Charlie Munger, widely known as Warren Buffett’s right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway Inc., died on Tuesday aged 99.
It is believed that Munger, who started his career earning 20 cents an hour with Buffett’s grandfather’s grocery shop, was as crucial to Berkshire’s stunning success as the Omaha of Nebraska himself.
Born in 1924, Munger would have turned 100 on January 1, but died peacefully at a hospital in California, according to Berkshire.
In a press statement released, Buffett said: “Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation.”
The man who recently called Bitcoin ‘rat poison’, became vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway in 1978 and thrived despite having his differences with Buffett in style and investing. Munger was a Republican as against Buffett, who is a staunch Democrat. And unlike Buffett, he also had a huge interest in architecture and design.
Buffett often credited Munger, known as the ‘Ohama of Pasadena’, for the success of Berkshire, now a company with a market cap of $785 billion. He once famously said: “Charlie shoved me in the direction of not just buying bargains, as (author) Ben(jamin) Graham had taught me. It was the power of his mind. He expanded my horizons.”
Consigned to a wheelchair in recent times, Munger had remained mentally sharp and earlier this year, fielded hours of questions at the annual meetings of Berkshire and the Daily Journal Corp. and in interviews with various podcasts and television channels.
Munger’s Journey: From Meteorology to Investments
Munger enrolled at the University of Michigan, but dropped out to work as a meteorologist in the US Army during World War II. Despite never getting an undergraduate degree, Munger graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948. He then practiced law in Los Angeles for some time before turning in the mid-1960s to managing investments in stocks and real estate. He met Buffett in 1959 and became inseparable friends.
At the time, Buffett was known for investing in distressed companies, but it was Munger who instilled in him the idea of putting money in companies that would outlast other companies in the business.
The two insisted they never argued over things, and in one of his famous annual mails to Berkshire investers, Buffett said that when they did differ “Munger would say, ‘Warren, think it over and you’ll agree with me because you’re smart and I’m right’.”
Munger and Buffett began buying shares of Berkshire Hathaway, a textile mill in New England, for $7 and $8 and took control in 1965. They then reshaped the purpose and core business of Berkshire into insurance and investments. The company, today, owns other corporates like Geico Insurance and BNSF railroad and has major investments in Apple, IBM, American Express and Coca-Cola.
Often working in Buffett’s shadows, Munger was listed as one of the world’s wealthiest men with a net worth of $2.6 billion.
On Tuesday, a single share of Berkshire Hathaway was quoting for $546,889.
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