Parsad

I think there's alot to be said for Sears, that hasn't been said lately. Frankly a business surviving 130+ years is worth noting, and in it's hey day, Sears was a beast of a retailer with cash gushing from its coffers. The demise of Sears falls squarely on Lampert's shoulders. Unlike other retailers, he put in as little capital as he could into the departments stores, was turtle slow when it came to selling off underperforming stores, and didn't exploit the redevelopment of sites to unleash commercial/retail potential until it was too late. All the while, plowing cash from sold assets into buying back overpriced stock in a declining, neglected retail business. My family and I used to shop at Sears all the time 20-30-40 years ago...then we completely stopped about 10 years ago when the stores started to look like bare warehouses and you couldn't find a salesperson or cashier. I actually disagree with Warren's quote regarding a good manager and poor business when it comes to Sears...I think the good manager led to an early demise...how else do you explain Macy's, Kohls and Nordstrom's doing perfectly fine while Sears is no more. Cheers!

Some people are happy that way. I'm perfectly content to sit in my house and look for stock ideas or read...or watch my Canucks...or a football game. You don't have to go bungee-jumping and zip-lining while curing your own artisan meats, and then ride your bike through the streets of Paris to be happy. Sometimes a cup of coffee and a donut is all you need! Cheers!

Well, at least FFH won. The money is bugger-all and, even if it's actually collectible (that's a big if), it probably doesn't even come close to covering FFH's cumulative legal expenses. But, at least it silenced the short-and-distort crowd. SJ On a cost-return basis it may not have been attractive. In terms of getting some of these miscreants to pay and having our day in court...it was worth it! That being said, some didn't really get their just desserts...Cohen, Loeb, Herb Greenberg, Peter Eavis, John Hempton, etc. Cheers!

Great quote on Sears bankruptcy: Nobody should be surprised by the Sears bankruptcy "unless they own a few Zayre or E.J Korvette locations trapped in a space-time continuum where the Sansabelt clad relax on shag carpeting, illuminated by the warm glow of a lava lamp while they drink Tang and vodka and listen to The Moody Blues," Conforti said. https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/business/sears-kmart-real-estate-reits/index.html Cheers!

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen passed away from complications related to cancer. https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/tech/paul-allen-dead/index.html

And he's done it in alot less time than anyone else with injuries, not starting early on, etc. Depending on when Brees retires, it's either going to be him or Brady. I think Brees can play another 3-5 years, and Brady has no plans of retiring in the next 5 years. Cheers!

Name one technology CEO from Gates era that got it perfectly right. Also, he essentially stepped down in 2000, before the internet even really took off and essentially handed everything over to Ballmer to focus on extracurricular activities and his private wealth. Gates remains in the top five wealthiest people in the world by any measure, and pretty much in all calculations stands second to Bezos. How badly did he really drop the ball! Cheers! Well maybe a lot of others didn't get it perfectly right. But someone seriously dropped the ball at Microsoft. I don't know I can't really tell if it's Gates, Balmer, or organizational inertia/incompetence. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Microsoft, it's incredibly successful, I own a lot of it and made a lot of money owning it. But if you go back and read their ARs like way back, it is freakishly weird how well they called the future. About most things. Search, mobile, etc - not so much online shopping. So they had the insight. They had the vision. But they failed to execute - i.e. dropped the ball. If they did follow through and executed on their vision Microsoft would be worth at least 4 times what they are now. That's in excess of a trillion bucks. These are mind bending numbers to leave on the table. For a Microsoft shareholder that is tragic. I'm not talking about Microsoft. I'm talking about Gates. Charlie Munger sits on the board of Costco, knew Gates and Buffett, and still Costco will have a hard time in the future with Amazon. Does that mean someone dropped the ball at Costco, or simply a better CEO came along with a better model? Great CEO's are often discarded because their companies failed to prosper relative to history, but even if they continued to prosper relative to industry, they are still relegated as mediocre leaders. Do people really think that a Berkshire run by Greg Abel, where insurance is run by Ajit Jain and the board by Bill Gates, isn't going to work? Cheers! I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. Sure, Gates is Gates, and Microsoft is Microsoft. They're both really successful. But when I'm talking about these insights Gates was maybe even CEO of Microsoft. Probably around the borderline. And I'm not talking here about someone else coming with a better model. They had the model! Almost to a tee! Then someone else did it. That's pretty infuriating from a shareholder's point of view. Now one may say that Gates doesn't care about that, that he's made enough money and he's now focused on curing malaria and AIDS. Btw, I admire a lot what the Gates foundation has achieved and what it aims to achieve. But wouldn't they be in a stronger position to achieve goals if Gates had 150 billion instead of 50 billion? That's the Buffett philanthropic principle. Gates left the CEO job in 2000. He has nearly $100B and is right behind Bezos. Now he's managed his wealth better than Buffett...does that make him a better CEO than Buffett? Of course not. Just like Gates isn't a worse CEO than Bezos, Zuckerberg or the Google co-founders. These are some of the greatest leaders in modern business...we're splitting hairs when comparing them. So it's ridiculous when people say that Gates missed the boat...Buffett missed Walmart and Apple. Cheers!

Name one technology CEO from Gates era that got it perfectly right. Also, he essentially stepped down in 2000, before the internet even really took off and essentially handed everything over to Ballmer to focus on extracurricular activities and his private wealth. Gates remains in the top five wealthiest people in the world by any measure, and pretty much in all calculations stands second to Bezos. How badly did he really drop the ball! Cheers! Well maybe a lot of others didn't get it perfectly right. But someone seriously dropped the ball at Microsoft. I don't know I can't really tell if it's Gates, Balmer, or organizational inertia/incompetence. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Microsoft, it's incredibly successful, I own a lot of it and made a lot of money owning it. But if you go back and read their ARs like way back, it is freakishly weird how well they called the future. About most things. Search, mobile, etc - not so much online shopping. So they had the insight. They had the vision. But they failed to execute - i.e. dropped the ball. If they did follow through and executed on their vision Microsoft would be worth at least 4 times what they are now. That's in excess of a trillion bucks. These are mind bending numbers to leave on the table. For a Microsoft shareholder that is tragic. I'm not talking about Microsoft. I'm talking about Gates. Charlie Munger sits on the board of Costco, knew Gates and Buffett, and still Costco will have a hard time in the future with Amazon. Does that mean someone dropped the ball at Costco, or simply a better CEO came along with a better model? Great CEO's are often discarded because their companies failed to prosper relative to history, but even if they continued to prosper relative to industry, they are still relegated as mediocre leaders. Do people really think that a Berkshire run by Greg Abel, where insurance is run by Ajit Jain and the board by Bill Gates, isn't going to work? Cheers!

Name one technology CEO from Gates era that got it perfectly right. Also, he essentially stepped down in 2000, before the internet even really took off and essentially handed everything over to Ballmer to focus on extracurricular activities and his private wealth. Gates remains in the top five wealthiest people in the world by any measure, and pretty much in all calculations stands second to Bezos. How badly did he really drop the ball! Cheers!

If this is the end game for you, then I apologize for your loss. It isn't for us, and I have not sold a share, but continue to acquire more and more. Put your shares away in a dark drawer and just don't look at them except every 5 years. And my recommendation, just as I have been doing, is average down as you can. Those that bought Fairfax in 1999 at the peak, and continued to average in through the rough years, are far better off than someone who just bought and held. While I sympathize with those that have bought and held, like any investment, I could not and cannot predict the outcome in the short-term...all I can control is the long-term outcome, and it's still game on for me! Cheers! To clarify what I've said, I'm not suggesting that an investor buy, hold or sell PDH. My comments were simply suggesting that if you are in for the long haul, watching what happens every day, week, month or year, may not be the best thing for you. Nor am I even suggesting that PDH will be successful in the future...I cannot guarantee that. My point was that I am in it for the long haul, I have been and will continue to average down, and our entire team is working hard to create shareholder value. Cheers!

If this is the end game for you, then I apologize for your loss. It isn't for us, and I have not sold a share, but continue to acquire more and more. Put your shares away in a dark drawer and just don't look at them except every 5 years. And my recommendation, just as I have been doing, is average down as you can. Those that bought Fairfax in 1999 at the peak, and continued to average in through the rough years, are far better off than someone who just bought and held. While I sympathize with those that have bought and held, like any investment, I could not and cannot predict the outcome in the short-term...all I can control is the long-term outcome, and it's still game on for me! Cheers!

Incorrect. The shares were issued to us and 3 other insiders of MyCare who supported the company in the early days. We (PDH) personally are not going into the medicinal hemp business...MyCare is. The $0.005 per share is the minimum that has to be charged for the issued shares. That is not the price of what any other shares will be issued at for ZED Therapeutics. Cheers!

Possibly a stupid question, but why would a private company issue shares at 0.005 CAD? It seems that for a private company would to divide their equity into less shares that are actually worth something? It’s a bit like being a billionaire in Venezuela nowadays. They probably should cut a few zeros from the sharecount like Venezuela did for their currency? You are correct. But it's the minimum amount required. Cheers!

Hi All, As many of you know, I spend some of my time involved in non-profit work...blasphemy! I'm the chair of the Cystic Fibrosis "65 Roses" Gala in Vancouver again this year. My co-Chair passed away back in April when I had my own health scare (I'm perfectly fine now and will be around for 20-30 years), but she was the longest surviving double-transplant (heart/lung) in Canadian history. So this year, we are doing something a bit more special in her memory, and I'm soliciting donations from my compatriot board members. No donation is too big or small, and I really would appreciate it! I provide this board essentially free to all users, and I've never asked for anything for myself. So if you feel you get some value out of the message board, please translate some of that value into a donation for the "65 Roses" Gala. https://www.cf65roses.com/lite-ui/?controller=home Much appreciated and my sincerest thanks! Cheers!

My friend Andrew Wilkinson, founder of Metalabs, has one of the most unique stories I've ever heard. He started Metalabs when he was about 18 and grew it into the business that it is today...and he's barely into his early 30's. With the excess cashflows from Metalabs, he founded his investment company, Tiny. Through Tiny, he and partner Chris Sparling, have made numerous acquisitions and investments in startups, cash flowing businesses, etc. If we can get enough interest going on here, maybe I can get Andrew to speak at next year's Fairfax dinner! He likes to keep a low profile, but I suspect in another 10 years, a lot of people will know his name! If you've got a business you want to sell, contact Tiny, Premier Diversified Holdings, or our friends at Enterprise Diversified...we are all looking! Cheers! http://tiny.website/

Absolutely! But Gates hired Larson, who has been doing the job for over 20 years now. If you are looking for someone to put quality people in place, I think Bill Gates not only has the contacts, he has the same respect Buffett does in terms of people wanting to work for him. That would make an ideal Chairman, especially since so much of Berkshire stock will be in the Gates Foundation...essentially, they will be the largest shareholder. Cheers!

Are you kidding me! Bill Gates has his hands in as many industries as Buffett through Cascade Investments. Gates might have made his fortune in technology, but I suspect he'd be an extraordinary money manager. I would certainly put him ahead of Li Lu! And Munger is a huge fan of Li Lu's. Cheers!

#4 baffles me. Why woyld you say that? Gates made a great, and sometimes ruthless, leader of a software company, but how is that anything like Buffett and Munger, or a combination of the two? Buffett was far from a benign leader. He could be ruthless when he needed to be...Sokol's firing, Salmon Brothers incident, the original takeover of Berkshire because he got screwed over on 1/8th of a dollar. I can't imagine a better Chairman than Gates. Howard is a very nice fellow, but really I think shareholder's would be best served with Gates as non-executive Chairman. Who else in the world would better understand how to maintain a moat through thick and thin? He became the richest person in the world when he was a little older than Zuckerberg, and remained so for most of the last 30 years once Sam Walton's wealth was split up and until all of the other tech wonderkinds took over the world. In this type of environment he has not only endured, but survived and maintained his wealth, all the while creating the greatest philanthropic foundation in history, funded by his best friend who was often the 2nd richest man in the world over the same 30 years! And he's still young enough to Chair Berkshire for another 30 years! Cheers!

Also, if I was a pension holder as a Sears employee, I would be looking for a good class-action lawyer to preserve whatever they can. It was a total shit-show in Canada when Sears Canada went under, and the employees were screwed over. Cheers!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sears-holdings-reports-second-quarter-203500393.html I wonder what Bruce Berkowitz's estimate of fair value is presently? Real estate must be worth at least $80/share! ::) Cheers!

Depends on what you value most! Best value: I bought a Spiderman comic book in 1978 for $1.25, when I was 9, which I still own today and it's worth about $1,700-1,800...20% compounded over 40 years. I read it only once when I bought it, otherwise it remains in mint condition. Best emotional value: Five dollars I spent in January of 1991 at Army Navy Department Store in downtown Vancouver, when I bought my father a pair of galoshes for his shoes, and then we went and had fries and gravy with some coffee in the basement of Woodward's Department store...it was the last thing I bought for him before he died in April of that year. Best changed my life: Invested $25/month in AIC's Value Fund back in 1994...whose annual report I read in 1998, and which held Berkshire...which led to me reading Buffett's 1998 letter on their website...which led to me joining the Motley Fool's message board in 1998 for free...which led to me buy Berkshire shares in 1999...which led to the MSN Message Board...which led me to Fairfax...which led me to start Corner Market Capital...which led to starting CofBF...which led to taking over PDH...the remainder of the story is unfinished! Cheers!

Hi Greg, Thanks very much for your comments! You may very well be right, but I'm going to do everything I can to prove you wrong. We would welcome you as a shareholder, regardless of whatever opinion you may have of us. :D Cheers!

Just to clarify this discussion and any assumptions about the related party transactions: June 30, 2018 and 2017 were as follows: 1) Consulting fees of $100,800 (June 30, 2017 – $95,013) were paid to an accounting firm whose principal is the CFO and a director of the Company. This is Alnesh...cheaper than a full-time CFO. Also very good at his job, if you've seen the improvement in disclosures and clarity of our financials over the last 2 years. He's also owns 43% of the company, as I do, and sits on the board. 2) Consulting fees of $nil (June 30, 2017 – $94,238) were paid to a director of the Company to manage the Chinese operations. The amount is included in loss from discontinued operations. Former manager for China...nothing paid in 2018 and nothing being paid going forward. 3) Management fees of $39,675 and professional fees of $35,362 was paid to private company, whose principle is the Director and NonExecutive Chair of the Company, during the nine months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. This is for Simon's consulting services. He's the former head of the BC Cancer Agency and Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. He's working on growing the clinic business in a very significant way. He's already worked for free for 3 years...we could not ask him to continue doing so without some form of compensation. He's working for about a fifth of what he would get in the public sector and a tenth of what he would get in the private sector. 4) Professional fees of $138,091 (June 30, 2017 – $nil) were incurred to a law firm whose principal is a director of the Company. This is for our Marta Davidson, our legal counsel. Marta has her hands in every aspect of PDH...including all legal work, businesses, contracts, office administration and sits on the board as director and corporate secretary. She also works for less than market rates for us like Simon. 5) Professional fees of $nil (June 30, 2017 – $34,073) were incurred to a law firm whose principal is a former director of the Company. These were legal fees paid to Marta's former partner and law firm. Like our China manager, nothing has been paid in 2018 and nothing will be paid going forward. Cheers!

Sanjeev, I'm trying to understand your thought process here. It seems you are saying that it would be ok for you as someone who runs an investment fund to have 25% or 40% of your net worth held in an investment vehicle outside of the fund you run for investors? ...am I missing something important here? Of course! People have homes, family businesses, other assets that aren't in a fund. Do you expect all fund managers to have 90% of their assets in their fund? I expect a fund manager to have a healthy portion of their net worth in any fund they run, but I don't expect them to have all of their assets or even the 90% threshold that are met by managers like Buffett and Watsa. That's just not really fair or rational. When I started out, I didn't have much in my funds, but today I have alot in my funds. My behavior hasn't changed at all in how I run the funds. You are either dealing with ethical people or you are not. I'm sure Bernie Madoff had a lot in his funds, and he still screwed over everyone! Francis is one of the most ethical people you will ever meet. Whether he has 90% of his assets in Chou Funds, or 50%, or even nothing, he will not behave any differently. Cheers!

Let's just say it's more than Stonetrust. Cheers!