Liberty

No problem. They're pretty different from other companies and it took me a while to get comfortable. I recommend you find audio or transcripts of the investor days they hold yearly. These are like 3 hours long, but there's a lot of good info in there about how they operate and structure things.

About Howley, that's another thing they have explained in a recent meeting. Howley only got that much because he had a bunch of options vest at 100% at the same time (basically a multi-year compensation plan that paid all at once, afaik) because the company did so well in recent years plus some of the huge special dividends they did recently. But he's only getting what shareholders are getting, not a huge separate salary. You can see the break-down in one of the slides above (with the pie chart). His actual salary and bonuses are 4% of that amount.

LBTYA close to getting approval to buy Ziggo, apparently: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-26/liberty-global-said-set-to-win-eu-approval-for-ziggo-bid.html

I expect management of TDG to frequently sell pretty big amounts of stock because of the way their compensation is set up -- I don't read much into selling for this company, but buying is a clear signal. They say it themselves: They under-pay in cash and over-equitize to better align management (management owns about 10% of the business. Their options are 100% performance vested. They need 10% IRR to vest at 25%, and to vest at 100% they need to be above 17.5% IRR). This means that just to have as much money in their pockets as the management of other similar companies in the industry, they need to periodically sell stock. But with those hurdles, at least they truly earned the money. No time vesting like in other companies, where you get stock just to sit around long enough. http://i.imgur.com/3Mi4ham.png http://i.imgur.com/uTm1ODX.png http://i.imgur.com/X00ooOc.png

No idea, but it's always something. "When something can't keep going, it will stop," as they say.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/26/amazon-fire-phone-sales-data Estimate: 35,000 Fire phones sold. Looks like a flop so far.

Interesting. Amazon and Google will keep clashing more and more. It's inevitable for businesses that have a horizontal business model and are so big that only the biggest markets can move the needle.

What's what supposed to mean exactly? Nobody bats a thousand, but he's got a gross CAGR of over 27% in the past decade (which wasn't exactly the easiest one for investors), so I think that on balance he's doing ok. No idea if he's gloating, but he doesn't have reasons to hang his head in shame either... When you make big bold concentrated bets very publicly, you'll have big successes and big failures; if on average you have more successes than failures, you'll do well over time.

Company has bought back 421k shares for $72m (average price of: $171) in the recent quarter (from memory) and the CEO just did this: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1260221/000120919114054146/xslF345X01/doc4.xml (Update:corrected mistake above)

Allergan's great, shareholder disenfranchising bylaws at work: http://www.thestreet.com/story/12855479/1/pershing-square-delivers-votes-for-allergan-special-meeting-to-push-valeant-deal.html

No worries. I just thought it was funny :D

Um, maybe look one message above before posting? ;)

Looks like Ackman is doing alright with that investment: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-25/ackman-s-pershing-square-makes-171-million-on-burger-king-wager.html Pershing's stake now worth 1.2 billion.

The most common profound thoughts that pop into my head while trying to stay focused: - I wonder how much time is left on the clock. - My eyelid/ankle/elbow is itchy. - In a guided meditation: It feels like he hasn't said anything for a long time. Maybe the audio track got paused. - In a guided meditation: Wouldn't it be funny if he suddenly screamed "BOO!"? - I'm doing it! I'm doing it! I'm maintaining focus! Oh wait, oops... ;D

I have been doing some meditation for about a month now, most of the time with my wife in the evening. I haven't been doing it every day, and mostly just 10 minutes at a time (the first few time we played the Sam Harris guided meditation audio, and after that we didn't because we had pretty well internalized the concepts), but I really like it. I think I'll try to be more disciplined about doing it more often. It's really interesting how a lot of ideas pop into your mind when you're trying to just focus on your breathing and the moment. Not always mind-blowing ideas, but still, it seems like trying to calm your mind frees a creative part that gets drowned out at times because you're always actively thinking about stuff and never passively just letting it roam around. I feel like still quite the beginner in this, but I'd recommend it to others. Just google Sam Harris guided meditations or check earlier in this thread and give it a try.

Thanks. Makes sense. Just trying to stay up-to-date on this real-world trivia game 8)

Eric, I can't figure out what is the symbolism of your new avatar. First you had Arthur Rothstein, which made sense for the big BAC bet. Then a pretty lady, when BAC was starting to look better. Then a fish when you were looking at Sears (no explanation needed). And now..? ???

Ackman? He can't, at least until the AGN proposal ends one way or another.

http://m.barrons.com/articles/SB50001424127887324616904580108330021565828?mobile=y Barrons piece on Greenblatt. Not much new.

Looks like 31% of votes are in for now, with more likely coming in if they need them, since AGN could try to throw some votes out to claim they don't have the 25% needed; disenfranchising shareholders is their specialty. Seems like a pretty good number considering how hard the process is (you gotta see the Allergan bylaws and how crazy hard they made it -- very short time window for meeting, you have to provide two years of trading info, etc). http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-22/valeant-says-enough-allergan-investors-demand-meeting.html

2014 letter is out: http://www.frmocorp.com/_content/letters/2014.pdf

Personally, I prefer Malone's vehicles for a few reasons: 1) Malone has insider info on all these companies and if something bad is on the horizon, he'll make a move before others even know what's going on. I get that benefit by being with him rather than directly in the company. 2) Financial engineering. You get an added layer of buybacks, leverage, derivatives and options, tax manoeuvres and spin-offs. 3) You usually can buy at a discount to NAV. 4) Hidden assets. You never know what some overlooked thing in a dusty corner of the vehicle is going to be worth at some point. That's not where most of the value is, but it can be a nice bonus. But it depends what you're looking for, as many of these can be negatives too.

The scary thing is, if they succeed, their tactics/bylaws will be copied by many other companies with entrenched managements who want to make it as hard as possible for shareholders to decide to sell the company. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/08/22/valeant-and-pershing-square-said-to-have-votes-for-special-meeting-of-botox-maker-allergan/ Path forward:

Other companies problems don't make the new like Berkshire does either. Exactly. "GE fined a million bucks for some paperwork thing" is not something anyone will click on, but "Buffett screws up" gets the eyeballs.

Here's the CNBC clip about the votes: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000304637 "expecting the request for the meeting with over 30% of the votes to be done today, by close of business" Reuters: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/valeant-ackman-submit-allergan-special-140129936.html