He plays hardball over travel reimbursement and wants to make sure his personal calls are kept on the DL.

[5:00 minute mark]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

$$$ In Europe, a first call for IMF chief Strauss-Kahn to quit (WaPo)

$$$ This is what Ben Stein had to say about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn situation: “The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn “forced” the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He’s a short fat old man. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it’s anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?” (American Spectator)

$$$ A Once-Tight Flock at Goldman, Now Scattered [Dealbook]
$$$ Skepticism grows on Geithner’s debt limit deadline (Reuters)

$$$ losing faith in world economy (FT)

$$$ Hedge Funds Line Up for AIG Pitch Meeting (CNBC)

$$$ LinkedIn IPO: Biggest Price Bump Since Tech Bubble (Deal Journal)

$$$ Goldman’s Hatzius: The Next US Recession ‘Is Years Away‘ (CNBC)

$$$ Barclays Pays Its Top Staff 7% Interest on Five-Year Deferred Cash Bonuses (Bloomberg)

$$$ A colour-coded guide to the Greek crisis (BofA/ML via FT Alphaville)

$$$ Reality vs. Matt Taibbi, Part I [Stone Street Advisors]

$$$ Warren Buffett’s Ride on the Rails Is Paying Off (Businessweek)

$$$ Suit vs Citigroup execs over mortgages tossed out (Reuters)

$$$ Kohn ‘regrets’ pain of millions in financial crisis (FT)

$$$ fine fat people for not dieting? (BBC)

$$$ Famed NYC eatery Elaine’s to close down six months after owner Elaine Kaufman dies (NYDN)

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

$$$ NY Fed ‘Pleased‘ With Sale of Ex-AIG Subprime Bonds (WSJ)

$$$ At around 10 last night, Lady Gaga arrived in a glowing egg positioned on top of a cart filled with cakes and macaroons. Escorted by brawny men in sleeveless Roman tunics, the cart rolled past hedge-fund founders Dan Och, David Einhorn, Steven A. Cohen, Ken Griffin, and more than 4,000 others gathered in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center for the Robin Hood Foundation benefit. Soon “the Gaga,” as emcee Brian Williams called her, emerged onstage wearing a cream outfit that exposed her midriff. “I’d like to thank all the rich people for donating tonight,” she said. “And when I say rich, I mean rich in spirit.” (Bloomberg)

$$$ Goldman Sachs Cuts First-Quarter Estimate for Possible Legal Losses by 21% (Bloomberg)

$$$ Goldman Goes Long US Government Debt (CNBC)

$$$ JPMorgan denies gouging Lehman in $8.6 billion fight (Reuters)

$$$ Bank of America Billions in Losses at Stake on Moynihan Outlook (Bloomberg)

$$$ Charity to auction lunch date with Warren Buffett (Reuters)

$$$ Junk bond yields hit record lows (FT)

$$$ Whistleblowers in muniland (FT Alphaville)

$$$ Ireland to Impose Levy on Pension Funds to Finance Jobs Plan (Bloomberg)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-10/ireland-to-impose-levy-on-pension-funds-to-finance-jobs-plan.html

$$$ Microsoft-Skype Deal May Upset AT&T, Verizon Relations (Bloomberg)

$$$ Google launches music service without labels (Reuters)

$$$ Japan Scraps Plan for New Nuclear Plants (NYT)

$$$ Donald Trump’s poll numbers collapse (Politico)

$$$ Northwestern University

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Last month, Warren Buffett received some devastating news- his beloved soap, All My Children, was getting the ax. The cancelation was difficult to take not only because Buffett has faithfully kept up with the characters, who felt more like friends, every day for the 50-odd years it’s been on, but because as a struggling actor, it was the one gig he could count on. Over the years, Buffett has appeared on AMC a handful of times and with the pricks at ABC killing it off, it was unclear what he was gonna do. Show up to open casting calls? Take his clothes off for some producer looking to take advantage? Luckily, it appears as though we may not have to find out.

The Hollywood Reporter said that Mr. Buffett had joined the roster of guest stars planned for the “Office” finale, which NBC will show on May 19. That lineup includes Ricky Gervais, Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, Will Arnett, Ray Romano and others better known for their comedy chops than their business acumen. Mr. Buffett is to play one of many characters seeking the vacated regional manager’s post at the Scranton, Pa., branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company.

Clearly this has the trappings a big break moment.

[ArtsBeat via Dealbook]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Sayeth Tilson: “Buffett and Munger are razor sharp and at the top of their games, and Berkshire is just going gangbusters! (The insurance losses from Japan, New Zealand, etc. in Q1 that depressed quarterly earnings are essentially irrelevant to Berkshire’s long-term value.)”

T2 Partners also recently released a presentation on, among other things, why they believe Berkshire Hathaway is still a buy, things that scare them and “common mental mistakes” in investing like…

An Overview of Behavioral Finance and the Economy, What Worries Us, Our View of the Market, and Some Stock Ideas [PDF]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Paul Argenti is a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, who has been teaching Buffett every year in his corporate responsibility class…Argenti says he is considering taking Buffett out of his syllabus and putting him in his new book: Fallen Icons. He told MarketPlace, “If you set yourself up as a paragon of virtue in this world, you can expect to fall really hard when something bad happens to you. [MarketPlace]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

As you may have heard, this weekend is Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting. As he has in the past, CEO Warren Buffett will speak at length, and unlike time’s past, this year’s talk will include at least one awkward topic, that being the David Sokol/Lubrizol incident. We previously came up with a bunch of WB-esque words he could offer that would get him back in everyone’s good graces, including but not limited to:

“While nothing illegal went down on Berkshire’s watch, what David did is not the way we expect people to conduct themselves and it certainly left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Not unlike what I imagine would be the result of some boyhood experimentation on the farm and a cow with some funky tasting spunk.”

According to Andrew Ross Sorkin, who will be at the meeting, if Buffett wants to make things cool with shareholders, he can’t just say he was disappointed in David Sokol but that he was disappointed in himself.

It’s possible (though highly unlikely) that ARS and I are wrong. If you’re a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, what would get you to decide the whole thing is water under the bridge? Is it a mea culpa or something else? As Buffett may not have found the words himself, perhaps you should just tell him what you want. A walking tour of his favorite whorehouse? His butler services for one year? An all-access pass to walk into any Dairy Queen across the country and stick your mouth under the soft serve machine without getting shit for it?

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Gang, we’re not going to mince words here- this has been the worst month of Warren Buffett’s life. Anything that could have gone wrong did. The Sokol business, the Dilly Bar he dropped on his shirt before going into a big meeting, the Squawk Box redesign, the unwrapped Sees Candy Munger left on his dash in the hot sun. If all that wasn’t enough, now comes word that in one fell swoop, his favorite show, the launchpad for his acting career, and his shot at a date with Susan Lucci are gone.

Because they don’t care that the Oracle is in a very fragile state right now, executives at ABC have cancelled Buffett’s beloved soap, All My Children, which he guest starred on several times in the hopes of transitioning careers. Now what’s he supposed to do, huh? Show up to open casting calls? Take his clothes off for some director? Appear in a commercial for Valtrex? I think not. What does need to happen is that someone at ABC needs to fix this and fast. Until then, this will be watched on loop through a veil of tears.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

When David Sokol, the Berkshire lieutenant thought to be the frontrunner for Warren Buffett’s job resigned two weeks ago, Buffett sent a letter mentioning that Sokol owned a bunch of shares of Lubrizol, which he had bought before pitching WB on the idea for the company. Sokol says he didn’t know much or how Buffett would react or if there was a snowball’s chance in hell BRK would acquire the company, or if anyone would even take this thing seriously. Turns out he may have had some reason to at least have a hunch.

In the March 30 letter, Mr. Buffett wrote that Mr. Sokol bought nearly 100,000 Lubrizol shares in January, just before recommending the industrial manufacturer as a potential takeover target. But the letter never mentioned that Mr. Sokol knew Lubrizol’s chief executive was planning to talk to the company’s board about a possible deal with Berkshire — and that he knew a few weeks before buying $10 million of stock for his personal portfolio. The Lubrizol preliminary proxy, filed on Monday, revealed for the first time that Citigroup told Mr. Sokol about such discussions in December.

[Dealbook]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

T2 Partners is sticking with Buffett, Lubrizol incident be damned.

T2 Partners Attributes Poor Performance To Contrarianism [MF via BI]

Earlier: David Sokol: I Did Nothing Wrong But…
David Sokol, Frontrunner To Succeed Warren Buffett, Resigns From Berkshire Hathaway

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker