Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger – The Long-Lasting Duo-Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger is destined to be a couple of Berkshire Hathaway. They have built Berkshire Hathaway together from time to time. When seeing the Berkshire Hathaway annual report, there are two figures facing opposite to the audience, and most of the audience recognizes the faces. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger always sit close together. By the way, they have made an enormous influence on Berkshire Hathaway’s business Performance from time to time. But, in the November 28th, 2023, their relationship must be ended after more than 60 years in their business partnership. Charlie Munger died in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 99.
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffet or commonly known as Warren Buffett is the leader of Berkshire Hathaway. He was born on August 30th, 1930. The Oracle of Omaha has led Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett since the 1960s. He is a former student of Benjamin Graham, The Father of Value Investing. From time to time, he became one of the richest men in the world because of his investing style in managing Berkshire Hathaway. Besides Benjamin Graham, Phillip Fisher is his idol in valuing the stocks.
Berkshire Hathaway, the former failing textile company, is the center of his investment vehicle. He buys the company’s stock from Seabury Stanton and later fired him. Although failing in the textile industry, Buffet later developed it into an investment company. In the beginning, he changed the direction of the company into the insurance industry by buying the shares of the National Indemnity Company and the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) and then buying multiple undervalued stocks from different sectors. With the vehicle of Berkshire Hathaway, he showed his skill and expertise in picking the stock and investing in the right companies. He can boost the market capitalization of Berkshire Hathaway.
Nowadays, he had invested in several companies, namely Forest River, Scott Fetzer Companies, Fruit of the Loom Companies, See’s Candies, BNSF, Kraft Heinz, GEICO Auto Insurance, Pampered Chef, TTI, Inc, General Re, MiTek Inc, Shaw Industries, American Express, Bank of America, General Motors, The Coca-Cola Company, and Apple.
Charlie Munger
Charles Thomas Munger or commonly known as Charlie Munger is the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska on January 1st, 1924. But, he died in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 99. Charlie Munger has a long relationship with Buffet’s family. In his childhood, he worked in Warren Buffett Grandparent’s store, i.e., Buffett & Son. His family was a judge and lawyer, and it influences his knowledge of Law horizon.
Munger has some educational experience is some campuses. He studied some major in some universities, namely Harvard Law School (Harvard University), meteorology (California Institute of Technology), and mathematics (University of Michigan).
In his working experience, he also served in U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and then became a real estate attorney in Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. In his investment career, he experienced an incredible result. Munger’s investment partnership generated annual returns of 19.8% in the 1962–75 period compared to 5.0% of Dow Jones Index. in his books, Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger, he knows for his statement “Elementary, worldly wisdom” and “Lollapalooza effect“.
The Partnership
Munger and Buffet first meet in 1959 at the dinner time. But, in November 28th, 2023, their relationship above 60 years must be ended. Historically, their relationships still go well, although they have different opinions on one another. For example, they have different opinions on investments such as Costco and Wells Fargo, by the way. Warren Buffett was extremely excited about Munger’s view, acumen, and argument. He says “I am not going to find another guy like this” and then he invites Munger to Berkshire Hathaway as the chairman. Furthermore, he said that “In 62 years, he and Charlie Munger have never gotten mad at each other”. It showed how mature their relationship.
Their close-friend relationship had grown Berkshire Hathaway into 958 billion US Dollars of Assets and Net Income 90.8 billion US. Dollars in 2022. It makes Berkshire Hathaway one of the biggest companies in the world. This data was obtained from Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report in 2022. Basically, it showed incredible growth compared to 2010. In the year of 2010, Berkshire Hathaway’s assets were just 372 million US Dollars and Net Income around 13.4 billion US Dollars. Overall, The net income has risen to tripled since 2010.
Finally, from this lesson of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, besides managerial, analytical, and communication skills, there are some important factors in deciding the journey of the company. Cohesion and relationship between the company’s leader can influence the business company’s performance from time to time, and it happens in Berkshire Hathaway. Thank’s For Coming and Hopefully Enjoy the Article
Bibliography of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger – The Long-Lasting Duo
Stankiewcz, K. 2021. Buffett reflects on his first meeting with Munger: ‘I am not going to find another guy like this.’ Accessed via https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/29/buffett-reflects-on-his-first-meeting-with-munger-im-not-going-to-find-another-guy-like-this.html on February 14th, 2022.
Roche, J.L. 2021. Buffett on his relationship with Munger: ‘In 62 years, we’ve never gotten mad at each other’ . Accessed via https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett-and-munger-friendship-and-partnersship-162519250.html on February 14th, 2022.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 2020 Annual Report. Accessed via https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2020ar/2020ar.pdf on February 14th, 2022.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 2010 Annual Report. Accessed via https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2010ar/2010ar.pdf on February 14th, 2022.