Bill Miller, the value investor known for once beating the market for 15 years in a row, is also well-recognized as an early investor in bitcoin and Amazon . Miller made his name by running the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust, which beat the S & P 500 every year between 1991 and 2005. He left Legg Mason to found Miller Value Partners in 2012 after the fund suffered steep losses and an exodus of assets during the financial crisis. He also redefined old-school value investing principles. Miller believes stocks with high price-to-earnings ratios, typically considered growth stocks, can also be mispriced and undervalued. Case in point: One of Miller’s most successful bets was on Amazon. Miller first bought the e-commerce retailer more than 20 years ago and his stake grew so big over the years that in 2021, he claimed he was the biggest shareholder after founder Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott. For his personal wealth, Miller previously revealed that bitcoin actually made him even more money than Amazon. He started buying bitcoin around $200 to $300, and now the digital coin is worth more than $29,000 apiece. He briefly entered the billionaire club when bitcoin hit its peak at about $69,000 in 2021. At Miller Value Partners, his flagship Miller Opportunity Trust (LMNOX) , which has about $1.4 billion in assets under management, rallied 31.6% this year through July 26, ranking in the top percentile for its category, according to Morningstar. Amazon is the fund’s biggest holding with a 5.4% weighting. The portfolio also includes a few travel names, such as Expedia , Delta Air Lines and Norwegian Cruise Line . The flagship fund also owns Big Tech stocks, including Alphabet and Meta , in its top 10 holdings. Miller, who’s in his 70s, a nnounced his succession plan in early 2022. Samantha McLemore, Miller’s longtime co-manager, will assume management of Miller Opportunity Trust through her firm Patient Capital. His eldest son, Bill Miller IV, will become the lead manager for the Miller Income Fund.
