Berkshire Hathaway, the giant conglomerate of American consumer goods, is celebrating its 50th stockholders meeting in Omaha this weekend. Some 40,000 people are expected in town to hear the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, expound on the company and the stock market and the economy in general.
And those swarms of folks are filling area hotels to capacity. Dozens of homes are masquerading as B&Bs through Airbnb this weekend at Buffet’s request. He reached out to the community to help alleviate the lack of available hotel rooms.
The stockholders come to this Woodstock for capitalists every year, but this time the crowds are even larger than usual. So much so that shopping and window shopping Berkshire Hathaway companies at the CenturyLink Center has been expanded to a two-day affair for the first time.
Exhibitors from the family of Berkshire companies range from Acme Brick Company to World Book and include, to name a few, Coca-Cola, BNSF Railway, H.J. Heinz, Geico, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen, Justin Brands, Mars/Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., Netjets, Oriental Trading, The Pampered Shef, Wells Fargo and See’s Candies.
Berkshire’s Nebraska Furniture Mart brought extra staff in from the Kansas City store to help handle the huge crowds. There are planned events at the Furniture Mart and at Berkshire’s Borsheims store at Regency Court in addition to Saturday’s stockholders meeting at CenturyLink. The events include a giant cocktail reception at Regency Court on Friday, a picnic at the Furniture Mart on Saturday evening, and brunch at Borsheim’s on Sunday.
Shareholder also can take advantages of discounts the Furniture Mart in Omaha and at Borsheims.
Omaha’s restaurants, hotels, drinking establishments, rental car companies, and scores of other businesses will reap millions of dollars in sales during the annual event.
Dino’s Storage joins with all of Omaha in welcoming the stockholders and congratulating Berkshire Hathaway on its 50 years of profitable partnership.