Introduction

Warren Buffett: We'll do this as we've done in the past following the Saddam Hussein school management. The number of shares represents a quorum and we will therefore directly proceed with the meeting. proxy cards have been returned through last Friday representing 1,039,276 class A Berkshire shares and 1,080,509 class B Berkshire shares. I'm Warren Buffett, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, and I welcome you to this 1998 annual meeting of shareholders.