Busy Buffett ends an annual meeting tradition

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett laughs as he appears with Microsoft Corporation founder Bill Gates for a town hall style meeting with business students broadcast by financial television network CNBC at Columbia University in New York, November 12, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - There's only one Warren Buffett to go around, and non-U.S. investors will get less of him this year.

Citing "escalating attendance and time constraints," Berkshire Hathaway Inc said on Tuesday Buffett will discontinue a traditional "meet and greet" session with shareholders from outside the United States and Canada.

The session has been held since at least 2004 during the company's annual shareholder weekend in Omaha, Nebraska. That weekend is scheduled this year for April 30 to May 2.

Berkshire has also made other changes to the weekend. It is limiting tickets to the annual meeting to two per shareholder, down from four. It is also holding its usual Sunday steak dinner in two places, adding Piccolo Pete's to Buffett's favorite steakhouse, Gorat's.

Buffett, 79, is the world's second-richest person, and is considered by many to be its most revered investor.

He will still take questions from shareholders at the annual meeting in downtown Omaha, and has lengthened that session by about a half-hour to 5-1/4 hours.

The international meet and greet session has traditionally attracted several hundred investors.

About 35,000 shareholders attended last year's meeting. More are eligible to attend this year, following Berkshire's 50-for-1 stock split in January in connection with its purchase of railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. That transaction closed on Friday.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)