David Rosenthal: commitment

Transcript context

…I don't actually remember who this was. I'm going to guess by the relationship that gets forged for future events that it's Salomon Brothers. It is Salomon Brothers, indeed. The old bank of Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis fame, which we will definitely come back to in a sec. They're the only bank that is willing to underwrite what ultimately ends up being a $76 million convertible debt deal, convertible into equity, that they underwrite. And it’s not just Salomon Brothers, it's one specific person at Salomon Brothers. A guy named John Gutfreund is a rising star there. Remember that name folks. Gutfreund and Salomon underwrite the $76 million deal. Buffett flies up to New York to sit down with Gutfreund and tell him, hey look, I know this is going to be a tough deal to get through. Even Salomon Brothers famous sales distribution channels, even your famous [...] that's out there if things go sideways, Berkshire were willing to underrate the deal and do all of it. But we're going to do it at a much lower price than what you go out with if the deal is broken. All right, great. I'll go to trade on your name then at least and say tell all my clients, hey, Warren Buffett already owns a large percentage of this company and he's willing to... Okay, what do you mean trade on his name? What do you mean Buffett will do it all but at a lower price. He would buy the whole offering? If they're trying to sell a whole swath of stock at a certain price, is this the convertible preferred that they're selling?…

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