With Charlie Munger’s Death, Berkshire Loses a Custodian of Its Culture

Shares of Berkshire Hathaway barely budged on Wednesday, a day after its vice chairman, Charlie Munger, died, reflecting the view among shareholders that Mr. Munger’s absence on the conglomerate’s day to day would have little impact on its future, even as they mourned the loss of the man who helped shape Berkshire’s culture.

Mr. Munger, who helped build Berkshire into a global investing powerhouse, died at a California hospital on Tuesday morning, according to an announcement from Berkshire. He was just over a month short of his 100th birthday.

Warren Buffett, the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, who built the company over decades with Mr. Munger’s steering, said it was his partner’s “inspiration, wisdom and participation” that had proved vital to Berkshire’s success. Since the mid-1960s, Berkshire, whose collection of companies includes insurers, a railroad and a candy company, has posted annualized returns of close to 20 percent — a record that stands out for being roughly twice the rally of the S&P 500 over the same time.

“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie,” Mr. Buffett said.

Mr. Buffett, who is 93, and Mr. Munger had laid out succession plans for this moment long ago, partly to limit any upheaval at the company. It was Mr. Munger himself who let slip two and a half years ago that Greg Abel, who handles all the non-insurance businesses at Berkshire and who had been among a cadre of senior employees in line for the top job, was the heir apparent.