Well-known investment manager Douglas Kass is preparing to take on Warren Buffett at his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B)’s annual meeting next month, and he’s averaging 10 hours of prep time per question (Hat tip to Business Insider’s Sam Ro for the story tip via Twitter)!
In March, Buffett asked Kass to be his bear at the annual meeting. Kass is betting against Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) this year, and he accepted Buffett’s challenge to be the one to ask bearish questions at the meeting.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Kass has done numerous things to prepare, including reading the 800+ biography of Buffett that was written by Alice Schroeder. In a phone interview, he said he didn’t want to disappoint Buffett, who specifically asked him to take part in the panel at the meeting because he’s betting thatBerkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B)’s stock will fall.
In early 2008, Kass said shares of Berkshire would fall, and a year later, they did as the global economy slumped. However, since then the company’s stock has more than doubled. Kass hasn’t said yet why he believes Berkshire will decline again, and he hasn’t said which topics he might bring up at the meeting. However, he did say that he would be using quotes from people who have been cited by Buffett in the past. One of the people he said he might quote back at Buffett was 1930s Hollywood star Mae West.
Kass said he’s ready for whatever Buffett has to throw at him and that he has “thick skin,” even though Buffett’s partner Charlie Munger may call him a “chump.”
