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Meanwhile, at Coca-Cola, despite the change in management, all was not well.3 Its new CEO, Doug Daft, had laid off six thousand people in January as his opening act. Investors reacted with shock. Only a minority on Wall Street had been pointing out the sediment rising in Coke’s river of profits and investors were not yet convinced they were right. So Coca-Cola got socked, and along with it, BRK, already cheap at $56,100 on January 1, started to plummet.

Two weeks later, on February 9, in the early-morning sanctuary of his office, Buffett sat with half an eye fixed on CNBC, sorting through his reading. The hotline on the credenza behind his desk rang. Only Buffett answered this phone. He picked it up instantly. Jim Maguire, who traded BRK on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, was on the other end. It was a short conversation.

“Yep…Uh-huh. Mmm-hmm…Okay. Mmm-hmm…Not now. Okay. Mmm-hmm…Mmmmmm-hmmmmmmm…Okay. Thanks.” Click.

Maguire was calling to tell him that sell orders were pouring in for BRK. While Buffett had been playing bridge online the previous evening, an Internet bulletin-board writer on Yahoo! who went by “zx1675” had posted, “Warren in Hospital—Critical.” Over the next few hours, the rumor spread virally from posters like “hyperpumperfulofcrap,” who said over and over “BUFFETT OLD AND WEAK, SELL,” and “SELL, SELL, SELL, SELL, SELL.” With the rumors filtering through Wall Street and convincing people that Buffett was in the hospital in critical condition, BRK was trading heavily and getting hammered.4

Buffett’s personal phone line started ringing. It had been an unusually busy morning for calls. He answered it himself, as usual, lighting up with a big grinning “Oh, hiiiiii!” to show he was happy to hear from the caller.

“How are you?” the caller inquired, with a slight tone of urgency.

“Well…never better!”

If a tornado were barreling straight toward Kiewit Plaza, Buffett would say that things were “never better” before mentioning the twister. People knew to read his tone of voice; today it sounded stressed. All morning, callers had wanted to know—how was he, really?

I’m fine, Buffett explained, everything is fine. Really. But from the way BRK was trading, people were listening to hyperpumperfulofcrap. This was the power of new media. As BRK continued sliding on rumors of Buffett’s impending demise, shareholders were ringing their brokers, demanding to know whether Buffett was alive. People who knew people who knew Buffett grilled them: “Are you certain? Have you seen him? How can you know for sure?”

CNBC broadcast the rumors about Buffett’s possible demise, flambéing the story with word of his reassurances. Skepticism grew. If he was saying he was fine, he must not be. A second rumor began to circulate that he was taking advantage of the situation to buy Berkshire’s own stock cheap. That hit him on the tender spot where his reputation for personal integrity collided with his reputation for ruthless rapacity.

For two days the siege continued while BRK traded down more than five percent. By presuming his indispensability, the rumor paid Buffett a sort of inverted compliment. But he was outraged that anyone would think he would cheat his own shareholders by buying back stock at their expense under false pretenses. And he hated being blackmailed by some jerk who manipulated the stock price through the Internet. He couldn’t stand being a dog on anyone’s leash. He was appalled at the thought that responding to manipulation would reward and encourage more rumors—and thereby set a precedent.

Eventually, he reasoned, the rumors would die under their own demonstrated falsity. But “eventually” could take a long time. A new reality had dawned: In the age of the Internet time was compressed, and he had less and less control over public perception of him. Finally, he capitulated and issued an extraordinary press release.

Recently certain rumors have surfaced on the Internet regarding share repurchases and Mr. Buffett’s health. While it has been a long-standing Berkshire policy