Warren Buffett's annual Berkshire Hathaway meeting will have only 2 participants this year, after breaking an attendance record in 2019

• This year, only Warren Buffett and vice chairman Greg Abel will be in attendance at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, the company said Monday.
• It's a stark contrast from the 2019 meeting, when more than 40,000 people went to Omaha, Nebraska, for the event. Buffett said it was a new record for meeting attendance.
• Notably absent from the meeting roster is Charlie Munger, 96, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and Buffett's right-hand man. Ajit Jain, 68, another vice chairman, will also not attend.
• Read more on Business Insider.

The annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting is going to look a lot different this year.

The meeting, held in Warren Buffett's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, is one of the most famous in the investing community. During the meeting, tens of thousands of shareholders descend on Omaha to listen to Buffett and Charlie Munger, his right-hand man, answer questions for hours.

This year, however, only Buffett, 89, and Greg Abel, 57, Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman-non-insurance operations, will be in attendance to answer questions at the May 2 meeting, the company announced Monday.

"We will greatly miss seeing our shareholders in Omaha this year," Buffett wrote in the press release.

Notably absent from the meeting roster are Charlie Munger, 96, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and Ajit Jain, 68, another vice chairman. Both Jain and Abel have been slated as potential successors to Buffett after they were promoted to vice chairmen of Berkshire Hathaway in 2018.

The limited guest list is a stark contrast from prior years, when more than 40,000 visitors attended the meeting. In 2019, Buffett said that the annual meeting had broken an attendance record.

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It's the latest update that Berkshire has given on the meeting, which will be live-streamed by Yahoo Finance. In March, Buffett said that due to concerns about large gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic, the meeting would be held without shareholders in attendance.

Still, Buffett expected that more than two people would be at the meeting. "We will limit attendance to me, possibly Charlie, and several Berkshire employees who will deliver proxy votes," Buffett wrote in a March 13 press release.

Investors will also be looking closely at Berkshire Hathaway's first-quarter earnings report, due to be released at 8 a.m. ET Saturday, ahead of the annual meeting.

In 2019, Berkshire Hathaway's cash pile grew to a record $128 billion as Buffett failed again to land an "elephant-sized" acquisition. The company bought a range of stocks in 2019, including now-favorite Apple, and repurchased its own shares — albeit fewer than some hoped.

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