Thursday, December 18, 2008

OPM (Other People's Money)

We have said repeatedly that one of the triggers for the crisis was permitting investment banks to go public (prior to 1970, no NYSE member firm could be listed). We had dinner with one of our long-standing colleagues who was responsible for Sumitomo Bank's investment in Goldman Sachs and had (and continues to have) close and frequent dealings with the firm. He said that the change in the firm's behavior after it went public was dramatic. Before, it would deliberate (one might say agonize) important business decisions,. Waiting two years to enter a new field was not unheard of. But after the partners cashed in and were playing with other people's money, the firm quickly became aggressive in its use of capital in expanding the size and scope of its activities.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/12/new-york-times-story-pulls-punches-on.html