Warren Buffett makes surprise appearance at “way overdue” conference on women and investing

By Pavithra Mohan

As Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting gets underway in Omaha, Nebraska, Warren Buffett made a surprise appearance today at another conference. Buffett helped kick off the inaugural Variant Perspectives conference, an event for and about women in investing put on by his friend Laura Rittenhouse, the founder of Rittenhouse Rankings, and two other female investors and entrepreneurs: Barbara Ann Bernard, the founder of hedge fund Wincrest Capital, and Kim Shannon, the founder and CEO of Sionna Investment Management.

Women are severely underrepresented in the asset management industry and manage just about 1% of $69 trillion in assets. Buffett said a conference about female investors—and how to shift the gender imbalance in investing—was “way overdue.” He added that an investor’s track record should “open doors” regardless of their gender. “When someone calls me from the outside with an investment idea, I’m not going to ask what their sex is,” he said. “The stock doesn’t know who owns you.”

Check out footage of his appearance here:

 
 

 

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