Charlie Munger was Robin to Warren Buffett ’s Batman, a business equivalent of the Edge rocking with the Bono of investing. Munger, who died Tuesday at age 99, played one of the toughest roles in the corporate (or any) world: No. 2. Succeeding as second in command takes a rare blend of confidence and humility, say people who’ve done it. The consummate right-hand person must be devoted to organizational success while accepting that someone else’s star will always shine brighter. At a time when many American workers are reconsidering whether...

Berkshire Hathaway announced earlier this week the passing of Charlie Munger, the billionaire and vice chairman of the company. Munger would have turned 100 on New Year's Day, Jan. 1, 2024. He was the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett as well as a close friend who helped build the conglomerate they both steered for decades. "Berkshire Hathaway … was advised by members of Charlie Munger’s family that he peacefully died this morning at a California hospital," the company said on Tuesday in a press release. Buffett himself said in...

As a general rule, holding company Berkshire Hathaway does not buy companies run by bad managers. That’s a little bit unusual, former Fortune editor-at-large Pattie Sellers pointed out to company CEO Warren Buffett and his business partner Charlie Munger, who died at age 99 this week, in a 2014 interview. “A lot of people like to buy good companies with bad managers and then replace them,” she said. Not the approach at Berkshire Hathaway, the two responded. “We tried that, with predictable results,” Buffett said, adding that “life is so...

Charlie Munger, the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett's business partner, died yesterday, less than a month short of his 100th birthday. He was known for his dry wit and the depth of his wisdom. He was instrumental in Berkshire Hathaway's success, which has been substantial as the company’s stock return of 19.8% annually from 1965 -2022 trounced the S&P 500’s 9.9% return. Over the years, volumes of Munger's thoughts have been collected (see here and here), and those in the investment world revere his advice. Like others,...

Berkshire Hathaway’s longtime vice chairman, Charles Munger, passed away yesterday at age 99. This Forbes cover story from early 1996, reveals just how transformational this sidekick was for Warren Buffett. Nearly 28 years ago in the January 22, 1996 edition of Forbes Magazine we published the first major profile on Warren Buffett’s consigliere, “The Not-So-Silent Partner.” I urge you to read this excellent vintage Forbes cover story. You will learn that without Munger’s counsel, 93-year old Warren Buffett would have likely never become the GOAT among global investors or amassed...

ANN ARBOR, MI - Charlie Munger, best known as billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment partner, also has a footprint at University of Michigan. Munger studied mathematics at the Ann Arbor university in the 1940s. His name is also on a pair of graduate residence buildings, including the one built on top of the old Blimpy Burger’s restaurant on South Division Street. The wealthy Wolverine who helped build investment titan Berkshire Hathaway with Buffett died Tuesday, Nov. 28 in a California hospital, the company said in a statement. He was 99 and...

This is a published version of the Forbes Daily newsletter, you can sign-up to get Forbes Daily in your inbox here. You’ve heard of FOMO, but what about FOBO? The Fear of Becoming Obsolete is on the rise as 22% of workers worry that new technology will make their roles obsolete. And unlike other technological advances, generative AI like ChatGPT is more likely to affect office jobs. But we can conquer our FOBO and use AI to our advantage. Instead of viewing the technology as a threat, become fluent in...

In 1988, 10 years after Charlie Munger came aboard Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett told Fortune magazine he had been "shaped tremendously by Charlie." If only he knew what was ahead. For the last three decades, Berkshire has been one of the U.S. stock market's most reliable performers. How reliable? The company's lower-priced Class B shares have finished in negative territory in only six of the last 26 years. Even companies like Apple, Walmart and Coca-Cola have seen more annual pullbacks. As Buffett tells it, Munger taught him to buy wonderful...