Parsad

I guess giving a man $50 billion kinda makes him feel like he owes you something. Yup. He didn't give it to Howard! ;D Cheers!

What's not to like here? Plus, this guy (Biglari) is Lebron James - everyone hates him, but he is a good performer. Paid like Lebron too. I prefer Wayne Gretzky, Peyton Manning and Magic Johnson...or even Kobe and Dwayne Wade...not a LeBron fan, and he is going to lose in seven to Boston. By the way Bronco, have you noticed that we sit on top of the league with 1-2 games on hand on everyone! Cheers!

- Sokol will be CEO and oversee all of the non-insurance businesses - Jain will oversee all of the insurance businesses...not only National Indemnity - Coombs and the other future portfolio managers will look after the investment portfolios for Berkshire and all subsidiaries The Berkshire Board will oversee Sokol, Jain and the portfolio managers, with Gates being the actual Chairman and Howard Buffett being the figurehead Chairman. Cheers!

Article on Biglari Holdings interest in Fremont Michigan. Not a bad article and accurate on the price being paid for FMMH. Cheers! http://www.businessinsider.com/steak-and-shakes-berkshire-dreams-2011-1

This topic has been moved to Investment Ideas. [iurl]http://cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/index.php?topic=1731.0[/iurl]

Sanjeev, how much do you know about Stilwell? And how confident are you with the stated book value? Not terribly. I've never owned Kingsway, nor was I interested in the past. But I'm more intrigued now at these prices after the fall, and now that they've sold a number of assets. We still don't own it, as I'm still working my way through the issues there and the risks involved, and examining exactly if there is an activist opportunity there. I'm not a pay up for a good business type of guy, let alone pay up for a business run by a guy like Dunning. Cheers!

I don't think he knows what he's talking about. He's using ROE as his guide, yet Fremont only has 6 years worth of data. In insurance, you really need to know the underwriter. If not, then you have to use book value as your guide and be very conservative in the valuation. In today's market, compared to other insurers that are available, it's not worth anywhere near $35 if you want a good return. Sardar's $31 offer is fair value right now. If he can squeeze out better performance from the investments and continue to underwrite well, then it's a fair price for both him and shareholders...but by no means a steal. Cheers!

Have them discover a Supernova from the safety of their home! Smart youngster. Cheers! http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/04/girl-10-becomes-youngest-to-discover-supernova/?hpt=T2

Excellent article on corporate governance. Thanks to Shane for sending it to me! Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/the-heartbreaking-but-all-too-common-downfall-of-xyz-corp/article1847711/singlepage/#articlecontent

Guy is one of the nicest people you will ever meet! Just an absolutely terrific person. Cheers!

There's interest from a couple of producers and big labels. He's the best friend of my cousin from Seattle, and I've watched him grow up for the last ten plus years. I talked to him about four years ago, shortly after starting Corner Market Capital, about doing what he was passionate about and to find good mentors to emulate. At the time, he was just writing some music and rapping with a couple of friends. I related my own story about Buffett, Prem, Francis, Mohnish, et al. That he would find success doing something he was passionate about, but the hardest step is to just take that first one! It seems he did just that! He and my cousin were in Vancouver for the last few days staying with me, and he showed me everything he had worked on and the album he produced. He talked about the network of people he's gotten to know and how fortunate he is to be doing what he loves. That video was produced by Marty Martin, who was creative director behind Microsoft's Windows 7 video campaign...thus the high product value and quality of the video. Anyway, keep an eye out for him. I think he will do very well! Cheers!

My friend is an up and coming singer. He recently produced his first music video that has been received really well. Enjoy the video and buy his album on iTunes! Cheers!

to be fair, people like me werent usiing the word depression we were saying then, what you are saying now: That's what you were saying Smazz, but there were a number of people who thought we were headed back to the lows of 2009. Cheers!

Article on Joliet and the first Dairy Queen. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Joliet-makes-site-of-1st-apf-2017933478.html?x=0&.v=1

I was trapped in 3 different airports and forced to watch CNBC. It seems like everyone and there mom has gone crazy for stocks. I am enjoying the rally like everyone else, but believe its time to cash in some chips. Our situation in the US is improving, but our problems are real. They have been sweep under the rug in my opinion and its hard to walk around the house without tripping if you have a lumpy carpet. The Economist even ran a few articles on the Jan 1 issue questioning the recovery / bullishness. Thoughts? Well a few months ago I was arguing that we weren't headed for a Depression, when everyone else pretty much thought we were, and now I'm not nearly as optimistic as everyone is becoming. The deleveraging process is not easy, and it will take time. But the numbers clearly show that a modest recovery is occurring. How robust can a recovery get with rising commodity prices, stagnant real estate prices and high unemployment? I don't think a drop in market valuation is imminent, but I don't think 2011 will be as fruitful as 2009 and 2010. We are in a pretty conservative position in both funds. Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy! Cheers!

As many around the world have started to celebrate already, Happy New Year to you all! Cheers!

The board of Fremont could be held liable for failing in their fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value if they don't entertain Sardar's offer now. He's got Dunning between a rock and a hard place. If he gets it for $31, then that's a fair price. Chances are he's going to have to up it to $32-34 now that they know he is willing to pay. Cheers!

As I read the comment from Parsad, Parsad is speaking from a strategic standpoint not from a valuation standpoint. I referenced both...strategy and valuation. It's never a good idea to up the ante when you are paying fair value. Plenty of people renegotiate a purchase price, but I've never found it useful to bid up your own offer. He should go buy Kingsway Financial or some other insurance company. Fremont is a decent business but by no means a superior insurance business. While Kingsway was a lousy business, they've made a lot of progress and he could probably get it for a steal. sorry about grammar and typos in previous message - lack of sleep. I'm guessing that Philly loss to Vancouver...restless nights! ;D Point - I may be the only one outraged, but I think this is truly disgusting what FMMH's board is doing. No, I was equally outraged when Dunning used a member of Congress to guarantee job security. Although, if I was a shareholder of FMMH, I would be equally concerned about Biglari getting a hold of me now too! From the frying pan to the fryer! Cheers!

In the tech bubble fundamentals were non existent. In the real estate bubble supply vs demand balance was off. Currently gold is fundamentally sound( Us money printing) and supply is low. Supply is only low relative to speculative demand. Tim McElvaine had a terrific chart showing global gold demand and supply in his September Letter: http://mcelvaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/2010-We-are-here-30Sep.pdf Supply on a current annual basis far exceeds utilitarian demand. The current price is purely speculative based on fears with global economies. We saw what happens when fundamental supply exceeds demand with natural gas. There is no reason why gold at some time in the future will not return to a more rational level as fears diminish. In the US, we face a tough, tough dilemna. We want to provide good health care to seniors, and it comes at a giant cost (economic). Really, enough to bankrupt the nation. But how do you tell a senior that you (the government) won't pay for their life extending medications. Political suicide. Can't be done. So we rack up bigger and bigger debts. The only way out is to print more money. That is my opinion, but I don't see the alternatives. So the dollar will decline. As Prem says, when too many people start thinking the same way, that is a time for concern. I'm concerned! ;D Cheers!

Interestingly enough, B.J. Kang, the FBI Agent who really spearheaded these investigations early on, also comments on the case. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-29/u-s-prosecutors-in-new-york-charge-winifred-jiau-with-insider-trading.html

Gold is indeed in a bubble. How long and how far it goes, I don't know. Just over Christmas weekend, I found out that one of my cousin's sold some of her gold jewellry to a friend. The friend decided he wanted to create another source of income for himself, and is buying and selling gold and scrap gold. This guy has no clue what he is doing. The same sort of thing was happening right before the tech wreck and right before the collapse of the housing bubble. When the common man becomes interested in an idea, it certainly is by no means a unique idea any longer. I remember a friend who lost 80% of her nest egg by buying all sorts of bloated technology stocks in late 1999 and early 2000. I know several people in the U.S. who have lost nearly everything because they were leveraged and had several rental properties with large mortgages. Now I'm meeting alot of people, even on this board, who think that the U.S. dollar will be worth much less while gold will continue to increase. It all reeked the same at their corresponding times. But there was no convincing anyone of that. Both times there were people telling Buffett & Munger how this time it was different. Yet it wasn't. It could be three weeks, three months, or three years...I have no idea. But I think investors holding gold today will find themselves at the wrong end of the bargain. But hey, I thought "rap" was a fad twenty years ago and I've been proven wrong! ;D Cheers!

The letter was simply to force the board's hands. Either deal with us or your shareholders will eventually deal with you for not maximizing shareholder value. Now that the letter is public, Fremont will have to at the very least give an answer. There is a difference though. People sell to Buffett because they wanted to, not because Buffett kept upping the ante. Same with Fairfax...Prem will increase the price from any tender offer if he doesn't get the shares needed, but only modestly if he needs to do so. So far, BH's offer has gone from $24.50 to $29 and now where...$32...$34? If he's paying with stock, it won't matter as BH stock is overvalued. But if he pays cash, he's paying too much. Cheers!

I think this is just nuts! It's the same criticism that people had over the previous share consolidation...to get the price into triple digits, rather than create any benefit for the company. They may have removed a tiny number of shareholders holding very few shares, that's about it. This time, it looks like he's creating the dual class shares to retain control and not dilute the ownership voting structure, if they used shares to acquire other companies. Also, this letter to Fremont is ridiculous. Buffett never went in and re-negotiated an offer. He made one and that was it. Sardar is now saying that they would entertain a higher tender offer for Fremont. In effect, he's hurting the potential return to his investors. You can't mimic Buffett and expect the same returns, when you are paying up for everything you are buying. There's other insurance companies trading for cheaper and the owners would probably entertain a reasonable offer. He should just go buy one of them, instead of bidding up the price of a company where the CEO is as determined to retain control as Sardar is at BH. Cheers!

I told you my boys are coming after yours! Twenty-two years of frustration against the Flyers on home ice were demolished tonight. See you guys in the finals if you make it there, otherwise I'll say hi to Sid for ya. ;D The Cup is coming to Vancouver in 2011! Cheers!

haha. that picture is awesome. you guys(myself included) are all such nerds (in a good way, of course!). Yup, I'm one of the biggest. But those two guys in the picture are even bigger nerds! ;D Cheers!