According to the American group Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, long-time vice chairman and close confidante of Warren Buffett, has died in California at the age of 99. Munger had been vice chairman of Buffett’s investment company since 1978.
Warren Buffett said in a statement that Berkshire’s current status would not have been achieved without the inspiration, wisdom and contributions of Charlie Munger.
Munger’s connection to Buffett goes back to his youth, when he worked for his grandfather at a supermarket in Omaha, Nebraska. Munger served as a meteorologist during World War II and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948 with a law degree.
From meteorology to stock trading
From his work as a lawyer, he focused on trading in shares and real estate in the mid-1960s. His investment company Wheeler, Munger & Co did well.
The partnership with Buffett, which would become one of the most successful in investment history, formally began in 1975. However, the two are said to have had a close bond from the start. Munger’s second wife, Nancy, reportedly asked him why he spent so much time with Buffett. “You don’t understand,” Munger replied. “This is not an ordinary person.”
Buffett: “I was a slow student”
According to Buffett, it was Munger who convinced him to look at companies whose shares were properly valued. “Charlie taught me not to just buy bargains like Ben Graham taught me,” said Buffett. “It was the power of Charlie’s mind. He broadened my horizons.”
In a 1989 letter to shareholders, Buffett put this with a now famous English pun on the meaning of the word “fair”: “It is far better to buy a great company at a fair price than an honest company at a wonderful price.’ Buffett: “Charlie understood this early on; I was a slow learner.”
Munger: Bitcoin is “rat poison”
Munger’s choice of words was cruder in comparison. He compared bankers to “heroin addicts” and called the cyber currency Bitcoin “rat poison.” The father of six and grandfather of two would have turned 100 on January 1.
Source: Krone
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