Warren Buffett appeared on CNBC Monday morning after releasing his closely-followed annual shareholder's letter over the weekend. The wide-ranging interview covered everything from Apple to airlines to President Trump. The world’s second-richest person at $76.6 billion also used the platform to announce his second March Madness bracket contest for employees. Any Berkshire Hathaway employee that can pick the Sweet 16 correctly will win $1 million a year for life.
Getting the 16 teams right after two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is tough, but not impossible. Fourteen out of 11.57 million pulled it off on ESPN.com in 2014 or about 1 in 826,000. Buffett will award $100,000 to the person who goes the furthest even if they can’t get all 16 correct.
“Last year we had two fellows that tied. One of them knew a lot about basketball, the other didn't know anything about basketball, but they each got $50,000 out of it,” said Buffett on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Buffett is expecting more than 100,000 entries this year after 85,000 Berkshire employees filled out an official bracket last year. And yes, Berkshire is hiring.
Berkshire Hathaway is a massive conglomerate with 367,000 employees (only 25 at its headquarters in Omaha, Neb.). It is made of nearly 90 companies, including Benjamin Moore, Fruit of the Loom, Geico and NetJets. Berkshire’s revenue ($224 billion), profits ($24 billion) and market value ($421 billion) all rank among the top five in the U.S.
Buffett first got into the madness of March basketball in 2014 when he, along with Quicken Loans, offered $1 billion to anyone who could pick a perfect bracket in the men’s tournament. Buffett knew he had a safe bet with odds against the feat as high as 1 in 9.2 quintillion (that is 18 zeroes). Every one of the millions of brackets was busted within 31 hours of the tourney start, but it offered great PR for the Oracle of Omaha. Buffett didn't get rich by being stupid.
