Parsad

Wow, very harsh words. Makes me really wonder WTF went on behind the scenes. Buffett has been behind-the-back vindictive before so I wouldn't be surprised if he did something that crossed the line for Sokol Could be. Or vice-versa. Buffett has always said that "you lose a shred of reputation for the firm...and I will be ruthless!" He cut Alice Schroeder out of the circle pretty quick over the book. If you piss him off or damage his/Berkshire's reputation, you are gone. While the SEC didn't find anything to charge Sokol with, I think everyone here thought it was unethical when the information came out. Cheers! Interesting information...where would you suggest one begin looking to find similar stories about Buffett's behind-the-scenes decisions? It is obvious that he painstakingly grooms his public image, but in private he is a different beast. Read Schroeder's book..."The Snowball". I thought it had too much of the gossipy stuff, but some of that helps formulate how Buffett's relations with people formed or why they may have deteriorated. Also has plenty of detail on his life and business as well. Cheers!

Wow, very harsh words. Makes me really wonder WTF went on behind the scenes. Buffett has been behind-the-back vindictive before so I wouldn't be surprised if he did something that crossed the line for Sokol Could be. Or vice-versa. Buffett has always said that "you lose a shred of reputation for the firm...and I will be ruthless!" He cut Alice Schroeder out of the circle pretty quick over the book. If you piss him off or damage his/Berkshire's reputation, you are gone. While the SEC didn't find anything to charge Sokol with, I think everyone here thought it was unethical when the information came out. Cheers!

They are apparently now available inside Fairfax's William Ashley store. Could be a nice fit within the Fairfax family. Already kind of like the See's store inside NFM. ;D Cheers! http://www.teuschertoronto.com/pages.php?pageid=3 http://williamashley.com/web/ http://www.teuscher.com/

Very good article in Forbes by Mohnish and Guy on what is needed to help get Club Med countries back on their feet. By the way Mohnish, where is Guy's picture in the article? ;D Cheers! http://www.forbes.com/sites/mohnishpabrai/2013/01/03/how-a-chinese-economic-policy-could-save-club-med-countries/

Gun shy Citi is apparently only going to ask for a minimal buyback and no dividend increase! Whereas it looks like JPM is going to do both once again. We should probably hear something about WFC and BAC in the next couple of weeks. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/citigroup-seek-permission-buy-back-011754399.html

Bank of America ordered to release more documents related to MBIA case. Probably why the rally in MBIA today. This may force BAC to finally come to some sort of settlement, as I'm sure they don't want alot of information to go public. Cheers! http://www.thestreet.com/story/11804771/1/bank-of-america-ordered-to-unseal-documents-in-mbia-case.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Greenberg is a CNBC reports came from print and web media, http://www.cnbc.com/id/16223136/Herb_Greenberg_Profile_Biography_About__CNBC . Hempton manages Bronte Capital and posted on his blog and now on CNBC that he is long: http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/ Although I don't think he has mentioned how big a position this is for him. Thanks. What is their reputation ? They just sound like noise. Yes, they are both very noisy! ;D Greenberg is a business journalist slash hack, while Hempton is an unscrupulous analyst, turned blogger, turned hedge fund manager. Hempton was instrumental in the short attack against Fairfax by spreading his views to many other journalists and hedge fund managers. Two turds pretending to be raisins on CNBC! Cheers!

Welcome Phaceliacapital! Yes, you are correct that there is a good group of core boardmembers. We have plenty of good lurkers as well. Enjoy the board! Cheers!

BAC to sell $300B in mortgage servicing rights. Cheers! http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/04/bofa-msrs-sale-idUSL1E9C488L20130104?feedType=RSS&feedName=marketsNews&rpc=43

Turds Hempton and Greenberg were both on together as well talking about Herbalife today. Cheers!

Comments by Sokol. Cheers! http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2013/01/sokol-i-should-have-left-berkshire.html?ana=yfcpc

Bank of America: No Time To Rest on Its Laurels http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2013/01/03/bank-of-america-no-time-to-rest-on-its-laurels/ Cheers!

@rkbabang, LOL ! That was my first thought when I saw the plot. It does look like a collective FU from COBF members to the rest of the market No, just proof of Buffett's "Superinvestors of Graham & Doddsville" analogy. This not a one-off. Many of the same people who made a ton of money on BAC, also made it on Steak'n Shake a couple of years ago, on WFC & GE a couple of years before that, and Fairfax a few years earlier. Swing big when Mr. Market offers you a 30 cent dollar! Cheers!

He ups his target when the stock is already at his target...pphhhttt! Well, I guess if you look at it another way, at least he was right. :o Cheers!

You can thin it out a bit if you want, but the 4th Q results (not unlike BAC) should be pretty good. I expect that OSTK made close to a dollar a share in the 4th Q. Probably close to $1.15-1.25 for the year. So if they can keep it going, it's not overvalued. Cheers!

Eric just gave away his age...as well as his taste in music! 8) Cheers!

Don't forget Larry Sarbit, Leith Wheeler, as well as the guys at Vertex Asset Management...as well as my friends at Riverside Capital...perhaps the only value investors in Saskatoon! ;D Cheers!

Article on how Apple may already be testing iPhone 6 and iOS 7. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/100350155

I was assuming that whatever adjustments occur from return of capital or dilution, would equally affect the common as well. Cheers!

What does that mean, exactly? The warrant price should converge to (common price - strike price) as it approaches the end, and there shouldn't be much risk, presuming it is in the money. What is decaying? If BAC does what is even somewhat close what we think it will, then the warrants should increase in value faster than the common for quite some time. I guess it decays if it doesn't (or people think it won't) make it into the money? The decay means the warrant premium, calculated using Black-Scholes (yes, unreliable I know), decreases in value as the expiry date approaches. So assume in six years, the stock is at $20. There would be no premium at expiry and the value of the warrant would be $20 minus the exercise price of $13...so $7. If the stock for some reason stays at $15 (assume larger than expected legacy issues or loan losses, systemic crisis, whatever), then the value of the warrants say two years from expiry would be worth $15-13, plus probably about a $2-2.50 premium...so less than the current valuation...and that is due to the warrant value decay. Cheers! I see what you mean--I guess since I model it at over $18 (13+current 5), I hadn't really concerned myself with it. My distribution is a lot more common than yours (I'm at a 3:1 common:warrant ratio), so I can understand decreasing to 1:1 in your case. We were nearly the reverse...about 2.5:1 warrrants:common ratio...in dollar value, not number of each! :o We're now about 1.6:1 ratio. As the stock continues to go up, we'll eventually get that down to 1:1 where we will probably hold the rest for a long time...nice fat dividends. Cheers!

What does that mean, exactly? The warrant price should converge to (common price - strike price) as it approaches the end, and there shouldn't be much risk, presuming it is in the money. What is decaying? If BAC does what is even somewhat close what we think it will, then the warrants should increase in value faster than the common for quite some time. I guess it decays if it doesn't (or people think it won't) make it into the money? The decay means the warrant premium, calculated using Black-Scholes (yes, unreliable I know), decreases in value as the expiry date approaches. So assume in six years, the stock is at $20. There would be no premium at expiry and the value of the warrant would be $20 minus the exercise price of $13...so $7. If the stock for some reason stays at $15 (assume larger than expected legacy issues or loan losses, systemic crisis, whatever), then the value of the warrants say two years from expiry would be worth $15-13, plus probably about a $2-2.50 premium...so less than the current valuation...and that is due to the warrant value decay. Cheers!

Our warrant position was over twice the size of our equity position...we're just bringing them more into line. That being said, even with six years left, you still have the time arbitrage risk...thus as time passes, you are going to get decay in the underlying value relative to the equity. Cheers!

Still plenty of room to rise, and lots of room for continued improvement, dividends and share buybacks, but the dumb money is now finally starting to really come into BAC. We have sold about a third of our warrants now as it was a huge position. We have not and will not sell any equity. Cheers! http://www.thestreet.com/story/11802314/1/bank-of-america-analyst-conviction-buy-after-110-gain-in-2012.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Also agree...Looper was terrific. Cheers!

The world, in particular the U.S., would have been better off if we did go over the cliff long-term, as the cuts would have actually started to fix things. But markets seem happier that the can was kicked down the road. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/100347673