Buffett Pulls Old Voicemail Trick To Avoid Saving Lehman
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Buffett has now confirmed that he was approached by Barclays, as the UK bank tried to do a deal to acquire Lehman Brothers the weekend before the US firm filed for bankruptcy. Barclays apparently knew that it couldn't proceed with a full-blown purchase unless it got either a US government backstop on losses, or was able to somehow insure Lehman's toxic assets. But it looks like Barclays President Bob Diamond hit on the idea of seeing whether Warren Buffett and his company, Berkshire Hathaway, would write an insurance policy of some kind to enable Barclays to seal the deal.
Well, it seems that contact was made with Buffett, who asked that more information be faxed over (always a good delaying tactic, that one. Who needs e-mail when you don't want to have to make a quick decision ?). Anyway, Buffett claims that he never received the info he sought, and Lehman went belly-up (as we know). But Buffett now admits that he did receive a voicemail on his cell from Diamond (who was following up on the request), but didn't pick it up as he couldn't work out how to retrieve it! It was apparently only 10 months after the message was left, as Buffett's daughter was teaching him how voicemail worked, that Diamond's message came to light!
The moral of the story, says Buffett, is 'Don't try to get in touch with me by cell phone'.
Buffett told CNBC that he got a lot of calls the weekend before the fall of Lehman. One from AIG CEO Robert Willumstad, who was looking to sell the firm's property casualty operation for up to $25bn. Buffett was straight to the point with Willumstad, however, saying: 'I can't do this deal....Don't waste your time with me'.
Finally, Bloomberg reports that lawyers acting for Lehman filed a court motion Tuesday, as they continue to try and claw back up to $5bn from Barclays, which they claim received an 'enormous windfall' when it acquired the firm's US assets last September. Lehman Holdings claim that 'material components of the transaction were not disclosed to the (bankruptcy) court' before it signed off on the deal. Barclays has described the claim as 'opportunistic'.
Reader Comments
1. 'If you were truly trying to save Lehman, who you have really just left one voicemail! ?'
2. 'Seems to me that Diamond knew his voicemail would go unanswered. Things worked out just fine for Barclays in the end'.
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