Annual Berkshire Hathaway Meeting helping with Economics

 

Many classes are required to graduate, such as Health and Take Charge, but Economics is a class that can help prepare you for what is to come in the business world and help you understand the best way to make money and support yourself in today’s ever changing economy.

On Friday May 4th to Sunday the 6th there will be a shareholders meeting at The CenturyLink Center in Omaha for Berkshire, a real estate company that helps people look for houses in different places around the United States. Berkshire Hathaway has a large percentage owned by Warren Buffet (36.8%) who is one of the richest men in the world.

At this annual meeting, shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway will be able to shop at noon on Friday for goodies that come from the other companies that Berkshire has shares in. Such as, Dairy Queen, Geico, Fruit of the Loom, Kraft, Heinz, Borsheims, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Coca-Cola, and many more. There is also a comedy sketch that is put together every year and includes one or two celebrities that you don’t know until you see it. Exhibits are open all day long while everything else takes place to inform others what is going on within Berkshire.

“Students would learn a lot from what Buffett/Munger have to say, but to be clear, the only ones that have access to credentials to get in are shareholders,” Pickering said, “The event isn’t open to the public. But they can watch the stream live online.”

It is currently estimated that they’re looking at a total of 47,000 people to show up and that has grown immensely from the following year in 2010 with less than 10,000 coming in.  This total number doesn’t include the amount of people who are watching online which was just introduced last year.

The actual shareholders meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday which includes voting on a board of directors and discussing any other pressing issues that need to be looked at. The rest of the day includes a Q&A from shareholders in the company which goes all the way till 3:30 p.m.

“Often they’re individuals that work in the investment/financial services industry that also are shareholders that attend,” Lincoln High business teacher Kimberly Pickering said, “So some may be there representing their companies. There are also college business students that attend. People flying in literally from all over the world.”

For this large event to be held in Omaha, Nebraska can be an opportunity for people everywhere to get a glimpse of cornfields in which Nebraskans call home. It brings in millions of dollars to the local economy from visitors hotel stays, dining in restaurants, and shopping in the Old Market. For many, this is what they know about our state.

This could help teach kids about stocks and the ideas that come with entering the business world after high school. It could be a great opportunity to watch it to understand our current economy. 

“Most definitely. It is being live streamed this year on Yahoo Finance’s website,” Pickering commented. “Buffett and his partner Munger answer questions on a level that anyone could understand. Including on the current state of the economy,” Pickering said.

This meeting engages businessmen and businesswomen from around the world and merges them into an area to talk about the best ways of investing money, how to improve their companies and teaching new employees in the business world what it takes to become a successful shareholder.