‘We screwed up’ not buying Google shares, Berkshire’s Munger says

(Reuters) – One of Warren Buffett’s and Charlie Munger’s biggest regrets was not buying shares of Google owner Alphabet Inc.

“I don’t mind not having caught Amazon early,” Munger said. “The guy (Jeff Bezos) is kind of a miracle worker, it’s very peculiar. … But I feel like a horse’s ass for not identifying Google earlier … We screwed up.”

Buffett and Munger were asked if Berkshire Hathaway’s investing philosophy had changed given that one of Berkshire’s portfolio managers recently bought shares of Amazon.com Inc.

Todd Combs and Ted Weschler manage roughly $26 billion of Berkshire’s investments.

Munger said he and Buffett saw how great search engine optimization was used in its Berkshire-owned GEICO and “we just sat there sucking our thumbs.”

(Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Nick Zieminski)