Parsad

Links guys! Copyrighted stuff will be deleted if I see it. Cheers!

Coincidence? I think not! Paul was on the front lines with the whole short attack and ensuing lawsuit. The best story I have about all of that was I received a subpoena from Fairfax's attorney, Kasowitz Benson, because I had bought the www.premwatsa.com domain name when it became available. Kasowitz Benson thought that it was still under the control of whichever hedgie had put up that attack website. I had to call Paul up and say, I bought the domain name when it became available, so that no one could put up another website...but that they could have the domain name if they wanted. He said, "Oh geez sorry, I'll take care of it!" And that was that...no more subpoena and the beginning of a friendship...plus I got to keep the domain name! Cheers!

Congratulations to Paul on becoming President of Fairfax! I've had the pleasure of dealing with Paul on numerous occasions, including our annual dinners, and he's a terrific, passionate, talented individual who loves his job and Fairfax! Great choice! Cheers! http://www.fairfax.ca/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2013/Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-Limited-Executive-Announcement/default.aspx

Eric you need to write a book or start your own show. Too much great information! Cheers!

No, unfortunately not this time. If I had held all of my OSTK from a year ago, not including the options, I would have made 7 times my money...and it was a big position. Unfortunately, we average in and we average out. And we were out in the very high 20's...with an average out much lower in the high teens...our cost was just under $6, so I'm not crying. And then there were those options! ;D I'm happy for Patrick, Jonathan and everyone who works, supports or has shares in Overstock.com. It's been a tough road, not unlike Fairfax's "seven lean years". Today "Tinfoil hat Byrne" is worth a huge fortune again, many of his critics have been weeded out as frauds, hucksters, shills or even worse, and his company is consistently making profits which almost everyone doubted would ever happen! One noted coincidence between Fairfax's revival and Overstock's triumphant return...both occurred within a couple of years of Sam Mitchell joining their boards! May be a coincidence or may be something else...take it whichever way you want! Cheers!

Could you explain why it was prudent? I assume that at a 12% position you still find it undervalued. It's cheap relative to its peers but not on an absolute basis as an investment. There is a big difference between a distressed bank selling at 0.35 of tangible book and a bank selling at 1.1 times tangible book. If you think the returns going forward for both would be the same, you would be horribly mistaken. Cheers!

Sunrider, yours is a very good explanation! Thank you very much! :) But, please, tell me: when you have total assets that are $2 trillion and 10 times equity, how could you really be sure about your judgment of their quality? And you must be sure practically about all of them! Because they are so much larger than your capital. In the case you are not sure, you are left only with the assumption (hope?) they won’t default. Do I understand this correctly? I ask, because I am well aware it is not my game! giofranchi You would be correct here Gio! The only thing I can say is that there is so much oversight on bank capital and quality, that there probably is pretty good judgment by the regulators from that perspective. Any leveraged institution is risky, but I would say the U.S. banks after all of the recapitalization, oversight, reduction in risky assets and debt, could not be in much better position. We do not know the quality of all of the underlying assets, but from a rational view, they must be multiples better today than in 2007! Cheers! Parsad, You clearly know much better than I do! Anyway, I always have a very hard time to detach an investment from the person I am investing with... And I also have an hard time to understand how a single person like Mr. Buffett could oversee such an incredible ammount of money as BRK assets are worth today... Let alone $2 trillion managed by... Who? Hundreds of people I guess... BAC CEO surely is important and powerful, but probably is no WB and must oversee 8-9 times BRK assets... I know it is me and only me... But once something becomes so large, I always worry all its parts are too difficult to keep under control, and mistakes will be inevitably made, sooner or later... But, hey!, BAC is rocking, so what do I really know?! giofranchi Hi Gio, That's where prudent risk management comes in. When we originally invested in BAC almost 3 years ago, we made it about 12% of the fund. If we had not pared the position down as it went up, it would make about 50% of the fund. But it doesn't. It makes up roughly the same 12%, because we averaged out and the fund is substantially larger. Yes, we left money on the table but it was the prudent thing to do. Cheers!

Sunrider, yours is a very good explanation! Thank you very much! :) But, please, tell me: when you have total assets that are $2 trillion and 10 times equity, how could you really be sure about your judgment of their quality? And you must be sure practically about all of them! Because they are so much larger than your capital. In the case you are not sure, you are left only with the assumption (hope?) they won’t default. Do I understand this correctly? I ask, because I am well aware it is not my game! giofranchi You would be correct here Gio! The only thing I can say is that there is so much oversight on bank capital and quality, that there probably is pretty good judgment by the regulators from that perspective. Any leveraged institution is risky, but I would say the U.S. banks after all of the recapitalization, oversight, reduction in risky assets and debt, could not be in much better position. We do not know the quality of all of the underlying assets, but from a rational view, they must be multiples better today than in 2007! Cheers!

Basically, the value of financial instruments were changing so fast, that certain liquid and illiquid investments meant as longer term, were making the balance sheet's of financial institutions unstable due to the volatility. FASB 157 for larger institutions was suspended so that stability and confidence could be achieved in the financial system. While I'm a proponent of marked to market accounting, I think the rule needs to be re-examined on how to implement it when reporting. Maybe a reserve needs to be setup showing the change in valuation in the notes, but not actually run through the P&L until realized. Berkshire got caught up in this as well with the S&P puts they were underwriting when no actual immediate liability existed. Cheers!

All that article states is that the carriers tend to bastardize the esthetics of the operating system, when they try and make them their own. You'll notice that it doesn't mention at all that Android is bad...only that Google's Android OS is not uniform between devices like they are on Apple devices. Even you have to admit that where Android and Android devices were 2-3 years ago, seems like a couple of generations ago in the IT world. Not unlike how cars made by Hyundai in the 80's and early 90's are light years away from the cars they make today that win all sorts of awards. Android devices won't get worse...they will only get better. Apple and it's rabid fans should avoid discounting the competition, because the competition is coming up fast...just like Apple came up fast on the competition during Job's 2nd reign. There is no place for complacency in the IT world. Cheers! Android devices in practice are no where near. Apart from the crap that Manjoo mentions, apparmetlt S4 has two versions of many apps - one version that has the Samsung eye scrolling etc enabled and another that does not. They made the phone so comped that they had to include an "easy mode". Btw, I own a Hyundai. One the surface it looks awesome. But after owning it for a white your start noticing things- the clock is not good at keeping time, the AC temperature controls are not properly calibrated, the wheels lose grip easily, the Bluetooth can't stream music, etc. Correct, but they have caught up to the Japanese, Americans and in many cases the Germans. Just like no one wanted to buy a "Jap" car in the United States 30 years ago, no one wanted to buy a Korean car 15 years ago. Guess what? I like Apple...I own only Apple stock (no Google, no Microsoft, no Blackberry, no Nokia)...I own only an iPhone and would not go to any other phone right now. But guess what I'm noticing? Many of my friends who turned me onto Apple phones five years ago, are now using Android phones! I don't know why, but they are. I don't like them, other than the large screen, but they are buying them up and switching phones. So, it doesn't matter whether you and I like the esthetics, the technology or the company...the fact remains that Android is hurting Apple's competitors and in time will hurt Apple if things remain the same. Cheers!

All that article states is that the carriers tend to bastardize the esthetics of the operating system, when they try and make them their own. You'll notice that it doesn't mention at all that Android is bad...only that Google's Android OS is not uniform between devices like they are on Apple devices. Even you have to admit that where Android and Android devices were 2-3 years ago, seems like a couple of generations ago in the IT world. Not unlike how cars made by Hyundai in the 80's and early 90's are light years away from the cars they make today that win all sorts of awards. Android devices won't get worse...they will only get better. Apple and it's rabid fans should avoid discounting the competition, because the competition is coming up fast...just like Apple came up fast on the competition during Job's 2nd reign. There is no place for complacency in the IT world. Cheers!

That's exactly it Vish...and the reason why they need to monetize the assets, because he is not a retailer and will never be a good retailer. He also can't hire a great retailer, because he interferes too much and they would not last. He's got to view the company as a hedge fund manager and nothing else. Cheers!

Pretty detailed conference call with a lot of questions. I know Mike Mayo has a pretty good reputation, but I thought the last question on the LAS reserves was kind of stupid. How is BAC supposed to comment on something that is in the process of a settlement, and then give guidance if the settlement is approved or kicked out for future quarters? Silly! Cheers!

I got a kick out of the same thing. Was thinking the owner doesn't give the jockey a whip so the jockey can turnarouond and beat him with it. LOL! Unfortunately, ever since the 80's, it's been all about the star manager/executive...no more serving the client, but the client serving the manager/executive. "I'm the jockey...I'm the star"...and it isn't just this guy...they all pop up on CNBC, Bloomberg, and pretty much everywhere else! Where the f**k has humility gone in this business? When Hollywood celebrities are showing more humility than money managers, you know something is upside down in the industry. Cheers!

I'm assuming most of that $335M is coming from Biglari Holdings transfer of their investment portfolio. Also this quote was kind of funny: “Biglari is a jockey stock,” he wrote in his 2011 letter to investors. “You are choosing the jockey; I am choosing the horses. It would be asinine to bet on a jockey and then deny him the saddle or whip.” I guess he doesn't know much about the horse racing business. The OWNERS pick the jockey and tell him which horse he is going to ride, not the other way around. Cheers!

They won't say bad things...they just pull their money every time they get nervous! ;D Cheers!

LOL! Who knows. I've never understood the short-term gyrations of the market. Heck, Jim Chanos now likes Berkshire and BAC! Cheers!

We were going to Chicago this year, but if you have the Tesla, we will switch and come to LA! Cheers!

Too flashy...you have to be a LEAP's and margin guy to really drive one of them! Just like the founder! ;D I'm too cheap as well. I follow Buffett's philosophy...I don't want to own a yacht, but I have plenty of friends who have one if I want to go for a ride. Cheers!

The Captain is not the problem, but the fact that he's trying to save everyone from a sinking ship, instead of the most people he CAN actually save. And that is costing him lives! Let's see if this is truly a more rapid process of monetizing the real estate assets. If so, I think SHLD long-term shareholder's may finally be out of the hell they have been living. If it's another false start, then maybe the Captain needs a kick up his arse! Cheers!

You are a hard man to please Cardboard! ;D Just remember one thing...it was those better bankers that created the mess the world found themselves in during 2008. I would much rather every bank be run by some rational, no-nonsense executive who doesn't want to get fancy, and just keep his nose clean, balance sheet strong, and shoot for the low hanging fruit, rather than try to be a superstar. Banking is one of the few businesses where being a "superstar" is the wrong type of personality trait for the business! Cheers!

You bloody bandit! I just talked to you a few days ago, and you didn't tell me you bought one. Don't fly to the LA Pabrai Funds AGM...drive, and then you can take me for a ride in it. I'll come to the LA meeting if you bring it up this year. Cheers!

What color did you pick Eric? And the interior? Very nice car! Cheers! It is silver metallic paint with tan interior. All Glass panoramic roof. I chose the fastest one (performance edition) and added the "performance plus" package. As for the rest of the options, I checked all of the boxes ;D Nice! So on the top of the line "performance plus" package, how many miles will you get before charging? About 275-300 miles? Cheers! It won't be 300 miles. That's for 55 miles per hour ;) They have an app for estimating mileage with different speeds and road conditions: http://www.teslamotors.com/goelectric#range Just scroll down on that linked page until you see the white car with the turning wheels. You can adjust the settings and it will simulate the range. 245 mile range on the highway at 65 MPH 352 mile range on the highway at 45 MPH 292 mile range in the city If they could get that to 400 miles at 65MPH, that would be something. I think you would start to see a lot of luxury car owners switching to a Tesla, because price-wise it is already competitive with high-end Mercedes and BMW's. Enjoy your ride! Your license plate should say "FFH BAC"! Cheers!

After the whole initial raising the dividend debacle, have they not executed on pretty much everything they said they would...settle litigation, runoff bad loans, decrease mortgage servicing, cut expenses, try and build revenue across a condensed business profile, buy back preferreds, buy back shares (hopefully they bought a lot in 2nd quarter) and build Tier 1 Capital to one of the highest standards in the industry. There was a crap-load that was wrong with BAC, and in two and half years, the company went from potential insolvency to industry stalwart. They said that most of the earnings won't appear until 2014, so it's hard for me to say that they haven't done what they said they would. Investor's who were patient have been rewarded handsomely...there are more rewards yet to come! I say they hit $17-18 by Christmas! ;D Cheers!

What color did you pick Eric? And the interior? Very nice car! Cheers! It is silver metallic paint with tan interior. All Glass panoramic roof. I chose the fastest one (performance edition) and added the "performance plus" package. As for the rest of the options, I checked all of the boxes ;D Nice! So on the top of the line "performance plus" package, how many miles will you get before charging? About 275-300 miles? Cheers!