Parsad

They were stupid! They should have put the rights plan in place a long time ago when he owned far less. I think Gad's got a pretty good chance of getting his slate on there with 31%+ ownership. Cheers!

I hope these guys come up with something life-changing before Christmas! ;D So far, I see nothing to differentiate Apple from anyone else. They've been rocking the status quo like nobody's business since Job's died. Maybe they should buyout Tesla and Elon Musk! I'd like to see what that guy could do with $100B! Cheers!

Blackberry to Lobby Government Over Foreign Takeover Rule: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-10/blackberry-to-lobby-government-over-foreign-takeover-rule.html?cmpid=yhoo It sure sounds like they are actively working looking for a deal and Fairfax is playing a significant role. Cheers!

Alnesh and I will be there. We'll try and pop by the informal meet at the bar before the AGM. Cheers!

Rather than selling like I did with the Overstock options, I'm buying early 2014 puts on small segments as it goes up, so I can reap the gain in 2014 instead of 2013. I will buy puts to lock in the gains as the year progresses rather than sell...and as there is a mis-match (I own 2015 calls, but 2014 puts), the frictional costs won't be too onerous. Cheers!

Bono sings at Buffett's grand-daughters wedding reception. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u2-frontman-bono-sings-buffett-140637423.html

Nice! 40% of the portfolio...who do you think you are Ericopoly! ;D I think the Neiman Marcus sale changed some of the views on retailers, which was very negative for a while. A recovering U.S. economy, retail acquisitions, better commercial real estate prices, plus hopefully some aggressive actions at SHLD, will lead to a nice short squeeze. Cheers!

Sorry to hear it. I feel bad for you on this one. It seems that Sears is your anti-MBIA. Only if it continues to go up. It could very well drop back down below $40 if they keep losing money. So we'll see...maybe Eric will be right and we should have piled out with him. Cheers!

Short, but interesting article on Bezos. Cheers! http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/08/06/jeff-bezos-warren-buffett/?source=yahoo_quote

I think it's a squeeze...remember this sucker jumped from $28 to $80 in a couple of months a couple of years ago. And I thought the short position was even tighter this time around. I would not be surprised to see it hit $70-75 again, and if you get some good news...watch out! I'm not selling this one like the Overstock options...it's going to be my year-maker! ;D Cheers!

Yes, I bought a shitload of the $45 strike price January 15 call options in our U.S. fund...4% of the fund...I paid $6. That's why I haven't talked about Sears on the board for the last two months. Cheers! Knew something was up. Your last post here was obvious imo. Gratz. ;) Sorry, that should have said $8. We had an order in to buy more when SHLD dropped to $39 a couple of weeks ago, but it didn't get filled. Cheers!

Yes, I bought a shitload of the $45 strike price January 15 call options in our U.S. fund...4% of the fund...I paid $6. That's why I haven't talked about Sears on the board for the last two months. Cheers!

+1 While I don't know how hackers got hold of Sanjeev's password, I would also recommend using a password management application like, for example, 1Password. They help you remember all those unique passwords: http://alternativeto.net/software/1password/ This image is also relevant: https://xkcd.com/936/ Thanks Guys! Not sure if it was a hack or an email spoof emulating an email with my address, since there was no indication of any activity in the account...deleted emails...etc. Regardless, passwords have been changed and I probably will use the 2-step verification. Cheers! So how do we know this is really you? :) Good question! I'm eating a burger and market prices are rising...especially SHLD. Who else could make that happen?! Cheers!

I've also made it difficult for Norm, since we kind of don't want to do any interviews. Cheers!

+1 While I don't know how hackers got hold of Sanjeev's password, I would also recommend using a password management application like, for example, 1Password. They help you remember all those unique passwords: http://alternativeto.net/software/1password/ This image is also relevant: https://xkcd.com/936/ Thanks Guys! Not sure if it was a hack or an email spoof emulating an email with my address, since there was no indication of any activity in the account...deleted emails...etc. Regardless, passwords have been changed and I probably will use the 2-step verification. Cheers!

Hi Folks, Please note that my email account (cornermarketcapital@gmail.com) was hacked, and at least one fraudulent email was sent requesting financial information. I'm in the process of informing Google. If you find you have received an unusual email from me, please feel free to contact me to confirm at 604-612-3965 or cornerofberkshireandfairfax@gmail.com. Thanks very much! Sanjeev

I've been saying it's expensive for almost six years now, but that doesn't seem to mean anything. There is still plenty of money flowing around, rates are relatively low and supply/demand pretty even. I even sold my place in North Burnaby, which in turn I used to buy a much larger, nicer place in South Surrey. I don't think you will see a correction until rates start to rise dramatically, and it doesn't seem like that is happening yet. You are getting small rises in rates, but that is only spurring on the market, as buyers reduce supply and get in at historically low mortgage rates. While China money is slowing slightly, same with European money and U.S. money, you still have plenty of money coming in from the Praries. The resource sector has been hit hard, so that might start to affect prices a bit, but still no real slowdown. Cheers!

This is the point people have missed. How can competitors who have built around copying Apple out innovate it? People don't have a fundamental understanding of innovation. Innovation is not simply adding features, it is improving lives. Apple is not behind, everyone is still looking to them to determine what to copy. They are not behind, but they will fall behind over time. Everything they've done since the passing of Jobs, other than some capital allocation decisions, has been incredibly underwhelming. They are starting to remind me of Microsoft several years ago...ride the moat and just try to extend the life of it, rather than grow it. You better hope that this event lives up to the hype, otherwise Cook may start doing the monkey dance! Really, this guy lead Microsoft for the last seven years...unbelievable! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINizGmhrYo Cheers!

Agreed. The real value of this board comes from understanding the dozen or so individuals that have real insights and well-considered recommendations. These happen at opportune times on threads that are often already created. One example (of many) is Twacowcfa who doesn't show up on the list, yet has offered some very high quality recommendations including MMPIQ, WSBASE market short, GSE preferred, or the epic call to lever BRK when it was trading at the buyback price. Yes, totally agree. How is Twacowcfa not on the list? You have some of the most successful investors and prolific analysts excluded from the scraper. I think like any tool or ratio, it gives a static impression on very strict parameters. Boardmembers should view it in that light, and I'm sure Chris will continue to refine the scraper over time. Cheers!

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, Eric has said that he doesn't have original ideas, but simply identifies the most compelling ideas that others have come up with. Apparently, good ideas that are posted under the General category apparently won't make the cut, and shorts or stocks with downsides that are posted under investments would muddy the water. Nevertheless, the results should be interesting. That's my point. People always come up with an idea, but what do you do with that idea? How many would have sold BAC when it hit $5, rather than buy BAC at that price? I think the tool has no way of indicating results based on the actual most opportune time to purchase, and instead simply shows when and whom germinated the idea. That in itself is fascinating, but I think undermines what the true goal is...to get a real gauge for investment ability and execution. It's why Eric's results are stratospheric...combine his leverage/concentration with his ability to buy at the most pessimistic of times...you get extraordinary results. If the tool could somehow record the number of posts by an individual relative to the historic prices and then weight that relative to the future outcome of the investment, that may provide a more accurate gauge. I'm sure that is a hell of a lot more complicated...but I wouldn't want investors suddenly weighting their investments based on the tool as is...I think they may find the end result different than what the historical numbers may indicate...as there is no weighting for conviction and temperament. Cheers!

Cute article by this young fellow! I'm jealous, as he had a 15 years head start on me, and I'm sure on many of you as well. Good luck to him! Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/how-a-15-year-old-became-an-avid-warren-buffett-fan/article14005611/

Very neat idea...I like it! But I don't think it's accurate other than the germination of ideas. If you go simply by the rankings, Ericopoly has made zero contributions and mine would be Chanticleer! ;D Maybe some tweaks...number of posts in a specific thread gets some weighting relative to the stock price at that point in time, since most people would not have held on to their BAC or especially BAC warrants without Eric's analysis and comments. Otherwise the results indicate that Eric is perhaps the greatest coat-tail investor in history...which is not accurate at all. Cheers!

Ah, I see. Thanks Chris! I try to max out all my purchases on my card, and pay the balance every month. So I rack up quite a few gift cards each year and pay no interest. But always looking for other ways to use free money and make a buck! ;D Cheers!

In addition to the accounts that I funded with cash, I borrow on credit cards to fund several more – these collect interest on the account side as well as rewards on the credit card side. When the credit card bills come, I pay them off online from the savings accounts. Running through $250k/month, this has added up to plenty of AMZN gift certificates, Brooks Brothers certificates, airline miles, and cash back in Charles Schwab and Fidelity. American Airlines is particularly advantageous as it locks one into the top of their loyalty program after only a year and a half of this strategy. This strategy is not that scalable, but it has the charm of allowing one to read, dress, travel, and fund tax-advantage retirement accounts with no taxes (since rewards technically are classified as rebates and thus are not taxed), no risk, and no capital. Hi Chris, aren't you charged interest from the day of borrowing, when it comes to cash on your cards? Even if you pay lower interest...say 9.9% compared to 18.9%...do you still actually make more at the end of the day through the gift cards, etc after the interest rate? Or am I missing something here as a Canadian? Do you guys have credit cards in the U.S. that let you borrow cash and still give you the normal 25 day grace period? Cheers!

Candid comments about OSTK, which may be applied to Fairfax's purchase of BBRY, as well as rational comments about estimating market valuations using artificially depressed discount rates. Cheers! http://www.choufunds.com/pdf/Semi-AR13.pdf