Liquidity as Strategic Shield

“common sense. His strategy was the same as it had been in all his other successful businesses: Maintain high liquidity, as long as doing so promised to generate a return that was as good as or better than having the money tied up in some other, probably riskier asset (like a record company). He had the same attitude about debt. It wasn’t worth carrying debt, unless the money owed was invested in a way that stood an excellent chance of generating a better- than- average re- turn, net of the debt’s carrying cost.”

“Tisch was disciplined in his approach to interest rates and the economy: these were investment variables he could analyze and adjust to. In the beginning of 1994, for example, when the Dow Jones Indus- trial Average was flirting with the 4000 level, Tisch was selling stocks and bonds and moving money into cash equivalents—short-term Treasury debt.”