Walter Brown didn’t begin his career intending to build an empire. When he returned to the Philippines in 1965, he was a geologist by training, working as a consultant for Oriental Petroleum. But it didn’t take long before he realized that the stock market—especially one dominated by mining and oil companies—rewarded those who understood what was happening beneath the surface.
“I came back to the Philippines in ’65,” Brown says. “At that time, I was working as a consultant for Oriental Petroleum. I signed up as the geologist of record when they made the discovery well for oil.”
That technical role gave him access to something most investors didn’t have: insight.
“Alfredo Ramos got me involved in the stock market,” he recalls. “We started monitoring the dealings of Oriental Petroleum. It was coded, but Fred broke the code, so we knew about the discovery before the market knew it.”
When the stock price surged, Brown already understood the implications.
“When the stock price took off, we already had the results, and we knew it wouldn’t last long,” he says. “So it was more of trading for me.”
Starting With Other People’s Capital—and Conviction
Brown’s first capital didn’t come from salary savings or outside investors. It came from trust.
“I used my father’s money for trading,” he says. “He gave me the shares he had, which were about ₱100,000 at the time, and that was the start.”
That initial stake grew quickly.
“I built that into a big portfolio,” Brown says matter-of-factly.
But it wasn’t luck. Brown treated the market like a discipline.
“I followed the market and I started trading on fundamentals,” he explains. “When the price-earnings ratio reached a certain level, I sold.”
At a time when speculation was rampant, his approach was grounded.
“I always assessed value based on earnings, potential, and resources,” he says. “Understanding mining helped me know which companies to buy.”
Riding the Cycles—and Knowing When to Get Off
One of Brown’s most memorable trades involved Benguet Corporation.
“I was also trading Benguet over the counter,” he says. “They were doing a takeover deal. I started buying at ₱5, and it went all the way up to ₱100.”
But Brown didn’t romanticize wins.
“Back then, I was very involved in trading,” he says. “We were market movers.”
That influence came with consequences.
“I also lost a lot of money,” Brown admits. “When we returned to the market, we decided to buy together and took over Philodrill—which is where we made a lot of money.”
He learned early that markets are cyclical.
“You can make a lot, and you can lose a lot,” he says. “What matters is whether you understand why.”
When Confidence Meets Reality
Success bred ambition. Brown and Ramos attempted a takeover of Lepanto.
“Fred Ramos believed in me eventually, and we tried to take over Lepanto,” he says. “We didn’t succeed, though.”
Failure didn’t end his market career—but it reshaped it.
“At that time, I was more focused on trading than on mining geology,” Brown says. “But every loss teaches you something the market won’t explain.”
Those lessons hardened his discipline.
“If you made less than ₱100 million in the market, you weren’t doing it right,” he once told audiences—half in jest, half as a reminder of scale and seriousness.
From Paper Profits to Real Lessons
Brown is candid about the dual nature of his stock market years.
“I built my wealth in the stock market,” he says. “But the market also tested me.”
He believes his edge came from knowing the business behind the ticker.
“The stock market then was mostly mining and oil companies,” he explains. “I understood mining. That gave me an advantage.”
But he’s quick to add a warning.
“Understanding doesn’t make you invincible,” he says. “It just improves your odds.”
The Takeaway
Looking back, Brown doesn’t glamorize his early trading years. He frames them as a training ground.
“The market teaches you humility,” he says. “It rewards discipline—and it punishes overconfidence.”
His story underscores a lesson many investors learn too late: fundamentals matter, cycles repeat, and survival is as important as winning.
“You can make money fast,” Brown says. “But keeping it—and knowing what to do next—that’s the real test.”
For Walter Brown, the stock market wasn’t just a place to build wealth. It was where he learned the rules that would shape every business decision that followed.
