Parsad

Yeah, I would totally agree with Eric. TBV may be slightly higher if they do better, but that would have no effect on your "B" warrants. While you should make a decent return on the "A's", it still won't be fantastic if you are buying them for just above $6, exercise is at $13.30 or so, and stock is at $26-$28 in 2018-2019. Cheers!

This intrigues me, only because it seems like it would be fun to go up there and meet board members. What's the plan for events, this shareholder dinner is the night before the Fairfax shareholder meeting correct? Much of it is just people, many from here, gathering and talking about investing. There is the Ben Graham Dinner on the evening of the 7th, then usually the Ivey Value Investing Conference the morning of the 8th, the pre-dinner bar gathering that afternoon, and then our dinner on the evening of the 8th. The Fairfax AGM is the morning of the 9th. Would I need to be a shareholder to attend? I have no issues with buying a share so I can attend, but just curious. Is this dinner only about Fairfax, or is it a general meeting of like minds who all happen to be Fairfax shareholders? No, not yet anyways. But at some point in time as it gets bigger, I can see Prem having to restrict it. What else happens the day of this dinner? I ask because Toronto isn't that far away (less than 5 hours driving), I'm wondering if it would be feasible to just leave the morning of the meeting and then spend that night. A follow-on is what's parking like in Toronto, do they have usurious rates like NYC, or is it more reasonable? Parking is expensive, but probably not quite as high as NY. Once downtown, taking a cab most places would make the most sense...convenience-wise and value-wise. Cheers!

A number of hotels in and around the events: - Fairmont Royal York - The Strathcona - Intercontinental - Westin Harbour A lot of the downtown hotels are just a short cab ride away as well. Cheers!

Norm, Feel free to pick the restaurant of your choice for the Ben Graham Dinner. Let's go with the private bar again for this year's pre-dinner, as we will have the same or slightly fewer attendees as last year. I'm guessing Francis will have another unusual guest or two for us again. Cheers!

Perhaps! ;D Cheers!

2014 Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner The Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner we hold each year, is set for April 8, 2014 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. We’ve always enjoyed support from Fairfax, and our last dinner was completely ridiculous, as Fairfax CEO Prem Watsa brought along 15 other executives, managers and CEO’s with him. The dinner is held in memory of JoAnn Butler, who was Prem Watsa’s executive assistant for many years. JoAnn passed away on May 12, 2009 from colon cancer, and she was instrumental in the success of our dinners each year. We raised almost $20,000 for “The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada” in JoAnn’s memory last April. Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner Upper Canada Room - 18th Floor Tuesday April 8, 2014 Fairmont Royal York 100 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario (416)368-2511 Tickets are available directly if you scroll down the left side of the “Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax” website homepage at: www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca Prices are the same as last year. - $75 for presentation only, and free water, coffee, tea, as well as available cash bar. - $150 for dinner and presentation. We have a limit of only 140 tickets this year, as the Fairmont Royal York did not have a lot of room available. So get your tickets early, as we will definitely be sold out by January. If anyone is interested in corporate sponsorship of prizes, or any donors for prizes, please contact me at cornerofberkshireandfairfax@gmail.com. Thanks very much!

2014 Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner The Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner we hold each year, is set for April 8, 2014 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. We’ve always enjoyed support from Fairfax, and our last dinner was completely ridiculous, as Fairfax CEO Prem Watsa brought along 15 other executives, managers and CEO’s with him. The dinner is held in memory of JoAnn Butler, who was Prem Watsa’s executive assistant for many years. JoAnn passed away on May 12, 2009 from colon cancer, and she was instrumental in the success of our dinners each year. We raised almost $20,000 for “The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada” in JoAnn’s memory last April. Fairfax Financial Shareholder’s Dinner Upper Canada Room - 18th Floor Tuesday April 8, 2014 Fairmont Royal York 100 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario (416)368-2511 Tickets are available directly if you scroll down the left side of the “Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax” website homepage at: www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca Prices are the same as last year. - $75 for presentation only, and free water, coffee, tea, as well as available cash bar. - $150 for dinner and presentation. We have a limit of only 140 tickets this year, as the Fairmont Royal York did not have a lot of room available. So get your tickets early, as we will definitely be sold out by January. If anyone is interested in corporate sponsorship of prizes, or any donors for prizes, please contact me at cornerofberkshireandfairfax@gmail.com. Thanks very much!

I do the same thing. Although, rather than keeping a whole bag of espresso beans at home, I just bought a Nespresso machine. Very good, and forms a really nice crema on the espresso. Their coffee is good as well...vacuum sealed fresh, so the taste isn't any different than grinding the beans and brewing it from a bag that same morning. I'm a value investor, so I waited till one of the old Nespresso models was on sale...got a brand new machine for $65...regular $190! I also set up a really nice home office in my new home, so I work from home 2-3 days a week, and don't get that chance to get my coffee at the Starbucks in my downtown office building...thus the Nespresso! Cheers!

Yes, very good ones, including one called JJ Beans. Many argued they had/have the best coffee in town. But again, they could not take away any market share. They survived and continue to maintain many of their locations, but have not really expanded. Whereas, almost every new development in every city centre around Vancouver has not only one new Starbucks, but usually multiple. There is one small mall in Burnaby that has two...and no other coffee shops other than a McDonalds! Metrotown, which is the largest mall outside of the Mall of America and Edmonton's Mall, has four Starbucks and one other coffee chain, as well as a McDonalds. No competition. Starbucks actually entered the Toronto market en masse much later than Vancouver's. Already they are the dominant chain, with several going out of business or acquired by Starbucks. But they did elevate the coffee culture there. I remember going to Toronto eight years ago, and going what is this shit?! You couldn't get a decent mocha anywhere. Today, you have some very good cafes in Toronto, albeit, they are mostly independents and stand alones, not chains. Cheers! Were this chains multi city? Why did they not expand? Yes, multi-city around Vancouver. Key locations were taken by Starbucks faster than they could expand into burgeoning markets. Their average income per store was a lot less than Starbucks. Actually, the one chain that has actually done reasonably well, was the smallest one 10 years ago...Waves Coffee. Their schtick was free-wifi well before Starbucks offered free wifi. Their coffee is pretty good...not nearly as good as Artigiano, JJ Bean or Starbucks, but they catered to the wireless, mobile office warrior or students early on, and they have been doing pretty good. Still not significant relative to Starbuck's market share, but they have been the one chain to actually thrive in the last few years with all of the competition from Starbucks. So, the only way to compete with Starbucks is not head-on...find a niche. Cheers!

Tell me about it. Bought it at a little over $7 during the credit crisis for my own portfolio. Sold out at $20 a couple of years later! :'( Cheers!

Yes, very good ones, including one called JJ Beans. Many argued they had/have the best coffee in town. But again, they could not take away any market share. They survived and continue to maintain many of their locations, but have not really expanded. Whereas, almost every new development in every city centre around Vancouver has not only one new Starbucks, but usually multiple. There is one small mall in Burnaby that has two...and no other coffee shops other than a McDonalds! Metrotown, which is the largest mall outside of the Mall of America and Edmonton's Mall, has four Starbucks and one other coffee chain, as well as a McDonalds. No competition. Starbucks actually entered the Toronto market en masse much later than Vancouver's. Already they are the dominant chain, with several going out of business or acquired by Starbucks. But they did elevate the coffee culture there. I remember going to Toronto eight years ago, and going what is this shit?! You couldn't get a decent mocha anywhere. Today, you have some very good cafes in Toronto, albeit, they are mostly independents and stand alones, not chains. Cheers!

Tractor Supply (TSCO) is succeeding in ex-Walmart locations. Tractor Supply stores have a smaller footprint than Walmart stores though. Historically, size doesn't seem to be a moat in retail. Size is both a blessing and a curse. There are retailers with thousands of stores that have slowly gone out of business. Sure, but there is no overlap really between Walmart and TSCO. That's very different than someone competing head on with Walmart. About the only two that are doing it competitively are Amazon and Costco, and both of them have limitations compared to Walmart...be it food/grocery sales or diversity of inventory. It's hard to do it all. Cheers!

Really, it was Schulz's execution. The Ray Kroc of coffee. He is really solely responsible for the way the company executed over the last 25 years. Amazing guy, great leader and a visionary. It's the one food business that probably still makes no sense to Buffett, as coffee consumption on a per capita basis has fallen for 40 years, yet somehow this company grows and dominates its industry. Amazing story! Cheers!

Will not happen. Even if Schulz passes away or something, it will take a decade to even make a dent, and over two decades to supplant them. I would like to see the margins at those stores, and exactly how much cash they are generating. As well, Starbucks controls the amount of premium coffee being developed in the world through their huge orders to producers, and the moat is not about to be hurt by small retail shops that are sprouting up. It's like saying that Walmart's buying power is going to be displaced by retailers in certain markets that are doing reasonably well. Won't happen. The only chains that could hurt Starbucks, are the ones that already have a huge footprint and excellent brand recognition...McDonalds, Subway, etc. But two things will stop them: - They cannot get enough premium coffee from farmers already producing for Starbucks, so they may be able to provide one or two blends of premium coffee, but nowhere near the variety of beans that Starbucks can, nor the same variety of mixed handmade drinks unless they change their operations. - If they try to offer that same variety, they may end up being distracted and hurt existing moats in the food/sandwich category. We have some very good chains and independent coffee stores, on par or better than any in Seattle and San Francisco. They do ok competing head on, but none will displace Starbucks...ever...at least in my lifetime! Coffee culture is huge here...in fact, the first Starbucks stores outside of Seattle opened in Vancouver some 25+ years ago. I'm a hard-core coffee aficionado for over 15 years and watched the market grow here and in the Pacific Northwest, as I spend a lot of time in Seattle. I drink daily, both the premium stuff and non-premium stuff, but I'll tell you...I go to Starbucks every time I want consistent, premium coffee or mixed drinks. Too much inconsistency in the smaller artisian shops, and not enough variety in the other chains. Lastly, eventually when any competitors start doing well or start getting into trouble in any particular region, Starbucks will just buy them out like they have in the past. Cheers! Cheers! Well, visit the Bay Area and see what is happening. Don't need to. What is happening in San Francisco happened here already 15 years ago. You know where the coffee/latte arts originated...you know the designs in coffee that artisianal baristas compete on globally? Here in Vancouver. Well, it actually was started by a barista in Seattle in 1988, but then Sammy Piccolo of Vancouver's Caffé Artigiano took it to another level where he won numerous competitions internationally. Artigiano made premium coffee...some of the best in the world...and Vancouver's coffee culture was willing to pay a lot for some of his real specialty blends. They still make the best mochas in North America in my opinion! Artigiano at its peak under Piccolo had about 9 locations, with almost all of them in and around downtown Vancouver. They thrived and survived, but by no means was it easy. Eventually about six years ago, Artigiano was bought out by a local wealthy restauranteur's family and they are attempting to grow the brand. Sammy kept the roasting facility and provides the coffee to the chain, but is no longer in the business other than one store he kept outside of the downtown core that is in his family's neighbourhood. Now this was one of the best coffee company's in the world! Making coffee on par or better than Starbucks, and had a thriving business. He did not even make a tiny dent in Starbuck's business in Vancouver, and was not making anywhere near what Starbucks makes on a per store or per square footage basis. And his brand was very well known in Vancouver and lots of people wanted to partner with him to expand...he decided to sell and just focus on selling the beans, because as he said...that's where the money is! Six years later, Artigiano has about 15 stores in Western Canada...only a tiny fraction of Starbucks stores in just BC alone. Sammy's very happy selling the beans to those Artigiano stores, because at least his margins are now somewhat profitable! Cheers!

Will not happen. Even if Schulz passes away or something, it will take a decade to even make a dent, and over two decades to supplant them. I would like to see the margins at those stores, and exactly how much cash they are generating. As well, Starbucks controls the amount of premium coffee being developed in the world through their huge orders to producers, and the moat is not about to be hurt by small retail shops that are sprouting up. It's like saying that Walmart's buying power is going to be displaced by retailers in certain markets that are doing reasonably well. Won't happen. The only chains that could hurt Starbucks, are the ones that already have a huge footprint and excellent brand recognition...McDonalds, Subway, etc. But two things will stop them: - They cannot get enough premium coffee from farmers already producing for Starbucks, so they may be able to provide one or two blends of premium coffee, but nowhere near the variety of beans that Starbucks can, nor the same variety of mixed handmade drinks unless they change their operations. - If they try to offer that same variety, they may end up being distracted and hurt existing moats in the food/sandwich category. We have some very good chains and independent coffee stores, on par or better than any in Seattle and San Francisco. They do ok competing head on, but none will displace Starbucks...ever...at least in my lifetime! Coffee culture is huge here...in fact, the first Starbucks stores outside of Seattle opened in Vancouver some 25+ years ago. I'm a hard-core coffee aficionado for over 15 years and watched the market grow here and in the Pacific Northwest, as I spend a lot of time in Seattle. I drink daily, both the premium stuff and non-premium stuff, but I'll tell you...I go to Starbucks every time I want consistent, premium coffee or mixed drinks. Too much inconsistency in the smaller artisian shops, and not enough variety in the other chains. Lastly, eventually when any competitors start doing well or start getting into trouble in any particular region, Starbucks will just buy them out like they have in the past. Cheers! Cheers! And what about a Tim Hortons in Canada, who reach for different customers? They seem to resist well to Starbucks? Starbucks brand is global. Tim Horton's is regional. Two very different clientele for the most part as we'll. You go to the prairies and TH's has 80% market share of coffee. You go to Vancouver or Toronto, and that number drops to 30% or less. You go outside of Canada and no one knows TH's other than expats. Finally, Tim's falls into that McDonald, Subway category. Cannot compete with SBUX on variety, unless it detracts from what they do best...food! Cheers!

Will not happen. Even if Schulz passes away or something, it will take a decade to even make a dent, and over two decades to supplant them. I would like to see the margins at those stores, and exactly how much cash they are generating. As well, Starbucks controls the amount of premium coffee being developed in the world through their huge orders to producers, and the moat is not about to be hurt by small retail shops that are sprouting up. It's like saying that Walmart's buying power is going to be displaced by retailers in certain markets that are doing reasonably well. Won't happen. The only chains that could hurt Starbucks, are the ones that already have a huge footprint and excellent brand recognition...McDonalds, Subway, etc. But two things will stop them: - They cannot get enough premium coffee from farmers already producing for Starbucks, so they may be able to provide one or two blends of premium coffee, but nowhere near the variety of beans that Starbucks can, nor the same variety of mixed handmade drinks unless they change their operations. - If they try to offer that same variety, they may end up being distracted and hurt existing moats in the food/sandwich category. We have some very good chains and independent coffee stores, on par or better than any in Seattle and San Francisco. They do ok competing head on, but none will displace Starbucks...ever...at least in my lifetime! Coffee culture is huge here...in fact, the first Starbucks stores outside of Seattle opened in Vancouver some 25+ years ago. I'm a hard-core coffee aficionado for over 15 years and watched the market grow here and in the Pacific Northwest, as I spend a lot of time in Seattle. I drink daily, both the premium stuff and non-premium stuff, but I'll tell you...I go to Starbucks every time I want consistent, premium coffee or mixed drinks. Too much inconsistency in the smaller artisian shops, and not enough variety in the other chains. Lastly, eventually when any competitors start doing well or start getting into trouble in any particular region, Starbucks will just buy them out like they have in the past. Cheers! Cheers!

LOL! So FFHWatcher, what do you think Apple's going to do next? ;D Cheers!

The competitors haven't been able to emulate the product well enough. Like Coke, Pepsi and generic soft drink makers. You said you don't drink coffee, so you probably won't be able to taste the difference, but Starbucks coffee and their constant desire to improve the product, is still unmatched by its competitors. You have the big chains that offer perhaps one type of premium coffee, and then you have the smaller snobby shops that eschew the giant...yet the quality of Starbucks coffee overall is still better than their competitors. Thus you develop a powerful brand based on the quality of what you are purchasing and how accessible it is. Then you have the store model and systems like McDonalds...albeit significantly higher end. You go to a Starbucks in Vancouver, Seattle, New York, Dubai or Sydney, and you will get the same quality coffee, specialty drink, etc, at each of those stores. Why? Because the training and systems the baristas go through, not unlike the food prep lines at McDonalds. Their advertising is also very specialized, especially to their customers through their "Rewards" program, and email, online and print advertising. Finally, while they slowly expand the line of products offered at a Starbucks store, the main focus is always around the core...coffee and food. And the prices around those items are aimed directly at the more premium market, not down market, so their margins are always steady. Cheers!

No, I believe the only tweet he actually sent, was the initial one on that interview he did. I would guess a staff member is putting out the tweets. Cheers!

Yes, a fitting end to a great show! Cheers!

What a joke! It's why the industry has the credibility of a Nevada State Boxing Commission sanctioned event. Cheers!

I would welcome other board members views on this confusing issue - is it really possible to hedge the economic future? Well, I think it becomes a distraction from the broader picture of finding quality investments at a significant discount to its intrinsic value. At the same time, Fairfax is not just some ordinary investment company, but a leveraged insurer that relies on its capital base to maintain statutory levels so that it can underwrite insurance business. So, if you are that insurer, and you can buy coverage for what you perceive to be a real risk, at a cheap price when no one was expecting it...then you make that bet. I wouldn't recommend that bet for the average investor, or most portfolio managers, but for a leveraged insurance company or financial institution, it may be a necessary evil, just like buying currency derivatives for a leveraged bank. Cheers!

Historically, the have not spent a lot on capex. It's been mostly with the recent Postmedia acquisition, where there was a deficiency of capex for years. I don't think you will see them spend that much going forward. Cheers!

A couple of years ago chou sold from almost 800,000 shares to his current position. That's what someone wrote -- but then i think it passed down the grapevine and info was lost in translation. Yes, that's correct. Over two years ago, he had more, but he has not been selling recently at all. I think when he was selling back then, he was also facing some redemptions, so he was selling to create liquidity. Cheers!

Nice job Ross! Cheers!