Parsad

Why is anyone expecting them to return excess cash to shareholders? How much excess cash is there to return? Excess cash doesn't really seem to be piling up, yet people still seem to expect it to be paid out. I don't get it. If you look at the balance sheet, I see no excess cash, so I don't know where this is going to come from...sale of Sears Canada, the Auto Centers or Inventory perhaps? But there is a shitload of liabilities that are also on that balance sheet. Sears has been a slow burn of shareholder capital...it's an 8-foot hurdle with little upside...but because Eddie is there and Berkowitz is there, no one can see that it is an 8-foot hurdle with little upside. We got out a while ago at slightly above our cost...I couldn't be happier! Will never touch this thing again...and I think we may be seeing the end of Sears approaching quickly. Cheers!

That's the biggest one remaining. Almost 90% of that is already reserved for so it isn't costing us too much. The remaining amounts for litigation will be a fraction of that, and I suspect 2015 will be a clean bill of health going forward in terms of legacy liabilities. Took a little longer than we wanted, but it was a shitload of litigation! Cheers!

Related to their conversion of USG convertible debt to shares: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/berkshire-pay-896-000-fine-164431886.html About 24 minutes of net earnings! ;D Cheers!

Hi AtlCDore, Glad you enjoy the board! Answers to your questions: 1) Yes, you can adjust the number of posts visible through your profiles and settings. 2) I don't believe so. Cheers!

LOL! Alnesh and I are neither young, nor the best! But we won't ever truly f**k up because of that as well. Cheers!

...And Correctly Predicted No One Would Listen http://finance.yahoo.com/news/30-years-ago-warren-buffett-160500867.html Well, I think many on here listened, correct? Cheers!

+1! Could not have said it any more eloquently. Cheers!

Lol... I dont think my Wife or kids would agree. The thing is they are never really gone, just managed. I think the same goes for depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia etc. So far, there is no cure all. There is so much about the brain/ and body we dont know. FWIW, you never struck me as someone who might have had an issue with depression. A. You're absolutely correct! Cheers!

Amazing Al! I've known you for about 10 years, and I've always thought you were the calmest person I've ever met. You're voice barely oscillates when you are speaking. Glad you were able to deal with the panic attacks! Cheers!

I thought this was funny...are we pretty close to this happening soon? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F86AEuh9mlE Cheers!

Hi Vishnu, Glad it worked for you and you were able to move forward! All the best, Sanjeev

Maybe that's what gets me through the day after dealing with you assholes! ;D Cheers!

It was probably one of you jackasses who complained! No, let's not sue the Fibrek board, but go after the bidder. Sheesh! Cheers!

For those that think suicide is difficult to understand, I would give a simple analogy that may be easier to grasp: Remember the people jumping out of despair from the Twin Towers because fire and smoke raged around them, with absolutely no sense that anyone would have any chance of helping them get out of there? Now imagine the same sort of despair in your own mind, FOR WHATEVER REASON, and you'll have some idea what compels people to suicide. Their pain or mental anguish, is as real as the physical manifestation of pain from fire, smoke, etc. Just a sense of helplessness, at which point logic, a good night's sleep, therapy, love, fear and pretty much anything else will not ease the suffering. When I was a young teenager, I thought of suicide because I was bullied in my early years of high school. Thank goodness I never went through with it, and today I can't imagine that young fella actually having felt such despair where these thoughts had gone through my mind at that age. But it did! It was real! And all the love from my parents, family, friends, the thought of leaving my little brother, a future life never lived...almost didn't matter. Only taking one step forward, another day of dealing with the torment, allowed me to eventually get through it...and that's the only solace I can pass on to anyone who ever thought the same thing. Can you imagine if I had killed myself then...because some punk ass bitches liked throwing me in a locker or harassing me on the way home? A few years later my Dad died, so my 9 year-old brother would have been raised solely by our mother. I would never have met Buffett or Prem. This board would not exist. Alnesh would be working at some large accounting firm because he would not have gone out on his own or started Corner Market Capital with me. All of the birthdays, Christmases, dinners, lunches, friends...old and new...none of it would have happened. It really is a wonderful life! But some people just forget, because they are in just so much pain and can't see through it at the moment. So, be soft in your judgments of those people! Cheers!

It was booked solid. Couldn't get two rooms there, so we are at the Fairmont Newport Beach...10-15 minutes from you. What day are you getting there? Cheers!

If you've gotten an invite, then you can attend. While not restricted completely to direct investors in Pabrai Funds and Dhandho, the number of those seats available to non-investors have and will continue to shrink. Only a limited amount of room. Cheers!

He was amazing, especially when he was younger. He could make the best improv personalities look stale with the sheer speed his mind worked at. Not only was he quick with his wit, the stuff was wickedly funny. Even as he got older, and the jokes springing modestly slower from his lips, his mind worked faster than pretty much any other comedian. The only one that comes close, but who's humour is far more juvenile, is perhaps Jim Carrey, who equally suffers from the voices at the back of his cranium.

Two of the most impactful comedians I grew up watching for most of my life were Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy...the third would be Bill Cosby. Very sad to see such a great comedian and actor succumb to depression!

Apparently committed suicide. A great, manic, comic genius!

Shalab, I couldn't agree more! ... Surely, instead, we both agree the Tao Te Ching is a wonderful read! :) Gio Won't be called "Parsad Financial" or anything to do with my name. I don't think changing names makes one bit of difference to knowledgeable investors or investee companies. It will only make a difference to the ignorant ones and we won't be soliciting them. As long as the investee company knows the check will clear, they shouldn't worry about anything else. Cheers!

Details will be in our 3rd Quarter Letter in October...public, listed company. Cheers!

September 13th in California and September 20th in Chicago. Not open to the public. Cheers!

Take for instance CBRL: it has equity of $487 million and long term debt of $381 million, 78%. And Biglari advised CBRL's management to increase debt up to $750 million, showing how that change would put CBRL's leverage in line with its peers! And this makes sense to you?! 1.75 debt to equity? How much debt did Berkshire leverage Dairy Queen with? How much debt did he leverage Berkshire with? The comparison with FFH and MKL doesn't hold, because they enjoy lots of float, and very little fcf. The exact opposite of BH! Of course the comparison is valid. Float is a much better alternative to debt if it is low cost or no cost. Both companies will be adding more and more operating businesses over time...do you see them adding more leverage to those operating businesses? No. You guys will accept the dumbest propositions if it is written or spoken by Sardar, and assume it to be coming out of Ben Graham's arse...so it must be valid...here are the dumbed down facts: - Let's get control of a company and alienate the people who helped me get control by naming it after me - Let's implement a licensing agreement, where I will get paid an exorbitant amount if the company retains my name - Let's change the share class structure so that my votes don't get diluted as I acquire more companies - Let's issue warrants that are tradeable, and then I can exercise my over allotment and increase my position - Let's change my compensation package three times and then implement a hedge fund structure within a corporation...if it doesn't work, I'll find another way around the shareholder vote - Let's buy stock through the company, not retire it, so I can retain the votes - Let's lever up this sucker because I'm impatient, but we'll tell shareholders that it is built like a rock - Let's run it lean, but we'll have a few jets on standby What I can't wait to see in the future, is how much more you guys will bend and take it from behind before actually saying, "Enough is enough"..."You've got to go MF'er!" My public company vehicle is around the corner, as is Mohnish's but much larger...why don't you guys use those two as measuring sticks for returns, leverage and ethics when the time comes. You guys have already eschewed the lessons from the likes of Berkshire, Fairfax & Markel. Hopefully, we can awake you from this dreadful slumber! Cheers!

I believe sb said that he could justify & entice potential franchisees to invest at a 1.5m per store annual revenue rate. its in 1 of his letters to shareholders, tho i'll pass on trying to find it right now. here are the avg sns co owned store revenues for these years (i'll exclude sns franchise stores grossed up sales per store since, among other things, its mixed up a bit with western sizzling franchised sales, & franchise fees are mixed with royalties) : 2009: 1.512m/store 2010: 1.599m/store 2011: 1.656/store 2012: 1.719/store 2013: 1.755/store 2014: 1.784/ store annualized Q1 thru Q3 franchised store rev yoy growth rates: 2013: 34% vs 2012 2014 Q1: 39.7% annualized vs 2013 2014 Q2: 79.4% annualized vs 2013 2014 Q3: 82.7% annualized vs 2013 sardar def is leveraging bh up financially as sanjeev has said, but its somewhat offset by a quite conservative, measured, rational approach to sustainable, efficient growth in sns operations at a low risk adjusted cost, imo It would be low risk if he was diversifying the dividends being distributed, but they are pretty much going into maximum-sized bets...such as CBRL. CBRL itself was not a particularly risky bet when made, because cash flows were good, debt levels were good and it was not in turnaround or distressed mode. But if he made such a bet as SNS in an all or nothing venture again, and it turned out differently than the original, imagine the repercussions. You would have the acquisition company stock collapsing, which in turn would collapse the price in BH, in particular BH held in the Partnership Assets. BH shareholders would be in for one hell of a surprise from this leverage, regardless of how big of a cash machine BH apparently is! Cheers!

Is it wrong of me to want to see this happen to him? :P Yes, but we won't condemn you! ;D Cheers!