I've gotten much too much credit for this place.
   Price: We're truly a team approach. The press has given me much too much credit for this whole place.
   I think we will be more than ever incentivized to perform well - because the mutual fund industry, I think, is just about the most competitive industry in the country. Our report card - our [share] price - is in the paper every day.... We don't report earnings quarterly. We report 'em daily.... And it's real competitive. We have to perform for you. If we don't, we don't get any of the money in the earn out.

Five years is an arbitrary figure. I love what I do.
   Price: [But] I happen to love what I do. It's an option on my part to just stay. I don't think you sign contracts for longer than five years. Lawyers tend to put a number down in a contract and it happened to be five years. So we'll see how it goes.

We'll have total autonomy....
   Shareholder: Will you have complete autonomy?

   Price: On the investment side, we will have total autonomy. Our office is down the road in Short Hills - and we'll stay in that office. We'll stay in the same trading room and trading desk with the same people. In fact, we'll be able to expand our group to add junior analysts.

Franklin isn't going to interfere in what we're doing.
   Price: Franklin won't ever call - we've talked about this - and say, "Michael, you should look at this situation or that situation." That's just not going to happen. They appreciate our style.
   Remember Franklin was largely a fixed income firm. Templeton was largely an international investing firm. We're largely a U.S. domestic equity manager. They didn't have that. Bill Lippman does run some terrific funds at Franklin - Balance Sheet Investors, a micro-fund. He's dealing in some areas that overlap with us, but not to a great degree. We have our own style. And they're not going to interfere in what we're doing....

And I'm not working part-time. This isn't a part-time job.
   Shareholder: Is your contract term full-time?

   Price: Oh, yeah. Everybody's full-time. It's not a part-time position. No one's coming in part-time.... And then there are additional people - another 11 - with three-year situations.
   And that all depends on performance. If they do well, they're going to be paid very well to stay. If they don't, then we'll find other people.

Nothing will change - except everything will be enhanced.
   Shareholder: You're saying Mutual Shares will be the same as Mutual Shares is today.

   Price: Right.... Your stock will remain a no-load stock. It'll continue to be listed under Mutual Series in the paper. It will be run by the same group of people who have run it in the last 10 years. And I'm going to be involved - and I've been here for 21 or 22 years. The approach, the style

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