Parsad

There's a new Charlie Rose interview with Buffett: http://www.charlierose.com/ Buffett also said that Burlington Northern was not cheap, and it was an investment for the next 100 years. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arwqyNBGLRG8&pos=1

Actually, no 8-K filing for full year anymore in November. They'll be filing the 10-K in December, and they'll put out a press release indicating the 10-K's exact release date. I guess we'll have to all wait till December. Somebody mail me a Steakburger, I'll pay for overnight delivery! :P Cheers!

Actually, if you can get past Schroeder's first 120 pages or so in the Snowball, full of unnecessary innuendo and crap about Buffett's supposedly dysfunctional family, then it becomes quite an extraordinary book on Buffett...easily one of the best. I don't like all her marketing right now, but some parts of that book are absolutely engrossing! Cheers!

Steak'n Shake is offering a limited "Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake" for the holiday season. You lucky buggers who live near a Steak'n Shake! They just opened up a "Fatburger" near my house, so I'm going to have to make due with these things until I come to Chicago next year! The prices at Fatburger are crazy compared to Steak'n Shake. The combo meal (Fatburger, fries and coke) is $11 CDN or about $10 US! You can get a double Steakburger combo, fries and a chocolate shake for $8 US...including tip! A much better meal. Cheers!

Actually, they release annual results a few weeks earlier than the actual 10-K. Last few years: November 10th, 2008 November 15th, 2007 November 14th, 2006 I'll try and find out the exact date for this year. Cheers!

Parsad, How did you calculate Bershire's leverage (Assets/Equity) to be 3:1? I get a much lower number. If you consider their insurance ops, it is very small (222B assets, 62B float). I agree with you that one of Fairfax's problems is too much leverage in the insurance ops. Your comparison however implies it is closer to Berkshire's leverage when it is not. Hi Sreenr, Sorry, I was just rounding. Berkshire's leverage historically over the last few years has been around 2.5-1. If you include off-balance stuff like their derivatives exposure, finance business, etc. it's probably a little higher, so I just rounded to 3-1. Cheers!

I don't think comparing Buffett and Watsa are fair. They are two different people, who started their businesses in two different periods. Neither is above any sense of hypocrisy, since both have done things that they long talked about never doing. Buffett just recently split B shares, which he said he would never do, as well as invested in derivatives, airlines and technology (BYD). Prem's biggest turnabout was issuing stock below book, but he kind of had to do that to save the company! Unfortunately, we are all guilty of that, since you are constantly learning when investing. You will make mistakes...Buffett has made his share and Watsa made his share. Sometimes you have to eat your own words to correct mistakes, or you view the world a bit differently and take another approach. The only thing I wish Fairfax would emulate more of Berkshire is the reduced leverage...3-1 at Berkshire and 6-1 at Fairfax, although leverage has come down closer to 4-1 at Fairfax with the huge runup in book value, so Prem's headed in the right direction. But I don't believe there is any other insurance company that has acted with the same moral compass and decisive capital decisions as Berkshire...the closest is Fairfax, whether people like to admit it or not. Not Markel, not White Mountains, etc. If you look at what has transpired over the last 24 years at Fairfax, in particular the type of leadership it took to do what they have in the last six years, it is the stuff of what legends are made of. Cheers!

I watched the program tonight. There were some interesting points, but alot of it was stuff you've heard before. I actually found the old 2005 biography on Bill Gates immediately after the program more interesting! Cheers!

Fairfax purchased $750M of California's $908M in BAB bonds that were ordered. I guess Fairfax is making a bet on the U.S. as well. ;D Cheers! http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/11/12/afx7117728.html

Anyone who is wondering what Sardar can do with a great franchise like Steak'n Shake, only has to look at what he's done with Western Sizzlin! Jim Verney and Robyn Mabe did alot of the heavy lifting before Sardar really took over, but he's really singularly focused every aspect of this company on profitability and return on invested capital. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/930686/000092189509002738/form10q07689_09302009.htm Western's operating income from their restaurant business, which really was a pretty ragged franchise five years ago, is making about $2.2M now annually! Combine that with WEST's investment businesses (Western LP & Mustang Capital), and you've got a business that can probably generate $3.2-3.5M in operating income annually. Imagine what he's going to do with a business generating $30-35M in operating income annually? Cheers!

I suppose he means between Prem, Cundill, Southeastern, Markel, Templeton, other principals at Hamblin-Watsa, and Francis, they control close to 75% of the stock. I was surprised by that number as well! I thought it was probably closer to 55% or so. Perhaps, they mean 75% of the votes, as Prem's multiple-voting stock would probably allow them to approach 80%. Cheers!

I should also mention that Ray Cabillot, CEO and CFO of Farnam Street Partners owns about 14% of OI Corp. Along with John's 12.7%, they control 26.7% of OI Corp, so it should be pretty easy to implement a business plan focusing on increasing shareholder value. Cheers!

Not a major crash across the board, but you will have some serious consequences in commercial real estate in many areas, and as Prem said, over the next few years there will be some opportunity. And I have to say, I believe it will be fairly significant opportunity...perhaps on par with what we are seeing in residential real estate in the U.S. in some overbuilt areas. It was a period of easy money, and unfortunately there is ultimately a trickle-down effect when significant wealth is destroyed. The commercial real estate industry is probably one of the final receipients of that undesired gift. Cheers!

Bloomberg had a little article about some comments Prem made in his speech at ACG Toronto this morning. Not sure if anyone attended, but if so, they may be able to add to the article. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a7yoVC2buPhE

Yes, looks like they are headed in the right direction. John is a smart fellow, and if management works with him, then they will be able to allocate capital into areas that generate a higher return on investment. Cheers!

CNBC will be airing a special with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett at Columbia University tomorrow. It will replay on Sunday. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/33495537

Excellent interview with Harvard prof Ken Rogoff who was previously with the IMF. Wonderful discussion on the U.S.' current problems and what it will take to try and resolve them. Cheers! http://www.charlierose.com/

Would anyone have a problem with me putting a PDF copy on here? Yes, it's copyrighted material! There are plenty of sites that have it for viewing as the links show, so it's better to use those links than post the file here. Cheers!

No problem Saumil! Cheers!

Hi Net-net, No, it is perfectly fine. Cheers!

Terms for Fairfax's $17.6M investment in Zoomer Media is amended. Cheers! http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=140325&Itemid=61

Gurufocus takes note of Biglari and Steak'n Shake. Also a bit of discussion on Fremont Michigan. Cheers! http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=75205

No problem Eric! General discussion can get kind of "general", so we just try to keep things on topic when we can. Cheers!

Hi Packer, I think it's the end result of a manager growing his assets under management utilizing various vehicles. The interconnections between Lion Fund, Western Sizzlin, Steak'n Shake, Mustang Capital and Dash Acquisitions (Dash is a director at WEST, shareholder in SNS) probably creates significant conflicts of interest. You've got 4 of those 5 vehicles buying Steak'n Shake, and then various other companies in those different vehicles where the respective manager is a large shareholder...Western Sizzlin, OI Corp, Itex, Sitestar, etc. Merging WEST into SNS simplifies things alot. Buffett had to do the same thing, and he only did it when the SEC forced his hand. Now could things have been done a bit differently. Sure. But he had to make sure WEST shareholders were getting a fair exchange, while SNS wasn't issuing undervalued shares and diluting ownership. By distributing SNS shares, WEST shareholders continue to have Biglari manage their capital. The debentures seem to be the fairest way of valuing WEST's intrinsic value, without SNS having to issue a whole lot of shares that would dilute ownership there. Cheers!

Hi Folks, I've gotten a number of complaints about one specific post. I had to remove the topic as it had no relation to investing. I'm sure investors have had various influences on their life that have been positive, but as this is an investing message board, we need to keep the subject somewhat on target. Cheers!