The Day Charlie Munger Was Introduced To The World

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.

_{By Matt Schifrin, Forbes Staff}

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 a net worth of $120 billion. In Buffett’s early days he was a strict Graham & Dodd value investor, buying cheap stocks at “give-away prices” and selling them when they were no longer cheap. Munger converted Buffett’s guiding investment philosophy into what we describe in our story as “one decision growth stocks” with the intention of buying and holding forever. This is exactly what Berkshire has done with stocks such as Coca-Cola and American Express, and private companies like See’s Candies and GEICO.