Chapter 518: Two Investors

Buffett did not rush to talk about money.

"What did Gutfreund mention to you today?"

"Continuing the three-year agreement, expanding cooperation, long-term capital, and backup credit."

Satsuki paused for a moment.

"And ’maintaining management continuity.’"

When Buffett heard the last item, he paused.

He put the cola in his hand back on the coffee table, leaned back into the sofa, and the corners of his mouth curved up slightly.

"Mhm, this is indeed very much in John Gutfreund’s style."

Satsuki, however, noticed that his smile this time was a bit different from just now.

"You don’t seem to agree very much."

"That’s not it."

Buffett shook his head, "I’m just curious, did you agree?"

"I agreed to help Salomon."

Satsuki leaned back in the sofa.

"And I also agreed to officially launch a crisis due diligence."

"As for who continues to stay in the office—"

"When did I ever agree to this?"

Buffett looked at her for a few seconds.

Then he smiled.

"Clever."

"I suppose today we at least won’t have to argue for half the day over the first matter."

"So, have we reached a consensus on the matter of making Mr. Gutfreund retire?"

"Yes, I think this is a very critical point."

Buffett raised his can of cola, with a slight smile on the corner of his mouth.

"That’s at least worth a sip. For Salomon, and for John Gutfreund to have a bit more rest time in the future."

Satsuki glanced at him and couldn’t help smiling.

"You certainly put that very tactfully."

She also picked up her cup of cola and gently raised it forward.

"Then I wish him a happy retirement."

The glass and the aluminum can clinked gently together.

Two people whose combined net worth exceeded 50 billion US dollars clinked two cups of cola to celebrate making Gutfreund retire.

Satsuki took a gentle sip—well, it was too sweet.

She even regretted wanting to drink cola; the Yankees’ sugar must be free, and Satsuki was already seriously considering whether drinking a few more sips would make her fat.

The living room fell quiet for another moment.

The light outside the window was beginning to dim, and the tree crowns in Central Park in the distance were dyed a deep gold by the setting sun.

Buffett straightened up a bit.

"Then let me also share my thoughts."

Satsuki put down that heinous cup of cola and looked at him seriously.

"First, all the facts must be thoroughly investigated."

Buffett’s tone became serious.

"If Salomon is to regain the trust of the Treasury Department, regulatory agencies, and the market, it cannot continue to hide anything."

"Who knew about the violations, when they knew, why it wasn’t reported in time—after these things are investigated, the corresponding people must take responsibility."

He paused.

"I am not asking for a personnel change just to seize power."

"It’s just that if a financial institution can’t even protect its reputation, any amount of capital is merely delaying its death."

Hearing this, Satsuki’s expression did not change.

Buffett and Gutfreund’s positions on this matter were indeed completely different.

What Gutfreund wanted was "to survive and continue sitting in the CEO position."

What Buffett wanted was "to make Salomon a trustworthy company again."

If the two goals conflicted—

Buffett would not sacrifice the entire Salomon for Gutfreund personally.

"Second—"

Buffett continued.

"As long as it’s still possible, I hope to preserve Salomon’s value as an intact institution, rather than deliberately waiting for it to collapse before breaking up its assets."

"Because Berkshire itself is a shareholder, I have no reason to help others actively destroy my own investment."

Satsuki nodded.

"I think so too."

"That’s good."

Buffett smiled.

"It seems we have no disagreements at least in the general direction."

He picked up the cola can on the coffee table, found it was already empty, and casually put it back.

"However—"

He looked at Satsuki.

"What does Saionji want from Salomon?"

This question was asked very directly.

Satsuki fell silent for a few seconds.

She knew this question would be asked sooner or later.

And she also had to give a sufficiently clear answer.

"I want a true partner."

Buffett raised an eyebrow.

"In the past few years, what Saionji has done in the United States boils down to just one thing—bring money, invest it, and leave once profits are made."

Satsuki’s tone was very calm.

"Whether it’s Salomon, Carlyle, or other partners, in their eyes, Saionji is a huge buyer from Japan."

"Wealthy, quick to act, and not too harsh on conditions."

"But a ’buyer’ is ultimately just sitting on one side of the table."

She paused.

"When it’s truly time to cut the cake, the person sitting on the other side is the one qualified to hold the knife first."

Hearing this, Buffett’s expression became serious.

"So you hope that in the future, when Saionji conducts large-scale transactions in the United States, it won’t just be a client holding money and waiting for Wall Street to open the door for you."

"Correct."

Satsuki looked at him.

"Fixed income, institutional clients, cross-border clearing, trading talent, and channels capable of participating in large-scale US capital transactions—"

"For Saionji’s entire system, these things are more important than an ordinary investment return."

Buffett stared at her for several seconds.

Afterward, he slowly nodded.

"Understood."

He stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked out the window with his back to Satsuki.

The setting sun was about to go down, and the sky glowed with a color mixing light purple and dark gold.

"However, you must be careful about one thing."

Buffett did not turn back.

"If Americans think you are prepared to take advantage of the crisis to ’move’ a core American investment bank ’back to Japan,’ then the goodwill you built at Salomon’s doorstep today will instantly turn into hostility in reverse."

Satsuki did not speak.

If Saionji were truly packaged as "a Japanese plutocrat bottom-fishing core US financial assets while Wall Street is in trouble"—

Then the positive effects brought by her words downstairs today would probably be completely wiped out overnight.

Buffett turned around.

"So if we cooperate—"

He walked back to the sofa and sat down.

"Salomon should still maintain the identity of an American financial institution."

"American management, American regulatory framework, these cannot change."

Satsuki nodded.

"I don’t intend to change these either."

"That makes things easy."

Buffett smiled.

"I am more suited to be responsible for board governance, communicating with the Treasury and regulatory departments, handling management responsibilities, and restoring market credibility."

"Saionji is more suited to undertake new capital, backup credit, continue providing large-scale business, and stabilize Asia clients and cross-border business."

He paused.

"If we cooperate, we can simultaneously solve the two things Salomon lacks most right now—"

"A trustworthy American governance core, and a sufficiently powerful source of new capital."

After listening, Satsuki slowly revealed a smile.

"Sounds good."

"Then let’s leave it at that for now."

Buffett patted his knees.

"Starting tomorrow, you can send people in to do crisis due diligence, and I will simultaneously grasp internal facts through shareholder and director channels on my end."

"Once the information is complete enough, we will study the specific capital structure and governance plan together."

He looked at Satsuki.

"As long as the facts prove that the current management system can no longer regain regulatory credit—"

"We will not sacrifice the entire Salomon for Gutfreund personally."

Satsuki nodded.

"Agreed."

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, then laughed out loud at the same time.

The sky outside the window had completely darkened.

New York’s night view began to light up bit by bit, the outlines of distant skyscrapers were outlined by lights, and New Jersey across the Hudson River slowly turned into a patch of dotted starlight.

Satsuki glanced at the time.

"It’s already so late."

She put the cup in her hand back on the table and looked at Buffett with a smile.

"Does Mr. Buffett have any arrangements tonight? If not, why don’t we have dinner together?"

Buffett also lowered his head to glance at his watch, then shook his head.

"This invitation sounds very attractive."

"However, you’ve already been on a plane for over a dozen hours today, and after getting off the plane you went straight to Salomon. If I were to accompany you for another dinner, I’m afraid it would end up with me accompanying you to continue working until midnight."

Saying this, a smile appeared on his face again.

"So today I can only decline this beautiful lady’s invitation first."

Satsuki’s eyebrows lifted gently.

"That doesn’t sound like a very convincing reason for rejection."

"Then I’ll change to another one."

Buffett folded up the newspaper on the table.

"If I stay for another three hours, tomorrow’s New York newspapers might start discussing why a sixty-one-year-old old man kept an eighteen-year-old girl in a hotel room to talk business until midnight."

Satsuki burst out laughing.

"Written that way, it indeed doesn’t look very good."

"So for the sake of my reputation tomorrow, it’s safer to stop here for tonight."

"Turns out it was for your own sake."

"Of course."

Buffett answered righteously.

"This is very important risk management."

Satsuki shook her head with a smile.

"Fine, then I won’t make things difficult for you today."

"Thank you for understanding."

Buffett also smiled, picked up the newspaper on the table, and then stood up from the sofa.

Satsuki followed him up and saw him to the door.

When walking to the doorway, Buffett suddenly seemed to remember something, stopped, and turned his head back.

"By the way, do you have any arrangements tomorrow afternoon?"

Satsuki ran through her schedule in her head.

"Some, but none that require me to go personally."

"That’s perfect."

Buffett said.

"A few friends invited me to take a turn around New York Harbor, grab a bite, and chat. If you’re interested, you can come along."

"New York Harbor?"

"On a boat."

Buffett added.

"A private yacht."

Satsuki glanced at him, and the smile in her eyes instantly increased a bit.

"Yours?"

"Of course not."

Buffett answered very crisply.

"Having someone else responsible for buying the boat, maintaining the boat, paying the crew’s wages, and then inviting me aboard is obviously much more cost-effective."

Satsuki tilted her head slightly and thought for a moment.

"What time tomorrow afternoon?"

Buffett told her the time.

"Okay, I’ll go."

"Then see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Mr. Buffett."

The door opened.

The staff who had been waiting outside quickly rushed forward.

Buffett did not stay any longer, and after a brief farewell with Satsuki, he walked towards the elevator direction.

Satsuki stood at the door, watching his back disappear around the corner of the corridor.

Before actually meeting today, her understanding of Warren Buffett mostly came from materials left behind by another era.

The internet age was overly fond of creating gods, yet what they said were all shallow things.

Investment records, shareholder letters, interviews, and later those words that were quoted over and over until they almost lost their original meaning.

After actually sitting down and talking for over an hour, she instead felt that this person was not much different from the Buffett she understood in the past.

The surface logic is always very simple.

Is it worth it?

Should it be done?

Who manages it?

Once a dollar is put in, what exactly can be exchanged back.

But being able to dismantle complex things back to these most basic questions day after day for decades is in itself by no means simple.

At least for now, Satsuki was very willing to continue cooperating with such a person.

As for that yacht party tomorrow afternoon...

She lowered her head and glanced at her schedule.

It’s rare to come to New York.

Surely they couldn’t just have meetings every single day.