Alice Schroeder on Buffett and Lehman

There is an interesting blog up by Alice Schroeder, the Warren Buffett expert and author of his biography, The Snowball. She posted comments on a report about Buffett's potential purchase of Lehman before that bank collapsed. Schroeder is always interesting to me because she is the world's foremost Buffett expert, and she has great insight into his thinking. For example, Schroeder's comments are in brackets in the below quote:

Buffett wanted Lehman executives to buy under the same terms as Buffett. Fuld explained to the Examiner that he was reluctant to require a significant buy‐in from Lehman executives, because they already received much of their compensation in stock. However, Buffett took it as a negative that Fuld suggested that Lehman executives were not willing to participate in a significant way. [With the stock trading at a price where you could entice Buffett to buy it, if the Lehman folks will not make a bet alongside Buffett that his investment can help raise enough capital to save the firm, they've just acknowledged that in their hearts they know Lehman is doooomed...]

Although it's short, I find the entire article to be one of the most fascinating I've read in a while. We learn a lot about three critical components of the financial system: Buffett, Lehman, and the behind-the-curtain conversations of Paulson. What about this article intrigued you, if anything?


Aside: I didn't realize that Schroeder and Buffett had a falling out after The Snowball was published. She even titled a blog response to the falling out "Am I Bitter...?". "Inside sources" have implied that Buffett did not enjoy the portrayal of his love life. Schroeder covers the subject a bit in this Business Insider video interview.