Public and Private Summary and Analysis

By 1986, Berkshire shares were selling for $3000 each, having multiplied 176 times, while the Dow had merely doubled. Buffett had a large following, including all of the millionaires he had made of those early investors. Privately, however, Buffett lived no differently than he had years earlier, in a simple home and office, without computers, only a small office staff and no domestic help. He drank Pepsi laced with cherry syrup, until Coca-Cola launched its Cherry Coke, at which time he switched, purchasing cases at a time. As reserved and uncomplicated as he lived, however, he had become a hugely public figure. While most annual stockholders' meetings saw a tiny attendance, investors with as little as one share attended the Berkshire-Hathaway annual meetings, primarily to listen to Buffet and Munger answer questions of the audience. Every other year, he got...