Share and share alike

Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar and Co-Presidents Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried are named in the ``material definitive agreement'' disclosed yesterday by New York-based Goldman in a regulatory filing.

The accord prevents the executives, their families and their estates from selling more than 10 percent of the common stock they own until Oct. 1, 2011, or until Berkshire redeems its $5 billion in preferred stock, whichever comes soonest. Blankfein last month turned to Buffett, the second-richest American and a cult figure in the investing world, to shore up the investment bank's capital base and restore market confidence after Goldman's stock tumbled and its borrowing costs spiked.

``The bet he's making is not just on the horse but on the jockeys,'' said Douglas Ciocca, a managing director at Renaissance Financial Corp. in Leawood, Kansas, which manages $1.8 billion including Goldman shares. ``That's the kind of commitment that is really being sought after in a lot of efforts to protect investors.''

Hey, Hank Paulson, are you paying attention? These are your boys!