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Buffett's opinion on Walmart not changed by scandal

Shareholders watch a Q&A session with Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, May 5, 2012. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom

Shareholders watch a Q&A session with Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, May 5, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Lane Hickenbottom

Mon May 7, 2012 8:01am EDT

(Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said a recent bribery scandal at Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) has not changed his investment opinion about the stock.

In an interview on CNBC on Monday, Buffett characterized Wal-Mart's troubles in Mexico as being caused by a group of bad apples who don't represent the broader company's values. He said such an issue "scares the dickens out of me as a CEO" of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) because it could happen to any company.

As of December 31, Berkshire's 39.04 million share stake in Wal-Mart was worth $2.33 billion.

(Reporting By Lauren Tara LaCapra; editing by John Wallace)
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Comments (1)
RobertSnodgrass wrote:
Buffett must be saying that to try to protect his walmart stock. Im sure he knows what walmart did was very stupid and expressed extremely low integrity and morals. My good friend owns several bussineses in Thailand where bribery and payoffs are probably more common than mexico. When i asked him about starting a bussines there myself, even before this walmart scandal came out, the first most important thing he stressed to me was never bribe or payoff anybody. Even if it costs more and takes longer to do things the right way. not only is it illegal, but its just bad bussiness, and very wrong and immoral.

May 08, 2012 4:33am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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