Billionaire Charlie Munger dead at age 99


Nov 28 (Reuters) - Charlie Munger, who quit a law career to become Warren Buffett's trusted confidant and longtime second-in-command at Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), died on Tuesday morning. He was 99.

Berkshire said Munger died peacefully at a hospital in California, where he lived. No cause was given. Munger would have turned 100 on Jan. 1.

"Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie's inspiration, wisdom and participation," Buffett, Berkshire's 93-year-old chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Munger had been a Berkshire vice chairman since 1978, working closely with Buffett on allocating the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate's capital, and being quick to tell him when he was making a mistake.

"It's a shock," said Thomas Russo, a partner at Gardner Russo & Quinn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and longtime Berkshire shareholder. "It will leave a big void for investors who have modeled their thoughts, words and activities around Munger and his insights."

Investors expect Munger's death to be felt keenly by Buffett and the investing world generally.

"He was certainly one of the greatest investors, as a team with Buffett," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey. "I'm sure it is an enormous loss for Buffett personally."

Munger was known for steering Buffett away from purchasing what Buffett called "cigar butts" -- mediocre companies at very cheap prices -- and instead favoring quality over quantity.

"Charlie felt that buying very good businesses at fair prices that could keep compounding and reinvesting cash flow into continued growth was more consistent with how he and Warren were philosophically and liked to invest," said Paul Lountzis, president of Lountzis Asset Management in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. "They liked to own businesses forever."

Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York, said the "big change that Charlie brought to the value investing community was not just looking for what was cheap but looking for what was out of favor but high quality."
BERKSHIRE IMPACT

Investors said Munger's death was unlikely to have a major impact on Berkshire's operations.

Two other vice chairmen, Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, have day-to-day oversight of Berkshire's non-insurance and insurance businesses, respectively.

Abel is expected to become chief executive once Buffett, 93, is no longer in charge.

Berkshire's businesses include the BNSF railroad, car insurer Geico, and an array of energy, industrial and retail operations, as well as familiar consumer names such as Dairy Queen, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom and See's Candies.

It also owns hundreds of billions of dollars of stocks, led by Apple (AAPL.O).

"I wouldn't think Berkshire will look much different, apart from Buffett no longer being able to share ideas with Munger," said Russo. "Berkshire may be a little less fun without him."

Berkshire's annual weekend, which draws tens of thousands of people to Omaha, will be different, with Munger no longer sharing the stage with Buffett to answer dozens of shareholder questions over five hours.

"The annual meeting will never be the same without Charlie's terse, open and honest comments," Lountzis said. "He was so different from Warren, in the sense that Charlie said what he thought, and didn't give a damn what anyone else thought."

Munger's death comes a week after Buffett himself donated about $866 million of Berkshire stock to four family charities.

The announcement was notable because of Buffett's acknowledgment that his own time is finite, as he moves nearer the end of his storied investing career.

Buffett again pledged that more than 99% of his wealth would go to charity, and that Berkshire was "built to last" and would remain in good hands without him.

He has never publicly signaled a desire to step down, including after a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2012.

"At 93, I feel good but fully realize I am playing in extra innings," Buffett said in last week's letter.
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Rome's rightful successor said:
Why do the evil always live to such old ages?
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Hard work kills good people and we're cucked into believing that if we work ourselves to death, we too can have the nice things.

A miner will die a painful death from lung complications not much later in life, meanwhile a mine owner will live to 100 and die surrounded by his family.
 
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Starved Artist said:
Hard work kills good people and we're cucked into believing that if we work ourselves to death, we too can have the nice things.

A miner will die a painful death from lung complications not much later in life, meanwhile a mine owner will live to 100 and die surrounded by his family.
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>children work in mines
>children are banned from working
>children play computer games where the goal is to dig tunnels and collect diamonds
goddamn humans and their "rights." It's entirely too much work to make mining robots that children can pilot, what a waste
 
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Haramburger said:
>children work in mines
>children are banned from working
>children play computer games where the goal is to dig tunnels and collect diamonds
goddamn humans and their "rights." It's entirely too much work to make mining robots that children can pilot, what a waste
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A popular TikTok autist is digging a mine under her house. Kala or something like that

Autists yearn for the mines
 
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Haramburger said:
>children work in mines
>children are banned from working
>children play computer games where the goal is to dig tunnels and collect diamonds
goddamn humans and their "rights." It's entirely too much work to make mining robots that children can pilot, what a waste
Click to expand...

Oh ,my god.
Enders Game but with mining. Your kids gets an entertaining game, the parents get a cut of whatever the kids mine. Offset the price of raising new kids in this inflationist hellscape.
 
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Haramburger said:
>children work in mines
>children are banned from working
>children play computer games where the goal is to dig tunnels and collect diamonds
goddamn humans and their "rights." It's entirely too much work to make mining robots that children can pilot, what a waste
Click to expand...
Minecraft proves abolishing child labor was a mistake. The children yearn for the mines.
 
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Did Charlie Munger do or say anything wrong, like advocate for open borders and all that? I mean, billionaires and all, but I'm convinced that Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are probably the least evil of the mega-billionaires, if not neutral...and one of the reasons I believe that is that Berkshire Hathaway's holdings aren't obfuscated like BlackRock, Vanguard, etc. are.
 
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Tomato flowers said:
A popular TikTok autist is digging a mine under her house. Kala or something like that

Autists yearn for the mines
Click to expand...
Haramburger said:
>children work in mines
>children are banned from working
>children play computer games where the goal is to dig tunnels and collect diamonds
goddamn humans and their "rights." It's entirely too much work to make mining robots that children can pilot, what a waste
Click to expand...
Remember that video of random autists joining together to dig a gigantic fucking hole for no reason?

I think people just like digging.
 
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