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2:44 PM PDT, May 5, 2007
OMAHA — Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. decisively rejected a proposal today that would have required the company to sell its $3.3-billion stake in PetroChina, a subsidiary of a Chinese government firm that is the largest player in Sudan's oil industry.
Berkshire Chairman Warren E. Buffett, who owns about one-third of his company's shares, advised against the proposal, which received less than 2% of the votes cast at Berkshire's annual meeting here.
The resolution was meant to hasten the end of the Darfur conflict — in which the Sudanese military has engaged in genocide, according to the U.S. government — by pressuring investors to sell holdings in companies whose activities support Sudan's government.
Berkshire is the largest independent shareholder in PetroChina, whose parent company, China National Petroleum Corp., drills and exports much of Sudan's oil, providing funding for Sudan's military. Activists supporting the shareholder measure placed billboard ads here, Berkshire's home base.
Before the meeting, Buffett called the Darfur violence "deplorable," but rejected divestment as misguided and ineffective.
Judith Porter, an investor from Ardmore, Pa., who holds about $36,000 in Berkshire stock, proposed the measure after reflecting on the murder of her grandparents in 1941 by the Nazis.
"Darfur is one genocide that we can do something about," she said in an interview.
The proposal held little sway over the approximately 27,000 shareholders in attendance at "the Woodstock of capitalism" — so named for its festival-like ambience. Buffett's investing success, reputation for integrity and folksy style have made him beloved by Berkshire shareholders.
A shareholder from San Jose who identified himself as Walter Chang said that he and his wife planned to name their baby Warren, after Buffett.
"I want to applaud you for setting another great example, for donating most of your wealth to charity," a German shareholder said, referring to Buffett's pledge to donate $31 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The ways in which some of Buffett's investment choices contradict Gates Foundation goals was the subject of a Times investigation published Friday.
In another controversy, representatives of California fishermen and Indian tribes asked Buffett to intervene in a controversy involving dams operated by Berkshire subsidiary PacifiCorp along the Klamath River. The dams have reduced salmon populations and affected water quality — also affecting many livelihoods in the process.
"Our people are river people, our entire culture and subsistence is centered around the river," said a woman who said she represented the tribes, her voice breaking with emotion. "Mr. Buffett ... I am here if you would be willing to meet with the tribal representatives and learn more about the issues."
Buffett did not respond directly to the question, but said the concerns raised are countered by the need for renewable energy, and that PacifiCorp would abide by whatever decision state and federal regulators make in the case.
"The world does want electricity," he said.
charles.piller@latimes.com