Some gossips.
Buffett cancels annual event with biographerAuthor of detailed Buffett book says he has ended annual event and distanced himself from her
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Billionaire Warren Buffett worked closely with Alice Schroeder during the five years that she researched his life story, but the author says her relationship with the investor has cooled since the book's release last fall.
And Schroeder says Buffett told her last month that he would no longer attend a dinner she's hosted since 1998 on the eve of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting in Omaha each spring.
"We've had very little contact since the book has been published. A few e-mails, and that's it," Schroeder said Wednesday in an interview from her home in Greenwich, Conn.
Buffett chose Schroeder, who once covered his company as an insurance analyst, to write the book, and "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life" was the first book he'd ever cooperated with.
Buffett's assistant Debbie Bosanek said the cancellation of the dinner event shouldn't be interpreted as a reflection of Buffett's opinion of the book.
"Mr. Buffett likes Alice, likes her book and has received a number of glowing letters from friends about it," Bosanek said. "But at some point, like the charity golf outing he once hosted, an event runs its course."
Buffett did review the book before it was published and didn't ask for any changes, but that was the arrangement he made with Schroeder beforehand and she said it doesn't necessarily indicate approval.
Schroeder said she hasn't heard anything directly from Buffett about her book, which detailed his flaws and successes, but others have told her Buffett was troubled by sections dealing with his personal life.
The book details how Buffett's first wife, Susan Buffett, left him in 1977 and moved to San Francisco. But the couple never divorced before her death in 2004, even though he lived with another woman most of those years.
Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, in a private ceremony on his 76th birthday in 2006.
Schroeder said she's not entirely surprised at Buffett's response to her book because she believes the 960-page work is a fair and objective telling of the legendary investor's life.
"We're not at war with each other, but he's distancing himself from me," Schroeder said.
Despite the canceled dinner, Schroeder still plans to attend this year's Berkshire shareholders meeting on May 2. Last year, about 31,000 shareholders filled the Qwest Center Omaha for that meeting to hear Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger answer questions.
Berkshire owns a diverse mix of more than 60 companies, including insurance, furniture, carpet, jewelry, restaurants and utility businesses. And it has major investments in such companies as Wells Fargo & Co. and Coca-Cola Co.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Buffett-cancels-annual-event-apf-14263274.html
