Buffett Laments Own ‘Abysmal Failure’ at Controlling Bank Pay
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By Andrew MacAskill and Robert Hutton
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Warren Buffett, who earns $100,000 a year in salary for running Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said he should have done more to restrain bankers’ pay when he was chairman of Salomon Inc.
“I was an abysmal failure at that,” Buffett said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., excerpts of which were aired on Radio 4’s Today program. “The idea that the people who move money around are some favored class -- and they are in this country even in terms of taxes -- is getting pretty far away from where we should be.”
Buffett, the world’s most successful investor, spoke as politicians around the globe seek to restrain bankers’ pay and risk-taking. Barack Obama and Gordon Brown say bonuses should be linked to longer-term performance.
Buffett was interim chairman and CEO of Salomon in 1991 and 1992 as it sought to recover from involvement in a Treasury debt auction scandal. Still, Buffett said it may be hard to reduce bankers’ pay.
“There are some things in life you can’t change,” he told the BBC. “When you are dealing with human beings, they don’t behave perfectly.”
Buffett, 79, built Berkshire into a $150 billion company over four decades by investing in out-of-favor firms. The second-richest American, he oversees businesses ranging from jewelry to jet rentals from the Omaha, Nebraska headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway.
“I was lucky at birth,” Buffett said. “I shouldn’t delude myself into thinking I am some superior individual. Most of the rich people in the United States and the U.K., they wouldn’t have done quite as well if they were in Bangladesh or some place like that.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew MacAskill in London at [email protected]Robert Hutton in London at [email protected]
Last Updated: October 26, 2009 05:39 EDT
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Andrew MacAskill and Robert Hutton
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Warren Buffett, who earns $100,000 a year in salary for running Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said he should have done more to restrain bankers’ pay when he was chairman of Salomon Inc.
“I was an abysmal failure at that,” Buffett said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., excerpts of which were aired on Radio 4’s Today program. “The idea that the people who move money around are some favored class -- and they are in this country even in terms of taxes -- is getting pretty far away from where we should be.”
Buffett, the world’s most successful investor, spoke as politicians around the globe seek to restrain bankers’ pay and risk-taking. Barack Obama and Gordon Brown say bonuses should be linked to longer-term performance.
Buffett was interim chairman and CEO of Salomon in 1991 and 1992 as it sought to recover from involvement in a Treasury debt auction scandal. Still, Buffett said it may be hard to reduce bankers’ pay.
“There are some things in life you can’t change,” he told the BBC. “When you are dealing with human beings, they don’t behave perfectly.”
Buffett, 79, built Berkshire into a $150 billion company over four decades by investing in out-of-favor firms. The second-richest American, he oversees businesses ranging from jewelry to jet rentals from the Omaha, Nebraska headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway.
“I was lucky at birth,” Buffett said. “I shouldn’t delude myself into thinking I am some superior individual. Most of the rich people in the United States and the U.K., they wouldn’t have done quite as well if they were in Bangladesh or some place like that.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew MacAskill in London at [email protected]Robert Hutton in London at [email protected]
Last Updated: October 26, 2009 05:39 EDT
