By Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger pushed back against a report that alleged his partner Warren Buffett at times traded stocks in his personal account before the conglomerate made moves in the same securities.
Munger, 99, told CNBC’s Becky Quick in an interview that the idea that Buffett was front-running Berkshire’s own trades doesn’t make sense, pointing toward his charitable giving and the fact that most of his wealth is tied up in Berkshire stock.
“I don’t think there’s the slightest chance that Warren Buffett is doing something that is deeply evil to make money for himself. He cares more about what happens to Berkshire than he cares what happens to his own money. He gave all his own money away. He doesn’t even have it anymore,” Munger said.
In a Nov. 9 article, ProPublica reported that Buffett on at least three occasions made personal trades in a stock shortly before or in the same quarter that Berkshire did. ProPublica cited leaked IRS data as the source of the information. CNBC has not independently confirmed the timing of these trades.
The ProPublica report said Buffett made at least $466 million in personal stock sales between 2000 and 2019. That would account for a very small percentage of Buffett’s overall net worth. A securities filing from August showed Buffett owns more than 200,000 Berkshire Hathaway A shares, a position worth more than $100 billion.
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