Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway raked in more than $3 billion from its Goldman Sachs bailout
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has netted more than $3 billion from its $5 billion bailout of Goldman Sachs in 2008.
- The famed investor's company received a $500 million premium for its preferred stock, $1.2 billion in dividends, and at least $1.4 billion from selling most of its stock in the bank last quarter.
- Buffett celebrated the deal's attractive terms, particularly the dividend, at Berkshire's annual meeting in 2010.
- "It's been pointed out that our preferred is paying us $15 a second," he said. "So as we sit here, tick, tick, tick, tick, that's $15 every tick."
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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has scored at least a $3 billion return from its $5 billion bailout of Goldman Sachs after selling most of its remaining shares in the bank last quarter.
The famed investor's company handed the funds to the investment bank in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. In exchange, it received $5 billion in preferred stock paying a 10% annual dividend, and warrants enabling it to buy 43.5 million of Goldman's common shares at $115 each at any point in the ensuing five years.
Buffett celebrated the deal's lucrative terms at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in 2010.
"Every day that goes by that Goldman does not call our preferred is money in the bank," he said, referring to Goldman having to pay Berkshire a $500 million yearly dividend until it bought back the company's shares.
"It's been pointed out that our preferred is paying us $15 a second," Buffett continued. "So as we sit here, tick, tick, tick, tick, that's $15 every tick."
"I don't want those ticks to go away," he added. "I just love them. They go on at night when I sleep."
The ticks eventually stopped when Goldman redeemed Berkshire's shares in March 2011, paying a 10% premium or $500 million for the privilege. The bank ultimately paid about $1.2 billion in dividends to the conglomerate.
Goldman also renegotiated the warrants in 2013, effectively allowing Berkshire to exercise them for free in exchange for a much smaller stake in the bank. Buffett's company received 13.1 million shares, giving it a roughly 3% stake in the bank, worth about $2.1 billion at the time. Under the original terms, it would have become the bank's largest shareholder.
The size of Berkshire's stake in Goldman fluctuated between 11 million and 19 million shares over the next few years. Buffett seems to have finally come to a decision: Berkshire cut its holding by more than a third to about 12 million shares in the fourth quarter of 2019, then slashed it by more than 80% to below 2 million shares last quarter.
Assuming Berkshire broke even on its purchases and sales of Goldman stock up to the end of December — and it sold the 10 million shares at $135 each, the bottom of Goldman's share-price range last quarter — it cashed out about $1.4 billion from stock sales.
Combined with the $500 million premium for its preferred stock and the $1.2 billion in dividends, that gives a total return of more than $3 billion on Berkshire's $5 billion investment. Moreover, the company still held 1.9 million Goldman shares at the end of March, worth another $340 million at the bank's current stock price.
Goldman may not be paying Buffett $15 a second anymore, but the investor won't be too displeased with the deal's 60%-plus return.