Warren Buffett: “We Will Not Sell Japan Stocks for Decades” | Berkshire 2025

[Transcript]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm ST Cheung (PH), I'm from Hong Kong. Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger did a very good and successful investment in Japan in the past five or six years. The recent CPI (Consumer Price Index) in Japan is currently above 3%, not far away from its 2% target.

Bank of Japan seems very determined in raising rates while Fed, ECB, and other central banks are considering to cut them. Do you think Bank of Japan makes sense to proceed with the rate hike? Will its planned rate hike deter you from further investing Japanese stock market or even considering realizing your current profits?

Thank you very much for arranging this greatest event every year. Finally, I wish you healthy always and keep hosting this shareholder meeting.

WARREN BUFFETT: Thank you. (Applause) Well, I’m going to extend the same goodwill to Japan that you’ve just extended to me. I’ll let the people of Japan determine their best course of action in terms of economics.

It’s an incredible story. And it’s been about six years now as you pointed out. I was just going through a little handbook that probably had two or three thousand Japanese companies in it. One problem I have is that I can’t read that handbook anymore – the print’s too small.

But there were these five trading companies, they have a special name form in Japan, but they were selling at ridiculously low prices. And so I spent about a year acquiring them. And then we got to know the people better, and everything that Greg and I saw, we liked better as we went along.

So we got fairly close to the 10% limit that we told the companies we would never exceed without their permission. And so we did ask them recently whether that limit could be relaxed, and it’s in the process of being relaxed somewhat.

I would say that – I’ll speak for Greg beyond me – in the next 50 years, and I hope he's running things then, we won’t give a thought to selling those. Japan’s record has been extraordinary actually. My guess is that Tim Cook would tell you that iPhone sales there are about as great as any country outside the United States.

American Express would tell you that they sell their product very very well in Japan. Coca Cola that we do business with, another big investment of ours, they do extraordinarily well in Japan. They have a number of habits in a civilization that operates differently than ours.

Japan is by far the biggest market. This (Coca Cola’s can) is the container they've always preferred for their soft drinks. And they have a whole different sort of distribution system there. But we have been treated extremely well by the five companies.

They talk with Greg primarily. I went over there a year or two ago, but Greg’s more cosmopolitan than I am. So he's a – which isn't saying much actually. (Laughter)

GREG ABEL: Very little. (Laughs)

WARREN BUFFETT: But he is – I don't know, how many times do you think you've met with representatives of one company to the other?

GREG ABEL: Yeah, when you think of the five, there’s definitely a couple meetings a year, Warren. And I think the thing we're building with the five companies is, one, it’s been a very good investment, but we really, as Warren touched on, envision holding the investment for 50 years or forever.

But I think we also are building relationships to do incremental things with each of those companies. And we really do hope to do big things with them globally. They bring different perspectives and different opportunities, and that’s why we’re building that long-term relationship with them.

WARREN BUFFETT: It's super long term. They have different customs, they have different approaches to business – that’s true around the world. We don’t have any intention of trying to change what they've done because they do it very successfully. Our main activity is just to cheer and clap, and that I can still do at 94. (Laughter)

So we will own those. (Applause) We will not be selling any stock. That will not happen in decades, if then. And my guess is that they will find things – because they cover the world pretty much – that may be very large for any individual company there. They may in some way be assisted by some help we bring to the situation, but that will be an expanding relationship.

It’s too bad that Berkshire has gotten as big as it is, because we love that position and I’d like it to be a lot larger than it is. But even with the five companies being very large in Japan, and with us having in the range of $20 billion invested, I’d rather have $100 billion than $20 billion.

That’s how I feel about several other investments we have. But size is an enemy of performance at Berkshire, and I don’t know any good way to solve that problem. But Charlie always told me that having a few problems was good for me. I never quite understood that but – (Laughs) – if you listen to him moralize you would understand. (Laughs)

It’s not an impossible problem at all. And the Japan investment has just been right up our alley. Greg, do you want to add anything on that?

GREG ABEL: No I think you've touched it but, as you said it's right up our alley and I absolutely agree, Warren. I do believe we’ll see some very large opportunities long term.

WARREN BUFFETT: Sure.

GREG ABEL: And that’s just been a great plus of that relationship.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, I would say they want to present us with opportunities, and we would like to receive them. We’ve got the money. We both get along very well with each other.

They have some different customs than we have. They drink the No. 1 Coca Cola product, but they also drink something called Georgia Coffee. I haven’t converted them to Cherry Coke, and they’re not going to convert me to Georgia Coffee. (Laughs)

But it’s a perfect relationship. I just wish we could get more like it. And I never dreamt of that when I picked up that little handbook – it wasn’t so little, about that thick, with sometimes two companies to a page and a couple thousand pages. But it's amazing what you can find when you just turn the page.

We showed a movie last year about “turn every page,” and I would say that turning every page is one important ingredient to bring to the investment field. Very few people do turn every page, and the ones who do aren’t going to tell you what they're finding. (Laughs) So you’ve got to do a little of it yourself.

Source: https://buffett.cnbc.com/2025-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/

 

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