????高盛（Goldman Sachs）上周五宣布，將向巴菲特旗下的伯克希爾哈撒韋公司（Berkshire Hathaway）支付56億美元，回購其在金融危機最嚴重時期向伯克希爾哈撒韋出售的優先股。

????這對于兩年半來向伯克希爾哈撒韋支付優先股股息逾10億美元的高盛而言，是個好消息。但對于巴菲特是個壞消息，雖然下個月他將能獲得一大筆錢——但在短期美國國債收益率接近零的環境中，如何重新投資這筆錢是一大挑戰。

????“高盛不贖回這些優先股的每一天，我們的錢都像是放在了銀行里，”巴菲特在去年伯克希爾哈撒韋年度股東大會上曾表示。他估計高盛支付的股息相當于每秒約15美元，這樣的速度我們大多數人都會滿意。

????但這些源源流入的大洋將于4月18日斷流。高盛宣布將支付50億美元贖回這些優先股，并附上5億美元的提前還款罰金和1.49億美元的應計股息。

????去年賺了80億美元的高盛并不缺現金。該公司已表示，計劃加大股票回購力度，并可能調高普通股季度派息。高盛股價上漲3%。

????這項聲明發布的同一天，美聯儲（Fed）也宣布完成了最新一輪壓力測試。由此，一些大型銀行如果要將此前為應對經濟衰退加劇而留存的資金分發給股東，已不存在障礙。

????高盛此舉斬斷了其與全球金融危機的最后關聯之一。在全球金融危機中，美國五家大型的獨立投資銀行在短短六個月內全軍覆沒。

????掙扎于破產邊緣的貝爾斯登（Bear Stearns）被廉價賣給了摩根大通（JPMorgan）；美林（Merrill Lynch）也以低得離譜的價格賣給了美國銀行（Bank of America）；雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）倒閉，幾乎拖垮了整個金融體系；而高盛和摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）也都轉制為由美聯儲監管的銀行控股公司。

????但全球金融危機對高盛的影響仍未終結。最近，美國證券交易委員會（The Securities and Exchange Commission）指控高盛前董事拉吉特?古普塔涉嫌泄露高盛董事會會議內容（包括2008年9月那次批準伯克希爾哈撒韋投資的會議）用于內幕交易。

????不過，古普塔不僅拒絕認罪，而且還對美國證券交易委員會提起了訴訟。

????除此之外，高盛表示，優先股償付成本將導致下月公布的一季度利潤減少16億美元或每股2.80美元。

????但他們希望，高盛支持者們最終收獲的將遠遠超過上述成本。據高盛稱，去年公司每股收益約13美元，其中支付優先股股息每股0.85美元。因此，第一季度的優先股償付成本也就相當于三年多的優先股股息。

????當然，如果當時沒有這筆緊急資金援助，高盛也許根本無法渡過難關。但多虧巴菲特和美國政府，高盛活下來了，而且現在它已擺脫了高昂的股息負擔——巴菲特則獲得大筆現金，可用于其下一次的獵象活動。

????Goldman Sachs (GS) said Friday it will pay Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) $5.6 billion to redeem the loan the investment bank took from Berkshire at the height of the financial crisis.

????That's good news for Goldman, which paid Buffett's company more than $1 billion* in preferred stock dividends over two and a half years. It is bad news for Buffett, who will get a big check next month -- but faces reinvesting it at a time when short-term Treasury securities yield next to nothing.

????"Every day that Goldman doesn't call our preferred is money in the bank," Buffett said at last year's annual Berkshire shareholder meeting. He estimated the Goldman dividends rolled in at about $15 a second,* which is a pace most of us would accept.

????But that golden flow will end April 18. Goldman said it will pay $5 billion to cancel the preferred shares, plus a $500 million prepayment fee and $149 million in accrued dividends.

????But the firm, which made $8 billion last year, isn't hurting for cash. Goldman said it plans to step up stock buybacks and may raise its quarterly common stock dividend. Goldman shares rose 3%.

????The announcement comes on the day the Fed announced the completion of its latest round of stress tests, which cleared the way for some of the biggest banks to start giving shareholders the money they had set aside for a deeper economic downturn.

????Goldman's move severs one of its last links to the financial crisis, which saw the ranks of big standalone U.S. investment banks shrink from five to zero in the space of six months.

????Bear Stearns, on the verge of failure, was sold to JPMorgan (JPM) for a song; Merrill Lynch was sold at a hard-to-explain price to Bank of America (BAC); Lehman Brothers collapsed, nearly bringing down the financial system with it; and Goldman and Morgan Stanley (MS) both converted to Fed-regulated bank holding companies.

????But the crisis ties continue to bind to Goldman. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged a former Goldman director, Rajat Gupta, with insider trading for allegedly ratting out the details of Goldman board meetings – including the one in September 2008 at which the board approved the Berkshire investment.

????Gupta not only denies wrongdoing, he is also suing the SEC, for whatever that is worth.

????That drama aside, Goldman said it will take a $1.6 billion hit to its first-quarter earnings, due out next month, to square the cost of the preferred stock payoff with its books. That move will slash earnings for the quarter by $2.80 a share.

????But Goldman fans will more than make that back over time, they hope. Goldman said the preferred dividends took 85 cents a share out of last year's earnings of around $13 a share. So it will take a shade over three years to make back the first-quarter charge.

????And of course there is the prospect that Goldman wouldn't have made it at all if it hadn't been for the emergency loan. But Goldman lived on, thanks to Buffett and the government, and now it is free of its costly dividend obligation -- leaving Buffett with plenty of cash to take on his next elephant hunt.