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‘I think there are lots of troubles coming… There’s too much wretched excess.’
That’s Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A, +0.06% , sharing his thoughts on the current climate at the Daily Journal annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.
Munger, who serves as chairman for the Daily Journal along with his Berkshire role, cited the increasing use of EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — as an example of that excess.
“I don’t like when investment bankers talk about EBITDA, which I call ‘bulls**t earnings,’” Munger, 96 years old, explained. “It’s ridiculous. Think of the basic intellectual dishonesty that comes when you start talking about adjusted EBITDA. You’re almost announcing you’re a flake.”
He then called out investors in China for how they play the game
“They love to gamble in stocks. This is really stupid,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine anything dumber than the way the Chinese hold stocks.”
Munger was also asked about Tesla TSLA, -0.92% and had some interesting, if unsurprising, things to say regarding the stock’s recent surge.
“I think Elon Musk is peculiar and he may overestimate himself, but he may not be wrong all the time… Tesla sales went up because Elon has convinced people he can cure cancer,” he said. “I would never buy it, and I would never sell it short.”
Watch his full presentation, courtesy of CNBC:
Munger, with an estimated net worth of about $2 billion, has long been a business partner of Warren Buffett. The two first met more than 60 years ago.
As for trouble ahead, no sign of it in Wednesday’s session, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.94% , S&P 500 SPX, +0.65% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.90% all logged solid gains.
