Recently, Berkshire Hathaway leaders Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger spoke about billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk who used very positive terms to describe the CEO of multiple companies. The legendary investors called Musk “brilliant” and “talented” when discussing his amazing business feats.
The comments were made at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting last weekend, where topics such as artificial intelligence and other technological innovations were brought up. Musk’s heavy involvement in the tech space naturally brought him into the conversation.
The discussion was prompted by a question from a shareholder directed toward Munger about a prior statement he had made. The shareholder asked, “I have a question for Charlie [Munger] regarding statement you made in the past. You once mentioned that you would prefer to hire someone with IQ of 130 who believes is 120, over someone with IQ of 150 who thinks is 170. I understand that you were referring to Elon Musk. Given the recent success of his ventures such as Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, I’m curious to know if you still hold the view that Elon Musk overestimates himself?”
Munger initially said, “Well, yes, I think over… Elon Musk overestimates himself, but he has. He is very talented. So he’s overestimating somebody who doesn’t need to overestimate, very talented.” Buffet said, “He’s a brilliant, brilliant guy and I would say that, you know, he might score over 170 But, but he, he dreams about things and his dreams have got a foundation.” Munger added, “He would not have achieved what he has in life if he hadn’t dried or unreasonably extreme objectives. He likes taking on the impossible job and doing it.”
Following the comments made at the conference, Elon tweeted, “Appreciate the kind words from Warren & Charlie.”
Warren Buffett today on @elonmusk: There's this Bill Maher program, he interviews Elon. Elon does a terrific job toe to toe with Bill Maher. It's worth watching. Elon is a brilliant guy; He dreams about things and his dream have got a foundation.
Munger: He likes taking on the… pic.twitter.com/s8NdiI5WcL
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 6, 2023
When discussing the electric vehicle market, Buffet and Munger said they wanted to avoid competing against Musk’s prowess in the space with Tesla. “We don’t want to compete with Elon in a lot of things,” Buffett said. Munger then added, “We don’t want that much failure.” Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its stake in the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD 11 times in less than a year corroborating those statements. Berkshire Hathaway originally bought $232 million shares of BYD in 2008 and, by 2021, owned approximately 21 percent of the company worth $7 billion at its peak last year.
Buffet also noted that he and Munger were different kinds of businessmen than Elon Musk. They said Elon’s work style wasn’t for them, stating, “It takes over your life in a way that just doesn’t fit us.” The duo noted the importance of Musk’s accomplishments but said the accolades required a “dedication to solving the impossible.” Buffet commented on Musk, “Every now and then, he’ll do it, but it would be torturous to me or Charlie.”
The praise the Berkshire executives gave Musk is certainly merited when looking at Elon’s lengthy resume. Musk is currently the CEO of three companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, all on the cutting edge of their respective fields. The simultaneous leadership of all these companies requires undeniable “brilliance” and “talent”.
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