John Hjorth Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Here's the Reed Hastings letter to Tilson. Worth reading: https://seekingalpha.com/article/242653-netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-responds-to-whitney-tilson-cover-your-short-position-now What's your personal take on this, especially from the angle that it's on SA, Liberty? Personally, I'm in doubt about what to think. Naturally shorting is ruthless, if you are wrong. Personally, I do not short, and if I did short, I would never even think about shorting a company's stock which was run by a friend. It would just be a no-go. Just pay back time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubsfan Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Here's the Reed Hastings letter to Tilson. Worth reading: https://seekingalpha.com/article/242653-netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-responds-to-whitney-tilson-cover-your-short-position-now What's your personal take on this, especially from the angle that it's on SA, Liberty? Personally, I'm in doubt about what to think. Naturally shorting is ruthless, if you are wrong. Personally, I do not short, and if I did short, I would never even think about shorting a company's stock which was run by a friend. It would just be a no-go. Just pay back time? My take is this. Tilson got the letter, and he decided to meet with Hastings. He figured out Hastings was sincere and Tilson then decided he was wrong about Netflix and went long. He make a ton of money off of it eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTermView Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 It is a good read. This kind of sums it up: But shorting a market leading firm as it is driving a huge new market is a very gutsy call. Like cubsfan said, Whitney changed his mind and made money on the long side. Still, this makes one wonder how Whitney's performance might have been different if he didn't short at all. Among other things, this would have given him more time to spend looking at other long opportunities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurgis Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Interestingly Tilson was (is) right about a number of issues facing NFLX. And yet they still have not affected NFLX stock price, the stock is 10x from 2010 and is still hitting the highs. ::) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchmark Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Interestingly Tilson was (is) right about a number of issues facing NFLX. And yet they still have not affected NFLX stock price, the stock is 10x from 2010 and is still hitting the highs. ::) He might still be right, except the market can be irrational much longer ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballinvarosig Investors Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Good article on Tilson and his shutting down of his hedge fund. http://www.institutionalinvestorsalpha.com/Article/3795338/The-Last-Days-of-Whitney-Tilsons-Kase-Capital.html?ArticleId=3795338&r=notverified Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cigarbutt Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Always had mixed emotions about Mr. Tilson. and this article won't help with character sizing. Billy Joel used to say you're only human. Don't forget your second wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Partner24 Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Good to see the candor. We're all humans. It can be tough for anybody sometimes and when someone has no candor, even in tough times, it makes me feel suspicious. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarley Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Good article on Tilson and his shutting down of his hedge fund. http://www.institutionalinvestorsalpha.com/Article/3795338/The-Last-Days-of-Whitney-Tilsons-Kase-Capital.html?ArticleId=3795338&r=notverified Kase Capital was down to $50 million, and the 1 percent management fee on the funds didn't even cover expenses. A one man shop had overhead of more than $500,000 per year? I think I may see part of his problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stahleyp Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Good article on Tilson and his shutting down of his hedge fund. http://www.institutionalinvestorsalpha.com/Article/3795338/The-Last-Days-of-Whitney-Tilsons-Kase-Capital.html?ArticleId=3795338&r=notverified Kase Capital was down to $50 million, and the 1 percent management fee on the funds didn't even cover expenses. A one man shop had overhead of more than $500,000 per year? I think I may see part of his problem. haha I was thinking the same thing. He talks about he's how he grew up in a frugal household (secondhand clothes and cars) but then sends his kids to private schools and luxury vacations? Props to him to being honest and shutting things down (though if re-opens his fund later on, that's shady). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OracleofCarolina Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 I admire his candor and appreciate his honesty. Tilson was just on the ValueTalks podcast giving a little more depth to his decision to close his fund and start his new business. Kind of reinforces how difficult managing money in a partnership can be with the lack of permanent capital and overhead. Tilson was a rockstar student at the best schools, great mentors, great writer, and a great network of like-minded investors. Yet, he underperformed the S&P 500. Most people are not going to have an edge in the market and the wisest move is probably indexing the S&P 500 . Ed Thorp reinforced this in his most recent interview in Barron's this week and for most of us , it is just our ego holding us back from doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stahleyp Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Did Tilson shut down Kase Learning? kaselearning.com leads to his new project Empire Financial Research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinAlberta Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Good article on Tilson and his shutting down of his hedge fund. http://www.institutionalinvestorsalpha.com/Article/3795338/The-Last-Days-of-Whitney-Tilsons-Kase-Capital.html?ArticleId=3795338&r=notverified Kase Capital was down to $50 million, and the 1 percent management fee on the funds didn't even cover expenses. A one man shop had overhead of more than $500,000 per year? I think I may see part of his problem. Postage and printing alone can be a killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregmal Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Tilson has effectively monetized the concept of "value investing". He has made a pretty penny selling it to others, despite not really having made much money using it. Ironic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
given2invest Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Tilson has effectively monetized the concept of "value investing". He has made a pretty penny selling it to others, despite not really having made much money using it. Ironic. Award for best post using the least amount of words possible. A+ This shit is so shameful... "Our commitment to excellence has quickly made us one of the most respected publishers in the financial newsletter industry. Our subscribers include many of the biggest names on Wall Street – including Bill Ackman, Joel Greenblatt, Leon Cooperman, and many others." Only $3000 a year! If you act now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
writser Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 He has evolved his style: now a 100% sleazebag with his own trash newsletter. Check out the commercial ... https://www.ispot.tv/ad/I0yD/empire-financial-research-the-prophet "The prophet" .. longer clip was here: https://secure.empirefinancialresearch.com/?cid=MKT405442&eid=MKT406823&encryptedSnaid=&snaid=&step=start&assetId=AST105446&page=1 . Looks like it is off-line now but in all seriousness, it was disgusting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stahleyp Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 He has evolved his style: now a 100% sleazebag with his own trash newsletter. Check out the commercial ... https://www.ispot.tv/ad/I0yD/empire-financial-research-the-prophet "The prophet" .. longer clip was here: https://secure.empirefinancialresearch.com/?cid=MKT405442&eid=MKT406823&encryptedSnaid=&snaid=&step=start&assetId=AST105446&page=1 . Looks like it is off-line now but in all seriousness, it was disgusting. Wow this is terrible. I didn't think Tilson was a great investor...but seemed like a decent guy. I'll have to give up that notion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest longinvestor Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 In the world of the Berkshire Hathaway / DJCO annual Meetings, podcasts and such, rationing knowledge won’t work. While Tilson has accumulated some knowledge of Berkshire via his annual analysis, even there plenty of competitive analyses exist. Semper for one, Jim @ TMF, several around here etc. I suppose there are still suckers out there, like the clients of hedge funds who believe there’s competence to buy. OID went down for this reason I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispy Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 He always states how short selling is a bad idea but yet always discusses it as a way to invest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Read the Footnotes Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 I wasn't able to include a poll here, so I started a poll in a separate thread which can be found here: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/whitney-tilson-the-'1-retirement-stock-in-america'/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballinvarosig Investors Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 He has evolved his style: now a 100% sleazebag with his own trash newsletter. Check out the commercial ... https://www.ispot.tv/ad/I0yD/empire-financial-research-the-prophet "The prophet" .. longer clip was here: https://secure.empirefinancialresearch.com/?cid=MKT405442&eid=MKT406823&encryptedSnaid=&snaid=&step=start&assetId=AST105446&page=1 . Looks like it is off-line now but in all seriousness, it was disgusting. That video - wow. I see one of his top 5 picks is now Amazon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpRaider Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 CRINGE. I think I saw part of a clip on youtube or something of him on CNBC saying it is great that BRK bought AMZN and now they should buy GOOG. Makes me question my GOOG affinity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Really scraping the barrel with that one, Whitney. Also, funny (and accuerate) poll, RTF ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Any chance Whitney is on Buffett's short list for successors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Hjorth Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 It's certainly a fascinating topic ... I mean, for the majority of the posters in this topic, I have absolutely no clue about, what you're doing with your capital, your positions, your returns, over the years etc. [because you don't tell fellow board members about it here on CoBF, and I read CoBF every day, now for many years]. Please note, I wrote "... the majority ...". Furthermore, I simply don't get why the doings of Mr. Tilson is even interesting, thereby interesting to discuss here on CoBF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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