George Soros and LTCM, 1998. Warren Buffett and Lehman/AIG, 2008. Who's next? скачать в хорошем качестве

George Soros and LTCM, 1998. Warren Buffett and Lehman/AIG, 2008. Who's next?

No statement is more true and better applicable to Wall Street than the famous warning of Santayana: 'Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.''' — The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham. On September 2, 1998, John Meriwether sent a letter to his investors saying that LTCM had lost $2.5 billion or 52% of its value that year, $2.1 billion in August alone. Its capital base had shrunk to $2.3 billion. He approached those known to have such investible capital, including George Soros, Julian Robertson and Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and previously an investor in Salomon Brothers [LTCM incidentally had a $14 million equity stake in Berkshire Hathaway], and Jon Corzine, then co-chairman and co-chief executive officer at Goldman Sachs, an erstwhile classmate at the University of Chicago. Goldman and JP Morgan were also asked to scour the market for capital. But offers of new capital weren't forthcoming. During the 2008 financial crisis, Warren Buffett was approached by both Lehman Brothers and AIG for, or with, assistance, but he declined to intervene, citing an inability to structure a viable, fast-moving, and safe deal. He believed AIG was facing imminent collapse, with their cash running out in days. Buffett's decision to avoid these distressed firms was rooted in his analysis that they were on the brink of collapse and that their liabilities were too complex and immense.