LC

The Zune was late to market and offered no benefits over an iPod... The ipod was released in 2001...the zune...2006! Five years? To make absolutely no useful improvement? It wasn't that Microsoft sucked at marketing...it's that Apple had five years of an advantage to develop the market into the type of consumer it wanted! Okay I checked and I was wrong about the Zune :) Besides that, when the iPod was introduced there did exist other MP3 players. I have always failed to see the added value of iPod above those. An MP3 player is and MP3 player. Actually the earphones are kind of the most important parts as they directly impact sound quality. I have always thrown out the stock earphones and bought special purposes ones (doesn't need to be expensive). Heh, no worries...it was a long time ago :) I don't remember the specifics...but from what I recall from my own shopping, the ipod was leaps above other MP3 players. More storeage, easier interface, and "everyone" had itunes. Also, the apple earphones were way better than the stock ones provided by all the other MP3 players. And there was some heft to the ipod...it was sturdy. and the polished metal back reinforced this image. the other MP3 players simply felt like cheap, imported knock-offs.

The Zune was late to market and offered no benefits over an iPod... The ipod was released in 2001...the zune...2006! Five years? To make absolutely no useful improvement? It wasn't that Microsoft sucked at marketing...it's that Apple had five years of an advantage to develop the market into the type of consumer it wanted!

That is my opinion about Apple. All marketing, no content and their customers buy it "because it's shiny". (ok my real opinion is more nuanced than this, but this is basically where it boils down to). I really disagree with you! :) I see Apple as being the only consumer tech company with a long history of producing top-of-the-line products at a mass-market scale. From personal computers to OS to ipod/iphone/ipad...they have shown a remarkable ability to create cutting edge products, make them easy to use by the "mass" consumer, and manufacture, market, and sell them at a worldwide level. No content? This is the company that created the iphone! That created the de-facto mobile operating system layout and "feel". If they didn't create all this "content", then who did?

Be kind but strong.

You know, one of the things that attracts me to the investment field is the fact that personal issues (or however you want to classify this interaction) are relatively unimportant. Customers don't care when business owners fight. Love of Watsa, hatred of Biglari, in the end it doesn't really matter if you can go to sleep at night and earn an adequate return on capital while you catch some ZZZs. All the back-and-forth on the Apple thread, for example, is just a fantasy that people buy into rather than researching any of the tens of thousands of publicly traded companies. Just my two cents.

Thx Liberty...now I need to get one >:( ;D

Shouldn't the dividend & the cost to borrow both be already priced into the option price? IIRC it's almost always better to simply sell the option vs. exercise.

Kind of a simplistic article...most people know there are multiple uses for derivatives...it works well until everyone abuses the embedded leverage and it blows up. Buffett's point in my opinion was that the EMBEDDED LEVERAGE is the destructive part of derivatives: this leverage causes people to make poor decisions.

Also if you have it go directly to a RSS feed you can pretty much ignore the amended tender offer filings...

Hi everyone, I would like to make a hopefully small request of the board. I am representing my school in next year's CFA valuation challenge and the target company is Colgate. If anyone has access to analyst reports and would be willing to forward them to myself either via PM or email (louis.consolazio@gmail.com) it would be much appreciated! Of course, I would keep any information sent in the strictest of confidence. Thanks, Louis

I have to say, that was a brilliant response by Marchionne about the relative factors affecting the European car business. I recommend anyone listen to the last 17 minutes of the conference call (starting @ 1hr 4min) : http://www.media-server.com/m/p/5y8x3523 Just to summarize, the problem is essentially a game of chicken. Who will be the first to cut production in Europe? Marchionne hits it on the head: the first person to do it, loses! Everyone left can absorb the incremental capacity and run their plants at a higher utilization. Therefore nobody does it. So Marchionne calls for a Euro-wide process under which all car makers do it equally, but that won't happen due to all the bloody politics that go on with an issue like that. So in the meantime, he pursues a strategy of using that excess capacity to other ends. To other regions, and to move up the ladder into luxury car production. It's the best move possible. Really a brilliant guy, I encourage again to listen to the CC.

Does he have many outside investors? Why don't they just buy SHLD at this point

Q3 Release http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1013934/000115752313005149/a50740790ex991.htm

Q3 Numbers: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/105319/000119312513418591/d620899dex991.htm Customer acquisition and retention continues to fall. As does the share price (down ~15% after hours). Could be a compelling bargain soon. blaine...I think the issue is revenues (both meetings & internet), meeting attendance/paid weeks, online active subscribers are all down QoQ. Heck, they even come out and say it: "we expect Q4 revenues to be down low double digits given our continuing negative recruitment trends...While we are working aggressively on both near-term commercial activities and longer-term strategic initiatives, 2014 will be a very challenging year" Also interesting is that marketing expenses are down about 30% from the same period last year. I'm not sure how they plan on retaining and acquiring customers without marketing to them. They could be gearing up for the New year's recruitment cycle, however.

Damn Eric, I owe you a beer. That question has been on my mind for the few weeks since it came up in this thread. Very well explained, thank you!

Every day this is more and more relevant!

I believe dataroma only lists his equity securities The full filing is here: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1096344/000119312513413006/d553329dnq.htm

Does that loophole work? Or will the SEC force a manager to file who controls 100+M even if not in a single fund?

Could someone please shed some light on this? Thanks so much! I am buying the ADR...not sure if there is much of a difference! I assume it's down today as investors get squemish regarding the trial delay and the uncertainty regarding the Chrysler IPO

Very interesting. I think it would be naive to think Buffett was caught offguard by this. That said, I wonder what his endgame is...

I don't think very many people trading options actually exercise them...perhaps the exception being when selling puts to enter a position.

But that raises the question which is what started this debate in the first place: when will those future cash flows come, and how certain are you that they will be there? Then, how do you analyze and price the answer to that question?

Asked a friend...attached is the report Do_Wonderful_Companies_Remain_Wonderful_Full_Report.pdf

Exactly. This is the problem with tech & fashion...

My thoughts too, hyten. I believe they cut some corners in terms of product quality in order to expand so quickly. I'm not sure if this will permanently impact the quality of their brand. This is why I hate fashion companies: you aren't just analyzing business decisions and market dynamics, you also have to take into account how the fickle fashion consumer will interpret and feel about everything you do! (that said, I'm currently looking at Tiffany's - go figure ;D )