David Cass, a professor of finance at the University of Maryland, is a longtime attendee at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, an event so popular that it has earned the nickname “Woodstock of capitalism.” In past years, Cass has seen lines forming around the building as early as 6 a.m., along with overflow rooms and crowded exhibit halls.
This year’s meeting, which took place last weekend and was the first led by new Berkshire CEO Greg Appel, was markedly different. “Attendance was very low,” Cass told the Observer.
Official numbers have not been released, but preliminary estimates suggest attendance was about 30 percent smaller than the usual crowd of about 40,000 people. This decline has raised concerns among local businesses that typically benefit from the event’s economic boost.
For more than 60 years, Buffett’s followers have traveled to Omaha every first weekend in May. What started as an opportunity to hear Buffett’s investment musings evolved into a full-scale spectacle, complete with shopping, outings and even a 5K run. The 2024 gathering generated more than $21 million in tourism revenue, and last year’s event filled 95 percent of Omaha’s hotel rooms over two days. Only the College World Series, held every June in Omaha, has a greater economic impact on the city.
Buffett’s deep ties to Omaha, where he grew up and still lives, have long been part of that attraction. Visitors stop by his favorite local spots, including Gorat’s Steakhouse, to order his favorite meal: rare T-bone steak with a double side of browns and a cherry Coca-Cola. The restaurant is usually so busy that they hire extra staff, and sometimes a weekend brings in one to two months of revenue.
But this year business has slowed down in Jurat. The drop in shareholder attendance “was reflected in our in-person guest count,” Ashley Blodgett, the restaurant’s general manager, told the Observer. The slowdown was not surprising: Early in February, reservation calls were lower than usual.
Events like the Berkshire meet and the College World Series are “what we really look forward to, and can sometimes carry us through the rest of the year,” Blodgett said. In an effort to make up for the lack of traffic, Gorat has reached out to guests who previously couldn’t get table reservations to let them know the venues have opened. “It was definitely a success for us,” Blodgett said. “It wasn’t as big as previous years.”
The shareholder meeting itself also had a different tone. Buffett, who was the long-time face of the event, handed over the reins to Appel earlier this year after stepping down after six decades in the business.
While Buffett has long been the chairman of the event, this year he passed responsibility to Appel, who took over the helm of Berkshire earlier this year after the 95-year-old Buffett stepped down after a six-decade reign. While Appel capably led the question-and-answer sessions, some attendees said they missed Buffett’s signature sense of humor and folksy charm, especially the dynamic he shared with his late partner, Charlie Munger.
“People were going there to learn about Berkshire and to be entertained, quite frankly,” Cass said. While he expects long-time attendees to keep coming back, he believes new participants may lose interest. “For more recent shareholders, I expect a decline in the coming years.”
International visitors were another notable absence. Attendees said the crowd felt more American than usual, a shift reflected in Omaha businesses. In Jurat, Blodgett reported a “significant” decline in tour groups from countries such as China, Brazil and Germany, suggesting the conference may lose some of its appeal as a global tourism draw without Buffett.
There may be other factors at play as well, including rising air travel costs and Trump administration policies that have made international travel more difficult. “I wonder for the rest of the political climate as well, whether this will have an impact on people coming to America,” Blodgett said.
However, not all companies are feeling the slowdown. The Omaha Marriott Downtown in the Capitol District, located near the CHI Health Center where the meeting is being held, is fully booked. “It couldn’t have been busier for us,” said general manager Carlo Vermeeren. While some businesses further away may have seen declines, his hotel remained at full capacity. “We’re not worried about that.”
However, not all companies are feeling the slowdown. The Omaha Marriott Downtown in the Capitol District, located near the CHI Health Center where the meeting is being held, is fully booked. “It couldn’t have been busier for us,” Carlo Vermeeren, the hotel’s general manager, told the Observer. While some businesses further away may have seen declines, his hotel remained at full capacity. “We’re not worried about that,” Vermeeren said.
The huge crowds that now define the Berkshire meeting are actually a relatively recent phenomenon, according to Ernie Goss, an economics professor at Creighton University who has lived in Omaha for about 30 years. “When I first came to Omaha, it wasn’t that way,” he told the Observer. The 1965 inaugural meeting attracted only a dozen attendees.
Even if attendance continues to decline, Omaha will still benefit from extensive media coverage of the event, including outlets like CNBC, Goss said. He added that the only real concern would be if the meeting moved away from Omaha, a city closely associated with Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. “I think it will continue, of course, and his legacy will remain with Omaha.”
