Shareholder meetings

Publicly-traded companies have an annual meeting of shareholders to discuss the year ahead and to vote on items on the ballot. Each share of a company is worth one vote, and the vote can be placed by absentee ballot or in person at the shareholder meeting. Anyone that owns stock directly in the company can attend these meetings. Stock ownership through mutual funds do not count.

Even though the company I work for holds its shareholder meeting in the same location I work at, I have never attended one. Maybe because the industry that I am in, it isn't that exciting compared to larger companies that the public would recognize. I own exactly one share of the Walt Disney Company (DIS), which I bought through OneShare. That one share I own is not for investing pictures, but I like the art of the stock certificate itself. I have it framed at work, and everybody always asks me about it. Last week, Disney sent me their 2007 annual report and a ballot for items to vote on. Their shareholder meeting will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 6, 2008.

I have no intention of going to the Walt Disney Company shareholder meeting, but in the past, they are known for giving away free items. When the shareholder meetings regularly took place in Anaheim, they would give away tickets to Disneyland for each shareholder that physically showed up to the meeting. They have done away with that in recent years, but if they had the shareholder meeting in southern California, I would take my chance at a nice freebie, whatever it may be.

At shareholder meetings, Disney has been known to show upcoming previews of their films. Disney characters also show up for autographs, but photography is not allowed so there is no way to capture that Disney moment, albeit in a corporate setting.

I do not own any of the shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A and BRK.B), but one day I will purchase their B shares. Even though their shares are costly, it is like buying a mutual fund with a basket of stocks because Berkshire Hathaway is just a shell corporation that owns stock in other companies. Buying individual stocks of Berkshire Hathaway is like automatically buying a diversified portfolio of stocks. Many shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway make the annual trip to Omaha for the shareholder meeting. They come to hear the the words of the world's greatest investor, Warren Buffet. That is something I want to do soon because it is unknown when Buffet will step down as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.