Buffett Shows Again: Timing Is Everything

Once again, Warren Buffett's timing is impeccable.

We're not talking about his $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs that seems to have calmed the markets and restored some confidence in the cratering U.S. financial sector.

We're talking about the fact that Buffett's much-anticipated new biography--the only one he's ever participated in the writing of--is due to be published on Monday, after several years in the making.

The attention being brought to Buffett as a result of his Goldman investment--the story merited a banner headline across the top of today's Wall Street Journal--is sure to stoke interest in the book.

Bantam paid $7.2 million for the North American rights to the book, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, and has said it expects to sell more than one million hardcover copies of it.

More than 60-odd books about Buffett and his life have already been published, including several bestsellers. But this is the first one done with the legendary investor's cooperation--Buffett spent hours being interviewed by writer Alice Schroeder, a former Morgan Stanley insurance analyst, and gave her access to private documents and his blessing to talk to his friends and contacts.

Buffett has said he does not plan to make appearances or do interviews to help promote the book, reportedly because he was upset that Shroeder delved into so much detail about Buffett's unusual relationship with his first wife, Susan. (He remained married to her even after moving in with his girlfriend, Astrid Menks. Buffett married Menks, a waitress at a café in Omaha, after Susan passed away in 2004.)

With his latest move to help rescue the U.S. financial system, Buffett's certainly done plenty to promote the book now.

by Nelson Wang

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