Every question at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting from 1994 to 2026, counted and sorted: who asked, how they got the microphone, what they wanted to know and how that changed over 30 years. This analysis belongs to our history of the Berkshire meeting. New to the meeting? Start with the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting explained.
01
What are the key numbers of the Berkshire meeting questions?
TL;DR: 1,743 questions from 39 countries at 33 meetings. Today about 1 in 2,000 people in the arena gets the microphone. Over 30 years the questions moved from how to invest to who comes after Buffett.
1,743
Our count
Questions to Buffett, Munger, Abel and the other managers, 1994 to 2026
1,220 from the floor, 372 sent in by email, 144 from analysts on stage and 7 from the journalists. Counted from our transcripts of 33 meetings.
1 in 2,000
Chance to ask from the floor at a typical meeting today; 1 in 43 in 1994
39
Countries the askers came from
92
Questions in 1998, the busiest Q&A; 23 in 2022, the fewest
11
Meetings at which Norman Rentrop asked a question, more than anyone
10%
Questions asked by women, steady for 30 years
2% to 11%
Questions that touch succession, 1990s versus 2020s
0 of 225
Questions since 2020 on how to value a business
1.95 million
YouTube views of the most-watched answer: how Buffett would invest $1 million (CNBC, 2024)
02
Who asks the questions at the Berkshire meeting?
TL;DR: Between 23 and 92 per meeting from 1994 to 2025, and 1,743 in total including 2026. The bars link to each transcript.
The busiest Q&A was in 1998 with 92 questions. The fewest were in 2022 with 23.
From the floor: 1,220 questions from shareholders at the microphones in the hall.
By email: 372 questions that shareholders sent in and journalists read out, from 2009 on.
From the analyst panel: 144 questions from the analyst panel on stage, 2012 to 2019.
From journalists: 7 questions the journalists asked themselves.
Not counted: 60 speeches on shareholder proposals in the formal part of the meeting (2002 to 2022). They are not questions, so all our counts leave them out. With them, our transcripts hold 1,803 contributions from the audience.
Named askers: 1,591 of 1,743 questions (91%) say who asked. Askers came from at least 39 countries.
Which countries have asked a question, and which never have?
Shareholders from 39 countries and territories have asked a question since 1994. Most of the world has not. In our transcripts no one from France, the Netherlands, South Korea, Russia, Poland or Indonesia ever asked, and in Africa only South Africa did. The newest additions are Malaysia (2023), Spain (2024), Guatemala and Mongolia (2025). Hover over a country to see the year of its first question.
Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, the US Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago are shown as dots. A country counts when an asker named it as home. Method and source: note 9
Who asked questions most often?
From the floor
Shareholder
Meetings
Years
Norman RentropGerman publisher and investor from Bonn
Meetings at which each person asked at least one question from the floor or by email.
The Rentrop family from Bonn asked as well: Irene Rentrop (2008), Richard Rentrop (2008 and 2010) and, by our reading of the transcripts, Victoria Rentrop (2015 and 2023). Together with Norman Rentrop, the family asked 16 questions at 13 meetings from 2000 to 2023.
From 2012 to 2019 three analysts sat on stage and took turns with the journalists and the floor.
We list only people we could identify with confidence from the meeting (how they introduced themselves, their home town) and from public sources. Many shareholders came back year after year without a public role. We leave them out.
How many questions come from women?
In short: About one question in ten comes from a woman: 10.0% since 1994. At the microphones the share has gone up since about 2014. In the emailed questions it has not.
We looked at who asked each question: the shareholder at the microphone or the person who sent the email. Of 1,347 questions where we could tell, 135 came from a woman. That is 10.0%. For thirty years the share stayed between 8% and 12% in every decade.
11.7%
1994 to 1999 42 of 358 questions
At the microphone: 11.7%. No emailed questions yet.
8.4%
2000 to 2009 38 of 450 questions
At the microphone: 8.1%. By email: 16.7%.
10.0%
2010 to 2019 35 of 351 questions
At the microphone: 12.6%. By email: 5.9%.
10.6%
2020 to 2025 20 of 188 questions
At the microphone: 25.5%, from a small number of floor questions. By email: 5.1%.
How did the share change from year to year?
The share moves a lot from year to year, because a meeting has only 30 to 80 questions. The lowest years were 2003 (1 of 41) and 2021 (1 of 38). The highest was 2025 with 5 of 26.
What do shareholders ask about at the Berkshire meeting?
TL;DR: We sorted 1,743 questions from 1994 to 2026 by theme. Investing principles led until 2009. Since 2020 nobody asked how to value a business, and questions that touch succession, as main or side topic, rose from 2% in the 1990s to 11%.
What do shareholders want to know from Buffett, Munger and Abel? We read every question in our transcripts and gave each one a main theme. That is 1,743 questions from 1994 to 2026. Ten themes cover them all. Investing principles and valuation come first, just ahead of the economy and markets.
The ten themes split into 152 smaller topics. These 15 came up most often. Berkshire’s own intrinsic value leads with 37 questions, ahead of the value of insurance float.
How did the questions change over the decades?
The mix moved a lot. In the 1990s, investing principles and Berkshire’s own shares led. In the 2010s, Berkshire’s operating businesses came first, and since 2020 the economy and markets.
What stands out:
Succession moved up. Questions on who follows Buffett and what happens after him, as main or side topic, rose from 2% of all questions in the 1990s to 11% since 2020. Since 2010, no sub-topic comes up more often.
Valuation questions vanished. In the 1990s, about 1 in 20 questions asked how to value a business. Since 2020, none of 225 did. Questions about what Berkshire itself is worth are counted under Berkshire shares, so this is about method, not price. One likely reason: since 2009 journalists choose many of the questions, and the questions they read out rarely touch investing principles.
Apple was barely asked about. Apple was Berkshire’s largest stock holding for years. Yet only 6 questions were mainly about Apple, the first in 2017. Coca-Cola got 20.
Life questions grew. Questions about careers, happiness and Buffett and Munger themselves rose from 4% of all questions in the 1990s to 9% since 2020.
Another way to see it: the rank of each theme in each decade. A green line moved up two or more places, a dark line moved down.
Rank of question themes by decade, 1994 to 2026
Investing principles fell from first place in the 1990s to ninth in the 2020s. The economy, Berkshire’s businesses and insurance moved to the top.
Did succession questions grow as Buffett got older?
TL;DR: Questions that touch succession rose from about 1 in 40 in the 1990s to about 1 in 8 from 2023 to 2025, while Buffett went from 63 to 94.
Buffett was 63 at the 1994 meeting and 95 in 2026. The older he got, the more shareholders asked who comes next and what happens after him. In the 1990s, about 1 in 40 questions touched succession. From 2023 to 2025, it was about 1 in 8. Age and time move together, so this shows a trend, not a cause.
What are the odds of asking a question from the floor?
TL;DR: In 1994 about 1 in 43 people in the room got to ask. Today it is about 1 in 2,000, and since 2009 a drawing at each microphone decides who asks. Questions sent in by email look different from those asked in the hall.
Until 2008, whoever reached a microphone first got to ask. Buffett ended the morning sprint in 2009: since then a drawing at each microphone decides, and journalists read emailed questions in turn with the room. From 2012 to 2019 three analysts asked as well. Today Becky Quick alternates with the audience zones. With 30,000 to 40,000 people at a typical meeting, the odds of asking from the floor are now around 1 in 2,000.
Chance to ask a question from the floor, 1994 to 2025
In 1994 about 1 in 43 people in the room got to ask a question. Since 2009 it is about 1 in 1,500 to 1 in 2,500.
1994: Seven zones in the hall. A microphone was passed around, and nobody asked twice until everyone in the zone had a turn (1994 transcript).
2003: Eight microphones around the hall, taken in turn (2003 transcript).
Until 2008: Whoever stood first in line asked. People rushed to the 12 microphones at 7 a.m. (letter for 2008).
2009: A drawing at 8:15 a.m. at each microphone picks the askers. Carol Loomis, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin read emailed questions, in turn with the floor (letter for 2008).
2012: Three analysts join. At least 54 questions, with drawings at 13 microphones (letter for 2011).
2018: Eleven drawings at eleven microphones (letter for 2017).
2020 and 2021: The plan for 2020 was journalists only (letter for 2019). Then the meeting went online, and Becky Quick picked from thousands of emailed questions (letter for 2020).
Since 2022: Becky Quick reads emailed questions in turn with the audience zones (letter for 2023, 2025 transcript).
Do emailed questions differ from floor questions?
When Becky Quick reads a question, it is usually about Berkshire: who comes next, a subsidiary, a stock. Life advice and investing lessons come almost only from the people at the microphones. That is by design. Buffett brought in the journalists in 2009 to “steer the discussion back to Berkshire’s businesses.” Carol Loomis and Andrew Ross Sorkin picked the same kind of questions. Emailed questions also came less often from women, 7% against 15% at the microphones. We found no clear tilt toward US askers: about 27% of Becky Quick’s questions and 30% of floor questions came from outside the US.
Who asked what, by question channel, 2009 to 2025
Questions read by the journalists were about Berkshire itself: 20% on succession versus 8% from the floor. Women asked 7% of the emailed questions and 15% of the floor questions.
Which Berkshire meeting answers got the most views on YouTube?
TL;DR: Most-watched is the question how to invest a small sum, with about 4.6 million views across all uploads. The ten most-watched answers are about starting out, cash and big names, not about Berkshire’s businesses.
The hall decides what gets asked. YouTube shows which answers travel. We searched CNBC’s channel and the channels that re-cut meeting clips, matched each clip to the question in our transcripts and added up the views of all uploads of the same question.
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How to start beats everything. The small-sum question has more views than the next three together. In the hall, nobody has asked how to value a business since 2020. Online, beginner questions win.
New beats old. Seven of the ten are from 2022 to 2025. CNBC posts clips of each meeting, and older answers mostly live in full-length videos.
Big names travel. Apple was rarely asked about in the hall, but its answers are among the most watched.
The ranking as a table, with all clips
#
Question
Meeting
YouTube views
Watch
Transcript
1
How would you invest a small sum, or start again with $1 million?
Views added up across all uploads of the same question that we found, as of 31 October 2026. Method and source: note 10
07
What did shareholder proposals ask for?
TL;DR: 60 speeches at 15 meetings from 2002 to 2022, two in three about climate and the environment. They are part of the formal meeting, so we do not count them as questions.
Besides the Q&A, the formal part of the meeting votes on proposals from shareholders. Our transcripts hold 60 speeches on them, at 15 meetings from 2002 to 2022. We count them on their own, outside the 1,743 questions. Two in three were about climate and the environment.
1. Questions per meeting chart (back to the chart) Note: Our 2026 page is a shorter transcript. It numbers only 5 audience questions, so the bar is lighter. 2024 and 2025 count the questions in our transcripts of those years. Speeches on shareholder proposals are not counted as questions, so in some years the bar is lower than the last question number on the transcript page. Source: Good Investing analysis of our meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026.
2. Women chart (back to the chart) Note: Share of questions asked by women, among the questions where we could tell. Each bar opens the transcript of that year. 2026 is left out: our transcript of it has only 5 questions. Source: Good Investing analysis of our meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026.
3. Theme ranks chart (back to the chart) Note: Rank 1 is the theme with the most questions in that decade. The 2020s run from 2020 to 2026. Source: Good Investing analysis of 1,743 questions in our meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026.
4. Sub-topic ranks chart (back to the chart) Note: The left side shows the top 10 of the 1990s, the right side the top 10 of the 2020s. In the 2020s, ranks 5 to 10 rest on 6 to 9 questions each. Source: Good Investing analysis of 1,743 questions in our meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026.
5. Succession chart (back to the chart) Note: Share of each meeting’s questions with succession as main or second topic. Marked: 2018, when Greg Abel and Ajit Jain became vice chairmen, and 2024, the first meeting without Charlie Munger. Our 2026 page has only 5 questions. Source: Good Investing analysis of our meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026.
6. Odds of asking chart (back to the chart) Note: People at the meeting divided by questions from the floor. Light bars: attendance is an estimate. No attendance number for 2001. 2020 and 2021 were online. Our 2022 transcript is likely incomplete, so its bar is too high. Source: Good Investing analysis of our meeting transcripts; attendance from Buffett’s letters and press reports. Data as of October 2026.
7. Question channels chart (back to the chart) Note: Same years for all groups (2009 to 2019 and 2022 to 2025; Carol Loomis and Andrew Ross Sorkin until 2019). Shares of questions where the asker’s gender or country is known. Gender mostly from first names. Source: Good Investing analysis of 635 questions in the meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026.
8. Proposal speeches chart (back to the chart) Note: One square is one speech in the formal part of the meeting. Our transcripts hold no proposal speeches from 2023 to 2026; we have not checked this against Berkshire’s records. Source: Good Investing analysis of our meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026. How we counted: our transcripts hold 1,803 contributions from the audience. 60 of them are speeches on shareholder proposals in the formal part of the meeting, not questions, so we count 1,743 questions, as everywhere on this page. We gave each question a main theme and one of 152 sub-topics. Emailed questions start in 2009, and analysts asked from 2012 to 2019, which changed the mix. Our 2026 page has only 5 questions. The themes are our own judgment, so read the shares as estimates.
9. World map of askers (back to the map) Note: Shade shows the decade of a country’s first question, 1994 to 2025. A country counts when the asker or the journalist reading an email named it. 152 questions name no asker, so a few countries may be missing. Borders: Natural Earth, 1:110m. Source: Good Investing analysis of our meeting transcripts. Data as of October 2026.
10. Most-viewed answers (back to the table) Note: We searched YouTube for clips of single questions from the meetings, on CNBC and on channels that re-cut meeting footage, and matched each clip to our transcripts. Views of all uploads of the same question are added up; for the small-sum question that includes the 2001 and 2024 answers and two re-cuts. Full meetings, highlight reels, interviews outside the meeting and clips we could not match are left out. YouTube search does not show every upload, so the numbers are lower bounds. The videos on this page are CNBC’s wherever CNBC has the answer on YouTube: as a clip, or for No. 2 and No. 6 as its full session, starting at the question. For 2003 and 2008 CNBC has no clips on YouTube, so we show the most-viewed upload. Source: YouTube view counts via DataForSEO, 31 October 2026; our meeting transcripts.
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