Warren Buffett Committed Five Billion to Goldman Over Phone While Taking Grandkid to Dairy Queen

What was said

"He said, you know, Lloyd, I know you well enough to know that you worry enough for the both of us. He said, look, Berkshire, $5 billion. It's not even, it's, you know, again, Berkshire's an insurance company. He said, $5 billion, if it all goes bad, that's not even a bad hurricane on the East Coast."

Lloyd Blankfein recounted Warren Buffett's casual $5 billion preferred stock investment in Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis, executed without due diligence or written contracts while Buffett was en route to Dairy Queen with his grandchild. Buffett dismissed the amount as trivial compared to hurricane insurance payouts and refused Blankfein's attempts to disclose risks, demonstrating extreme confidence in both Goldman's fundamentals and his own judgment. The investment was pivotal not for the capital but for restoring market confidence in Goldman when similar institutions were failing.