If all goes well late on May 6, 2024, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will blast off into space on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Launching from the Kennedy Space Center, this last crucial test for Starliner will test out the new spacecraft and take the pair to the International Space Station for about a week. Part of NASA’s commercial crew program, this long-delayed mission will represent the vehicle’s first crewed launch. If successful, it will give NASA—and in the future, space tourists—more options for getting to low Earth orbit. From my perspective as a space policy expert, Starliner’s launch…
Author: insighter
On Friday afternoon, on the floor of the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, I ran into my seatmate from the flight from Washington, D.C. to Omaha — a lovely woman working the Geico booth. “Bill Murray is here,” she told me. I told her I’d keep my eyes peeled. Of course, to the tens of thousands of shareholders who flock each year to Nebraska, Murray, or any other celebrity, is second fiddle to the real star of the show, Warren Buffett, and in years past his right-hand man Charlie Munger, who died in 2023. Around these parts, the honchos…
OMAHA, Nebraska — Warren Buffett said Saturday his designated successor Greg Abel will have the final say on Berkshire Hathaway’s investing decisions when the Oracle of Omaha is no longer at the helm. “I would leave the capital allocation to Greg and he understands businesses extremely well,” Buffett told an arena full of shareholders at Berkshire’s annual meeting. “If you understand businesses, you’ll understand common stocks.” Abel, 61, became known as Buffett’s heir apparent in 2021 after Charlie Munger inadvertently made the revelation at the shareholder meeting. Abel has been overseeing a major portion of Berkshire’s sprawling empire, including energy, railroad and…
Dust off your finest hats—it’s Derby day. This year marks the 150th Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The horse race has occurred annually on a Saturday in May since it began on May 17, 1875, with the only exceptions being 1945 due to World War II and 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kentucky Derby will air today (Saturday, May 4) on NBC, with coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. Post time is at 6:57 p.m. ET. Be punctual because this athletic event only lasts about two minutes, which is why it’s known as…
Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 4, 2024. CNBC OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett revealed that he dumped Berkshire Hathaway’s entire Paramount stake at a loss. “I was 100% responsible for the Paramount decision,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting. “It was 100% my decision, and we’ve sold it all and we lost quite a bit of money.” Berkshire owned 63.3 million shares of Paramount as of the end of 2023, after cutting the position by about a third in the fourth quarter of last year, according to latest filings.…
Berkshire Hathaway held its annual meeting on Saturday with Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett tackling a range of topics, including artificial intelligence, who will be responsible for the portfolio in the future, and the next potential investment. But “Woodstock for capitalists” took place without Charlie Munger, Buffett’s longtime business partner who passed away in November. The meeting featured a video tribute to Munger, who served as vice chairman, and praise from Buffett, who said Munger was the best person to talk to about managing money, according to remarks broadcast on CNBC. “I trust my children and my wife totally, but…
This year’s annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders kicked off with a video tribute to Berkshire vice chairman and Warren Buffett right-hand man Charlie Munger, who passed away last year at age 99. The acerbic Munger had enough zingers to fill a lengthy reel to the delight of the tens of thousands of shareholders who piled into the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday. On speculative internet stocks: “If you mix raisins with turds, they’re still turds.” On his outlook for the future: “If I can be optimistic when I’m nearly dead, surely the rest of you can…
OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett said that Berkshire Hathaway is looking into an investment in Canada. “We do not feel uncomfortable in any shape or form putting our money into Canada,” he told an arena full of investors Saturday. “In fact, we’re actually looking at one thing now.” The billionaire investor has placed bets in the country in the past. He’s previously taken a roughly $300 million position in Home Capital Group that investors took as a vote of confidence in the troubled Canadian mortgage underwriter. The “Oracle of Omaha” said during the annual shareholder meeting that he does not…
Highly recognized as one of the top luxury hotel brands, Four Seasons has a lot to offer. With a mix of city hotels and destination resorts, the brand has strong loyalty despite not having a loyalty program or a Four Seasons credit card. One thing it does offer is the Four Seasons Preferred Partner program, which provides extra benefits when travelers make a reservation through a partner travel advisor. While you won’t earn points for a Four Seasons stay, wise travelers use a credit card that provides a bonus on travel and hotel stays. Here is what you can expect…
A long line to get into the theater is fairly standard for a hot movie in its opening weekend. A long line just to engage with a film’s lobby display, however, is not standard at all. It’s the kind of marketing coup executives dream of. In the case of Barbie last July, it was also proof of an imminent phenomenon. Social media posts about the film racked up an estimated 1.2 billion views on TikTok during its opening weekend alone—aided along by the ubiquitous life-size Barbie boxes decorating many movie theaters. Ticket-buyers had a hard time resisting such premium social…
Warren Buffett isn’t jumping on the artificial intelligence bandwagon just yet, warning about the technology’s potential for harm. “When you think about the potential for scamming people … if I was interested in investing in scamming, it’s gonna be the growth industry of all time and it’s enabled, in a way” by AI, Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday. Buffett pointed to the technology’s ability to reproduce realistic and misleading content in an effort to send money to bad actors. Scammers are known to use AI voice-cloning and deep-fake technology to manipulate videos and images that…
While Boeing struggles with regulatory hurdles and delivery delays, a smaller competitor known for its regional and business jets may be raising its ambitions to compete—possibly at its own peril. Brazil-based airplane manufacturer Embraer is reportedly exploring the idea of creating a next-generation narrow-body jet, the Wall Street Journal reported. Embraer’s new aircraft would take on Boeing’s 737 Max jets and Airbus’ A320 aircraft. It would mark the smaller company’s first attempt at direct competition against the two aerospace giants, which effectively control the market for planes with more than 130 seats. Embraer’s ambitions picked up after a 737 Max operated…