Parsad

You knew this was coming...hardball against that ring fence. I think they settle this month. Cheers! LOLOLOL. I chuckled. Hey MBIA we own a bunch of your notes. And in other news, here's a notice of default. It will all depend on what a judge thinks, as BAC as a creditor can now proceed through the courts to try and win a judgement against them to retain the convenants, or petition them into bankruptcy going forward if the covenants are amended without BAC's approval. It's in both their interests to come to a reasonable settlement and put this all behind them. Cheers!

Most likely! And a nice public advertisement to any other large blocks of stock who now know they can lock in a 15% rate on a lifetime's worth of appreciation at 13x,000/share with a call to Omaha. I hope there are more in the next few weeks. this is a one off imo. in fact the media is going to roast buffett for doing this to help a friend avoid paying higher taxes. he doesn't want to buy back a lot of stock at these levels. this is a token amount. The optics don't look particularly good, but at the same time, if he can't find better investments than his own company, then you can't fault him. I just think the timing wasn't great. He could have bought the same 9,200 shares on the market for less...no reporting, nothing. The fact that there is tax savings for a long-time investor, after Buffett so adamantly stated that taxes for the super-rich should rise, is kind of hypocritical. Cheers! I almost never disagree with you Parsad. With this I do. It is highly unlikely Warren could have purchased 9000 a shares at a lower price. This is one months volume for the A shares. The optics are fine he is signalling to the mkt he thinks his company is cheap so cheap he is willing to retire shares. I think every one wins here. Even the Warren haters because they can now say he is a hipocite. LOL Sure he could have. Take a look at the NYSE chart for BRK-A in the last month. Thousands and thousands of shares traded below $132K: http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=brka&fq=D&ezd=1M&index=3 Also, the economic interest is the same whether he buys A's or B's. He could have bought hundreds of thousands of B's in the open market for less than the equivalent of $89 each, retiring tons of shares in the process. I almost never disagree with Buffett...this time I think he was doing a shareholder a favor, as well as other remaining shareholders, and the optics and timing weren't appropriate relative to his comments about taxation. Cheers!

You knew this was coming...hardball against that ring fence. I think they settle this month. Cheers!

He can adjust it until he actually tenders the offer...so with the stock at $14, I don't think he's going to offer anything less than $16.50-17.50. He's probably not going to offer much more than that at best. Cheers!

Yup, it's been a killer month for us in both funds! BAC, BAC-WTA, LUK, JEF, DELL, BBY...if HOTR would only start trading, we'd have the best single month in our short history. Cheers!

If it is is "business" then why did he not buy these shares on the open market? The next time he buys a subsidiary using BRK shares as currency, he can reassure the seller that his/her heirs will be able to unload them upon death. Classy way to treat the people -- just like agreeing to never trade away the company purchased. This cultivates better transactions in the future by showing the world that any business owners willing to sell their company to Berkshire will be treated well till death do us part. Yes, I can see that perspective, as long as it was someone who sold their business to Berkshire. Do we know if that was the case here? Was it Al Uletschi's estate? Cheers!

Complete disconnect in what you are saying. Not only did he pay more by not buying in the open market, the purchase provides a huge tax windfall for someone who obviously does not need one. It wasn't business...it was charity for a long-time shareholder! The GE, GS and BAC deals were business...I have no problem with that. Cheers!

I thought the original comment about what "price to book" they would buy was silly too. Why tell everyone that you are willing to buy back stock at 110% of book? He's never blatantly given away his intrinsic value for Berkshire, so why do it now and handicap yourself to that specific buyback price? If it's a mandate for the board, so they don't even have to think about what to do with capital when he's gone, then fine...but keep it internal so quick adjustments to the threshold don't look silly like this one because they are discussed publically. All he had to do is tell shareholders at the annual meeting or in the letter that we've got a certain threshold that changes over time where we will buy back shares in Berkshire. Simple...just like he stated back in 2000. Cheers!

Most likely! And a nice public advertisement to any other large blocks of stock who now know they can lock in a 15% rate on a lifetime's worth of appreciation at 13x,000/share with a call to Omaha. I hope there are more in the next few weeks. this is a one off imo. in fact the media is going to roast buffett for doing this to help a friend avoid paying higher taxes. he doesn't want to buy back a lot of stock at these levels. this is a token amount. The optics don't look particularly good, but at the same time, if he can't find better investments than his own company, then you can't fault him. I just think the timing wasn't great. He could have bought the same 9,200 shares on the market for less...no reporting, nothing. The fact that there is tax savings for a long-time investor, after Buffett so adamantly stated that taxes for the super-rich should rise, is kind of hypocritical. Cheers!

Interview on Fool.com. Cheers! http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/12/11/how-investors-should-think-about-the-economy.aspx

Is this the standard practice for this kind of situation? Somehow this reminds me of BAC-ML case? Any comments from board members who work in this field? No, I think this more of quelling rumors among staff, that their bonuses would be deferred or paid out in the new year. Sometimes during deals, the staff aren't always sure what is happening, and you start to get rumors flying about what is actually happening to the company, jobs, pensions, bonuses, etc. Also, while bigger institutions are tightening compensation policies, some of those key employees at top firms may be willing to jump ship to a smaller competitor, who has a ton of room to grow and is going to treat them better in terms of compensation. Cheers!

Very funny! I think I just wet my pants. ;D Cheers!

Hi RJ, I think you are correct. Munger has a ton in BYD, thus why I'm thinking this may be it. We'll find out eventually. Cheers!

Buffett's words carved in stone. Cheers! http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/11/odd-sweden-buffett-idUSL5E8NB7V720121211?feedType=RSS&feedName=marketsNews&rpc=43

Buffett and Soros issue joint statement to Congress. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-11/buffett-joins-soros-in-effort-to-raise-taxes-on-estates.html?cmpid=yhoo

Or Japan finally blows up from its debt load, and those Japanese stocks plummet in dollar terms as the yen crumbles. Cheers!

By the way, my guess if you are talking about 10 times to 40 times return, and you know how Mohnish really digs Munger's thought process about disruptive businesses, I would be inclined to say it is BYD. But who knows, you'll have to get it out of him to know the truth! Cheers!

Well, the guess that one of Mohnish's best friend's threw out has been mentioned today. Whether it is the one, I don't know because Mohnish of course was very coy about the idea over dinner a few months ago. But some of the stuff I've heard leads me to believe that the guess may be correct. Although I'm not sure about that 10 times to 40 times return comment regarding this guess...I don't see it...but hey, I'm neither Mohnish Pabrai, nor Guy Spiers! ;D I'm a shameless clone. Cheers!

Ok, sounds like we have eliminated North America and Asia. That narrows it down to: Africa Antartica Australia Europe South America I think we can probably remove Antartica from that list :) Definitely warmer! I agree, I think you can take Antartica off the list. ;D Cheers!

Boardmember "Indirect", who is better at guessing what Mohnish is doing than anyone else on here, has an educated guess which company it is...and as I've mentioned, you guys are on the wrong continent. Cheers!

I think you guys may all be on the wrong continent! Swing again batter, batter, batter. Cheers!

Which would also include "The Economist". Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mayor-bloomberg-weighs-buying-financial-042742356.html;_ylt=ArT1De_KJvO9Fn_KZ3t8IG6iuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTRwYzA3dXFyBG1pdANGaW5hbmNlIEZQIFRvcCBTdG9yaWVzIG1peGVkIGxpc3QEcGtnAzAyMGNhMjc1LWFjYmEtMzRmOS04NmY4LWE0NTcyOTg2MmFmYgRwb3MDMQRzZWMDTWVkaWFCTGlzdE1peGVkTFBDQVRlbXAEdmVyA2RjYjM0MzEwLTQyODctMTFlMi05ZGVmLWQwZjc1NzhlMjE1ZQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

We go over $11 this week. Cheers!

How much (dollar figures) real estate is there left for them to sell. Anyone? Just a rough estimate, but before they started selling/leasing alot of their real estate, I had it estimated at about $5-7B conservatively for only their stated corporate offices...roughly about 55-60 properties, offices, etc. Of that, they have sold only about 15-20% of the properties, so that means that they still have the bulk of their real estate. A few of the properties may have been packaged in deals for other banking/investment assets, but I would say that they still have a ton of real estate. That doesn't include the hundreds of bank branch properties they own outright as well throughout the country. Cheers!

BAC sells 300,000 square foot building in Columbia, SC. Only $26M, but I like that they continue to refine and streamline their entire operations. Once the legacy issues disappear, this sucker is going to hum! Cheers! http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/transwestern-brokers-sale-of-300000-sf-bank-of-america-plaza-in-columbia-sc-for-26-million-182610661.html