Category: Interviews

Everyone in Saudi Arabia is talking about KAUST. And it's Saudi Arabia's hope that soon the rest of the world will also be raving about KAUST. That's the acronym for King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, a new, multi-billion dollar graduate-level university on a sprawling campus outside Jeddah. I was invited to the gala ceremony--along with 3,500 other guests including heads of state, business leaders and Nobel laureates--to celebrate this week's opening of the university.

The event was done in grand style fit for a king and flashier than the product launches for a new Apple gadget. The ceremony was held in a tent bigger than an airplane hangar; and the Saudis dazzled the crowd with fireworks, an extravagant water fountain show and a dinner feast straight out of "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights."

So why all this hoopla for a university?

I've been an observer of Elizabeth Warren for several years now. She was one of the few people who warned about the consequences for middle class families of a housing/credit bubble burst. She saw the danger to come when people could no longer afford to refinance or charge their way out of trouble.

Today was the first time I met her face to face. As we talked before the interview began, I remarked that she had predicted a lot of the problems we now find ourselves in. "I wish I had been wrong," was her reply. Many people who raised the red flag about the risky and/or abusive practices of the financial industry were put down as naysayers, "academics who don't get it," or otherwise uninformed/unenlightened individuals. Warren also said "I told you so" just isn't very satisfying. "Unless it's about the paint color in the hall, that's different."

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass) has long been a supporter of curbing executive pay. In 2007, the house passed say on pay legislation, but it died in the Senate. I spoke with him today about the administration's proposals. Basically, he's on board with what they are doing, but wants the SEC to have a larger role in restricting bonus awards.

Before heading to my first Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting last weekend, lots of people prepped me for what to expect. The crowds will be huge. The day will be long. The meeting will be unlike any other you've seen.

All of that was true. But the one event I wasn't entirely prepared for was the media scrum -- what I shall henceforth refer to as the mob of mass destruction.

Every year, Warren Buffett walks around the exhibition hall, where Berkshire businesses showcase their wares. He stops by Dairy Queen and Fruit of the Loom and any number of other businesses that Berkshire owns. All the while, cameras and reporters swarm around the Oracle of Omaha, chronicling his every move and word.

Warren Buffett calls his Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting "Woodstock for Capitalists." Every year thousands of faithful Berkshire shareholders make the pilgrimage to Omaha for a free-spirited celebration of wealth. But I felt this year the mood was more like Sunday School than Woodstock with the Oracle of Omaha in his pulpit preaching the Buffett catechism to shareholders.

Buffett had reason to be preachy. Shareholders came to the meeting feeling bruised and less rich. Their Berkshire shares tumbled more than 30 percent since they gathered here last May. More than once, Buffett reminded shareholders that "stocks go up and down; there were three times before when Berkshire shares went down more than 50 percent; this country will do wonderfully over time, it always has; the government is doing the right things;" and on and on. Even the usually pessimistic Charlie Munger, who is 85 years old and Buffett's long-time business partner, delivered an upbeat message. "As I move close to the edge of death, I find myself getting more cheerful about the economic future," he told the crowd. (I also blogged about interviewing Munger.)

Mention the name Warren Buffett and everyone knows he's one of the richest men in the world and the successful billionaire investor behind Berkshire Hathaway. But say Charlie Munger and most people look confused. Charlie who?

Charlie Munger has been Warren Buffett's business partner for 50 years. He's also a powerful figure at Berkshire Hathaway where he is Vice Chairman. He's 85; Buffet is 78.

The reason most people don't know much about Munger is because he shies away from the spotlight, unlike Buffett, who craves it. But at Berkshire annual meetings he shines. On the dais, sitting next to Buffett he gives his views on the markets, the economy and life, as he responds to shareholder questions. He acts like Buffett's sidekick and takes a lot of ribbing from the Oracle of Omaha. But he holds his own and is quick-witted, smart and funny. I've always wanted to interview Munger. Today I did.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro has her work cut out for her. The SEC was badly damaged in the financial crisis, from the former chairman's pronouncements that Bear Stearns was "well capitalized" days before it collapsed to missing red flags in the Bernie Madoff scandal. Schapiro has been on the job 10 weeks. I asked her if it felt like 10 years; she laughed and said at first it did, but now she's started to set the agencies agenda instead of just responding to criticism. She has set an ambitious agenda and I spoke with her about some of things the agency is tackling. Here is the complete version of the interview that ran tonight.

You have to be careful when trying out new products not to fall in love and get to over-the-top with your review. But it’s hard to do that with Amazon.com’s new Kindle 2, which I have been using for the last week in preparation for my interview with Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

You could call Kindle an electronic book, but it is really as many as 1,500 books and it is also newspapers, magazines, newsletters and blogs and with a built in ability to communicate wirelessly with the Amazon Kindle store you can samples, buy and subscribe simply and seamlessly and have the content at your fingertips within seconds. Yes it may be costly ($359 for the unit) but if you think through the value of convenience and the savings on content, most books cost $9.95, the economies make sense.

Kindle 1 was just a little too clumsy and a little too slow for my taste, but Kindle 2 is a sleeker, faster and lighter model and now that I’ve tearfully sent the review machine Amazon loaned me back I’m saving my pennies for a Kindle of my own.

On the day of the worst jobs report since I was a Freshman in college – (1981) – I talked with the President’s top economist, Christina Romer about the outlook, the stimulus and the bank rescue plan. You can watch this web exclusive interview below. (You'll need Flash installed.)

Friday we are going to get a terrible unemployment report. Dr. Mark M. Zandi, the chief economist and cofounder of Moody’s Economy.com, says we may have to get used to it.

I spoke with Zandi about the economy, specifically how the credit crunch is playing out. Here's the video clip (you need Flash installed to watch):