China Mourns the Loss of Charlie Munger, Celebrating His Best Investment
Chinese netizens are deeply saddened by the loss of esteemed investor Charlie Munger, renowned as Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman His remarkable investment journey in China has left an indelible mark, leading to widespread mourning across the Chinese internet
Social media users in China are expressing grief over the passing of billionaire investor Charlie Munger. The vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway reportedly passed away "peacefully" on Tuesday morning in a California hospital, as stated in a press release by the investment firm. The cause of death was not disclosed.
In a recent interview with the Acquired podcast, the 99-year-old investor expressed strong support for China and its future economic prospects, despite the country's recent economic challenges. He stated, "The Chinese economy has better future prospects for the next 20 years than almost any other big economy."
Thousands of social media users in China shared Munger's insightful quotes on life, markets, and business, following his death on Wednesday. The news has sparked 32,000 posts on Weibo, the Chinese counterpart of Twitter, and garnered 340 million views. Additionally, business executives have expressed their condolences and paid tribute to Munger, who was a long-time friend and business partner of Warren Buffett.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has 1.6 million followers on Weibo. He described Munger as a "titan of business and keen observer of the world around him." "Charlie Munger played a crucial role in shaping an American institution and, through his wisdom and insights, influenced a generation of leaders. His absence will be deeply felt," he wrote in both Chinese and English.
The president of BYD Americas, the Chinese electric vehicle maker that counts Berkshire as a longtime investor and competes fiercely with Tesla, stated, "Munger was not simply an investor; he was a visionary who believed in the potential of electric vehicles and renewable energy long before they became global imperatives."
Charlie Munger, the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., was in attendance at the Daily Journal Corp. shareholder meeting in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, February 14, 2019. During the meeting, Munger offered insights on investing, banks, China, and health care. This event was captured by Patrick T. Fallon of Bloomberg/Getty Images.
"Charlie Munger, the friend and business partner of Warren Buffett, has passed away. Stella Li mentioned that Charlie's steadfast support and guidance played a crucial role in shaping BYD into the global clean energy leader it is today."
Berkshire Hathaway's decision to invest in BYD in 2008 was heavily influenced by Munger. The initial investment of 1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars ($230 million) has significantly increased in value. As of late October, Berkshire Hathaway held about 7.98% of BYD, with the shares now worth 18.54 billion Hong Kong dollars ($2.4 billion) according to a recent filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Since mid-2022, Berkshire Hathaway has sold over 137 million shares of BYD, as stated in their previous announcements.
At a virtual meeting in February, Munger expressed, "I have never helped do anything at Berkshire [Hathaway] that was as good as BYD and I only did it once."
"BYD is so much ahead of Tesla in China."
More recently, he praised BYDs founder Wang Chuanfu as a "natural engineer" and compared him favorably to the CEO of Tesla.
"He mentioned in an interview with the Acquired podcast published in October that the guy at BYD is more skilled at producing things than Elon (Musk) is. Munger frequently praised China's communist government, despite criticisms from Western governments for human rights violations. He commended the country even after its crackdown on Chinese tech giant Alibaba, which was a major investment at Daily Journal, a Los Angeles-based newspaper publisher and investment firm Munger led from 1977 through 2022."
