Foreign shareholders going to Omaha for Berkshire meeting face new puzzle

For decades, Berkshire Hathaway‘s annual meeting — Warren Buffett’s “Woodstock for Capitalists” — has attracted foreign investors traveling to Omaha, Nebraska, sometimes from thousands of miles away. This year, their international trip has a new wrinkle to it.

Xin Jin, a Chinese investor in Guangzhou, wanted to pay his second visit to Omaha this May but international travel in the current political climate worried him. In 2012, he poured half his assets into Berkshire’s stock, which became one of the most profitable names in his portfolio.

“I really want to go to Omaha this year,” Jin said. “I admire Buffett and I’m very touched by him.”

A consumer-focused Chinese investor in Shanghai who didn’t want to be named but who has attended the annual meeting three times, also said the hostile political environment kept him from traveling this year. Another Chinese shareholder noted there are fewer third-party agencies organizing trips to Omaha this time. One shareholder in Jakarta, Indonesia, who attended last year decided to stay home, saying he’s concerned about “unnecessary and unfounded issues with customs.”

This year’s meeting comes after President Donald Trump launched a global trade war in the early days of his second term, intensifying political tensions between the U.S. and other nations. China, in particular, has issued a risk alert for Chinese tourists traveling to the U.S., citing recent “deterioration of China-U.S. economic and trade relations and the domestic security situation in the U.S.”

“What I noticed the last couple of years, the demographics of the shareholders tilted a lot more towards international — shareholders being there for the first time, largely international and very young,” said David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland, who once held private lunches for his students and Buffett.

Berkshire’s annual gathering can attract as many as 40,000 people to the Cornhusker State for a unique opportunity to hear from Buffett, his designated successor Greg Abel and Berkshire’s insurance chief, Ajit Jain. The Q&A session will be broadcast on CNBC and webcast in English and Mandarin.

Buffett, 94, has long acknowledged the growing international representation at his annual gathering. In fact, he and his late partner, Charlie Munger, used to hold special receptions for those traveling from outside North America. He eventually ended the event as the number of foreign attendees grew.

“Our count grew to about 800 last year, and my simply signing one item per person took about 2 1⁄2 hours,” Buffett said in annual letter in 2009. “Since we expect even more international visitors this year, Charlie and I decided we must drop this function. But be assured, we welcome every international visitor who comes.”

— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng.