Worldly Partners is a research-intensive, highly concentrated investment partnership founded by Arvind Navaratnam, applying the generational multi-decade investment principles, process, and partnership ethos of Charlie Munger in the modern era.
We apply a first-principles approach to investing based on deep data-driven analysis, independent and proprietary research, and our detailed study of business history.
In practice, this philosophy leads us to partner with a small number of businesses where we believe our patient capital and thoughtful engagement can compound value over long periods of time for the families, university endowments, and charitable foundations who place their trust in us.
We believe the greatest fortunes were built by owning a handful of exceptional businesses for decades.
It is the difference between wealth and generational wealth.
The 533x (the average return of the 100+x stocks) have on average declined 65% along the way.
As part of our investment process, we conduct deep research studies into some of the highest returning companies in business history to understand the sources of their extreme success over decades. Certain studies have been made publicly available (as featured on the Acquired Podcast) and are provided below.
The research reports below are provided for informational purposes only. These reports do not serve as investment advice or recommendations and are not endorsements by the firm or its personnel. Worldly Partners does not have a financial interest in the companies or entities shown or the securities, or derivatives thereof, issued by these companies or entities.
A nearly 10,000x over seven decades— where racing excellence meets ultra-luxury.
Driving to a 65x (20% CAGR) over two decades off of cutting-edge technology, powerful storytelling, and branding for the world's most popular annual sporting series
How a dollar became $20+ M dollars over decades.
Taking 90% market share of internet search
Delivering great value to the semiconductor market for a 500+x (23% CAGR) over three decades
Social media decade-plus dominance for a 23% CAGR
Compounding for four decades at a 35% CAGR (a 450,000x)
Bringing Bollywood and professional sports together to 1.5 billion people for a 20% CAGR
Arvind Navaratnam founded Worldly Partners in 2020 and has over 20 years of investment experience spanning public and private markets. Arvind has taught a class on capital allocation, business history, and multi-decade competitive advantage for 15 years to MBA, JD, and undergraduate students.
He holds a BA and BS from Columbia University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he previously served on the global alumni board. Growing up, Arvind lived in six countries across four continents and is a citizen of three.
In addition to leading Worldly, Arvind is a professor who has received a university all-star teaching award and brings deep real-world insight into the classroom. Each year, the course features conversations and lectures with distinguished guests who share candid perspectives from senior levels of business leadership, offering students exposure to industry thinking and practical insights within an academic setting. Guest participation is strictly for educational purposes only.
Worldly Partners was founded on the investment principles of Charlie Munger. We have compiled an archive of his public speeches and works here.
This archive is intended for educational purposes only.
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Generational investing is ultimately not about returns.
It is about stewardship.
The capital entrusted to families, foundations, and endowments represents decades of work, sacrifice, and opportunity. Investing it wisely requires thinking not only about the next year or even the next decade, but about the generations that will follow.
Think of some of the greatest businesses in history — Amazon, Hermès, Home Depot. The greatest businesses in history have created extraordinary wealth not through short bursts of success, but through sustained excellence over very long periods of time.
Investors who partner with such businesses — and allow compounding to work uninterrupted across decades — can achieve outcomes that appear almost unimaginable at the outset.
Markets will always fluctuate.
But the quiet, relentless compounding of great businesses — patiently owned — remains one of the most powerful forces in wealth creation.
Most investors never experience outcomes like 100x, 200x, or 500x returns.
Not because such businesses do not exist, but because few investors hold them long enough and through the path required to get there. Worldly selectively works with a small exceptional set of limited partners that are fully aligned and have the capacity and culture to live through the multi-decade journey.
Modern markets emphasize short-term price movements, while extraordinary wealth creation occurs through decades of fundamental business growth.
Much ink has been spilled on the subject[1] (see footnote), today it is estimated that fundamental, long only investors comprise just 7% of total market daily value of trading, and rules-based, high frequency, or hedge fund traders now comprise 75%, with the remainder associated with retail trading. The vast majority of the market is short-term. To put it in perspective, the average holding period for a high frequency trader can be as little as seconds to minutes. As such, there is a persistent reaction to events, headlines, and macro developments associated with rules-based trading that wouldn’t impact the thesis of a fundamental investor.
Extreme patience (and stoicism) is required.
The temptation to act — to respond to volatility, to rotate into the newest opportunity, to react to macroeconomic developments — interrupts the compounding process.
Each decision appears rational in isolation.
Over decades, however, these decisions cause investors to sell their greatest compounding assets long before their full potential is realized — an enormous opportunity cost.
The irony of investing is that the mathematics of compounding are widely understood, yet the behavioral requirements necessary to capture those returns are rarely met. Coca-Cola has turned a dollar to over $20+ million dollars (!) over a century, as written in our history work (Coca-Cola.pdf) but has been down over 50% over multi-year stretches. TSMC (TSMC.pdf) has compounded at ~23%, and been a 500+x ,but had ~60% drawdowns over years. Compounding at 23%+ for over a decade, META (Meta.pdf) has had ~50% drawdowns over multi-year periods; Starbucks (Starbucks.pdf) declined 70%+ over multi-year periods. And those are just the select public companies that we share publicly from our work with our partners at Acquired.
The greatest fortunes in business and investing have historically been built in a remarkably similar way, through businesses such as Walmart, Alphabet, and GEICO.
By owning a small number of exceptional businesses for very long periods of time.
[1] Short-Term Orientation of Equity Market Creates Time Arbitrage Opportunity for Long-Term Investors. CIBC. https://www.cibc.com/content/dam/cibc-public-assets/asset-management/pdfs/short-term-orientation-of-equity-market-en.pdf
A generational investment is an intentional commitment to own a business through multiple economic cycles, market environments, and periods of volatility because its long-term economics remain intact.
It requires allocating not only capital, but also time, attention, and intellectual energy toward understanding the durability of a business and its long-term competitive advantages.
Such investments are not defined by their initial purchase. They are defined by the willingness of the investor to remain a partner to the “rare and beautiful thing” through decades of uncertainty, doubt, volatility, and inactivity.
The companies that ultimately compound hundreds of times in value often look ordinary at the outset. What distinguishes them is their ability to reinvest capital at attractive rates for decades, often while strengthening their competitive position along the journey.
But while the destination of these businesses can be extraordinary, the path is rarely smooth.
