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Buffett fans set for 'capitalist Woodstock'

A record crowd of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders will hang on every word from Warren Buffett at this weekend's annual meeting in Omaha.


NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had its worst year ever in 2008. But for the throng gathering in Omaha for Saturday's annual shareholder meeting, that's ancient history.

Berkshire fans are far more interested in learning how Buffett sizes up the investing opportunities arising out of the global economic slowdown, and how the downgrade earlier this month of Berkshire's credit rating might affect the firm.

Mostly, they expect to hear how Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune 500) will get back on track following a year in which its net worth dropped by $11.5 billion and its shares gave back five years of gains.

"There are lots of opportunities out there right now," said Mohnish Pabrai, the managing partner at Berkshire shareholder Pabrai Investment funds in Irvine, Calif. "I'd love to see Warren give us some color on things like where they have been active in the debt markets."

There should be ample time for color this year, even with attendance at the meeting expected to reach a record 35,000. One key is a shift in the format for the question-and-answer session with Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger.


The Berkshire meeting has long been a bit of a free-for-all, with Buffett and Munger fielding questions from anyone who took the microphones on the floor. In 1997, a year in which annual meeting attendance was estimated at 7,000, he dubbed the event "our capitalist's version of Woodstock" -- a label that has stuck.

But this year's event should be a bit more orderly. The early morning rush to line up at the microphones has been replaced by a lottery, and Buffett and Munger will answer some questions that were submitted online and filtered by three journalists - including Carol Loomis of Fortune.

The idea, Buffett has said, is to cut down on the non-Berkshire-related questions that had grown more prevalent as Buffett's profile rose.

Last year he fielded one question on whether he believes in Christ ("I am agnostic") and three on environmental issues tied to the dams that Berkshire's Pacificorp unit operates on the Klamath River in Oregon. Buffett said regulators would have the final say there.

"In recent years, we have received only a handful of questions directly related to Berkshire and its operations. Last year there were practically none," Buffett said in the guide to this year's annual meeting. "So we need to steer the discussion back to Berkshire's businesses."

'Tailwinds' in insurance
The story there, Berkshire shareholders say, is largely upbeat, despite the downgrades earlier this month that stripped Berkshire of its triple-A credit rating. One of the downgrades came from Moody's (MCO) - the New York-based bond rater of which Berkshire owns 20%.

Many investors brushed off the downgrades, coming as they did from ratings agencies that failed to warn investors of the credit meltdown. Still, some will be paying attention to any comments Buffett might make on the subject.

"I'd be interested to hear how the ratings actions could affect the business," said Glenn Tongue, managing partner at Berkshire shareholder T2 Partners.

Meanwhile, there's little doubt that the third of Berkshire's industrial portfolio that focuses on economically sensitive businesses like retail and homebuilding will be hit hard by the recession.

But as Buffett pointed out in February's release of his 2008 letter to shareholders, two-thirds of the company's businesses are in utilities and insurance -- which are less apt to suffer in an economic downturn.

Berkshire holders such as Pabrai say the insurance business, which has been strong in recent years, could be in for even bigger gains as capital-impaired rivals raise prices to restore their financial health.

"There could be some real tailwinds in some of the insurance lines," said Pabrai.

Others note the regular income Berkshire shareholders stand to reap from the flurry of investments Buffett has made in blue-chip companies such as Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) and Tiffany (TIF).

They also see room for a substantial rise in Berkshire shares. At a recent $94,000 each, the class A shares have jumped more than 30% since the financial sector hit a recent low in early March -- but remain 38% below their all-time high from December 2007.

The company's less-expensive Class B shares, which have far fewer voting rights, have also bounced back lately. But at about $3,100 a share, they are also well below their peak from December 2007.

At last month's low, Tongue says investors in the A shares were essentially paying for the value of Berkshire's investment portfolio and getting the company's operating businesses -- such as insurer Geico and ice cream chain Dairy Queen -- for free.

"Would you pay $70,000 for an envelope that contained $70,000 in cash and $50,000 worth of businesses?" he asked. "I think you would."

This weekend in Omaha, it may be difficult to find anyone who wouldn't.

GM to pull the plug on Pontiac

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.
An official announcement is expected Monday. GM spokesman Jim Hopson declined to comment on Pontiac's fate, saying the automaker has no announcements to make at this time.
In its most recent "viability plan" - which will be updated to reflect this new brand cut - Pontiac was not named as one of GM's four "core brands." Those are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. But Pontiac was also not to be killed or sold off, as were Saturn, Saab and Hummer.
Instead Pontiac was to continue on as a "niche brand" focusing on just a few models.
That was already a step down for Pontiac which in 2008 was the third-best selling brand behind Chevrolet and GMC. That year the brand sold more than Cadillac and twice as many vehicles as Buick. Cadillac is a high-profile - and high profit - luxury brand while Buick is a hugely popular brand in China and is seen as resurgent in the United States.
In 2005, GM (GM, Fortune 500) vice-chairman Bob Lutz referred to Buick and Pontiac as "damaged brands" during a conference at the New York Auto Show. That set off speculation that one or both of these brands was doomed.
With a focus on affordable luxury, Buick's hopes have been revived by models like the popular Enclave crossover SUV. Improvements in Buick Quality, which earned a top ranking in a recent J.D. Power dependability survey and a public acknowledgement by President Obama, have also helped Buick keep its place in the shrinking pantheon of GM names.
Pontiac performance
"There was a time, a long way back now, when you knew exactly what Pontiac stood for," said Kevin Smith, editorial director for the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.
The GM unit's identity as a performance brand dates back to the late 1950s and early 1960s. Pontiac cars were designed with wider bodies for cosmetic reasons and the wheels were pushed out to match. This "wide-track" design became a selling point and was advertised as giving Pontiac cars a distinct cornering advantage over other cars.
But the idea of Pontiac as a performance brand was solidified in 1964 with the creation of the Pontiac Tempest LeMans GTO. That car quickly evolved into, simply, the GTO and is often credited with creating a new class of American car, the muscle car.
Under Lutz, plans were formed to bring back some actual excitement to the Pontiac brand, which hadn't seen much since the Firebird - a flashier Pontiac version of the Chevrolet Camaro - ended production in 2002.One strategy floated for Pontiac was to sell only, or mostly, rear-wheel-drive cars. That would set it apart from other GM divisions, and most cars sold in America. Rear-wheel-drive is associated with performance brands like BMW.
Unfortunately, the re-introduction of the Pontiac GTO name on a performance coupe imported from Australia didn't result in big sales. So far, the Pontiac G8, a rear-wheel-drive four-door sedan also imported from GM's Australian Holden division, hasn't been a sales success either, despite good reviews.
Pontiac's most popular products remain the G6, a decent but unexciting midsize car available as a sedan, coupe or convertible, and the Vibe, a small wagon shared with Toyota, which sells it as the Matrix.
Any plans to return Pontiac to the heavy-horsepower days of the '70s ended as gas prices rose and Congress prepared stricter fuel economy rules for the industry.
Those pressures resulted in GM quietly introducing the Pontiac G3, which had been sold in Canada only. Once again, Pontiac was selling a rebadged Chevrolet product, this time the Korean-built Aveo subcompact car.
Pontiac's lack of focus as a brand may finally have brought its demise, said Smith. "That's just death in a marketplace where there's so much competition and so much quality," he said.
Pontiac's current role in GM seems mostly to be to support GMC and Buick by providing a brand under which Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealers could sell non-luxury cars, filling out what then becomes a full-line showroom.
The brand-channel strategy now makes it easier for GM to phase out the brand because it would cause less harm to dealers, independent business protected by strong state franchise laws. When GM phased out Oldsmobile in the early 2000's, it cost GM more than $1 billion to buy out the contracts of Oldsmobile dealers who were left with nothing to sell.
This time, most Pontiac dealers will have other products to sell.

Sources: CNN

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RBI

Tomorrow onwards you need not shell out any extra money to use ATM of any bank, thanks to a directive by the Reserve Bank.

Inorder to provide relief to common people, Banks have been asked the regulator not to charge any fee for cash withdrawals using ATM or Debit cards issued by other banks from April 1st onwards.,

However banks can charge for withdrawal on credit cards.

Under this circumstances, Oriental Bank of Commerce plans to widen their ATM centre.
They might open 60 ATM centres.

"We are planning to open 60 more ATMs to facilitate cash withdrawal," OBC Executive Director S C Sinha said.

When asked about the strategy the largest private sector lender ICICI will adopt to comply with the regulation, a bank's spokesperson said, "We will abide by the RBI directions".

Last year on March 10, the RBI had come out with guidelines limiting the fee charged by banks for using their ATMs by clients of other lenders to Rs 20. It had also allowed the use of ATM, for purposes like balance enquiry, free of any charge.

This was to ensure greater transparency and facilitating usage of any ATM installed within the country by customers without shelling out more, the central bank had said.

At present, banks charge Rs 20 per transaction when a customer uses the cash machine of any bank other than the one in which he/she has an account with.

Various banks have already entered into bilateral and multi-lateral arrangements with other banks to have inter-bank ATM networks.

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This structure is designed how to come in to business and overcome of it.

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