After some back and forth, Buffett made a quick proposal: He indicated he might be interested in investing in preferred shares with a dividend of 9 percent and warrants to buy shares of Lehman at $40. Lehman’s stock had closed at $37.87 that Friday. It was an aggressive offer by the Oracle of Omaha. A 9 percent dividend was a very expensive proposition—if Buffett made a $4 billion investment, for example, he’d be due $360 million a year—but that was the cost of “renting” Buffett’s name.
