Charlie Munger, investing mogul and longtime business partner of Warren Buffett, spoke at the Daily Journal (NASDAQ:DJCO) annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday. Munger is a chairman at both Daily Journal, as well as Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A, NYSE:BRK.B). And there were plenty of notable moments for the Charlie Munger interview that has Wall Street talking on Thursday morning.
During his discussion, Munger spoke on very timely topics such as Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) and GameStop (NYSE:GME) stock. Additionally, he also touched on special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), compared Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and much more.
What are some of the notable quotes from the Charlie Munger interview? Let’s take a closer look at a few.
Bitcoin
- “I don’t think bitcoin is going to end up the medium of exchange for the world. It’s too volatile to serve well as a medium of exchange.”
- “It’s really kind of an artificial substitute for gold and since I never buy any gold, I never buy any bitcoin. I recommend that other people follow my practice.”
GameStop
- “That’s the kind of thing that can happen when you get a whole lot of people who are using liquid stock markets to gamble the way they would bet on racehorses.”
- “The frenzy is fed by people who are getting commissions and other revenues out of this new bunch of gamblers. When things get extreme you have things like that short squeeze.”
- “And it’s really stupid to have a culture which encourages as much gambling in stocks by people who have the mindset of racetrack betters … It’s a dirty way of making money.”
Costco and Amazon
- “It’s been amazing that one little company, starting up not all that many decades ago, could become as big as Costco did, as fast as Costco did. Part of the reason for that was cultural. They have created a strong culture of fanaticism about cost and quality and efficiency and honor, all the good things, and it’s all worked.”
- “Costco I do think has one thing that Amazon does not … People really trust Costco to be delivering enormous values … [t]hat is why Costco presents some danger to Amazon … [T]hey’ve got a better reputation for providing value than practically anybody including Amazon.”
SPACs
- “I don’t participate at all and I think the world would be better off without them.”
- “I think this kind of crazy speculation and enterprises not even found or picked out yet is just a sign of an irritating bubble. It’s just the investment banking profession will sell s— as long as s— can be sold.”
Robinhood and Other Trading Apps
- “It’s most egregious in the momentum trading by novice investors lured in by new types of brokerage operation like Robinhood … I think all of this activity is regrettable. I think civilization would do better without it.”
- “Robinhood trades are not free … When you pay for order flow, you’re probably charging your customers more and pretending to be free. It’s a very dishonorable, low-grade way to talk. And nobody should believe that Robinhood’s trades are free.”
On the date of publication, Nick Clarkson did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
Nick Clarkson is a web editor at InvestorPlace.
