'I Was a Little Guy'

摘要

In 1997 we felt we had a great position in the U.S., but we didn't have a great position around the rest of the world and it might take a long time to get there. That led to our approaching John Reed at Citicorp about putting our companies together, thinking that they were a natural blend of product and geography, that we would end up with a company that was making about $7 billion after taxes in 1998 and would have $40 billion of equity. We would have much more than any of our competitors, so that when there would be blowups in the world, we could look at these mistakes as opportunities rather than becoming a victim. After we announced our deal and before it closed, Russia blew up. Long-Term Capital Management was a problem. We were able to work our way through that and continue to grow, so that five years after the merger, our earnings had grown to about $18 billion.