OMAHA — Warren E. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said Sunday that he regarded efforts to rate the performance of companies on social, human rights or environmental measures to be of dubious merit and would not consider such factors when selecting investments.
"I don't know how I would rate Exxon versus Chevron versus BP," he said at a news conference one day after Berkshire's annual meeting. "It's very difficult to judge the actions of companies that act on thousands of things every day."
A Times investigation published Friday found that about $56.4 billion, or 87%, of Berkshire's publicly disclosed stock holdings was invested in companies criticized by services that research corporate conduct for investors. These services found that the companies profited from activities such as lax environmental practices and human rights abuses.
The Times found that the companies often acted against the goals or philosophy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to which Buffett has pledged most of his personal fortune.
Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger were asked whether moral suasion, rather than divestment, might push companies to improve their practices, particularly ones that harm Gates Foundation goals.
"I don't think that the people who do that philanthropy are all that good at knowing whether they are doing more good than harm," Munger said. "If you put a gun to my head and asked which one has done more good for the world, the Ford Foundation or Exxon, I'd have no hesitation in saying Exxon."
Exxon Mobil Corp. has been criticized by numerous research groups that evaluate performance based on environmental, human rights and other criteria.
"It's ridiculous when people say one major oil company is more 'pure' than another," Buffett said. "It gets very hard to discriminate." And that logic, he said, extends to all sectors, including the one category that the Gates Foundation refuses to invest in -- tobacco.
A few years ago, Buffett said, he considered buying a tobacco company in Tennessee. He said he would invest in such companies in the future if he thought it would be profitable.
Berkshire subsidiary General Re Corp. holds a small investment in Altria Group Inc., the nation's leading cigarette maker.
On Saturday, Berkshire shareholders, at Buffett's urging, defeated a proposal that would have required the company to sell its $3.3-billion stake in PetroChina Co., a subsidiary of a Chinese government firm that dominates Sudan's oil industry.
