QuestionerClearly, Goldman Sachs has lost reputation because of the SEC's action. What advice, in light of your own Solomon experience, you would give Goldman's Board of Directors and management?
WarrenBack when we were working at Solomon together in a somewhat similar situation, we had as our motto, get it right, get it fast, get it out, get it over. But get it right was number one. I mean, you have to have your facts right, your facts right. Because if you go out with the wrong facts, you get killed, and you can't redo it afterwards. But that does mean sometimes some delay. You have to gather information from within your own organization, and you are on the defensive. I would not, I do not hold against Goldman at all the fact that an allegation has been made by the SEC, and if it leads into something more serious, you know, then we'll look at the situation that time.
QuestionerWell, I agree with all of that. But I also think that every business ought to decline a lot of business that's perfectly legal and proper to accept. In other words, the standards in business should not be what's legal and convenient. The standards should be different. And I don't think there's an investment bank in America of any consequence that didn't take too many scuzzy customers and deal in too many scuzzy securities.
WarrenI do want to point out, though, that our experience with Goldman goes back 44 years. And during those years, we bought more businesses through them than through any other Wall Street investment bank. We've probably done more financing. They have helped build Berkshire Hathaway. And we trade with them as well. We don't hire them as investment. advisors. I mean, they have a big investment advisory business, and, you know, our reaction to that is no thanks. You know, we are in the business of making our own decisions. But when we trade with them, they can very well be shorting to us a stock we're buying. You know, they can be buying for their own accounts on stock we're selling. They do not owe us a divulgence of their position any more than we need to explain to them. our reasoning or what we are doing in our position. We are acting there in a non-fiduciary capacity. I mean, and they are operating in a non-fiduciary capacity, in my view, when they are trading with us. Now, if they're working on our behalf on an acquisition or financing, that's a different story. But I would say that we have had a lot of very satisfactory transactions with, with Goldman Sachs.