Amazon

WARREN BUFFETT: And we missed it entirely, incidentally. We never owned a share of Amazon. (Laughs) WARREN BUFFETT: Well, that’s interesting. I mentioned earlier that it was very gradual. But it would’ve been, probably, a better decision. We fired 2,000 people over time — and some retired and left and all of that — but at the textile operation [Berkshire Hathaway]. You know, it didn’t work. And at Hochschild Kohn, the successor — we fortunately sold it to somebody else — but eventually, they closed up the department stores because department stores, at least that particular one and a good many, actually, including our competitors in Baltimore, could not make it work. Walmart came along with something — and, now, Amazon’s coming along with something — that changed the way people thought they knew. You — We mentioned our poultry with CTB, which is a lot of different farm equipment. The farm equipment, often, that CTB develops, the idea is that it’s more productive than what already is out there, which means fewer people are employed on farms. We had 80 percent of the American public — population, working population — working on farms a couple of hundred years ago.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, one of the reasons we’re involved in this effort along with J.P. Morgan and Amazon — with (J.P. Morgan CEO) Jamie Dimon and (Amazon CEO) Jeff Bezos — on the medical question, is we do have as much money going — 3.3 or 3.4 trillion — we have as much money going to medical care as we have funding the federal government. And it’s gone from 5 to 17 percent — or 18 percent — while actually the amount going to the federal government has stayed about the same at 17 percent. So, we hope there’s some major improvements from the private sector because I generally think the private sector does a better job than the public sector in most things. But I also think that if the private sector doesn’t do something, you’ll get a different sort of answer. And I’d like to think that the private sector can come up with a better answer than the public sector in that respect. I will probably — it depends who’s nominated — but I voted for plenty of Republicans over the years. I even ran for delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1960. CAROL LOOMIS: This question comes from Vincent James of Munich, Germany. “There has been a lot written about the recent impairment charge at Kraft Heinz. You were quoted as stating that you recognize that Berkshire overpaid for Kraft Heinz. Clearly, major retail chains are being more aggressive in developing house brands. “In addition, Amazon has announced intentions to launch grocery outlets, being that, as Mr. Bezos has often stated, ‘Your margin is my opportunity.’ The more-fundamental question related to Kraft Heinz may be whether the advantages of the large brands and zero-based budgeting that 3G has applied are appropriate and defensible at all in consumer foods. “In other words, will traditional consumer good brands, in general, and Kraft Heinz, in particular, have any moat in their future? My question is, to what extent do the changing dynamics in the consumer food market change your view on the long-term potential for Kraft Heinz?”