
Warren Buffett might have saved Lehman (if he knew how to work his cell phone) - Flemlord
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2009/09/15/warren-buffett-might-have-saved-lehman-if-he-knew-how-to-work-his-cell-phone/
======
tezza
I 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.

------
hughprime
I 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?"

------
biohacker42
Unlikely. 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.

~~~
j_b_f
If 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".

------
xsmasher
Or if Barclays knew how to use their fax machine?

------
shadytrees
Actual article:

[http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/09/15/warren-buffett-
co...](http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/09/15/warren-buffett-could-have-
saved-lehma/)

------
chasingsparks
A very similar event took place between Buffet and LTCM.

~~~
byrneseyeview
I imagine that he plays up the technophobe image so he has a polite way to
decline an investment.

------
xsmasher
Buffet 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
How 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
You don't think the headline is a little accusatory _and_ insulting?

