In an interview with Liz Claman’s sweater puppets Thursday on Fox, Warren Buffett rebuffed the rumor that Berkshire Hathaway is considering a stake in Bear Stearns, following Citic’s denial on Thursday of having any desire to purchase shares of the precipitously declining stock. Referring to a New York Times article from last month that claimed he might buy as much as 20 percent of the bank, Buffett said, “That was an incorrect story. We were not taking a stake. That one had no basis.” (“First of all, Jimmy Cayne’s bridge game leaves much to be desired. Second of all, the only way you could get me to buy a piece of Bear Stearns would be as the conclusion to a series of escalating dares. Which is how I ended up with Fruit of the Loom, or as I like to call it, “The Poor Man’s Hanes.”)
Buffett also disclosed that Berkshire had unloaded all its shares in PetroChina, but claimed that he sold out “100 percent because of valuation,” and not because human rights groups have been telling him since May that he was personally responsible for the genocide in Darfur. WB said he “sold a little too soon,” since shares of PTR rose even higher after he began to pull out.
When asked how he could have possibly predicted the value of buying into PetroChina four years ago, Buffett told Claman, “other guys read Playboy. I read reports. [I came across PetroChina] and said, this is a great centerfold.”
Earlier: You Say Harem, I Say Whorehouse
Buffett Tells FOX Business He's Sold PetroChina Stake [Fox]
Buffett Avoids Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial [Bloomberg]
Citic Bank:No Plan To Buy Bear Stearns Shares In Next 3 Months [CNN Money]
Posted by , Oct 19, 2007 10:51AM
Is WB attractive to women?