Buffett would look at pink sheet quotes for stocks not listed on the New York Stock Exchange because the lack of publicly posted prices would reduce competition. Buffett would call all market makers and fight mercilessly with them. If there were shares selling for $5 apiece, he would bid $4 3/4. This is what he would call "throwing the line" which would bring out how hungry the seller was, so Buffett would lower his price again and do it again and again. However, when Stanton realized that Buffett had been the one buying many of his shares, he tried to "chisel" Buffett into a deal, then denied having made the deal with Buffett. This infuriated Buffett, so instead of selling he decided that he would buy to gain control and power of this company. His friend started to notice when he bought enough to get a spot on the board, so they started buying. Warren became very angry because the matter was personal to him, so he bought them. The only problem was that these were his friends, but there were others too who noticed and started buying what he created