Whenever you’re 98 years old, you may say things others can’t, so bravo to Charlie Munger for daring to talk about a vital, however muffled, reality about this time’s monetary markets. “We’ve got a brand new bunch of emperors; they’re the individuals who vote the shares within the index funds,” Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway associate mentioned Wednesday. I feel the world of Larry Fink, but I’m unsure if I would like him to be my emperor. Many CEOs, no doubt, privately agree.
As people have poured financial savings into exchange-traded and mutual funds, index suppliers have become the de facto largest shareholders of public corporations. Property under administration by Mr. Fink’s firm, BlackRock, has doubled to $10 trillion since 2016.
