspection. Stop by the NetJets booth at the Qwest to learn about viewing these planes. Come to
Omaha by bus; leave in your new plane. And take all the hair gel that you wish on board with you.
In the Bookworm’ s corner of our bazaar, there will be about 25 books and DVDs – all discounted
– led again by Poor Charlie’s Almanack. (One hapless soul last year asked Charlie what he should do if he
didn’ t enjoy the book. Back came a Mungerism: “No problem – just give it to someone more intelligent.”)
We’ ve added a few titles this year. Among them are Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger by Peter
Bevelin, a long-time Swedish shareholder of Berkshire, and Fred Schwed’ s classic, Where are the
Customers’ Yachts? This book was first published in 1940 and is now in its 4th edition. The funniest book
ever written about investing, it lightly delivers many truly important messages on the subject.
An attachment to the proxy material that is enclosed with this report explains how you can obtain
the credential you will need for admission to the meeting and other events. As for plane, hotel and car
reservations, we have again signed up American Express (800-799-6634) to give you special help. Carol
Pedersen, who handles these matters, does a terrific job for us each year, and I thank her for it. Hotel
rooms can be hard to find, but work with Carol and you will get one.
At Nebraska Furniture Mart, located on a 77-acre site on 72nd Street between Dodge and Pacific,
we will again be having “Berkshire Weekend” discount pricing. We initiated this special event at NFM ten
years ago, and sales during the “Weekend” grew from $5.3 million in 1997 to $30 million in 2006. I get
goose bumps just thinking about this volume.
To obtain the Berkshire discount, you must make your purchases between Thursday, May 3rd and
Monday, May 7th inclusive, and also present your meeting credential. The period’ s special pricing will
even apply to the products of several prestigious manufacturers that normally have ironclad rules against
discounting but which, in the spirit of our shareholder weekend, have made an exception for you. We
appreciate their cooperation. NFM is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m.
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