Why This Billionaire Just Bought Gold for the First Time in His Life

Billionaire Sam Zell just announced that he bought gold for the very first time in his life because, as he puts it, “it is a good hedge.” In a recent Bloomberg interview, the Equity International founder and creator of the real estate investment trust (REIT) admitted to seeing an opportunity in gold’s increasing supply shortage.

“For the first time in my life, I bought gold because it is a good hedge,” Zell, 77, told Bloomberg. “Supply is shrinking, and that is going to have a positive impact on the price.”

He added:

“The amount of capital being put into gold mines is at most nonexistent. All of the money is being used to buy up rivals.”

I believe Zell’s reasons for investing in gold are sound, and I’ve discussed them in detail a number of times before. Supply is indeed shrinking. The “low-hanging fruit” has likely already been mined, and it’s become prohibitively expensive for many companies to look for large-scale deposits, to say nothing of developing them. As you can see below, the number of ounces in major discoveries has been falling for years, and exploration budgets are still far below the 2012 peak.

The amount of gold in major discoveries has been trending down for years
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We Believe Supply-Demand Fundamentals Look Constructive

As if to confirm Zell’s reasoning, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) forecast in a report this week that a gold deficit will emerge in 2019 “on the back of stronger demand over the next two years, primarily from bar hoarding, net central bank buying and exchange-traded products (ETFs).” Peak production, according to the bank, will occur in 2021 at close to 34 million ounces, but then decline to under 16 million ounces by 2030.

World gold supply is expected to peak in 2021
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