To The Moon

Warren Buffett says he is in excellent health and has no plans to step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway as he eagerly anticipates what could be a record turnout at the company’s annual meeting on April 30.

The 91-year-old Buffett, in an interview running an hour and 14 minutes with Charlie Rose released Thursday, said that he “couldn’t be in better health.” Asked about a successor, Buffett said there is one in place—an apparent reference to Berkshire Hathaway (ticker BRK.A and BRK.B) executive Greg Abel—and said: “He’s not warming up. I’m still in overtime, but I’m out there.”

Buffett said there could be 40,000 attendees at Berkshire’s annual meeting later this month, noting it “could be the largest group coming to Omaha ever.”

The meeting is the first in-person Berkshire gathering, what Buffett calls a “Woodstock for Capitalists,” since 2019 and many Berkshire shareholders are eager to see Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 98, at what could be one of their last annual meetings together.

Wearing a blue blazer, gray slacks and a red tie, and taking sips of a Coke, Buffett said he loves his job, calling it the “most interesting job in the world” for him. Buffett said he gets up before 7 a.m., each morning, watches the news and CNBC and arrives at Berkshire’s headquarters in Omaha before the stock market opens at 8:30 local time. Even when he’s not at the office, Berkshire is on his mind, saying   “I’m always on the clock” for Berkshire.

He said that a Berkshire trader who sits near him at the office can execute billions of dollars of trades in a day and that the company regularly buys $5 billion of Treasury bills a week, making it potentially the largest regular buyer of them. Berkshire holds the bulk of its nearly $150 billion in cash in ultrasafe T-bills because Buffett takes no chances with the company’s huge liquidity pool.

Buffett acknowledged that age is taking some toll on him, saying he “forgets names and can’t read as fast” as he once did. He called himself a “decaying machine” but said he still “feels wonderful.” The Berkshire CEO remains extraordinarily sharp with a remarkable memory.

He praised Apple CEO Tim Cook as a “great manager and human being,” and noted that Apple (AAPL) produces only about 25% in the world’s smartphones. “But Apple produces the one that is most useful to people—the most aspirational product.” Apple is the largest equity holding at Berkshire. Buffett joked about his own technology limitations saying “I literally don’t know how to send an email.”

Buffett also marveled at Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, noting that he took on General Motors (GM), Ford Motor (F), and the rest of the auto industry with “an idea and he’s winning.”

“That’s America. You can’t dream it up.”

Buffett acknowledged that he can’t earn the kind of returns now at Berkshire, with its $760 billion market value, than he could when he started the Buffett investment partnership in 1956 with $105,100. “If I do something brilliant with $5 billion, it’s 1% of the net worth” of Berkshire, which has about $500 billion of shareholder equity.

Buffett recounted his first equity purchase, made on March 11, 1942 at age 11, when he bought three shares of Cities Services preferred stock for $114.75. Before then, Buffett had prepared for the investment. “I had read every book in the Omaha public library about the stock market” by age 11. “I read books on technical analysis—I read everything.” That investment proved to be a winner—the start of many more.

It wasn’t until he was 18 or 19 and discovered the writings of his mentor Benjamin Graham that he realized he was focused on the wrong thing. He had been buying stocks, rather than pieces of businesses.

‘Since March 11, 1942, I’ve never had less than 80% of my money in American business,” Buffett said.

Buffett told Rose that he had just seen the musical The Music Man on Broadway with his longtime friend Carol Loomis, 92, a former Fortune writer who has long edited his annual shareholder letter.