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Streaming live. Listening to the new CEO.
Ajit will be seventy-five years old this summer. Vice Chairman of Insurance Operations.
Wow, immediately throws the mic over to Warren Buffett. Two items:
- a self-complimentary comment on his picking the CEO
- an incredibly long soliloquy on Apple and Steve Jobs; too back, BRK didn't keep adding AAPL over the years; wow, wow, wow, a meandering soliloquy...
Because of an unexpected interruption, I missed some of Abel's comments. I left when he was deep in the weeds with regard to insurance.
I came back when he was discussing BNSF. BNSF was one of six Class 6 railroads in the US, and last year, BNSF was #5 of 6!!! Are you kidding me. With all that expertise from BRK and they were ranked #5 of 6 in profitability. UNP was #1.
Now he's going back to Geico, so it's obvious I didn't miss much.
He just said that BRK needs to be more involved in "tech" and "technology transformation." He's coming across that BRK and subsidiaries were spending too much time thinking and discussing on "technology transformation" and not acting. I am really, really, really disappointed and surprised. He does mention that BRK needs to start making their own technology solutions and not simply buying / renting those technology solutions. Apparently GEICO is in year five of this transformation. One almost gets the feeling BRK as been asleep as the wheel with regard to the fourth (sixth) industrial revolution for the past ten years. I'm not impressed.
Comment: it's my impression, Abel is spending way, way too much time on things that in the big scheme don't matter that much and easily could have been covered in printed media. He needed to talk about his philosophy -- he's new -- and he needs to talk about the elephant in the room: AI. He's thinking like an insurance agent -- risk, risk, risk.
Just like Jamie Dimon thinks like a banker -- risk, risk, risk.
That's not how the folks at Nvidia, AMD, MU think. This is how they think -- opportunity, opportunity, opportunity.
Exhibit A: #2 on his technology transformation considerations -- "safeguards."
#3 -- has to be additive to their business, not just doing AI for AI's sake. Pablum.
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Energy
He is now touching on energy -- pipelines, natural gas, powering LDCs.
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Back to Wildfire Damages
Wildfires in California.
Class action suit -- against PacifiCorp -- apparently being re-visited. Very honest, transparent, but embarrassing.
Great for transparency but not exactly going to move the needle for investors' investments.
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International Metalworking Companies
Again, so much time on stuff that isn't going to move the needle. Link here to IMC. These are just really, really good companies and will be around forever.
