Not the ‘Slightest Chance’ Warren Buffett Made Private Trades, Charlie Munger Says

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger doesn’t believe Warren Buffett privately bought and sold shares on his personal account ahead of Berkshire’s trades of the same companies.

“I don’t think there’s the slightest chance that Warren Buffett is doing something that’s deeply evil to make money for himself,” Munger told CNBC. “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.”

A ProPublica investigation published last week found that “The Oracle of Omaha” privately traded stocks on at least three separate occasions in the same quarter or a quarter before Berkshire bought or sold those same companies, according to approximately two decades of leaked IRS data that included Buffett’s trades.

Munger, 99, is described as Buffett’s “right-hand man,” and joined Berkshire in 1978.

Buffett has controlled the sprawling Omaha, Neb.-based conglomerate since 1965, and has on multiple occasions said that he avoids trading the same stocks as Berkshire to avoid any apparent conflict of interest.

Berkshire’s internal ethics rules prohibit the trade of public company stock, including its own, if the individual has access to non-public data, according to a copy of the policies outlined in an email from Buffett obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

In the nearly two decades of records analyzed by ProPublica, Buffett traded at least $466 million in personal stock sales. This is still dwarfed by Buffett’s massive net worth, which sits at $120 billion. 

Buffett has promised to donate over 99% of his wealth, having already given about $55 billion, largely through the Gates Foundation and his kids’ foundations, according to Forbes.

“It’s not a plausible argument,” Munger told CNBC. “It’s one more ridiculous thing that’s said about Berkshire.”