Berkshire Hathaway event celebrates what makes firm special

(AP) — Berkshire Hathaway's idiosyncrasies were on display this weekend, as tens of thousands of people filled an arena to listen to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger talk business for several hours Saturday at the conglomerate's annual meeting.

In an adjoining 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall, Berkshire subsidiaries such as See's Candy, Fruit of the Loom and Geico insurance sell their products as executives chat with shareholders.

Shareholder David Parr said eventually replacing Buffett has to be a concern for Berkshire shareholders because of his age and remarkable talent, but he's confident that Buffett has a good plan in place and has a knack for choosing good people.

The company's profit grew 8 percent, largely because of the way it had to account for its Duracell acquisition on paper, but profits fell at its BNSF railroad and at its insurance units.

Benjamin Moore paints CEO Mike Searles said running a Berkshire subsidiary has been a pleasant change after a career of working for public companies that focus heavily on each quarter's results.

Dozens of shareholders surrounded Buffett and Precision Castparts' CEO with their phones in the air to try to snap a picture, while security guards created a bubble around the executives.

A group of environmentalists tried to make an impression on Buffett with their resolution urging the company to write a report on the climate change risks Berkshire's insurance units face.

Shareholders overwhelmingly rejected the resolution after Buffett argued that climate change won't hurt its insurance companies because they generally reprice their policies annually.