SNS Name Change to Biglari Holdings

[Myth465]

You guys are going to great lengths to explain something that is simply driven by ego.

[ExpectedValue]

You guys are going to great lengths to explain something that is simply driven by ego.

 

I think one of the key motivations was that if he is going to try to go hostile and acquire companies in businesses outside of restaurants, Steak N Shake Company does not help. Remember - if he is going hostile he is relying on shareholders of the opposing company siding with him versus current management. So it was pretty easy for guys on Bloomberg to say - 'What the heck does a fast food chain know about insurance?'

 

Opposing management teams can use that kind of argument to deride his efforts (especially if he is trying to use stock in the transaction)

 

Now, I know some of you will argue that Buffett has stuck with the Berkshire name, and Prem has stuck with the Fairfax name -- but these names are pretty vague in their nature (similar to Altria) whereas the Steak N Shake Company is not.

 

My guess is that as a value investor, Biglari wont want to overpay for acquisitions. So I doubt he is going to be open to constantly raising prices when he bids on potential targets, as a result -- he is going to need to get rid of everything else that an opposing management team can use against him and the Steak N Shake name for the holding company is one of them.

 

Now what name should it be? I think that is up in the air, but the name needs to change.

[Parsad]

I think one of the key motivations was that if he is going to try to go hostile and acquire companies in businesses outside of restaurants, Steak N Shake Company does not help. Remember - if he is going hostile he is relying on shareholders of the opposing company siding with him versus current management. So it was pretty easy for guys on Bloomberg to say - 'What the heck does a fast food chain know about insurance?'

 

Opposing management teams can use that kind of argument to deride his efforts (especially if he is trying to use stock in the transaction)

 

Now, I know some of you will argue that Buffett has stuck with the Berkshire name, and Prem has stuck with the Fairfax name -- but these names are pretty vague in their nature (similar to Altria) whereas the Steak N Shake Company is not.

 

My guess is that as a value investor, Biglari wont want to overpay for acquisitions. So I doubt he is going to be open to constantly raising prices when he bids on potential targets, as a result -- he is going to need to get rid of everything else that an opposing management team can use against him and the Steak N Shake name for the holding company is one of them.

 

Now what name should it be? I think that is up in the air, but the name needs to change.

 

Wait a sec...didn't he just get control of Steak'n Shake through a restaurant company called Western Sizzlin?  Didn't John Linnartz sell his investment advisory business to Western Sizzlin?  Didn't Sardar try and get control of ITEX Corporation through the same restaurant company?  How big a problem is it really!

 

I've been the biggest cheerleader Sardar has outside of Phil Cooley and his mother.  Heck, we added a separate board for his endeavors.  Both WEST and SNS were huge holdings for us in our funds, corporate and personal accounts.  We are still incredibly high on his future.  But let's call a spade a spade...there was no need for the name change.  It costs money, it wastes time, it serves as a lightning rod for other CEO's to avoid selling to him, and it has no impact on intrinsic value whatsoever.  Cheers!

[Myth465]

You guys are going to great lengths to explain something that is simply driven by ego.

 

I think one of the key motivations was that if he is going to try to go hostile and acquire companies in businesses outside of restaurants, Steak N Shake Company does not help. Remember - if he is going hostile he is relying on shareholders of the opposing company siding with him versus current management. So it was pretty easy for guys on Bloomberg to say - 'What the heck does a fast food chain know about insurance?'

 

Opposing management teams can use that kind of argument to deride his efforts (especially if he is trying to use stock in the transaction)

 

Now, I know some of you will argue that Buffett has stuck with the Berkshire name, and Prem has stuck with the Fairfax name -- but these names are pretty vague in their nature (similar to Altria) whereas the Steak N Shake Company is not.

 

My guess is that as a value investor, Biglari wont want to overpay for acquisitions. So I doubt he is going to be open to constantly raising prices when he bids on potential targets, as a result -- he is going to need to get rid of everything else that an opposing management team can use against him and the Steak N Shake name for the holding company is one of them.

 

Now what name should it be? I think that is up in the air, but the name needs to change.

 

Few are arguing against a name change. The issue seems to be that he is naming it after himself.

 

Thank you Parsad, thats my whole point. You guys are racking your brains trying to justify something that is simply ego driven. Lets call a spade a spade. If he wanted to change the name then why not pick something that represents anything other than himself, like many of the other great business leaders we look up to have. Prem choose the name of his company, Buffett choose to keep the name. Neither got stuck with anything.

[Ballinvarosig Investors]

I'm not sure about that, it seems to me that Parsad is completely against any change?

[Parsad]

I'm not sure about that, it seems to me that Parsad is completely against any change?

 

In general, I think the name change is a waste of time and money.  I'm absolutely dead set against naming the company after Sardar...or any other shareholder for that matter!  I love the Steak'n Shake name, the brand and the business. 

 

If they've got the money, there is no reason why anyone wouldn't sell to them.  If they decide they can't fathom being owned by a restaurant business, then do you really want to acquire a company and it's manager who believe that?  People sell to Berkshire because Buffett is there and their business has a permanent home.  They couldn't care less if the company was called Nebraska Furniture Mart, See's Candy, Blue Chip Stamps or Geico.  And the owners Berkshire attracts couldn't care less what products they are selling, only that their life's work is treated with the same respect they showed it.  Cheers!   

[Guest ValueCarl]

Nodnub, it may be that I hadn't signed in yet. I'm sorry to hear that it wasn't what I had thought originally. There may be an inability to do so from a software or code writing perspective, I don't know. I had suggested attempting to have zero vote tally visibility until one casts their votes to another blog owner once, while it never got changed. If possible, I think it's an important distinction for getting to more accurate, less peer influenced polls across the internet.     

 

<Carl, perhaps I misunderstand you... but I can see the results before I voted in this poll.>

 

[Daytripper]

I'm not sure about that, it seems to me that Parsad is completely against any change?

 

In general, I think the name change is a waste of time and money.  I'm absolutely dead set against naming the company after Sardar...or any other shareholder for that matter!  I love the Steak'n Shake name, the brand and the business. 

 

If they've got the money, there is no reason why anyone wouldn't sell to them.  If they decide they can't fathom being owned by a restaurant business, then do you really want to acquire a company and it's manager who believe that?  People sell to Berkshire because Buffett is there and their business has a permanent home.  They couldn't care less if the company was called Nebraska Furniture Mart, See's Candy, Blue Chip Stamps or Geico.  And the owners Berkshire attracts couldn't care less what products they are selling, only that their life's work is treated with the same respect they showed it.  Cheers!     

 

If people (owners) sell to Berkshire, do other people (customers) buy products because the business is a Berkshire company?  Some but not all of the Berkshire companies state on the home page of their websites that they are 'A Berkshire Hathaway Company".

 

I believe that Berkshire and Buffet provide a tremendous amount of confidence to the customers of their businesses, especially the general public.  Makes me wonder how confident the average Fremont policyholder would feel knowing that their home is now insured by "some burger chain".

 

Whoever suggested Western Holdings had a great idea and while I would much prefer that to Biglari Holdings, the name of the parent company has to change.

 

Tom

 

[Parsad]

I believe that Berkshire and Buffet provide a tremendous amount of confidence to the customers of their businesses, especially the general public.  Makes me wonder how confident the average Fremont policyholder would feel knowing that their home is now insured by "some burger chain".

 

Probably the same as National Indemnity and National Fire & Marine Insurance clients felt buying their insurance from a broken down textile company in 1967.  There is no single argument that you can provide that would justify changing the name, since Berkshire did it all under the same conditions. 

 

Some SNS investors are solely trying to justify the decision, when there is none present.  This was a mistake...if it passes, Sardar can move on like after every other challenge he faced.  If it doesn't, then we'll know why and hopefully it will make him an even better CEO.  Cheers!

[shalab]

One analogy I found is KKR, the private equity company which is named after the founders.

[Myth465]

One analogy I found is KKR, the private equity company which is named after the founders.

 

Lol the key word is Founders. What the hell kind of broken analogy is that.

[Guest ValueCarl]

Ah yes, Western holdings is much better than my "WEST" comment which was the former stock symbol for Western Sizzlin Corp.

 

Let this young Persian Prince continue looking more west while accumulating many, many western businesses which drive his owners' wealth over the years and decades.

 

Then, one day, when this Prince is nearly eighty years old, he will wake up to a world who knows that "Western Holdings" is synonymous with Sardar Biglari. In that same world at that time, he will considered a "Rock Star" in his own right!  ;D

 

I agree with the posters who understand a holding company name change will be helpful, but not one that points towards narcissism if one is going to follow his Messiah's examples of humility, and conservatism while attempting to remain away from the spot lights or below the radar screen since that, one never knows what troublesome times might befall us from day to day. Even a handsome Prince from Persia is not immune to such vagaries in the marketplace.     

 

<Whoever suggested Western Holdings had a great idea and while I would much prefer that to Biglari Holdings, the name of the parent company has to change.>