Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s Partner and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Dies at 99
Andrew Ross Sorkin and Robert D. Hershey Jr., reporting for The New York Times:
Charles T. Munger, who quit a well-established law career to be
Warren E. Buffett’s partner and maxim-spouting alter-ego as they
transformed a foundering New England textile company into the
spectacularly successful investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, died
on Tuesday in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 99.
His death, at a hospital, was announced by Berkshire
Hathaway. He had a home in Los Angeles.
Although overshadowed by Mr. Buffett, who relished the spotlight,
Mr. Munger, a billionaire in his own right — Forbes listed his
fortune as $2.6 billion this year — had far more influence at
Berkshire than his title of vice chairman suggested.
Mr. Buffett has described him as the originator of Berkshire
Hathaway’s investing approach. “The blueprint he gave me was
simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at
wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair
prices,” Mr. Buffett once wrote in an annual report. […]
A $1,000 investment in Berkshire made in 1964 is worth more than
$10 million today.
Mr. Munger was often viewed as the moral compass of Berkshire
Hathaway, advising Mr. Buffett on personnel issues as well as
investments. His hiring policy: “Trust first, ability second.”
A new edition of Munger’s book of aphorisms, Poor Charlie’s Almanack — its title an allusion to Munger’s idol, Benjamin Franklin — is due next week.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin and Robert D. Hershey Jr., reporting for The New York Times:
Charles T. Munger, who quit a well-established law career to be
Warren E. Buffett’s partner and maxim-spouting alter-ego as they
transformed a foundering New England textile company into the
spectacularly successful investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, died
on Tuesday in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 99.
His death, at a hospital, was announced by Berkshire
Hathaway. He had a home in Los Angeles.
Although overshadowed by Mr. Buffett, who relished the spotlight,
Mr. Munger, a billionaire in his own right — Forbes listed his
fortune as $2.6 billion this year — had far more influence at
Berkshire than his title of vice chairman suggested.
Mr. Buffett has described him as the originator of Berkshire
Hathaway’s investing approach. “The blueprint he gave me was
simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at
wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair
prices,” Mr. Buffett once wrote in an annual report. […]
A $1,000 investment in Berkshire made in 1964 is worth more than
$10 million today.
Mr. Munger was often viewed as the moral compass of Berkshire
Hathaway, advising Mr. Buffett on personnel issues as well as
investments. His hiring policy: “Trust first, ability second.”
A new edition of Munger’s book of aphorisms, Poor Charlie’s Almanack — its title an allusion to Munger’s idol, Benjamin Franklin — is due next week.