Costco

Costco is not only Charlie Munger’s favorite company of all time
(plus he’s on the board, natch), it’s an absolutely fascinating
study in how seemingly opposite characteristics can combine to
create incredible company value. For instance: Costco has the
cheapest prices of any major retailer in America — and also the
wealthiest customer base. They pay their hourly workers 30% above
the industry norm (and give them excellent healthcare + 401k
benefits) — and are almost 3x more profitable on labor than
Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, Costco stocks 40x fewer SKUs than
their Bentonville-based rivals — yet sells an average of 15x more
volume of each. And oh yeah, practically all of Costco’s C-Suite
started their careers as baggers and checkout clerks! Tune in for
a mind-bending exploration of one of the world’s most iconic —
and iconically unique — companies.


This episode was released on August 20, 2023.


Links:


The Science of Hitting

Warren Buffett’s Costco joke

Episode sources



Carve Outs:


Tifosi sunglasses

Dwells “take off everything”

Jeremy Giffon on Invest Like the Best

Dogpatch

David Lidsky’s great piece on Acquired in Fast Company



Sponsors:


WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25

Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry

Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25






More Acquired!


Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups
from recent episodes

Join the Slack

Subscribe to ACQ2

Merch Store!



Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC


‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in
this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is
intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You
should do your own research and make your own independent
decisions when considering any financial transactions.