Parsad

Hi Folks, Here is a detailed transcript of the Daily Journal Meeting with Munger. Cheers! DJCO_Meeting.pdf

Hi Oddball, Feel free to put the link here, as the book is out of print, and I'm sure people are interested in a resource for small/micro cap stocks. I don't mind links...just don't put the rates, etc, on here. People should go to the site and decide if they want to pay...I don't want anyone to feel we are endorsing someone specific. Cheers!

Andrew, along with David Polonitza, will be presenting at our dinner in Toronto. You guys should ask Andrew to bring the Walkers Manual back...or maybe an online version. Cheers!

Not a whole lot! It was basically me standing in the lobby outside at the Omaha Golf & Country Club, and just noticing Buffett walk in with his security and daughter Susie. I just said "Hi Mr. Buffett, can I get a photo with you? "Sure!" And he shook my hand. I then kind of awkwardly stood there, since my friend John was back inside at the Yellow BRKers Party. "Do you have someone who can take the photo?" Asked Susie? "My friend is inside"..."I can take it for you", she graciously offered. "That would be great! Thanks very much!" And that was it...some more thanks from me...and a "best of luck to you" from Buffett. But it was like a lightning bolt...meeting the guy who brought you this rational framework for investing and life! He then spoke for about 40 minutes at the party. Cheers!

- who was the most surprising person you've ever interviewed ? As in did you have any expectations about certain individuals who blew them out of the park or changed your perception ? It's funny, I never really went into any interview with any preconceived notions. The one amazing thing is that all of them were very nice and personable...even Sardar! ;D Most became very good friends. Larry Sarbit is an awfully funny guy though, so that was one interesting thing. - Who had the most peculiar investment advice you'd ever heard ? Actually the interviews usually had somewhat conventional ideas. The most peculiar idea came from a very good friend of mine and Mohnish's...indirectinvestor! He was interested in buying a pistachio farm outside of Bakersfield, California. It was a great idea, as it's probably gone up 2-3 times in the last two years, but it wasn't your conventional type of idea. - What are the 3 best pieces of advice you've ever gotten ? First was from my father..."You can do whatever you want." Second was from Prem..."Just do it. Whatever money you have or you can raise, start a partnership and build a track record." Third was from my old friend John Zemanovich (lotsofcoke)..."Let me know when you are going to Omaha, and I'll take you to the Yellow BRK'ers Party". That's where I met Buffett the first time, met Mohnish the first time and that trip changed my investing life. I'm sure there was other pieces of great advice over the years, but those come to mind. - What do you love the most about this board ? The comradery, long friendships I've formed, the ability to share ideas and comfort it provides many other people. - What originally attracted you to investing and how do you think that's had an impact on your life & happyness ? My Dad died when I was in my 4th year of university...my Mom was a 37 year old widow and I had to raise my 9-year old brother. I quit school to work, and then realized that I wasn't going to get anywhere working for other people. I started to invest, but was having sporadic luck...Peter Lynch, buy what you know...didn't work! I stumbled across Berkshire's website and read his letters, then Graham. I sold everything and bought Berkshire B's near the bottom in late 1999-early 2000. That changed everything from that day and my happiness has increased 100 fold. It not only improved my life, but my family's and friends. It was the seed that allowed me to create this board, make wonderful new friends, start a partnership with my cousin Alnesh, create our dinner in Toronto, sell a portion of our U.S. partnership to our director and friends Glen & Andrew, assist the CCFC with fundraising...so many good things started from that first Buffett letter I read in late 1998. So many more to come! - In the next 5-10 years where do you see the board going ? I just see it continuing to grow. It's not going to suddenly change into something like the Motley Fool, but it will remain community oriented, relatively small and hopefully will continue to create an atmosphere where investors can change their lives. What better testimonial can we get than Ericopoly buying a fractional Netjets stake when BAC hits $18-20! ;D Cheers!

Thanks very much everyone! It's been my pleasure. I think Ericopoly used the words "life changing" and I'm proof of that! Before I started the board, I was still in a funk 10 years after my father died...I was working to help raise my 9-year old brother with my widowed mother...and this wonderful stock called Berkshire Hathaway popped up on my radar screen. A couple of years later and the original version of this board was started. All the friends I've made...in the industry and outside of it. The wonderful partners that are part of our funds...both still with us and those that have moved to greener pastures. And of course, my comrades who I talk to everyday on this board...debate with, laugh with, and hang out with in one wonderful value investing binge in Toronto! My life is a joy that I never imagined. Cheers!

Yes, we bought a nice slug on Thursday, after long deliberation and trying to make sense of all of this. We won't get to vote, but I think the assets are undervalued...the best I can tell...and markets will be pleased with whatever way the vote ends up going. They should have plenty of cash after completion of the Sandridge E&P sale, so that sort of took care of one of my qualms for a long-time. I'm somewhat agnostic on Tom...I like the guy and his abilities, but I'm not keen on his compensation or the numerous related party/conflict of interest deals. If you look at it in terms of "Could the reputation and ethics be beyond reproach, if they took this manner of compensation and removed the sweet-heart deals?" The natural prelude to that question is then "wouldn't any shareholder or ethical CEO want that?" Maybe removing Tom is not such a great idea, but I think adding other voices to the board is almost dutifully warranted if that is what we expect from CEO's at Berkshire or Fairfax, and the CEO's of any other company we invest in. Buffett and his kind have set the bar very high...maybe too high...but it is now set there. That may be at the peril of other CEO's! Cheers!

Leucadia continues to spinoff or sell non-core assets. Empire Insurance is being sold to White Mountains. No price given. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/white-mountains-solutions-acquire-empire-213000982.html

Poll to see what investor sentiment on this board is like regarding the proxy solicitation against Sandridge Energy and its board of directors. Cheers!

I have this feeling that TW is in tight with this one. Sentiment seems to reside with removing him. I'll start a poll. Cheers!

Oh, it will continue as long as I'm alive! I love hanging out with you guys, and I have a blast being able to communicate with so many people. It will continue to evolve at a sloth-like pace, as it has for the last 11 years. I want to maintain a sense of community, so we'll get larger slowly. The boards will continue to be monitored as they have been. I'm still looking at the best ways to make the site mobile. The cheaper and free ways of setting up a site for mobile browsers doesn't work as well with the Simple Machines software and layout. I think it's going to be costly, so it may be a little longer before we do that. I'll let you guys know of any other updates as they happen, if any. Cheers! Out of curiosity have you looked at: http://tapatalk.com/activate_tapatalk.php They have SMF plugin which appears to be free, then users buy the client app from the app store. Thanks Compoundinglife, I'll try that one. I tried 3 other ones, and unfortunately if they are free or cheaper, they don't allow you to really organize the posts in an effective manner, or the appearance was useless. I'll let you know how this one works. Cheers!

Oh, it will continue as long as I'm alive! I love hanging out with you guys, and I have a blast being able to communicate with so many people. It will continue to evolve at a sloth-like pace, as it has for the last 11 years. I want to maintain a sense of community, so we'll get larger slowly. The boards will continue to be monitored as they have been. I'm still looking at the best ways to make the site mobile. The cheaper and free ways of setting up a site for mobile browsers doesn't work as well with the Simple Machines software and layout. I think it's going to be costly, so it may be a little longer before we do that. I'll let you guys know of any other updates as they happen, if any. Cheers!

Hi Folks, Tomorrow is the 11th Anniversary of the board. So, what could be a better anniversary gift than hearing Steve Cohan may soon finally have to close shop! In it's former incarnation, "The MSN Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder's Board", was simply someplace for me and a few of my Berkshire friends to hangout. It grew to become a safe haven for Fairfax Financial shareholders during the epic (at least in our minds) bear raid in 2003 after Fairfax listed in New York. I've made a ton of wonderful friends on here, and it's catalogued my experiences, both in life and the investment community. So thank you for listening and being my friend! I used to do occasional interviews with people related to the value-investing community. So I thought I would include all of the interviews conducted. There was one from Irwin Michaels as well, but after a couple of revisits and revisions, he was still unhappy with the end product, so we nixed the interview...unfortunately, I cannot include it. But it certainly is fun reading some of these interviews from back then...hope you enjoy them! Cheers! Interview_With_Mohnish_Pabrai_-_October_21_2003.pdf Interview_With_John_Zemanovich_-_November_14_2003.pdf Interview_With_Amitabh_Singhi.pdf Interview_With_Andy_Kilpatrick_-_July_17_2003.pdf Interview_With_Tim_McElvaine_-_January_18_2005.pdf Interview_With_John_Linnartz_-_April_3_2009.pdf Interview_With_Sardar_Biglari_-_October_27_2004.pdf Interview_With_Jonathan_Wellum_-_June_5_2003.pdf Interview_With_Larry_Sarbit_-_July_29_2004.pdf

The SEC suit is predicated on the deposition Cohan gave during Fairfax's case. Prem may win this one after all! Good riddance to rubbish! Cheers!

Japan's 2% target is going to be a bit low: http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/ Cheers!

Bank of America Wins Record Growth to 401(k)s From Commercial Banks: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-19/bofa-wins-record-growth-to-401-k-s-from-commercial-bank.html Cheers!

I believe you are correct on the larger studios. Don't know exactly what the breakdown is at RNK, but I'm sure we'll start to get some clarity as the year progresses and they report on the film. Cheers!

On the other hand, the substance of your post indicates that you are saying that both companies are/were trading under IV, but that there was some probability (perhaps, a high probability) that the IV at DELL and SHLD would be destroyed through mal-investment or non-optimal capital allocation (opportunity cost of not monetizing assets and reinvesting). Hi Tx, yes this is exactly what I was referring to. This potential for destruction (or growth) of capital allocation occurs in any business, but there has been a sort of history for the last few years that destruction was occurring at SHLD, and to a lesser degree at DELL. It doesn't mean that is what is going to happen long-term, but management either missed the boat for a period of time, or have decided to transition the business and are somewhat at the mercy of competition. I suspect Mohnish does not believe these trends are going to be reversed...I'm sort of ambivalent...I think it could go either way. Cheers!

That's because Guardian spent another $50-70M on marketing and promotion. Escape has spent hardly a cent on marketing relative to other films. Here's a good article on how surprising the results actually were for Escape considering the circumstances around the production, promotion and distribution. Cheers! http://news.moviefone.com/2013/02/15/box-office-escape-from-planet-earth_n_2707419.html

He certainly did! :D Microsoft, Silver Lake, SEAM, et al, including Sanjeev, thought otherwise. And that's what great about this board. We tend to give our opinions even when they are contrary to the greats. We should qualify what Mohnish said about DELL, and I think this is his thinking about SHLD. He believed Dell will destroy shareholder value long-term...more the business and the competition it faced. Whereas I thought DELL was cheap on a nominal basis. These two ideas aren't mutually exclusive. So I'm not sure Mohnish was wrong long-term...he was just wrong about the value in the short-term. We are out of Dell now and we would have been out at a certain price regardless of the buyout...probably in the $15-18 range. The buyout actually ended up being less than what we would have preferred to sell at, so it wasn't quite the home-run that we hoped for. We did very well in a short-period of time, but not a grand slam. I think SHLD may be similiar. On a nominal basis, it is somewhat cheap, but that doesn't mean that long-term destruction of value won't continue to happen. It's a rotten business with very good assets...now how do you monetize those assets before that rotten business eats it all up? So far, it's eaten a massive chunk! I think you've got a reasonably good chance with Eddie and Bruce controlling it, but they could do what Dell did and screw shareholders over as well. And so far, Eddie's results of monetizing those assets has been very subpar. Cheers!

I really like the quote: There is a famous quote: if wealth is lost, nothing is lost. If health is lost, something is lost and if character is lost, everything is lost. Also, he says his family is the 2nd largest investor in the fund...who the hell is first! He's got like $40-45M in there...must be an endowment or something. Very good interview! Cheers!

1) He has a very good track record at JEF. Take a look at some of the earlier presentations. 2) I'm of the opinion that if you own a significant portion of the business, you should have enough motivation to perform your best regardless of any other compensation. Unfortunately, not everyone feels this way, and Handler is getting compensation on par with any other financial firm. So either you are ok with it, or you aren't. I think he'll do very well for LUK over time, so I am ok with it for now, as I've become accustomed to seeing this type of plan for CEO's. Doesn't mean I have to like it, nor do shareholder's have to put up with it if he does not perform. Cheers!

Yup, but should go over $20M as today is a holiday in the U.S. as well. Without much marketing at all, I think this will have to rely on word of mouth and DVD sales. With no children's movies till "Cars 3" comes out next month, it does give it a 3-4 week window to be the only children's movie out for a while. Cheers!

Pretty long interview with Mohnish in Outlook India: http://business.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?283880 Also interviews with other value investors, including Howard Marks & Wilbur Ross: http://business.outlookindia.com/content.aspx?site=2&issue=10969 Cheers!

I saw "Escape" this evening. It was pretty good! It's not Toy Story, but it was entertaining, the character voices were great and it wasn't dumbed down. I have to say, Rainmaker's animation capabilities are on par with any other huge studio animation company like Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, etc. A very polished looking film! The writing wasn't bad...in fact pretty good...but they seemed to rush through the jokes, instead of giving the audience a second to react. Sort of like the old Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoons where the action was very fast and you had to keep up...probably outpaced most children's abilities to comprehend, let alone some adults. The colors were vibrant and the design fantastic. I'm sure Rainmaker will get some good press and business out of it. Also very neat to see "Ting" as Rainmaker's mascot when their logo and name showed up in the beginning credits! Cheers!