Them back at this table. Welcome. And i have to say, in interest of full disclosure, we just did Something Like this at Columbia University with 1000 students. There is Something Special about the curiosity and the interest of young people. Wanting to know how do they learn from you, wanting to know, if you were starting over, what would you do, wanting to know about values. You do a lot of this. Warren well, about the friendship, we met on july 5, 1991 and hit it off immediately. Bill was a little reluctant at first, but he got there. Charlie reluctant to come. Warren yeah, definitely. If it wasnt for his mother, we probably wouldnt know each other. And weve had a good time ever since. And weve cooperated on particularly on the giving pledge, but other things as well. And i have to say, everything about it has turned out well. Charlie he sits on your board. Warren he sits on the berkshire board. And we have a lot of fun talking about a lot of things. But the big thing that really came out of one of those discussions really was the giving pledge. Thats worked out so much better than i ever anticipated, charlie. I mean, i thought if we got 30, 40 people, you know charlie and how many . Warren i think we are at 156 or Something Like that. And the people and now weve gone beyond the borders of the United States, which i didnt feel would originally happen. And people are learning more our members about effective philanthropy. They are learning about what doesnt work, learning about how people handle within their families, wealthy families. Its just its worked out so much better than i would have guessed six years ago or seven years ago. Charlie both of you have made the point that, because of success and technology, there are a lot of people with a lot of money who are much younger. Bill yeah. Its a great thing. That these companies are doing so well. And as a group, i would say, its a particularly philanthropic group. I didnt give huge gifts until i was 45. Some of them in their 30s are already doing amazing things. Charlie why if the word is reluctant were you reluctant to give earlier than that . Bill i hadnt taken the time to understand where the huge payoffs were, and i was pretty maniacal about microsoft. And only in my late 30s with some encouragement from my wife, melinda, did i start to study it, talk with her about it. We knew we would do it by the time i was 60, but as we were doing that learning, we decided we should accelerate it, and we found a lot of ways that we thought we could have high impact. Charlie and the principle mission call was that all lives are equal. Bill thats right. And a lot of that outside the United States has gone to save lives and have kids grow up to be healthy. Charlie how did you decide that you would rather give your money to the Gates Foundation than create some foundation of your own and find people to run it and do whatever you wanted to do . Bill well, my first wife susie and i actually started a foundation over 50 years ago. And wed talked about it since we were in our 20s. And i always thought id be rich. She didnt think i would be. And i said to her, if i compound money at the rate i hope to compound money, there will be really large sums later on, and youre good at giving it away. Im good at making it. So, i will make it first and you give it away. And she thought that was sort of half a copout and half logical. [laughter] charlie and probably told you so. Warren absolutely. So, we did something, like i say, we started over 50 years ago. But i really thought that there would be large sums later on and that she was particularly good at empathizing with people, understanding their needs, putting the personal energy into it, and everything. She would be better at giving away money than i would be. And she died in 2004, as you know. So then i had to rethink what i was going to do. In 2006, i decided that, essentially, our five foundations, the bill and melinda Gates Foundation being the largest looking for people that had similar goals with philanthropy that what i had the idea that every life is of equal value is just fundamental to me. You can be lucky charlie and you knew bill would run it well. Warren of course. He had his own money up, which is a big deal. Far more than that, i mean, you have two much younger people, very bright, very hardworking. They work much harder at this than most people do in this country in their jobs. And they were on the same track i was on. Proven quantity. I mean, everything about it made sense. And its continued to make sense 10 years later. Charlie lets talk about melindas influence. You have said to me about susie, your late wife, i was a mess until i met susie. Warren i think thats understating it. [laughter] she changed my life. Theres no question about that. Charlie how did she change her life . Warren well, i was a very lopsided, not welladjusted person, who happened to be very good at one thing. And she put me together. I mean, and it wasnt overnight, either. She just had that little sprinkling can and finally she saw a few sprouts come up. Charlie was it a coming together of opposites or warren no, no. I wouldnt say that. We had very similar values. We were in sync. In a very big way. But she was way more mature than i was. She was 19 when we got married. I was 21. But i was about 12 emotionally. And she put me together. Like i say, it took time, but it changed my life. I mean, i would not have had anything like the life i have had charlie what did Charlie Munger add . Warren well, Charlie Munger, my partner of 57 or 58 years. Hes extremely wise. Hes a wonderful friend. Weve been partners. He is strongminded. I am strongminded. We disagree sometimes. We have never had an argument in that whole time and we never will. Charlie never had an argument . Warren never had an argument. Thats absolutely true. Charlie you must disagree on things . Warren absolutely, we disagree. Charlie but if you disagree, how do you decide . Warren what he says at the end when we disagree, he says, well, warren, you will end up agreeing with me because you are smart and im right. [laughter] warren you know, where do i attack that from . Charlie and youll figure out im right. Warren often, hes right, i have to say. Listen, i respect his opinion enormously whenever he gives it to me. I respect bills opinion. But its more fun doing things with partners. I mean, the most fun is obviously a marriage partner. Thats the most important relationship. But having a Business Partner if id done everything id done, it wouldnt have worked out this way. But lets say i got double the results, its been fun doing it with charlie. Charlie who says no to bill gates . Bill well, melinda, in this case. Warren ive seen it happen. [laughter] bill its great when somebody knows when you might move too fast or be overoptimistic. Or if a team comes in and im pointing out things we havent done and maybe they are not as motivated afterwards. They get me to correct that. I have matured a lot, and i give melinda immense credit. She still has work to do, but [laughter] but i think im getting there. Complementary strengths where you share the same goal is a great thing. I had that with paul allen in the early days of microsoft. I had that with Steve Ballmer as microsoft got going. Now, both in my family life and the foundation, its melinda. Charlie how much time do you spend at microsoft . Bill im there about 15 of the time. I get to work just on the r d part, brainstorming with people, thinking, ok, how are we going to take this Artificial Intelligence and make it understand, help you use your time better. Its a very exciting time in software. There are five companies that are in really strong position. Microsoft is leading in some really cool stuff. Charlie like what . [laughter] bill the way that a business takes information about customers, about communication with customers, looking at data that mission of really using data and ai and getting the productivity of all those workers up because they see more information microsoft is the leader in that. Its a wonderful niche. Its a multihundred billion dollar niche that they are strong in. And that they will be innovating along that line more in the next few years than ever in our history. Charlie you have a passion for Artificial Intelligence, you do. Bill yeah, its the ultimate dream when you start working on software is the kind of deep understanding and intelligence that humans have, so its been the holy grail of when can the computer learn to play games, when can the computer learn to read, when can it understand speech. Things like speech and vision have made such progress in recent years. I mean, you know, youve been tracking this and exposing your viewers to some of it. Because i cant overstate that even for people in the field its a pretty magical time. Charlie and its potential is to do what . Change everything . Bill well, in the first instance, to be the best assistant ever, to look at all your information, help you know in a few minutes between meetings what you should look at or when you are trying to plan a trip, organize things to be a much better assistant than it is today. And then eventually certain mechanical tasks, like warehouse work or driving, that it would take that over. But for intellectual work, it will just magnify the creativity and make your time more valuable. Charlie is a principal criteria for you understanding the business . Warren yeah. I have to understand the business, and there are lots of businesses i dont understand. Some of them may be almost ununderstandable and others are just outside my sphere of confidence. But you do have people who have that expertise . Warren there is a lot of overlap. Itportant thing is not is nice to have a huge circle of competence. As much more important where the limits are of it. You can do very well if you only understand 5 of the businesses in the country. And youll find plenty of opportunities. And you know that youve got the 5 in that circle. Charlie you made a huge purchase in 2016. Precision was bought in 2016. Warren yes. Charlie 37 billion. Warren including 33 billion in cash and the assumption of debt. Charlie is it harder and harder to find an acquisition candidate . Warren sure. Weve got to move the needle. If we make 1 billion, were talking a quarter of 1 . And thats after tax. Thats more than a billion and a half, pretax. So its hard to find things. I would do better percentage if i was working with a much smaller amount of capital. Charlie how do you find them . Warren its interesting. I get a call. Ill be sitting thinking. I mean, different things. In terms of buying private businesses, its because i get a call from a private seller. But occasionally i just decide to act. And we never do anything unfriendly, but in terms of buying whole businesses. Charlie how has knowing bill changed or influenced or enhanced your sense of the way the world works . Warren well, i learn from him. I like to learn from friends in enhanced your sense of the way the world works . I like to learn from all friends. And bill happens to be one of a particularly good source. Listen, thats the fun of having friends, charlie. I dont think i would it would be hard for me to be a friend with anyone that i dont learn something from. Theyd probably get bored with me, id get bored with them. Who is that guy talking about stocks . Charlie and bill, what do you learn from him . Bill an immense amount. He wrote an article for Fortune Magazine that i read before i met him, about that its not necessarily a good idea to leave large sums to your children. That was pretty fundamental. I remember reading that. I was convinced that that was right. It meant, wow, now you have to think of how to give it away. I also remember warren showing me his calendar and warren oh, love that. Bill i had every minute packed. I thought that was the only way you could do things. The fact that he is so careful about his you know, he has days charlie that theres nothing on. Warren absolutely. Thats the best of em. Charlie this is the week of april, of which there are only three entries. Bill you control your time. And sitting and thinking may be of much higher priority than a normal c. E. O. Who theres all this demand and you feel like you need to go and see all these people. Its not a proxy of your seriousness that you filled every minute in your schedule. Warren and people are gonna want your time. Thats the only thing you cant buy. I buy anything i want, basically. But i cant buy time. Charlie and so to have time is the most precious thing you can have . Warren it is. I better be careful with it. Theres no way i will be able to buy more time. Charlie and living in omaha makes that easier . Warren makes it a lot easier. For 50 whatever years now well, for four years, i spent five minutes going each way. Now, just imagine if that was a half hour each way. I would know the words to a lot more songs and thats about it. Charlie it adds up, doesnt it . Warren it really adds up. No. If youre doing an hour a day difference, coming and going, and, you know thats two and a half percent of the persons workweek, you know. That means 40 years, youre talking about a year. Charlie do you agree politically . Bill oh, on almost everything. A general sense that youve got to keep the economy turning up greater output and that you have to allocate it in a fair way. Yeah, that basic framework, we see very much the same. Charlie do both of you believe we can achieve a 4 growth rate . Warren thats pretty high. But charlie just like 2016, i think, the last it was like 1. 6 or something . Warren charlie, a 2 growth rate, if we have a little less than 1 population growth, which we probably will, in one generation, 25 years now people have kids later will add 19,000 per capita, family of four, 76,000, to real g. D. P. So there will be for a foul of four, on average, there would be 76,000 more stuff per family of four in one generation. I mean, we are going to have more the golden goose is going to keep laying more golden eggs. Weve got a wonderful system. Charlie but there are certain things that could get in the way of that. Warren 2 . Charlie youd do 2 . Warren and 2 will produce miracles. Charlie but 3 is probably possible, isnt it . Warren it could be. But thats that would be fabulous. And but 2 will produce. 19,000 per capita, thats greater than the existing than exists in a whole lot of countries. That will be added. The question is, what will we do with it . Charlie how do you see the future of china . Bill well, theyve done a great job on some things. Theyre not a democracy, so it hangs in the balance of how their political system will evolve. But in terms of raising incomes, getting rid of poverty, improving health, its an unbelievable miracle that theyve embraced, in their own special way, the market since really 1990. Theyve done very well. So theyre the second biggest economy in the world. Theyre serious about trade. Theyre serious about clean energy. They are super important. The most important relationship in the world is the u. S. China relationship. Charlie clearly, because of the two biggest economic powers in the world. Bill right. And theyre rising. And were strong and were going to stay very strong. Charlie yes. What could make us not stay strong . Bill theres a lot of strength that we built up over decades, the way we do research, our universities, the way that people take risks and thats why our Technology Companies are still so strong. Our Biotech Companies are still so strong. So the Education System is one that we need to go back and look at. You know, and that is one huge source of inequity, because if you get a great education, actually, the outcomes are pretty good. Charlie your experience has told you its much harder than even you imagine . Bill improving the u. S. Education system. Yes, the dropout rate has gone down a bit. So that is great. But the overall reading scores, math scores, and the inequality hasnt budged much in the last 10 years. One of the goals of our foundation is to, working with partners, change that. And so far, its proven to be one of the tougher ones. We still believe that its super important and its promising, if we look at individual schools. We see great things. So we still believe its achievable. Charlie all the talk about immigration, are we still looking at a situation where some of the best and brightest from overseas come here, get an education, and then go back to india or china or wherever rather than staying here . Bill well, a lot do stay. The most important import the u. S. Has ever had, by far, is human talent. Its been to our benefit that a lot of the hardestworking, best and brightest from almost every country in the world have wanted to come to the u. S. And so if you look at university departments, or, you know, doctors, engineers, people starting up companies, building jobs, its been a huge strength of ours. Weve we havent always made it super easy for that to work. But it has worked very, very well. So the number going back, its meaningful. But net, we are still a huge beneficiary of human talent. Charlie it used to be said, we ought to staple a green card to every diploma. Bill i believe that. Is that a bias, because im from the Tech Industry where we can create multiple jobs around the engineer . Instead of having to do that outside the United States. Yes. I believe that keeping talent in the country is a great thing. Charlie tell us the story, because you told me the story, and i didnt you think the second most important document in americas history, after the declaration of independence, or perhaps the u. S. Constitution or both, you know, is this letter. Warren the letter written by two jewish immigrants. And it doesnt sound like much. But in august of 1939, just before germany moved into poland, leo zolard, whose name is not wellknown, born in hungary, but he went to germany. And he worked in germany with albert einstein. And in 1933, i believe both of them left germany. And where do they come . They come to the United States. And they become United States citizens. And they cosign a letter to president roosevelt. It was a large thing to get einstein to sign it, because he carried more weight. That letter you can see on the internet, not even a full page, says germany is going to im really paraphrasing but germany is going to get a atom bomb and it may work and that we better get to work on one. And the Manhattan Project came out of that. And who knows what w