Buffett: The Successor Has At Least Three Candidates

Rui Chenggang: it's a great honor for you to come to our program today, Mr. Warren.

Charlie Munger told me today that he was not very sympathetic to the very high-profile charitable activities such as you and Gates. He said he would donate money directly to those in need, and would not organize an event or a party like this. What do you want to say to your old friends?

Rui Chenggang: you earn a lot of money. Now you pay the money back to the society. Why do you want to earn money from the beginning?

Buffett: I enjoy my work very much. I do not work to earn money.

I want to make money, because that's what I do for thousands of investors. I hope Berkhire Hathaway Inc has a very good record.

I am very happy for my work today. I will be happy when I was 25 years old. Now I am still happy about this.

If I go back to 25 or 30, I will be happier, but I am very happy now.

How much money I have won't change my life, so I think it's time to donate something.

It is not to donate the property that I need now, but to donate the property that I do not need now.

I made this decision four years ago and decided how to donate these assets.

Rui Chenggang: you have many contacts.

Buffett: I fully support.

Rui Chenggang: sometimes, they do believe that wealth and money are equal to happiness.

Buffett: No.

No

No

Love is happiness.

If there are many people who love you, then you are a happy person.

Health is also one of the factors, but it's just luck. I just have good luck in health.

If you let me make a choice between 20 billion dollars and 20 people who love me, I will choose the 20 people who love me.

BYD will never be reduced.

Rui Chenggang: you rarely invest outside the US, but this time you invested outside the US. What did you see in his company?

Buffett: I saw a company that can be said to be first class in the world. If you look at their records from 1995, starting from 300 thousand dollars, or just seven years ago, the company began to enter the automobile market. This company has achieved no achievements in history. What he has done has never been seen before. He is a very amazing person both in the automotive industry and in my life experience.

I haven't found this company. I hope I can see this company earlier.

Rui Chenggang: you appeared in a BYD car. Charlie Munger even wore a BYD tie. Your support for the companies and products you invested in is very open.

Buffett: I think this is a great company. It's great.

I think the most important thing that the company should do in the future is of course no one can make sure what will happen in the future, but they are very seriously engaged in something meaningful to the planet. When it comes to electric cars, solar energy and so on, this topic will affect thousands of people, perhaps billions of people.

This is a very important company.

Rui Chenggang: I see, you haven't sold some of your BYD stock at the moment.

Buffett: No, no, I can assure you that I will not.

I can't promise that I will not buy it, but I can promise that I will not sell these stocks. I will always hold these stocks for many years, maybe I will always hold them until I die.

I hope Berkshire will become a teaching project.

Rui Chenggang: what did you say to your children? Did you give them enough money to make sure they had a good life?

Buffett: of course.

They have enough money to live their lives well. If I divide my property equally among them, it will be very exaggerated.

Every one of my children will get along very well. They are very grateful. They know that they are very lucky to be born in such a family. They are well taken care of in terms of education and health needs, but they will not become exceptionally rich just because they are my children.

Rui Chenggang: you are 80 years old. Have you seriously considered who will be your successor?

Buffett: if your successor is elected, it may change because of one thing.

When I met with my director, this was a major topic of our meeting.

Now there are at least three candidates in the Berkhire Hathaway Inc. Each of them will become a very good CEO. They also have some advantages that I do not have. If I am unlucky tonight, the second morning, the board will know who to choose to take over.

If I die five years later, maybe this choice will change.

At the company management level, we have at least three people, actually there are more and more active people.

Each of these three people will be welcomed by the board of directors to take over my duties.

Rui Chenggang: when it comes to your legacy, whether it's for your children or your children's children, what do you think is the biggest legacy for them?

Buffett: I like being a teacher.

In the next school year, there are 48 schools in Omaha, including universities, colleges and so on.

I like teaching. I regard the whole Berkhire Hathaway Inc as a teaching institution. My partner, Charlie Munger, has a certain idea about how to do business, and Berkhire Hathaway Inc is a display project. We hope it will become a teaching project.

I do not pursue perfection, I will continue to make mistakes.

Rui Chenggang: in China, there are many people who would like to have lunch with you for millions of dollars. From their point of view, the main purpose of their lunch with you is to learn the secret of making money. Is that so?

Buffett: it's interesting. This kind of lunch has been started for about 10 years. When people come, they often bring their families together. We usually talk for about 3.5 hours together, in fact, they want to talk for a long time.

Some conversations are investment related, but there are many conversations about life, family and other problems. They want to talk about anything.

So far, people have been satisfied after lunch.

The content of dinner conversation is not limited to how to invest in stocks or other related matters.

Most of the people who have lunch with me are already successful people, otherwise they will not be able to afford the dinner.

Rui Chenggang: in investment, you have only one suggestion: long-term investment, long line, big fish, how to do it?

An excellent company with good faith and reasonable management and looking for a company that you know and will be able to perform well in the next 5 years, 10 years and 20 years. Then, don't care too much about the stock market and buy its stock at a reasonable price. You don't want to buy a stock that is too popular, everyone is fighting for it, buy it at a reasonable price, then don't care about the price, just like buying a farm, you buy the farm because the farm will produce things, and you will not turn the farm progress every day or every week. You make a reasonable judgement on the farm's production and find out the output of the farm, such as crops. Buffett: looking for

That's how I deal with business. Stocks are just shrinking businesses.

Rui Chenggang: in the history of every investor, there are ups and downs. Do you think this is the bottom of your investment career? Looking back over the past ten years, do you have any different things to do now?

Buffett: I have made all kinds of mistakes, and I will continue to make mistakes, which I can assure you.

If you make decisions every day and every week, you will make mistakes. You can't let these mistakes hurt your financial situation, and you can't take the risk.

It does not embarrass me. I do not pursue perfection. I make mistakes. No one is perfect.

I think tomorrow will always be the best.