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Warren Buffett might have saved Lehman (if he knew how to work his cell phone)
- chasingsparks 17y agoA very similar event took place between Buffet and LTCM.
- byrneseyeview 17y agoI imagine that he plays up the technophobe image so he has a polite way to decline an investment.
- biohacker42 17y agoUnlikely. Buffett's intuition that the deal for Barclays to buy ALL of Lehman is fishy, was probably spot on. And more information would not have changed his mind, and the insurance he might have offered to Barclays would probably have been to expensive for them to go ahead with the deal.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- jsm386 17y agoit was, in fact, exactly spot on: Lehman Brothers has accused Barclays Capital of taking $8.2 billion more than it should have when it bought key assets of the failed investment bank a year ago. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_bi_ge/us_lehman_brothers_bankruptcy http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_bi_ge/us_lehman_br...
- j_b_f 17y agoIf preventing the collapse of your entire financial system is predicated on the idea that one guy can use his cellphone, I'd argue you're fucked no matter what. But yeah, I'd guess that this was one of those missed calls "of convenience".
- hughprime 17y agoI imagine that if Warren Buffett had really been interested in taking the deal, he would have chased it up. If someone offers me what I think is a good deal on a many-billion-dollar asset, I'll find the time to make a followup phone call "Hey Bob, what happened to that fax you were gonna send me?"
- tezza 17y agoI saw the CNBC interview with Mr Buffett. Diamond called out of the blue at a bad time seeking insurance. This insurance was to cover BARCLAYS CAPITAL whilst it manouvred in purchasing negotiations. Diamond wanted insurance because the British Government had refused to allow Barclays to purchase Lehman without a lengthy consultation process. Buffett or not, the takeover sounded very unlikely. Nothing here has to do with Buffet himself. From the gist of the interview he was just commenting on how quick the collapse was. The interviewer asked him as The Guest, if he had any interesting stories from that time.
- xsmasher 17y agoOr if Barclays knew how to use their fax machine?
- xsmasher 17y agoBuffet has gone on the record as supporting Democrats and tax hikes for the rich - is this an attempt to smear him and paint him as both out of touch AND somehow responsible for the collapse?
- pyre 17y agoHow so? His inability to operate his cellphone is irrelevant. He asked the guy to send him a fax. The guy sent him a text message or email instead. Buffet looked for a fax, and found none so assumed that the guy had given up. How exactly does this make him 'out of touch?' He was playing to his strengths by asking for a fax instead of trying to use features of his phone that he didn't understand. It's not his fault that the guy on the other end of the line said, "Fax!? That's too old-fashioned! I'll send him an email/text instead!" As others have stated, if he was really that interested in the deal he would have called the guy back and asked why he hadn't received a fax.
- xsmasher 17y agoYou don't think the headline is a little accusatory and insulting?
- shadytrees 17y agoActual article: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/09/15/warren-buffett-could-have-saved-lehma/ http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/09/15/warren-buffett-co...