Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger gives $40 million in stock to California museum
Investor Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man for more than five decades, has made a $40 million gift to a California museum he has supported in the past
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire investor Charlie Munger, who's been Warren Buffett's right-hand man for more than five decades, has made a $40 million gift to a California museum that he's supported in the past.
Munger gave 77 Class A Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Museum in San Marino, California, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At Thursday's closing price of $523,545.06 a share, that made the gift worth more than $40.3 million.
A decade ago, he gave the Huntington museum nearly $33 million worth of Berkshire stock to help pay for a new education and visitors center. Huntington spokeswoman Susan Turner-Lowe said this latest donation will be used to build more than 30 residences for visiting scholars to use while they spend time at the museum doing research.
Turner-Lowe said scholars often spend a school year studying at the Huntington and the expensive rental market in Los Angeles has made that difficult to afford. She said this is “a long-time dream that is in the process of being fulfilled in a major way.”
Munger's fortune never rivaled his best friend Buffett's, but it was still sizeable. At one point Munger did lose his billionaire status as he steadily gave away his fortune, and roughly $1 billion of his stock went into a charitable trust in 2010 after his wife died. But he is a billionaire today because the value of his Berkshire stock has continued to increase over time.
After his latest donation, Munger still holds 4,033 Class A Berkshire shares. But back in 2000 he held 15,911
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