Buffett's 'Woodstock for Capitalists' draws admirers from around the globe

Once a year, fans of Warren Buffett and his style of value investing flock to Omaha, Neb., from near and far. Some from really, really far.

- Karen Langley

This year, fund manager Aileen Chang is making her way to the site of Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting this weekend from her home in China. Christopher Walsh, who runs a personal-finance website, is coming from New Zealand, and Patrik Rosenquist, from Sweden.

And then there is Yu Shu, an artist who has traveled from Taiwan to a Colorado foundry that has cast bronze sculptures she created of Buffett and his friend and partner, Charlie Munger, who died in 2023. She will carefully pack them into a borrowed car before driving across eastern Colorado and Nebraska.

Thousands of visitors head to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting each year for the chance to hear from Buffett, the conglomerate's chairman and chief executive, and mingle with fellow enthusiasts.

In recent years, some longtime attendees say, the gathering has taken on an increasingly international flavor.

Overseas admirers of Buffett say they are making the trek to Omaha at least partly because they know the legendary stock picker, who is 94, won't be there forever. Others are drawn by the calendar of investment and social events that fill out what Buffett has called "Woodstock for Capitalists."

This year's meeting comes as the investing world wrestles with a trade war, volatile markets and an uncertain outlook for both American companies and their foreign counterparts. The audience in Omaha, and many others watching on television, are eager for words of wisdom from Buffett that might guide them through this uneasy moment.