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Charlie Munger's Daily Journal nearly doubles its shareholding in Alibaba

Rebbeca Ren

posted on January 5, 2022 6:30 am

Charlie Munger's Daily Journal nearly doubled its holding of Chinese internet giant Alibaba shares in recent months, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

At the end of the year, the investment company held 602,060 American depositary shares in Alibaba, up from 302,060 as of September 30. The purchase prices were between $111.96 and $177.7, with an estimated average price of $145.1.

The company’s other investments were unchanged.

The top 5 holdings of Daily Journal as of the end of 2021:

Bank of America Corp (BAC): 2,300,000 shares, 39.56% of the total portfolio.

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC): 1,591,800 shares, 29.53% of the total portfolio.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA): 602,060 shares, 27.65% of the total portfolio.

U.S. Bancorp (USB): 140,000 shares, 3.04% of the total portfolio.

POSCO (PKX): 9,745 shares, 0.22% of the total portfolio.

Daily Journal initiated a position in Alibaba by buying 165,320 Alibaba ADRs in the first quarter and kept buying more Alibaba shares during a time of weakness.

As Chinese regulators have tightened their grip on the Internet industry since the beginning of 2021, Alibaba's stock price has fallen by more than 50%.

Munger is best known as Warren Buffett's business partner and Berkshire Hathaway's vice-chairman. He has also been the chairman of the Daily Journal since 1977, and oversees the the newspaper publisher and software supplier's investment portfolio.

As a longtime China bull, Munger has openly praised the Chinese government on many occasions. In an interview with CNBC in June, he express hope that the US financial regulators will be more like those of China, and he praised China's response to the current health crisis.

The billionaire said that while "our own wonderful free enterprise economy is letting all these crazy people go to this gross excess," the Chinese "step in preemptively to stop speculation."

At Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in early May, Munger told the press that he believes that the Chinese government will allow companies to flourish, adding that the country has already lifted 800 million people out of poverty, which is unprecedented in the history.

"So my hat is off to the Chinese," Munger said at the Berkshire meeting. "And I think they will continue to allow people to make money. They've learned it works."