2016 UT Governor's race: on Budget & Economy

Jonathan Johnson: Kept $11M in gold coins in case of financial crisis

Johnson told the United Precious Metals Association--a group that was behind legislation to make gold legal tender in the state--that the company keeps small button-sized gold and silver coins outside the banking system. "We expect when there is a financial crisis, there will be a banking holiday," Johnson told the group. "I don't know if it will be two days or two weeks or two months. But we have $10 million in gold and silver in denominations small enough that we can use it for payroll. We want to be able to keep our employees paid and safe and our site up and running."

On Overstock's last quarterly report, the company listed $10.9 million in "precious metals" among its assets--$6.3 million in gold and $4.6 million in silver.