What happened to Charlie Munger? Warren Buffett’s right-hand man & Berkshire Hathaway ‘investing genius’ worth $2.7bn dies aged 99. How he died, fortune, businesses, and more explored,
Charlie Munger (real name: Charles Thomas Munger) had a successful career as a business, investor, and philanthropist.
He was famous as the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett; Buffett described Munger as his closest partner and right-hand man.
The late real estate attorney and businessman‘s fortune was well over one billion dollars.
In November 2023, the world learned about his death and following that, fans want to know more about his life, career, cause of death, net worth, and more. Keep reading for the biography facts about the late billionaire.
What was Charlie Munger’s cause of death?
Investing genius Charlie Munger has died at age 99.
Munger died on Tuesday, his family announced.
“Berkshire Hataway a few minutes ago was advised by members of Charlie Munger’s family that he peacefully died this morning at a California hospital,” the investment firm said in a statement.
The statement also included a message from Berkshire Hathaway CEO Buffett.
“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom, and participation,” Buffett said.
Who was Charlie Munger?
Born on January 1, 1924, Charlie Munger was an American businessman and investor from Omaha, Nebraska.
Munger was vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett.
Munger was Warren Buffett’s sidekick for more than 50 years while at Berkshire Hathaway,
The insurance and investment conglomerate corporate giants like GEICO and General Reinsurance Corporation.
It owns stakes in Kraft Heinz, American Express, Paramount Global, Bank of America, Apple, and Coca-Cola, among others.
In addition to being vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway, Munger was also the chairman and CEO of Wesco Financial from 1984 to 2011.
Buffett previously described his sidekick 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,” Buffett previously wrote in an annual report, according to The New York Times.
“He was the architect, and I was the general contractor,” Buffett once said of Munger.
Munger, who wore thick glasses, lost his left eye after complications from cataract surgery in 1980.
He coined the term “lollapalooza effect,” believing that numerous factors of human misjudgment drive investment psychology.
A month before his death, Munger made headlines when he tore into two popular investing trends: artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.
“I think it’s getting a huge amount of hype,” Munger said about the trend during Zoom’s Zoomtopia conference in October.
“I think it’s probably getting more than it deserves.”
The investor genius ripped Bitcoin as the “stupidest investment” he ever saw.
“Don’t get me started on Bitcoins. Most of those investments are going to zero,” he said.
What was Charles Munger’s net worth?
At the time of the business magnate’s passing, he was one of the world’s richest whose fortune rakes in billions of dollars.
Prior to his death, Charles Munger had an estimated staggering net worth of $2.16 billion, according to Forbes.
He was the 1197th richest person on earth per the publication’s real-time billionaire list.
Information about his survivors was not immediately available.
The executive was also a philanthropist and had reportedly donated $110 million to the University of Michigan to fund a new “state of the art” residence hall.
He has also donated $65 million to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, making it the largest donation in the school’s history.
Munger and his second late wife previously donated 500 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, then valued at $43.5 million in 2004, to Stanford to build a graduate student housing complex.