Warren Buffett on Lloyd Blankfein and Goldman Sachs

At this year's annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the top question put to Warren Buffett by shareholders was about Goldman Sachs. Berkshire made a $5 billion investment in Goldman preferred during the height of the financial crisis. NYT reported details from the shareholder meeting:

Warren E. Buffett became the highest-profile defender of Goldman Sachs on Saturday, offering staunch support of the firm as it combats fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Buffett also strongly defended the firm’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, saying he did not think Mr. Blankfein needed to be replaced...His support for Goldman came in a question-and-answer session at the annual meeting in Omaha of Berkshire Hathaway...what drew the most attention was Mr. Buffett’s full-throated support for Goldman. He drew upon some of the same points that Goldman has used in its own defense, including the sophistication of the investors the S.E.C. says were defrauded by Goldman’s lack of adequate disclosure in the deal. He said those investors should have conducted better due diligence. Of one investor, he said, “It’s hard for me to get terribly sympathetic when a bank makes a dumb credit bet.”

He also stood behind Mr. Blankfein. When asked whom he would select if Goldman needed to find a new leader, Mr. Buffett replied, “If Lloyd had a twin brother, I would vote for him.”