CNBC: Berkshire Hathaway Spent $316,000 On Warren Buffett"s Security Last Year

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

CNBC: Berkshire Hathaway Spent $316,000 On Warren Buffett"s Security Last Year

Topics:Executive Compensation | Warren Buffett

Today"s headlines along the lines of Warren Buffett Takes Home $491,000 from Berkshire might cause a moment of confusion for long-time Buffett watchers.

After all, Buffett"s annual salary has remained unchanged at $100,000 for a quarter of a century, and he has told Berkshire"s Compensation Committee that "he would not expect or desire it to increase in the future."

Buffett also receives $75,000 a year in director"s fees from companies in which Berkshire has "significant investments."

That brings his "total compensation" to $175,000.

Buffett also regularly pays $50,000 back to Berkshire to cover those times when he uses Berkshire personnel, mail, and phones, for personal matters.

How do you get to $491,000? The big difference in this year"s proxy statement, filed ahead of May"s annual meeting, is the note that in 2008, "Berkshire provided personal and home security services" for Buffett at a cost of $315,709.

While Buffett continues to live very unpretentiously compared to most of his fellow multi-billionaires, the move to boost his security may well have been prompted by an incident in September of 2007.

A man wearing dark clothing and camouflage paint on his face was able to ring the doorbell late in the evening at Buffett"s Omaha home. The potential intruder ran away after a scuffle with a security guard and has not been caught.

Current Berkshire stock prices:

Class A: [US;BRK.A 83500.0 -2200.00 (-2.57%) ]