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The famed Berkshire meeting draws a smaller, more domestic crowd, impacting tourism as Buffett hands leadership to Greg Abel. Johannes Eisele\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n\t\tThe famed Berkshire meeting draws a smaller, more domestic crowd, impacting tourism as Buffett hands leadership to Greg Abel. Johannes Eisele\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
David Kass<\/a>, a finance professor at the University of Maryland, is a longtime attendee of Berkshire Hathaway<\/a>\u2019s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Neb.\u2014an event so popular it has earned the nickname \u201cWoodstock of Capitalism.\u201d<\/a> In past years, Kass saw lines forming around the block as early as 6 a.m., along with overflow rooms and packed exhibition halls.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s gathering, held last weekend and the first led by Berkshire\u2019s new CEO Greg Abel,<\/a> felt noticeably different. \u201cAttendance was way down,\u201d Kass told Observer.<\/p>\n Official figures haven\u2019t been released, but early estimates suggest attendance was roughly 30 percent lower than the usual crowd of about 40,000. The drop has raised concerns for local businesses that typically benefit from the event\u2019s economic boost.<\/p>\n For more than 60 years, Buffett followers have traveled to Omaha each first weekend of May. What began as an opportunity to hear Buffett\u2019s investing insights has evolved into a full-scale spectacle, complete with shopping, picnics and even a 5k run. The 2024 gathering generated more than $21 million in tourism revenue, and last year\u2019s event filled 95 percent of Omaha\u2019s hotel rooms over two days. Only the College World Series, which takes place every June in Omaha, brings a larger economic impact to the city.<\/p>\n Buffett\u2019s deep ties to Omaha, where he grew up and still lives, have long been part of the draw. Visitors stop by his favorite local spots, including Gorat\u2019s Steakhouse, to order his go-to meal: a rare T-bone steak with a double side of hash browns and a cherry Coke. The restaurant is typically so busy that it hires extra staff, with the weekend sometimes generating one to two months\u2019 worth of revenue.<\/p>\n This year, however, business at Gorat\u2019s slowed. A dip in shareholder attendance was \u201creflected in our own personal guest count,\u201d Ashley Blodgett<\/a>, the restaurant\u2019s general manager, told Observer. The slowdown wasn\u2019t a surprise: as early as February, reservation calls were already lower than usual.<\/p>\n Events like the Berkshire meeting and the College World Series are \u201cwhat we really look forward to, and can sometimes carry us throughout the rest of the year,\u201d said Blodgett. In an effort to offset the lighter traffic, Gorat\u2019s reached out to guests who previously couldn\u2019t get table reservations to let them know spots had opened up. \u201cIt was definitely still a success for us,\u201d said Blodgett. \u201cIt just wasn\u2019t as big as the last years.\u201d<\/p>\n The shareholder meeting itself also had a different tone. Buffett, long the face of the event, handed over the reins to Abel<\/a> earlier this year after stepping down following a six-decade run.<\/p>\n While Buffett has long been the figurehead of the event, he passed the responsibility this year to Abel, who took up Berkshire\u2019s helm earlier this year after the 95-year-old Buffett stepped down following a six-decade reign<\/a>. While Abel capably led the Q&A sessions, some attendees said they missed Buffett\u2019s trademark humor and folksy charm, <\/a>especially the dynamic he shared with his late partner, Charlie Munger<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were both going there to learn about Berkshire and to be entertained, quite honestly,\u201d said Kass. While he expects longtime attendees to keep returning, he believes newer participants may lose interest. \u201cFor the shareholders who are more recent, I would predict a decline in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n International visitors were another noticeable absence. Attendees said the crowd felt more American than usual, a shift reflected across Omaha businesses. At Gorat\u2019s, Blodgett reported\u00a0a \u201chuge\u201d drop in tour groups from countries like China, Brazil and Germany, suggesting the conference may be losing some of its appeal as a global tourism draw without Buffett.<\/p>\n Other factors may also be at play, including rising airfare costs and policies from the Trump administration that have made international travel more difficult. \u201cI do wonder with the rest of the political climate, too, if that had an impact on people coming into America,\u201d said Blodgett.<\/p>\n Still, not every business felt the slowdown. The Omaha Marriott Downtown at the Capitol District, located near the CHI Health Center where the meeting is held, was fully booked. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t have gotten any busier for us,\u201d said general manager Carlo Vermeeren<\/a>. While some businesses farther from the venue may have seen declines, his hotel remained at capacity. \u201cWe\u2019re not worried about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, not every business felt the slowdown. The Omaha Marriott Downtown at the Capitol District, located near the CHI Health Center where the meeting is held, was fully booked. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t have gotten any busier for us,\u201d Carlo Vermeeren, the hotel\u2019s general manager, told Observer. While some businesses farther from the venue may have seen declines, his hotel remained at capacity. \u201cWe\u2019re not worried about it,\u201d Vermeeren said.<\/p>\n The massive crowds that now define the Berkshire meeting are actually a relatively recent phenomenon, according to Ernie Goss<\/a>, an economics professor at Creighton University who has lived in Omaha for about 30 years. \u201cWhen I first came to Omaha, it was not that way,\u201d he told Observer. The inaugural 1965 meeting drew just a dozen attendees.<\/p>\n