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Warren Buffett has not endorsed Kamala Harris in her presidential race against Donald Trump.
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The Berkshire Hathaway CEO campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and organized fundraisers for Obama.
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Buffett has said he doesn’t want to risk hurting his employees and shareholders by speaking out.
Warren Buffett has not endorsed Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, making it clear this week that he will not publicly endorse either presidential candidate.
“Mr. the investor.
The Berkshire CEO’s reticence may seem surprising considering he has previously aligned himself with Democratic presidential candidates. He organized fundraising campaigns for Barack Obama in 2011 and stunned for Hillary Clinton in 2016, even walking on stage during a rally to hammer Donald Trump over his bankrupt companies, unwillingness to publish his tax returns and rude treatment of others.
Still, the 94-year-old billionaire explained why he is now keeping quiet at Berkshire’s 2022 annual shareholder meeting. Buffett said he had learned that “you can make many more people permanently crazy than you can make temporarily happy by talking about which whatever subject.”
Sharing his views on divisive topics could anger people and cause them to boycott or protest Berkshire’s companies, forcing them to lay off employees and harming Berkshire shareholders. Buffett said his employees and investors should not have to pay the price for expressing his opinions.
“So I’ve definitely backed off – I don’t want to say anything that’s basically going to be attributed to Berkshire, and that someone else is going to suffer the consequences of what I’m talking about,” he said.
That explains why Buffett has not spoken out in support of Harris. He also did not endorse Joe Biden, although Biden reportedly told a group of Wall Street executives in October 2020 that he “just got off the phone with Warren Buffett.”
It’s also possible that Buffett spoke to Harris behind the scenes.
His endorsement as a famed investor, prominent philanthropist and CEO of a $1 trillion company with about 400,000 employees could be valuable to Harris — especially if there are electoral votes up for grabs from his hometown of Omaha. However, Buffett puts his business above his personal politics.
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