Thousands likely at Buffett's meeting but not all are happy

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tens of thousands of people are expected to pack an Omaha arena Saturday for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.

Most attending the company's first in-person meeting since the pandemic want to be there just for the chance to hear from the 91-year-old Buffett and his 98-year-old investing partner, Charlie Munger, while they still can.

“How many more years do they have to do this? It's history,” said money manager Justin Hardesty, who had been travelling to the meetings annually for almost a decade before they went virtual in 2020. Hardesty said he's especially interested in hearing Buffett address some of the most pressing issues of the day, including the war in Ukraine and soaring inflation.

A large crowd filled an exhibit hall Friday to buy products from some of Berkshire's 90-odd companies, including See's Candy and Fruit of the Loom, or sign up for insurance policies sold by Geico. The meeting will be held Saturday in the adjoining arena with shareholders spilling into overflow rooms. Investors will be looking to learn more about Berkshire's purchase of Alleghany insurance for $11.6 billion and recent multibillion-dollar investments in HP and Occidental Petroleum stock.

But mixed in among the thousands of people eager to hear Buffett and all of Berkshire's vice chairmen spend hours answering questions will be some people unhappy with the conglomerate. And shareholders will even be asked to vote on a proposal that would take away Buffett's chairman title.

Dozens of members of the two largest unions at Berkshire's BNSF railroad plan to gather outside the arena Saturday to share their concerns with shareholders about the way the way the railroad is being run. Dennis Pierce, the national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said BNSF needs to do a...