Buffett: Don't Worry, 'Worst Over' on Wall Street

In a series of comments to shareholders and the press Saturday, Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett declared the worst spasms in the global credit markets to be over, dismissed questions over Berkshire's investment in credit rating agency Moody's, and sought to bolster investor confidence in the company's succession plans. (Read the live blog here.)

"The worst of the crisis in Wall Street is over," Buffett said in an interview on Bloomberg television shortly before addressing an audience of some 31,000 shareholders. But, he cautioned, for "people with individual mortgages, there's a lot of pain left to come."

Buffett said the Federal Reserve did the right thing by stepping in to prevent Bear Stearns from going bankrupt, which he said would have caused "a spectacle of unprecedented proportions" that would have led to another major bank failure "within days."

But he also criticized the major Wall Street banks, which he said have become almost too big to effectively manage their own risk. Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger went farther, decrying "a crazy culture of greed and overreaching" on Wall Street.

Buffett addressed concerns raised by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal over a potential conflict of interest between Berkshire's 19.5 percent stake in Moody's, the credit rating service, and a new Berkshire bond insurance unit which has received a "triple-A" credit rating from Moody's.

"It would be wrong if we tried to pressure Moody's but that's never happened," Buffett said in the Bloomberg television interview. "I have no contact with the management of Moody's. I can't recall ever calling them in my life." Blumenthal had described the Moody's investment as "a clear and direct conflict of interest."

Buffett said the municipal bond insurer, Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp., has enjoyed early success, winning some $400 million in business in the first quarter of 2008. He credited Ajit Jain, Berkshire's insurance guru, who is widely seen a potential successor to Buffett, for the success of the unit.

Addressing the battered U.S. dollar, Buffett said he expects the Euro and the British pound to remain strong against the greenback over the next decade.

"I do not have a feeling that those currencies are likely to depreciate in a big way against the U.S. dollar," Buffett said. "Overall, the U.S. is going to continue to follow policies that have made the dollar weaker over the years."

Despite the generally festive air of Berkshire's annual meeting--dubbed the "Woodstock of Capitalism"--there was palpable apprehension over the company's plans for who shall succeed Buffett, who is considered one of the greatest investors in history.

In an effort to reassure shareholders, Buffett said the company has selected three candidates to take over his role as Berkshire's chief executive and four candidates to succeed him as the company's chief investment officer. He did not name the candidates, whom he said would be able to "do as good or better" than him in some areas. Buffett has said that his son Howard will take over as chairman of the company.

"There will be no gap after my death in terms of having someone managing the money," Buffett said.

--Sam Gustin