Buffett’s Stay in Korea Extended

He attends TaeguTec’s plant dedication ceremony, meets with President Lee, Lotte Chairman Shin

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and so-called “Oracle of Omaha,” extended his trip to Korea from a one-day and two-night stay to a two-day and three-night one. Originally, Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and the world’s third richest man, was scheduled to arrive via Daegu Airport on March 20 before departing for Japan the next day. But his trip here was extended to two days and three nights due to the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami and concurrent nuclear reactor disaster in Japan.
On March 22, he paid a courtesy call on President Lee Myung-bak at Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office, and stayed at the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul where he also had a dinner with Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Buffett and Chairman Shin are both alumni of Columbia Business School. On March 22, he paid a courtesy call on President Lee Myung-bak at Cheong Wa Dae and stayed in Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul where he also had a dinner with Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Buffett and Chairman Shin were alumni of Columbia Business School.
On March 21, Buffett participated in a ceremony to dedicate the second plant of TaeguTec in Daegu, the world’s leading innovator of metal cutting tools. DaeguTec is a subsidiary of IMC, 80 percent of which Berkshir Hathaway has a stake. Buffett said at a news conference that disasters in Japan will not have a long-term ripple effects on the Japanese economy. As to his investments in Korea, he said his company has still stakes in POSCO, the Korean steelmaking giant, and a smaller company he did not identify. Buffett commented on his company’s general investment plan, saying that his company now secure $38 billion, $20 billion of which is in cash, and he is looking for large companies to invest in not only in the United States and but also other parts of the world. nw

Photo by courtesy of Lotte Group