Warren Buffett says he won't endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Here's why he's staying out of politics.
Scott Morgan/Reuters
- Warren Buffett hasn't endorsed Kamala Harris in her presidential race against Donald Trump.
- The Berkshire Hathaway CEO campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and threw fundraisers for Obama.
- Buffett has said he doesn't want to risk hurting his workers and shareholders by voicing his views.
Warren Buffett has not endorsed Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, and made it clear this week he will not publicly back either presidential candidate.
"Mr. Buffett does not currently and will not prospectively endorse investment products or endorse and support political candidates," reads a statement posted on Berkshire Hathaway's website this week in response to fraudulent claims on social media about the investor.
The Berkshire CEO's reticence may seem surprising as he's previously thrown his weight behind Democratic presidential candidates. He organized fundraisers for Barack Obama in 2011 and stumped for Hillary Clinton in 2016, even walking on stage at a rally to hammer Donald Trump over his bankrupt businesses, reluctance to publish his tax returns, and rude treatment of others.
Yet the 94-year-old billionaire explained why he's now keeping his mouth shut during Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in 2022. Buffett said he'd learned that "you can make a whole lot more people sustainably mad than you can make temporarily happy by speaking out on any subject."
Sharing his opinions on divisive subjects could anger people and cause them to boycott or protest against Berkshire's companies, forcing them to lay workers off and causing harm to Berkshire's shareholders. Buffett said his employees and investors shouldn't have to pay the price for him voicing his views.
"So, I've decidedly backed off — I don't want to say anything that'll get attributed, basically, to Berkshire, and have somebody else bear the consequences of what I talk about," he said.
That explains why Buffett hasn't come out in support of Harris. He didn't endorse Joe Biden either, although Biden reportedly told a group of Wall Street executives in October 2020 that he "just got off the phone with Warren Buffett."
It's also possible Buffett has spoken to Harris behind the scenes.
His endorsement as a celebrity investor, leading philanthropist, and the CEO of a $1 trillion company with roughly 400,000 employees could be valuable to Harris — especially with an electoral vote up for grabs from his hometown of Omaha. However, Buffett is putting his company before his personal politics.