Translated using google translate and some personal modification for non-mandarin reader(ori script at bottom) :P Hope you guys enjoy reading it.
Buffett nearly save the world?Buffett (Warren Buffett), there is a forgotten voice mail that may save Lehman Brothers a few months ago? Revealed by Mr. Buffett longtime friend, Fortune magazine senior editor Loomis.
It can be imagined for a whole year before that crazy weekend(financial world collapse), Buffett received a large number of calls for help. American International Group (AIG) are eager to raise 18 billion U.S. dollars of funds, pleading for Buffett to lend a helping hand. Buffett told them that, do not waste time on me, I can not do anything for you.
Saturday evening around 6 pm, when Buffett is on the way to Edmonton, Canada to participate in a social activity, he received a call from Barclays Capital's Bob Diamond. Diamond is planning to buy Lehman Brothers, which will pull Lehman back from the brink of bankruptcy, but the British Government is giving him some difficulties. Diamond came up with another plan in the hope Buffett can provide guarantees in order to facilitate smooth transactions. Buffett believes that this trading scheme sounds too complicated, and is difficult for him to discuss through a brief telephone call.So Buffett allow Diamond to fax him the details. When Buffett went back to the hotel room during midnight, he was surprised to find that nothing was sent to him. Lehman Brothers collapsed, the global financial system had gone into a full-scale crisis within a few days.
Voice mail discovered 10 months later...
One day, Buffett asked his daughter Susan what does the small icon in his phone represents: You know what this means? He admitted that he had never truly understand their own cell phone's basic functions. Results, this is the voice mail for Warren Buffett from the Diamond. (This raises another question: Why did Diamond not use the fax as Buffett said?) We all know during the crisis peak Buffett has answer the many phone calls. Sometimes, he would agree to help the panic financiers with a high return.
In the most serious financial crisis last fall, when Buffett injected 5 billion USD into Goldman Sachs Group and receive a cumulative dividend rate of 10% preference shares. Two weeks later, Buffett also received a General Electric (GE) preferred stock and permanent warrants.
Perhaps the moral of the story is that you never want to find yourself in such a situation - matter of survival that depends entirely on an old man's mobile phone. On the other hand, all technical issues aside, you may still say Buffett's such use of mobile phones during the financial crisis is really "an extremely clever feat."
Original Mandarin Version巴菲特（Warren Buffett）手機中有一個被遺忘數月的語音郵件能夠拯救雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）？
這是《時代》雜志（Time）記者圖穆蒂所敘述的故事，消息來自於巴菲特和他的多年好友、《財富》（Fortune）雜志資深編輯盧米斯共同參加的一次會議。
可以想像，整整一年之前的那個瘋狂週末，金融世界陷入崩潰，巴菲特接到了大量的求助電話。
美國國際集團（AIG）急切地想籌集180億美元資金，懇求巴菲特伸出援助之手。巴菲特對他們說，別在我身上浪費時間，我不能為你們做任何事。
週六傍晚6時左右，當巴菲特準備出門參加加拿大埃德蒙頓的一個社交活動時，他接到了巴克萊資本（Barclays Capital）主管戴蒙德（Bob Diamond）的電話。戴蒙德正打算收購雷曼兄弟，將雷曼從破產邊緣拉回來，但他在英國政府那裡遇到了困難。
戴蒙德希望巴菲特提供擔保因此，戴蒙德想出了另外一個計劃，希望巴菲特能提供擔保，以便推動交易順利進行。
巴菲特認為，這個交易計劃聽起來過於復雜，他很難通過一個簡短電話搞清楚。因此巴菲特讓戴蒙德把具體交易計劃通過傳真發給他。
但當巴菲特午夜時分回到酒店房間的時候，他驚訝地發現甚麼也沒收到。接下來，雷曼兄弟崩潰了，全球金融體系數天之內也陷入了一場全面的危機。
語音郵件10個月後才被發現
時間過去了10個月。有一天，巴菲特問女兒蘇珊自己手機屏幕上的一個小圖標代表了甚麼：你知道這是甚麼意思嗎？他承認自己從未真正瞭解自己手機的基本功能。
結果，這正是那天晚上巴菲特一直等待的來自戴蒙德的語音郵件。（這引發了另一個問題：戴蒙德為甚麼不照巴菲特所說的那樣使用傳真呢？）我們都知道，巴菲特在危機高峰期要答復大量的電話。有時候，他也會同意幫助電話另一端陷入恐慌的金融家，但總是會要求高額的回報。
在去年秋天金融危機最嚴重的時候，巴菲特向高盛集團（Goldman Sachs）注資50億美元，得到了股息率10%的累積優先股。兩週之後，巴菲特還獲得了通用電器（GE）的永久優先股和認股權證。
或許這個故事的教訓是，你永遠不想發現自己身處這樣的境地――事關存亡的交易完全取決於一位老人會不會使用手機。另一方面，拋開所有技術問題，你可能也會說，巴菲特在金融危機期間這麼使用手機真是“絕頂高明”。
星洲日報／財經‧2009.09.16
Source: http://biz.sinchew-i.com/node/27287
