Liberty

Thanks, interesting piece, especially in light of what Murray Stahl has been saying about indexation lately.

This reminds me a lot of what I see happening with Apple vs. Android. People look at spec lists rather than at how good the overall products are, and what the experience is for customers. If volume is the only thing you care about (as opposed to profits per EV), GM has a big advantage because they sell at much lower price points than Tesla at the moment, so more people can afford them. The Model 3 will help, but that's only in a few years. But GM has a huge handicap too: To properly sell EVs, they would have to explain to customers the disadvantages of their others products and properly incentivize dealers to do so (but dealers make most of their money on maintenance of non-EVs), which they won't really do. They would also need to make their most attractive models be EVs, rather than just 'ok' models. The Spark EV reminds me of the Nissan LEAF, except worse. Rather than take one of your best-selling models with the most mass-appeal and try to make it electric and as good as possible (a top fof the line electric Altima or Malibu), they do something that they think won't cannibalize their other sales too much but will still be good enough for those who really want EVs. It's half-hearted. They're pulling their punches. Tesla is aiming squarely at the mainstream, not just EV lovers. They want to make the best cars, period.

Interesting piece: http://stratechery.com/2014/peak-google/

http://www.libertyglobal.com/pdf/press-release/10-22-Announcement-Tracking-Stock-LiLAC-Group-FINAL.pdf If you didn't think Malone was creating enough tracking stocks and spinoffs these days, here's a new one.

And here's the response: http://valeant.q4cdn.com/546f4634-93db-409a-8670-7db922575db3.pdf

Even the SHLD thread has spin-offs :P

Today's episode of the soap opera: http://blogs.reuters.com/alison-frankel/2014/10/21/pershing-valeant-allergan-ignored-goldman-advice-to-talk/

And that doesn't include dividends.

Rumors of an Apple Pay loyalty program: http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/21/apple-loyalty-program-holiday-launch/ That would make a lot of sense. One more way to make the ecosystem a bit stickier and to encourage more stores/apps/banks to support Apple Pay. Update: Thought about it a bit more, and I know how they can kill on more bird with that stone. The rewards will be App Store/iTunes gift cards (well, digital gift cards - no need for actual cards). People who have Apple devices will actually find these useful, so it's a great reward, and the more apps and content people buy, the more likely they are to stick to that ecosystem. Also, it wouldn't cost Apple that much because they have such high margins on these digital goods and the infrastructure is already all there.

So Eric, are you going to sell your Model S and buy a P85D with Autopilot?

Very happy overall. iPhone is such a monster. Love those buybacks.

Because things never stand still for a second, there's now apparently some rumors that AGN is in talks with Shire... http://seekingalpha.com/news/2041555-allergan-shire-marriage-possible Not sure how credible that is, or if it's just a strategy to get VRX to pay more...

As is their habit, Allergan launched a preemptive attack on VRX this morning: http://agn.client.shareholder.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-14-375382

Don't think so...maybe a bit lazy...COP, KFT, JNJ, IBM, TSCO...other than the banks and the preferreds his picks have been pretty mediocre over the last decade or so. Ya, BNSF was not one of the greatest investments in history...no, no. Don't forget the Bank of America deal... Don't forget Sanborn Maps, See's and Washington Post. I hadn't seen the "other than banks" part. Oops.

Don't think so...maybe a bit lazy...COP, KFT, JNJ, IBM, TSCO...other than the banks and the preferreds his picks have been pretty mediocre over the last decade or so. Ya, BNSF was not one of the greatest investments in history...no, no. Don't forget the Bank of America deal...

Q3: http://ir.valeant.com/investor-relations/news-releases/news-release-details/2014/Valeant-Pharmaceuticals-Reports-Third-Quarter-2014-Financial-Results/default.aspx

Very nice.

These are always fun: http://i.imgur.com/2SypEA8.png

As usual, anyone with an interest in the Mac (and much more Apple-related) should read the canonical, book-length review by John Siracusa: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/10/os-x-10-10/

Hi. If I can ask, how do you think about valuation, especially for MA? For MasterCard and Visa I think more in qualitative terms wrt valuation. They are a very strong duopoly, essentially they receive a royalty on worldwide digital commerce, or act as a tollbooth on worldwide consumption. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but something like 80% of the world's transactions are still cash or check. Those will continue to move to electronic over time, and thus these companies have a long runway of growth. V and MA do not issue cards or extend credit ( unlike AmEx and Discover), they just collect a small piece of each transaction. They generate lots of cash and have been buying back lots of stock. I just think here are great businesses to own for a long time. Thanks, I looked at them a while ago and basically came to the same qualitative conclusions. I was just curious to know if there's a certain FCF multiple or something like that you'd be buying at or under..

Hi. If I can ask, how do you think about valuation, especially for MA?

One more twist: http://business.financialpost.com/2014/10/16/bill-ackman-cites-evidence-that-takeover-target-allergan-tried-to-malign-suitor-valeant-with-false-statements/

Watched the event. No major surprises, but I'm pleased overall. They just made more of their big products even better, and that's all they needed to do there. I was hoping for a retina Macbook Air and something on Apple TV, but chances are that all the production capacity in China is trying to meet iPhone demand, so not surprised they're taking their time. Best to release something when it's ready and when you can actually ship it than launch just to launch...

I'm suspecting a bunch of people here got some LVNTA stock today... How do you think about it? How do you value it? It's been a while since I looked at Ventures..

He wishes. Gio owns a couple of businesses. He's talking about his own FCF.