Parsad

Well.. today that's the case. Not sure that would have been the case 20+ years ago when he first took it over! I mean today more than half the people who hear Berkshire Hathaway think of Buffet, not of the old textile mill... I think if Buffett had named Berkshire Hathaway after himself, he would not have done nearly as well. Why? Because it would have been a narcissistic thing to do. He would not have attracted early investors, leaders of small businesses, etc. that would have wanted to sell their business to him or invest with him. He would not be held in such esteem nearly 50 years later. Already people are wary of Sardar when he buys stock in their company. At 30 years old, the name change and hostile bids are portraying him as Icahn, not Buffett. People do not want to sell their businesses to him. He has trouble keeping leaders in place. It is going to slow his progress. Take a look at the last month...Icahn puts out hostile bid for Lions Gate and encounters tons of resistance...Buffett closes deal on Burlington Northern, with the CEO ecstatic he is buying! Quite the difference...and that's directly attributable to the way the two moguls behave. Who would you rather be and who would you rather invest with? Cheers!

Personalization is generally a good thing in business. Would you rather deal with the Biglari Insurance Co. Or the XYZ Insurance Co. if you knew nothing more about the company than its name? How about Smacking Good cake mix VS Betty Crocker cake mix? Would you have been more proud to have graduated from, hypothetically, PS 117 or The Morris School? But that's the point...would you rather deal with Biglari Holdings (hasn't existed even a month) or The Steak'n Shake Holding Company (been around 80 years)! Virtually everyone on this board owns Berkshire Hathaway, but not calling it Buffett Holdings hasn't made any difference to investors or people seeking products from Berkshire subsidiaries. In fact, it does the opposite...people are more attracted to the company because he didn't name it after himself. And whether it was on purpose or not, the right type of shareholder base was attracted to his company for about 40 years. Prem did the same thing. He could have called it Watsa Holdings, but what would be the point of that? Cheers!

Melvyn Weiss, of Milberg Weiss fame...you know, those rat bastard lawyers who assisted many of the naked short hedge funds...is a free man again. I'm sure some philanthropy like Milken will restore his name over the next decade. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=awQckBIC.AiQ&pos=13

Long-time Fairfax director Anthony Griffiths was on BNN yesterday. Some interesting comments on corporate governance. Cheers! http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip277017

I'm perturbed by the fact that after such a catastrophic credit crisis, mostly created by off-balance sheet risk from derivatives, the U.S. government is taking an overly measured approach to regulating this market. This article discusses how 97% of the notional value of derivatives contracts in the banking industry are under the control Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=af6uIAFTSorY&pos=10

Good video. It will be interesting to see who they have in the book. At the same time, I have a bit of a problem with this analysis. According to the other article written on Burry that was posted here two weeks ago, Burry had put a fair amount of his main fund into credit default swaps. He also started a separate fund that focused solely on swaps. What if the mortgage insanity went on for another five-six years. He would have investors pulling out as the fund is losing money on the swap premiums and required collateral. I think the media always focuses on investment success, but never focuses on the risk also accepted by the investor. Kudos to Burry for benefitting from all this, but he had a considerable amount riding on it. In Fairfax's case, they had a total of about $500M invested in swaps, relative to an investment portfolio of about $15B at the time. Cheers!

I'm guessing his fridge is pretty big too! ;D Cheers!

Buffett's house tops the list...for it's lack of gaudiness and a representation of humility...unlike the rest! Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/109053/homes-of-the-billionaires

BYD had a blow-out quarter. Now only a 56 times forward PE! ;D Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Chinas-BYD-says-Q4-profit-rb-3875383964.html?x=0

I'm sure that will be in the video montage before the AGM starts. Pretty damn funny! Cheers!

Wednesday April 21st - Evening Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner Our annual Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner is coming up again. Last year, Francis Chou of the Chou Funds came...Francis has been at all of our dinners! Fairfax Financial sent Sam Mitchell, Brian Bradstreet & Wayne Cadwallader. It was an amazing opportunity to ask questions and listen to answers from some of the best investors in North America. Joe Badali's 156 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario Drinks: 6:30pm Dinner: 7:00pm Q & A: 8:00pm-9:30pm RSVP: sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca Admission: $5/head with all proceeds going to the "Crohn's Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Joann Butler (Corner Market Capital Corporation will match all admissions) Thursday April 22nd - Morning Fairfax Financial Annual General Meeting Roy Thomson Hall 60 Simcoe Street Toronto, Ontario 9:30 am Recommend you come a bit early. Feel free to wear Fairfax hats at the meeting! Thursday April 22nd - Afternoon We'll also be holding our fund's annual general meeting again immediately after the Fairfax meeting. Same building...no need to walk far! MPIC Funds Annual General Meeting Roy Thomson Hall Green Room/Pickering Room 60 Simcoe Street Toronto, Ontario Meet & Greet: 1:30-2:30pm Presentation: 2:30pm-3:00pm Q & A: 3:00pm-4:30pm Light Snacks & Refreshments Will Be Served RSVP: sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca See you in Toronto! Cheers!

We've got way too much in capital gains! A good problem to have I suppose. If this was an insurance company, or something where earnings would be more volatile, I would probably ease up a bit if we didn't have so much in gains. But the cash flows are now so consistent that Sardar would really have to do something stupid to mess it up. It will move up and down from quarter to quarter, but over time, he will continue to pad onto the retained earnings and the value will go up. When you've got mounds of capital gains compounding on your original invested capital, it truly does become a remarkable thing to watch grow. Cheers!

Looks like the SEC is pushing for CDS regulation...about friggin' time! Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/35831890

Hawk, I don't want to comment too much as we are greater than 5% shareholders, but your assumption is correct. Palisades, who have been supportive of CCLR for many years, had to liquidate their holdings in their fund during the credit crisis and have been trying to sell their shares slowly over the last year and a half. Cheers!

We will be. Cheers!

I think we should buy six packs of Coke at 25 cents and sell them for 30 cents to all the AGM attendees! ;D Cheers!

Europe has moved to restrict trading in credit default swaps. I believe they are ahead of the curve. "If derivatives had to be traded on exchanges, you'd have records of how these transactions happened. If hedge funds had to make filings of their holdings, there'd be some record. But if you don't have either one, that's a real challenge," said Bruce Baird, who formerly led the white-collar-crime unit in Manhattan for the Justice Department. "That's a very, very long road" to find evidence of wrongdoing. Cheers! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/09/AR2010030903767.html?hpid=sec-business

Whitney Tilson's partner Glenn Tongue discusses the housing market, as well as briefly commenting on Berkshire and Fairfax. I like Glenn's ability to restrain his comments, especially on short positions. Something I was always more critical of when Whitney was interviewed. Cheers! http://tiny.cc/z5FXa

The same car we rented a week ago for $373, for four days is now $750 for the same four days! They must be very close to being out of vehicles. Crazy! Cheers!

I'm sure Buffett enjoys his life immensely, but the amount of security that the poor guy requires these days is crazy. It must be tough living like that...I'm sure other celebrities have the same problem. Cheers! http://www.dailypress.com/business/nationworld/sns-ap-us-berkshire-hathaway-executive-compensatio,0,1706456.story

Hi Folks, As I mentioned in the past, all posts on ITEX will be removed from the board while we continue working with management on increasing shareholder value in the company. At some point in time, you will be free to discuss ITEX on this board, but not as long as we are participating in our endeavour. Thanks very much!

Hi Folks, As I mentioned in the past, all posts on ITEX will be removed from the board while we continue working with management on increasing shareholder value in the company. At some point in time, you will be free to discuss ITEX on this board, but not as long as we are participating in our endeavour. Thanks very much!

Jones Soda was sold off for $10M to Reed's. Not sure why Coke or Pepsi didn't get into this one...would have been a great little addition for either at a good price. Cheers! http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/09/smallbusiness/jones_soda/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

Hi Kbateman, I agree with you (and your wife) on all of your points. ;D If Sardar owned 10% of the company directly, I would actually be fine with that. But he owns less than 1% personally. If this was the CEO of any other company, anyone in their right mind would believe this is truly a narcissistic move with ownership of 1%. We are giving him the benefit of the doubt that this is based purely on a strategic initiative. What if he gets hit by a bus tomorrow? Do we leave it "Biglari Holdings", or is the company going to change the name back to "The Steak'n Shake Company". It seems incredibly premature to put his name on this thing....we are only a year in. As I said before, I will vote our shares against the name change. At some point in the future, if and when Sardar owns 10% of this thing and has moulded it into his dream, then I'm more than happy to vote in favor of the name change. But not yet! Cheers!

I like the picture, especially what it says on the bottom. I'm still against the name change to Biglari Holdings. Cheers!