Charlie Munger Called Jeff Bezos An 'Amazing Human Leader,' But Missed Out On Amazon Stock Because It Was 'Too Complicated And Uncertain For My Particular Temperament'

Charlie Munger, the venerable late Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway BRK BRK, never minced words when it comes to praising Amazon.com Inc AMZN founder Jeff Bezos.

In a candid discussion in 2019, Munger lauded Bezos as an "amazing human leader," comparing him to Lee Kuan Yew, the transformative leader of Singapore. Bezos’ leadership at Amazon led the company to global dominance in e-commerce and cloud computing. Despite this admiration, Munger and Berkshire Hathaway were notably late in investing in Amazon.

Munger’s hesitation to invest in Amazon was rooted in the company’s complexity and the uncertainties that surrounded it. "It's always been too complicated and uncertain for my particular temperament," Munger said.

He emphasized his preference for investments where outcomes could be predicted with a high degree of accuracy. This conservative approach has been a cornerstone of Berkshire Hathaway’s investment strategy, focusing on businesses with clear, stable trajectories.

This cautiousness led to a missed opportunity, one that Munger acknowledged with a hint of regret. He admired Bezos’ unparalleled leadership but stayed true to his investment principles, favoring simpler, more predictable ventures. "I find other things to do that'll work fine," he said.

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Over the last 10 years, shares of Berkshire are up over 216% as viewed in the chart from Benzinga Pro below.

Compare that to the +1,055% gain for Amazon.com shares over the last 10 years, as seen in the Benzinga Pro chart below, and it may be easy to see why Munger had some level of regret in not investing in the Bezos-founded ecommerce company.