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Buffettstock One Decade Rewind: CNBC Goes to the 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Weekend
Executive Producer
In this report from the 1998 Berkshire meeting on a Buffett/Munger news conference, CNBC's Scott Cohn reveals what Buffett and Munger believe is the key to keeping your spouse, and shareholders, happy.
Warren Buffett: Fundamentals don't change that much. If you look at silver demand, it's relatively inelastic, production's relatively inelastic, so there's really nothing to change, really can change it dramatically.
Reporter: The price ...
Buffett: Well, price can change it, but because its relatively inelastic, price does not change it a lot.
Scott Cohn: While Buffett has continued dabbling in commodities, he's still not buying stocks with prices so high. As a result, he said, his cash position has been drifting higher as Berkshire Hathaway reallocates its resources.
Buffett: We change the ratio a little bit between stocks and bonds based on valuation, not based on predictions of what the markets would do. And that means we had to sell a little of several things. Everything we've ever sold has turned out to be worth more money later on. There's something, well, incidentally that's part of good investing. I mean, if you think you're going to sell something at the top, all you're saying then is you really think you're going to succeed with the bigger fool theory. We want to sell things to people who then make a lot of money out of them, and we've done it all our lives.
Scott: Among the stocks Buffett sold: McDonald's, without explanation until now.
Buffett: Obviously we owned less McDonalds at year-end 1997 than '96. We think it's absolutely first-rate company and it's a big, big brand. The fast-food business might be a little tougher than I would have thought earlier, but McDonald's will do very well in the future.
Scott: Buffett also talked about Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, reveling in a stock price that continues to soar. And that concerns him.
Buffett: If you ask Charlie (Munger) what the secret of a successful marriage is, Charlie will say that it's low expectations. (Laughter.) And that quality, if your spouse has it, makes the marriage very likely to last forever. And obviously with shareholders, it's better if they have low expectations than high expectations.
Reporter: They don't have low expectations.
Buffett: That is a problem. And we do what we can to have the expectations be realistic.
Scott: Would you buy Berkshire stock at this price?
Buffett: We'll get asked that tomorrow, and I'll, I will say this: I haven't sold any.
Current Berkshire price: [US;BRK.A
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