Buffett Sells Tickets to Annual Meeting on EBay

Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., has sold hundreds of tickets to the company’s annual meeting May 1 in an effort to foil Internet auctions for the passes.

Buffett listed tickets to the event, attended by more than 10,000 shareholders and their guests last year, on EBay Inc.’s website late Friday at $5 a pair after seeing sellers scalp them for as much as $58 each. As of Monday afternoon, he had sold nearly 400.

The annual gathering in Omaha is a magnet for admirers of Buffett, 73, who has become the world’s second-richest man by spotting undervalued assets. Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger, who circulate at cocktail parties and barbecues, answer questions for more than five hours during the meeting.

Buffett’s EBay offering is the first time he has sold tickets to the meeting, to which Berkshire shareholders get four free passes.

Next year, the company will label the tickets as nontransferable and take other steps to prevent them from being sold, Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg said.