KEY TAKEAWAYS
Charles Munger died at the age of 99 in a California hospital Tuesday.
Munger was Warren Buffett’s trusted investment partner for nearly 60 years, helping push Berkshire Hathaway to success.
He is credited with some of Berkshire’s most successful holdings, such as See’s Candies Inc.

Charles Munger, Warren Buffett’s trusted investment partner for nearly 60 years, has died at the age of 99.

Munger was an instrumental part of Buffett’s success in turning a struggling textile firm, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), into an $800 billion conglomerate involved in diversified investments such as oil and gas, insurance, and railroads.
Berkshire announced the news in a press release Tuesday, saying Munger passed away peacefully with his family at a California hospital.

“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom, and participation,” Buffett said in a statement.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Munger ran his own value investing firm before becoming Vice Chairman of Berkshire. In a 1989 shareholder letter, Buffett gave Munger the credit for refusing to pursue the “cigar-butt” version of value investing.

Munger is said to have been the inspiration for acquiring one of Berkshire’s longest holdings, See’s Candies Inc. in 1972. That became the prototype for the company’s investment strategy, based on an economic moat strategy. That inspired purchases such as Coca-Cola 15 years later, and more recently Apple.

Berkshire Hathaway averaged an annual gain of 20.1% from 1965 through 2021, which was almost double the gains of the S&P 500 Index over that period.