Warren Buffett is one of the most well-known investors and has made some great stock picks over the years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk often likes to remind the billionaire how he missed out on investing in Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) before it became a market leader for electric vehicles.
What Happened: Over the years, Musk has taken to social media to remind Buffett and the late Charlie Munger how they missed out on investing in Tesla years ago.
The Tesla CEO often references a 2019 lunch meeting with Munger, who served as the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK)(NYSE:BRK) before he passed away in November 2023.
Munger served as the right-hand man to Buffett and often shared investing ideas, which may have included recommending to pass on investing in Tesla.
"I was at a lunch with Munger in 2009 where he told the whole table all the ways Tesla would fail. Made me quite sad, but I told him I agreed with all those reasons & that we would probably die, but it was worth trying anyway," Musk previously said.
Musk references a $200 million valuation of Tesla at the time when Buffett had the opportunity to invest in the company, which would have been before the company's IPO in June 2010.
It's unclear how much Berkshire Hathaway could have bought at the time, but based on the $200 million valuation a 10% investment could have been done for $20 million.
On Tuesday, Tesla has a market capitalization of $463 billion, which mean's Berkshire's hypothetical investment would be worth $46.3 billion today.
This represents a potential return of 231,400%.
Related Link: Elon Musk Mocks Buffett Over Missed Opportunity: 'Too Bad He Didn't Invest In Tesla When It Was 0.1% Of Today's Value'
Why It's Important: Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway never invested in Tesla, but they did get in on the growth of electric vehicles by investing in Tesla rival BYD Co (OTC:BYDDY) in 2008.
The company has also benefitted from an investment made in Apple in 2016, which is now one of the biggest pieces of the valuation of Berkshire Hathaway today.
Berkshire Hathaway is valued at $883 billion today.
While Munger and Buffett may have passed on investing in Tesla in 2009, both investors have often had strong words of praise for the company and for Musk.
Image generated using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.