Grenville

http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/press-release/corporate-and-financial-news/bank-america-announces-commencement-cash-tender-offer-mbi Bank of America Announces Commencement of Cash Tender Offer for MBIA Notes

Thanks for the article. Interesting company.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549575/000154692712000070/dalal13f9302012v3.txt Holdings: BAC C CHK GM GS ZINC

Short but nice interview with Amazon Studios chief: Why He Ditched Posh Hollywood Perks: 10 Questions With Amazon Studios Chief Roy Price http://www.wired.com/business/2012/11/amazon-studios-roy-price/ Some topics from the interview: 1. Amazon Studios - Enabler lowering cost of movie/tv production 2. Culture at Amazon 3. Frugality From the interview: 1. "The idea that we’ll put ideas in front of actual movie and TV customers and see if they like it. That can be a huge opportunity for certain projects. Movies cost a lot, and [movie executives] would like to have some assurance that people are going to be interested. Sometimes original stories have a more difficult time because they’re more speculative and require more risk. Our system can de-risk those projects, actually put them in front of customers and get a reaction." 2. "Embracing change is central to Amazon’s DNA. You wouldn’t think you would have to explain to people that things change, but you really do. Some people just truly, totally believe it, and some people secretly harbor doubts. It’s core to Amazon’s culture that we want to innovate and think big and it’s great to be at a place like that." 3."Wired: Was it tough switching from going out for these long sushi lunches, or whatever it is in Hollywood, versus, OK, I’m in a desk that’s made out of plywood in Seattle? Price: Well, I just flew 11 hours yesterday back to Seattle from our dev center in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they’re doing some of the engineering for some of the new things we’ll be launching over the next year. I sat there in row 42 in coach of the plane, so I can assure you that the cultures are fairly different."

Thanks for the article.

Good conference call. (~40mins) Richard Handler, Brian Friedman, Peg Broadbent, Joe Orlando, Justin Wheeler, and Joe Steinberg ("coaxed onto the call and not an avid fan of conference calls") were on the conference call. Richard Handler and Brian Friedman answered all the questions though.

Based on the ways things are trading, you can buy LUK on the cheap through JEF shares. 1 JEF share = 0.81 LUK or $16 for 0.81 LUK ~ $19.8/ LUK share

Very interesting story regarding coverage at Statefarm vs Chubb. Hard to know these things until it's too late. Also thanks for the story about GEICO. I hope they keep growing and keep their service levels so high.

Do you guys have any thoughts on all the issues people are having with the new retina display MacBooks? I was interested in getting one but there seems to be a lot of quality issues especially with the LG displays. I'm surprised Apple hasn't fixed this yet. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4034848?start=5505&tstart=0

Thnks.

nice video, thanks!

Any thoughts on why it's taking so long for the Article 78 summary judgment ruling?

Amazon adds a monthly option for prime membership at 7.99 vs 79/year.

more details: Dealbook article with some additional details regarding previous owners and selling owner KKR http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/berkshire-to-buy-oriental-trading-company/ Official press release http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121102005098/en/Berkshire-Hathaway-Acquire-Oriental-Trading-Company

I appreciate the post and the insight. I enjoy learning more about the company. Amazon is becoming an enabler for other businesses through AWS, FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), Third party Sellers on product pages and KDP (Kindle Direct publishing).

Nice article, thanks for posting.

Thanks, was wondering when that was coming out.

Thanks for starting the thread. I'll offer these two quotes from the Amazon shareholder letters for now and add more color with time. As the famed investor Benjamin Graham said, ‘‘In the short term, the stock market is a voting machine; in the long term, it’s a weighing machine.’’ Clearly there was a lot of voting going on in the boom year of ’99—and much less weighing. We’re a company that wants to be weighed, and over time, we will be—over the long term, all companies are. In the meantime, we have our heads down working to build a heavier and heavier company. → 2000 letter If you could know for certain just two things--a company’s future cash flows and its future number of shares outstanding--you would have an excellent idea of the fair value of a share of that company’s stock today. (You’d also need to know appropriate discount rates, but if you knew the future cash flows for certain, it would also be reasonably easy to know which discount rates to use.) It’s not easy, but you can make an informed forecast of future cash flows by examining a company’s performance in the past and by looking at factors such as the leverage points and scalability in that company’s model. Estimating the number of shares outstanding in the future requires you to forecast items such as option grants to employees or other potential capital transactions. Ultimately, your determination of cash flow per share will be a strong indicator of the price you might be willing to pay for a share of ownership in any company. → 2001 letter

Warren's Warrant exercise at 7.142857/share and they have the same adjustment feature as the A Tarp warrants and expire in 2021. (I didn't know about the adjustment feature until another person/post tipped me off)

I don't want to takeover this thread, but regarding Amazon I would encourage you to read the shareholder letters from 1997 till now and look at the financials. Quickly making judgement based on financials without looking at what the business is investing in makes your quick judgement similar to other short term market players. I won't argue about Amazon more than that. Sorry if I am taking your comments out of context as well. I value your posts on this board.

They are HQ in Omaha. http://www.orientaltrading.com/h3-aboutus.fltr

Here is the release from the Financial Stability Board with SIFI for all the banks: https://www.financialstabilityboard.org/publications/r_121031ac.pdf Thanks for the post. I was wondering why BAC was up today.

Thanks! Interesting. Here's a link to the projects website. http://www.lakecharlescleanenergy.com

Thanks for the links and the post. Will be interesting to see how LUK puts their liquidity to work.

Thanks Plan for the article.