Warren Buffett takes stage without Charlie Munger for first time

This year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting has so far featured a very reflective Warren Buffett.

With Saturday marking the first Berkshire annual meeting since Charlie Munger’s passing in November, the absence of Buffett’s long-time right hand man has, as one would expect, influenced the proceedings.

As Yahoo Finance’s Seana Smith reported from inside the building in Omaha, Saturday is a “tough day” for Berkshire shareholders.

But Munger’s absence has been felt in more ways than one.

Buffett, at one point, turned to Charlie for his input on an answer, only to catch himself and earn a cheer from the audience

Buffett also regaled the audience with a tale of the two stocks former vice chair Charlie Munger argued most forcefully Berkshire needed to buy — BYD (BYDDY) and Costco (COST) — and conceded he didn’t listen enough on the latter.

Longtime shareholders can likely insert their own imagined Munger one-liner in response. Without Munger’s presence, Buffett’s reflection more clearly lingered over the proceedings.

And while it is not breaking news that an executive approaching his mid-90s might be reflecting more than forecasting, Buffett’s overall tone Saturday is one that has been far more explicit about both his limitations today and his future inability to remake Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett noted that, at the age of 93, he doesn’t operate “at the same level of efficiency” as he did a few decades ago. The Oracle of Omaha quipped he likely won’t be signing any 4-year employment agreements.

On AI, Buffett offered a view that some of his experiences with the technology have made him nervous.

But said, in the end, “As someone who doesn’t understand a damn thing about it, it has enormous potential for good and an enormous potential for harm.”

Asked by shareholders about future investments in China, Canada, and India, Buffett offered similar versions of a view that he held a limited view of what could one day be possible.

Buffett noted that American companies would likely always be the most prominent part of Berkshire’s portfolio. How the percentages may change will, Buffett knows, not be his call in the decades ahead.