1998: "If you people keep bidding up the price of our stock, honesty will only do so much for you in the future."

AUDIENCE MEMBER: This is Raul from Walnut Creek, California. Thanks Mr. Buffett, thanks Mr. Munger, thanks for your great company. I wish I had known about it 10 years ago. You are not only the greatest but the most honest. I want to commit 99 percent of what I have to Berkshire Hathaway, and I will. The question I want to ask is, how do you calculate the intrinsic value of the company? Based on intrinsic value, to me, Berkshire Hathaway looks a great bargain at these prices, especially based on look-through earnings. Is that true? And one last question I want to ask, just for fun. What do you think about telecom IPOs like Qwest? They seem to pop up 50 percent at opening. Does it make any sense to invest in these? Thank you very much.

WARREN BUFFETT: Charlie, you want to tackle that?

CHARLIE MUNGER: I didn’t follow that all. Intrinsic value, we give you the facts and you make your own conclusions. I like the fact that you think we’re honest, but, you know, if you people keep bidding up the price of our stock, honesty will only do so much for you in the future.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, we’ve never been tested. I mean, we’re very lucky. We’ve never had anything that we needed, really, that we haven’t had. And, you know, who knows what the situation would be if your family was starving or something? So our intention is to continue the position where we’ll never be tested, too, I might add.