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Mon 12 Dec 2008Berkshire Hathaway a good bet - with Buffett at helm
MICHAEL KINSLEY once defined a political gaffe as the moment "when a politician tells the truth" and is embarrassed by it. By that standard, Warren Buffett's deal to write $35 billion (€27 billion) of put options on equity markets was a financial gaffe.
On the face of it, Buffett's gambit looks both unwise and uncharacteristic. Shares in Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company, tumbled last week (they have since recovered) because it is nursing a mark-to-market loss of about $5 billion on the derivatives contracts.
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