Parsad

Not a very good or accurate article on Mohnish's investment in Chesapeake, but I thought I would still post it: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ycharts/2012/11/24/whats-buffett-disciple-pabrai-doing-in-messy-chesapeake-stock/?partner=yahootix Cheers!

Here's another hack job article by Gretchen Morgenson on Fairfax and the IRS ruling regarding their past purchase of Odyssey Re shares from Bank of America. Fairfax's transaction was reported to the IRS by one of the hedge funds shorting it, who may end up with a "whistleblower" reward if the IRS decides to reopen the case and levy any fines. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/business/years-later-the-irs-questions-a-tax-deal.html?partner=yahoofinance&_r=0 So these assholes collude and naked short the stock, using unethical conduct and non-public information, and then report Fairfax to the IRS to possibly receive a reward. I love how U.S. securities regulators work! Fairfax sues their biggest target, who has bred a culture of deception, illegal trading and ill-gotten gains, yet they win the lawsuit against them and one of their minions can possible receive "whistleblower" payments. Geez! Cheers!

The inaugural Crohn's & Colitis Foundation "ICE Gala" in BC was a complete success! Led by the CCFC's Alison Obrecht, we raised over $100,000 for the Foundation. The food was terrific, and the live & silent auctions went very well. Thank you to everyone who donated, supported or attended the gala! The video "Lee's Story", which was first shown by Dr. Kevin Glasgow at our dinner this year, was also shown at the Vancouver gala. Lee's mother, Mimi Greenspoon was in attendance. She runs the Toronto gala which raised over $900,000 this year...something we aspire to get to at some point! I was about 15-16 when I first started listening to Canadian rock legends "54-40". They had just been signed by Warner Bros and had put out their first album. They were one of the formative bands I listened to during my teenage years and into college. For some reason, I had never made it to one of their concerts, so it was ironic that I finally saw them live over 25 years later at a CCFC event. An organization that I have come to strongly support, only after our friend JoAnn Butler passed away...who I only met because of my meeting with Prem Watsa and Francis Chou...who I only met after meeting Buffett! The chain of events in my life since that first meeting with Buffett constantly leaves me with a sense of gratitude and wonderment. My whole family attended...my Mom, brother, sister-in-law, her mother, Alnesh and a bunch of friends. "54-50" played for almost two hours! As the evening progressed, the 200 attendees whittled down to about 30 of us, and we were all going on stage and singing with the band. At that point, the band started really getting into it, as it was like doing a tiny backyard performance. They brought their equipment down to the dance floor, playing and singing amongst us, handing the mic off to each of us to finish a chorus! I've been to large rock concerts and those held in smaller, intimate venues...this was crazy...here I was singing and dancing with friends and family right around Neil Osbourne and the rest of "54-40!" For those of you in the U.S. who may not be familiar with them, they became pretty big on the college scene, but never took off mainstream in the U.S. One U.S. band covered one of their songs though and became superstars selling tens of millions of albums over time...Hootie and the Blowfish...go figure! Alot of people know "The Tragically Hip" as one of Canada's biggest bands, but "54-40" were better and more consistent...just never blew up around the world. Anyway, it was a terrific night, and I've included some pictures. Hopefully, more of you will be able to attend the next one! Cheers!

Divided loyalty is what will stop him. Is he more loyal to FFH shareholders who are bleeding capital from this purchase, or is he more loyal to his colleagues on the RIMM board? Personally, I was happier when it was 100% clear who he was working for. SJ How are interests not aligned? RIMM is a big investment for Fairfax and he's CEO of Fairfax and steps in to help RIMM. Thus if he helps RIMM, he helps Fairfax. The RIMM investment is a sunk cost. How do you get as much of your investment out of it now is the question, and that is why Prem is in there...at best he saves it, at worst some damage control. It's clear who he is working for as he is not CEO of RIMM. Cheers! As I don't hold shares of RIMM or FFH (or really follow them, other than what I read on here) I have a question. Any board fees that Prem earns, who gets them? Do they go into Prem's pocket, or, are they going into FFH as revenue, since the only reason he is on the board, is due to his role in FFH? Or, does he work on the RIMM board for free? Was Warren Buffett's director fees at Coca-cola going into his pockets or Berkshire's general coffers? Also, are their fees greater than their compensation or ownership at their respective companies, or significantly less? In Prem's case, his salary, dividends and ownership interest are all far higher than any compensation he receives from RIMM...not even close on any of those three metrics. In Buffett's case, his Coca-cola director's fee was greater than his salary from Berkshire...would you say that Buffett was compromised in any manner when he served on Coca-cola's board? The stick you guys are trying to carry is a bar held so high that hardly any CEO could pass muster over a long career...even Buffett would have failed the director's fee challenge. Cheers!

Divided loyalty is what will stop him. Is he more loyal to FFH shareholders who are bleeding capital from this purchase, or is he more loyal to his colleagues on the RIMM board? Personally, I was happier when it was 100% clear who he was working for. SJ How are interests not aligned? RIMM is a big investment for Fairfax and he's CEO of Fairfax and steps in to help RIMM. Thus if he helps RIMM, he helps Fairfax. The RIMM investment is a sunk cost. How do you get as much of your investment out of it now is the question, and that is why Prem is in there...at best he saves it, at worst some damage control. It's clear who he is working for as he is not CEO of RIMM. Cheers!

No, he definitely did not join to sell near-term. Otherwise he would not have joined the board. He's in this for the long-haul...whatever the final outcome. Cheers!

More on this from the NY Times: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49938192 Cheers!

They opened the first Cabela's in Washington a couple of years ago, and I went in there. As a Canadian proponent of gun control, I've never felt more uncomfortable in my life! That is until I put that sweet 9mm Remington in my hand...I kid, I kid! ;D Say no to guns. Cheers!

I don't know what else we can do to get Moore back to posting. We pulled out Sophia Vergara, as well as "Baramit". What else can we do? Cheers!

It's pretty good. It's a comedy though really, not some Oscar-winning drama or anything. I wouldn't rent it though. If you have it on Netflix or something, that's probably better. One of my favorite movies regarding stocks or the markets is "Trading Places", and I think the underlying social commentary was pretty darn good. It's a Christmas movie too, so it's always on around this time of year. Probably the best role Dan Akroyd ever had. Cheers! Check out "Margin Call" which is a fairly recent movie. Pretty good imo. Yes, "Margin Call" was quite good. Hell of a lot better than "Wall Street 2"...what a disappointment that was! "Too Big to Fail" was actually quite good too. Cheers!

Hope our U.S. boardmembers enjoy their stuffed turkeys today...or tofurkey's for our vegetarian boardmembers! ;D Cheers!

They had Romney in the news the other day. A photograph of him pumping his own gas...he looked exhausted. Already the Obama Administration is having a negative wealth effect on the 1%! ;D Cheers!

It's pretty good. It's a comedy though really, not some Oscar-winning drama or anything. I wouldn't rent it though. If you have it on Netflix or something, that's probably better. One of my favorite movies regarding stocks or the markets is "Trading Places", and I think the underlying social commentary was pretty darn good. It's a Christmas movie too, so it's always on around this time of year. Probably the best role Dan Akroyd ever had. Cheers!

Activist or someone buys them. I don't think there is any other way to do it. Cheers!

Hi Rjstc, No, I don't know of him. Also, Mohnish owned some MFC a long time ago in the Pabrai Funds...don't know why he sold. But Peter Kellogg owns a good chunk of MFC, so make of it what you will...both good and bad I guess?! Cheers!

Why, it's Michael Smith, of course! (Interim CFO with no apparent rush to hire another) That's why I asked. I already knew the answer. ;D In fact, as far as I can tell, he's Chairman, CEO, CFO and pretty much all of the internal controls! I listened to the 3rd quarter webcast, and the man is incredibly smart, polished and has terrific knowledge of business and investing. He may be one of the better CEO's I've ever heard as far as his accounting knowledge is concerned. Heck, his Vancouver office is just a few blocks away. I invested in MFC in my personal account about 10 years ago, when it was still MFC Bancorp. I sold not long after examining the incongruencies between all the right things he was saying and doing, and the optics of the operations that just never made sense to me. I probably lost alot of money by not staying with him, but after investing with Buffett and Watsa, where the words and the optics go hand in hand, I just couldn't justify it. Very good conference call though and worth listening to. You will be wondering the same thing as me...why the hell doesn't he just simplify things and remove the conflicts. Cheers!

Why, it's Michael Smith, of course! (Interim CFO with no apparent rush to hire another) That's why I asked. I already knew the answer. ;D I listened to the 3rd quarter webcast, and the man is incredibly smart, polished and has terrific knowledge of business and investing. He may be one of the better CEO's I've ever heard as far as his accounting knowledge is concerned. Heck, his Vancouver office is just a few blocks away. I invested in MFC in my personal account about 10 years ago, when it was still MFC Bancorp. I sold not long after examining the incongruencies between all the right things he was saying and doing, and the optics of the operations that just never made sense to me. I probably lost alot of money by not staying with him, but after investing with Buffett and Watsa, where the words and the optics go hand in hand, I just couldn't justify it. Very good conference call though and worth listening to. You will be wondering the same thing as me...why the hell doesn't he just simplify things and remove the conflicts. Cheers!

Who is the CFO of MFC Industrial? Cheers!

No idea. He's just not posting as much right now. Cheers! Actually, I just checked...he's definitely lurking...just not posting. Moore, stop your lurking...you know you've got stuff to say! ;D It seems as though a bunch of our "Red State" board members are still licking their wounds and staying on the sidelines. Hopefully, they come back once the fiscal cliff is averted. Cheers!

No idea. He's just not posting as much right now. Cheers!

Article on the current dispute. Cheers! http://www.thestreet.com/story/11773878/1/mbia-bank-of-america-battle-coming-to-a-head.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

You would think this would be common sense. There is always going to be a certain percentage, and I would say a majority, who will prefer to buy their electronics in person, so they can hear it, see it and talk about it with someone. But why wouldn't you shut down alot of your non-core, unprofitable locations, but keep your warehouses in place, and move to a hybrid Amazon distribution system. They've already got the online business in place...it's a question of shifting more of it to that distribution system, and trying to get it as efficient as Amazon's. I've never seen a business that sells any product, generates revenue and cannot be profitable...it just doesn't happen. The only time it happens is if the actual underlying operations are inefficient (G&A, debt & interest, lease rates, etc) or you are in a model that is growing revenue by paying for it (alot of IT startups)! The first is fixable, but the second is just a business model flaw. It's why I've always contested that there is no reason why Overstock.com could not be profitable in any given year...you have a billion in revenue but your operating costs and other expenses are too high...it was a simple fix. Best Buy is the same way. They make money on their sale of products, but their operating expenses are too high and they are not getting the best bang for buck from alot of their locations. You cannot take your sweet time correcting these things, because you only fall behind the curve and destroy more shareholder value. Let's see if someone can kick their ass into high speed. Cheers!

Don't hear anything from the other toadies these days either...where is the notorious Sam Antar? Hiding under his rock I presume! Cheers!

Chanos' argument was one of the dumbest ones I've ever heard. He effectively was saying that they paid too much for acquisitions and that is somehow related to revenues...which is completely wrong. The earnings and revenues are only worthless if they are declining or non-existent. Did they overpay? Possibly. Was it the best use of capital? Probably not if they overpaid and revenues weren't near what they expected. But that still does not mean existing earnings or revenues are worthless. Cheers!

You would think so...I can only hope so. Too bad we can't short SAC! I'm also surprised that Chanos did not stumble across this fraud. ;D Cheers!