\n2024<\/td>\n | $2 billion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\nEarly Life<\/h2>\nBorn as William H. Miller III in 1950, in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Bill Miller doesn’t have a launchpad to succeed like many other billionaires of his generation. His father worked as a terminal manager for a trucking company. His educational journey saw him attend Miami Palmetto Senior High School. He graduated in 1968.<\/p>\n Thereafter, he bagged a degree in economics from Washington and Lee University in 1972. Bill Miller joined the military that same year. He served in the military for three years. During his time there, he rose to the ranks of Captain. While at the military, Bill Miller was outstanding. At a time, he received the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service while assigned to the 502d U.S. Army Security Agency Company.<\/p>\n Upon leaving the military, Bill Miller continued on his academic journey. He enrolled for a Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. During this period, Bill Miller worked as a part-time accountant.<\/p>\n However, his exposure to stock trading can be traced down to his father. Bill Miller at the young age of 9 learned stock trading from his father. The genesis of his career started with the J.E. Baker Company. The company is a manufacturing firm. Miller worked there as a treasurer.<\/p>\n Legg Mason Capital<\/h2>\nIn 1981, he joined Legg Mason Capital Management as a security analyst. There, he gained qualifications to become a chartered financial analyst. Miller\u00a0made a name for himself at Legg Mason by pulling a genius’s feet. Between 1991 to 2005, he beat the S&P 500 index for 15 years straight. At a time when Bill Miller spoke about the streak, he referred to it as an accident of the calendar. He said, \u201cIf the year ended in different months it wouldn’t be there and at some point, the mathematics will hit us.\u201d Bill Miller said luck played a role in the success. He said, \u201cWell, maybe it’s not 100% luck, maybe 95% luck.”<\/p>\n In 2007, he became the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of the firm. At that time, Miller was saddled with the responsibility of running the Legg Mason value trust mutual fund. In 2012, he handed over the Value Trust to Sam Peters, before leaving the firm in 2016.<\/p>\n Highlights of some prominent occurrences that took place during Bill Miller’s time at the firm include how Legg Mason sold its stock brokerage subsidiary to Raymond James Financial in 2002 and many more. Three years later, the firm became the 5th largest money management firm in the U.S after it transferred its Private Client and Capital Markets business to Citigroup. In return, Legg Mason received Citigroup\u2019s asset management business in a $3.7 billion transaction.<\/p>\n Before the 2008 financial crisis, Mark R. Fetting became CEO of the company, succeeding Raymond A. “Chip” Mason. The change of CEO took place in January of that year. By May, Legg Mason recorded its first quarterly loss as a public company. Barely a year later, the firm resolved to move its headquarters to Inner Harbor East, Baltimore.<\/p>\n As a result of the financial crisis, Legg Mason laid off 350 members of staff in 2010. While struggling with its finances, Legg Mason cancelled all sports sponsorship in a bid to reduce its expenditures. A year later, Franklin Templeton Investments acquired Legg Mason for $4.5 billion.<\/p>\n Several Financial Mistakes that almost ruined Bill Miller<\/h2>\nDespite his outstanding feat at Legg Mason, Bill Miller made a huge mistake that proved costly. Before the financial crisis in 2008, Bill Miller placed large leveraged bets on Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, and other stocks that had been particularly hard hit. He believed that the Federal Reserve would backstop struggling institutions.<\/p>\n Things didn’t turn out as planned and the move backfired. The Legg Mason value trust mutual fund lost 55% of its value. Consequently, investors abandoned him and they withdrew their assets under his management. Before making the move, assets under the management of Bill Miller were worth around $77 billion.<\/p>\n As they withdrew the funds, the worth of assets under his management shranked. It went as low as $800 million. Personally, Bill Miller suffered more than most of the investors. Then, the net worth of Bill Miller went down by 90% in a few months.<\/p>\n Additionally, he made another mistake in 2018 when he sold his stakes in GameStop. He made these shots at a period when the firm recorded heavy losses. Within 12 months, GameStop lost $275 million. The heavy loss triggered a freefall in the stock of the firm.<\/p>\n Later, Bill Miller decided to short his position on GameStop. After making the decision, things turned around for the firm. Then, reports indicated that the stake of Bill Miller in the organization could have been worth $800 million when things changed for good.<\/p>\n Investment Portfolio<\/h2>\nOur findings into Bill Miller\u2019s investment portfolio indicate that he’s one of the largest shareholders of Amazon after Jeff Beso and MacKenzie Scott. He began investing in Amazon when the company went public in 1997. Gradually, Bill Miller raised his stake in the firm. The most famous period when he added more to his Amazon stake was during the dot com bubble burst.<\/p>\n Though, at times, the investor resorted to selling his stake in the company. During the financial crisis of 2008, Bill Miller sold a portion of his stakes in Amazon. The stake in Amazon contributed significantly to the net worth of Bill Miller. As at November 2008, Amazon stock was below $40 per share. Over the years, the value of the firm’s stock has grown massively.<\/p>\n More so, Bill Miller has a stake in Canadian multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. Presently, the firm is known as Bausch Health Companies Inc. It focuses on the development, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceutical products and branded generic drugs. Drugs produced by Valeant Pharmaceuticals are meant to combat skin diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, eye health, and neurology.<\/p>\n The firm was founded in 1959 with its headquarters in Laval, Quebec, Canada. As of 2021, the firm has a workforce of 19,600 employees. In 2022, the firm recorded a revenue worth $8.12 billion.<\/p>\n As a prominent investor, Bill Miller spread his investment portfolio across various stocks, though 50% of his wealth is in BTC. As at when energy prices soared, Bill Miller said oil stocks would be very cheap. In the spring of 2021, he went overweight on oil stocks.<\/p>\n Is Bill Miller Pro Bitcoin?<\/h2>\nBill Miller has always been bullish about Bitcoin. In spite of the 2022 downturn that plunged the crypto to its lowest low, the mutual fund manager did not stop voicing his support for BTC. He has no doubt in the potential of the crypto to soar as a legitimate store of value. It is worth mentioning that Bill Miller, has over time, been able to encourage and drive the adoption of BTC, particularly among his followers. He leverages his influence to hype the crypto. Recall that Miller is notable for his remarkable track record, knowledge of financial markets and valuable perspectives about investments. By virtue of this, people look up to him for financial advice.<\/p>\n Miller is a believer in the dominance of Bitcoin over all other digital assets. In one of his recent interviews, he justified his stance. According to him, Bitcoin is ahead of other cryptocurrencies because it is not controlled or backed by anyone. Meanwhile, other digital assets, according to him, are backed by venture capitalists. Also, he is optimistic in the capacity of BTC to become a new form of money, thereby rendering other digital assets irrelevant.<\/p>\n In 2022, Bill Miller reacted to comments from Berkshire Hathaway\u2019s Buffett and Charlie Munger criticizing Bitcoin. Buffet, 91, had earlier described BTC as an unproductive asset, saying the crypto does not produce anything tangible. Reacting to the comment, Miller said Buffet is old and probably not used to embracing new technologies. Miller said; \u201che said that bitcoin is a non-productive asset and therefore he can’t value it. Fair enough. If the only thing that you think you can value are productive assets, then no one’s making you buy it, right? So ignore it.\u201d<\/p>\n |