Bava Metzia 105A

תרי עיסקי וחד שטרא ⁠– פסידא דלוה.

Conversely, if two people engaged in two joint ventures and recorded both in one document, this will be to the detriment of the borrower. They calculate the profits and losses of the two transactions together, and therefore as long as the profits of one joint venture are greater than the losses of the other, the investor will not have to suffer a loss.

ואמר רבא: האי מאן דקביל עיסקא מן חבריה ופסיד, טרח ומלייה ולא אודעיה, לא מצי אמר ליה: דרי מהיאך פסידא בהדאי. משום דאמר ליה: להכי טרחת (למליותיה) [ומליתיה] ⁠– כי היכי דלא ליקרו לך ״מפסיד עיסקי״.

And Rava says: This one, who receives merchandise for a joint venture from another, and lost money in the process, and then made the effort to replace the loss but did not inform the investor that he had done so, he may not later say to the investor: Bear this original loss together with me. This is because the investor can say to him: It is for this reason that you made the effort to replace the loss, so that you should not be called a loser of ventures. You wanted to preserve your reputation in order to improve your future business prospects but did not intend to be reimbursed.

ואמר רבא: הני בי תרי דעבדי עיסקא בהדי הדדי ורווח, ואמר ליה חד לחבריה: תא ליפלוג, אי אמר ליה אידך: נרווח טפי ⁠– דינא הוא דמעכב. ואי אמר ליה: הב לי פלגא דרווחא ⁠– אמר ליה: רווחא ⁠– לקרנא משתעבד.

And Rava said: With regard to these two managers who engaged in a joint venture together, i.e., they both received merchandise together from an investor, and profited from it, and one of them said to the other: Come, let us divide the profits and terminate the venture, the halakha is as follows: If the other said to him: Let us wait and profit more, the halakha is that the second manager indeed prevents the first from executing his request. And if, instead of requesting the final division of the profits and the termination of the venture, one said to the other: At least give me half the profits, the latter can say to him: The profit is liened to the principal, meaning that the profits and the principal are considered a single unit, and we can earn much more if we do not set aside the profits.