What was Charlie Munger's Net Worth?
Charlie Munger was an American business magnate, lawyer, investor and philanthropist who had a net worth of $2.7 billion at the time of his death. Charlie Munger was best known for being Warren Buffett's right-hand man. Munger was the Vice-Chairman of Buffett's diversified investment corporation, Berkshire Hathaway. Under their management, Berkshire Hathaway averaged a 20% annual return from 1965 through 2021. Munger was one of Berkshire's largest individual shareholders. At the time of his death he owned around 3.4% of Berkshire's total outstanding equity. Those shares were responsible for around 80% of his $2.7 billion fortune.
Charlie Munger died on November 28, 2023 at the age of 99.
Early Life
He was born Charles Thomas Munger on January 1, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor magna cum laud in 1948. In the late 1950s Munger moved his family to California where he took a job with the law firm Wright & Garrett (later Musick, Peeler & Garrett). He also eventually founded his own firm, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.
He eventually gave up law to concentrate on investment management. He first partnered with Otis Booth in real estate development. He then partnered with Jack Wheeler in the formation of the investment firm Wheeler, Munger, and Company.
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Berkshire Hathaway
Charlie and Warren Buffett grew up in Omaha and were friends as kids. They even worked at Warren's grandfather's grocery store at the same time as teenagers.
Charlie and Warren reunited in Omaha in 1959 at a dinner party. By this time, Charlie had moved his family back to Omaha from California to take over his later father's law practice. Following in Warren's footsteps, he began making financial investments and soon learned he had a knack for it. For about a decade Charlie ran his own investment fund. His fund was highly successful, averaging 19% annual returns.
In 1978 Warren brought Charlie over to Berkshire Hathaway as the company's Vice Chairman, a position he has held ever since.
Charlie Munger served as chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation (from 1984 through 2011), and has been the chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation.
Sea Meadow
In the late 19080s Charlie developed an upscale oceanfront community in Montecito he named Sea Meadow. Sea Meadow is a 22-acre guarded community. Today the homes in Sea Meadow regularly sell for $10-20 million, or more, and the monthly HOA fee is $2,700.
In December 2021 Charlie himself paid $11 million for a home in the community he developed.
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist Charlie Munger has given away hundreds of millions of dollars worth of his Berkshire Hathaway class A shares. He has made generous donations to the University of Michigan, the University of Michigan Law School, Polytechnic School in Pasadena, Stanford University and the University of California at Santa Barbara.
One of his most notable gifts was the $200 million he promised to UC Santa Barbara in March 2016. His gift was made on the condition that university use the funds to construct a dormitory that followed Munger's very specific and unusual design. Munger's design, which featured windowless bedrooms, ultimately caused the school's longtime architectural designer to quit in protest. The designer, Dennis McFadden, remarked:
"The dormitory would be unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent and a human being… An ample body of documented evidence shows that interior environments with access to natural light, air, and views to nature improve both the physical and mental well being of occupants…. The Munger Hall design ignores this evidence and seems to take the position that it doesn't matter…. The building is a social and psychological experiment with an unknown impact on the lives and personal development of the undergraduates the university serves."
