giofranchi

The Best-Performing CEOs in the World https://hbr.org/2015/11/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world?utm_campaign=Socialflow&utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet Cheers, Gio

Yes, I do. Cheers, Gio

Dazel, you know I have never been a naysayer! On the contrary, I have always said I believe FFH’s macro thesis will ultimately be proven right. I had sold some months ago simply because I think it is easier to make money selling smartphones, selling pharmaceutical products, selling software, or selling aerospace components… than making macro forecasts! Won’t you agree? This being said, I have recently bought back a meaningful amount of FFH, because I think it might be a good idea to use it as “ready cash”, especially now that their macro thesis is beginning to be proven right. Cheers, Gio

I don’t understand if you are serious or only trying to be sarcastic… but clearly, if after two decades of marriage (or two minutes for that matter!) you still love your wife only because of her looks… she really must have chosen her husband unwisely… misery is guaranteed anyway. Cheers, Gio

How Tom Wolfe Became … Tom Wolfe http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/how-tom-wolfe-became-tom-wolfe?utm_content=buffer53489&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer This looks like another very interesting article by Michael Lewis. Enjoy! Cheers, Gio

How the Carl Icahns of the World Benefit Firms but Not Workers https://hbr.org/2015/10/how-the-carl-icahns-of-the-world-benefit-firms-but-not-workers?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_campaign=Socialflow Imo a very good paper about activist investors. Cheers, Gio

https://www.scribd.com/doc/283949360/The-Collected-Wisdom-of-Seth-Klarman#download Cheers, Gio The-Collected-Wisdom-of-Seth-Klarman.pdf

Maybe… But long-term bonds are very sensitive to interest rates… Therefore, you must have a very precise opinion about interest rates to hold them right now, especially because their yield is so low these days… And that is a macro judgement imo. Cheers, Gio

Well, if you put together bonds + equity hedges + CPI derivatives (which imo are all “macro calls”), they are simply much more meaningful than their equity portfolio… That’s why I said I don’t like their business right now very much: because so much more capital is devoted to their macro views than to investing in businesses… with the exception, I agree, of high quality insurance companies (here the problem, though, is even high quality insurance companies tend to be rather lousy businesses…). Furthermore, I also believe the results of their equity portfolio is affected by their macro views… In 2009 they bought high quality companies that were subsequently sold way too early… I guess because of “general market overvaluation” concerns… But the old Franklin’s adage: might always be true! And I think I will treat FFH as “ready money” from now on. Cheers, Gio

Of course, I cannot say how this quarter results will turn out to be. But I think FFH’s macro view is proving to be correct. This doesn’t mean I have any view on the CPI contracts… If they ever will turn out to be profitable or not… But I believe it might be useful to have something that zig, while the others zag, in a macro environment of falling prices. Therefore, I have rebuilt a position after selling some months ago. Truth be told, I still don’t like the business of “macro forecasting”, therefore I’ll take a much more flexible approach to my investment in FFH than I had done in the past. Cheers, Gio

Thank you! I'll do. ;) Cheers, Gio

--Carl Icahn Cheers, Gio

I am not familiar with Stanley Druckenmiller… Is he as good as Tepper seems to be at market timing? Cheers, Gio

I must admit Tepper never ceases to amaze me… I would be hard pressed to name a single company of his that has turned out to be a great investment… Yet, when it comes to market timing, he is practically always right… He says the stock market will go up, and stock prices rise accordingly… He says it is time to protect capital, and stock prices tumble… I thought it was not possible, but somehow he seems able to time the market with baffling accuracy! Cheers, Gio

;) Cheers, Gio

Well, I am still underwater of course… But I was lucky enough to sell FFH before its price went down, therefore I am not sure where I would be if I had held onto my FFH shares… I agree with Dazel, though, that this quarter looks great for FFH… And, if a bear market has begun, also the next few quarters might turn out to be very lucrative for FFH! ;) Cheers, Gio

Yes Dazel! You are right! And, as I had already said before, I feel like the perfect contrary indicator here… :( Cheers, Gio

I have just finished reading [amazonsearch]Alexander Hamilton[/amazonsearch] by Ron Chernow today. What a sad end for a man so much brilliant he was decades ahead of all his contemporaries, intellectually at least! He single handedly envisioned and built the capitalistic system that was going to be so much successful in the centuries that followed, while Jefferson and Adams still regarded banks and corporations as an evil to be defeated at all costs… And yet, he died in a duel over an adjective he happened to use indiscreetly during a social gathering, and left his family in dire financial straits, indebted, and at the mercy of his creditors… I am getting ever more convinced that in the long run no IQ level can compensate for a lack of rationality and clear thinking. --Alexander Hamilton, Letter of April 16, 1802 Sadly, in the end that description fitted Mr. Hamilton as well… Cheers, Gio

Nope. While I like the cast, I'm less than enthusiastic about their ability to inject drama into something that is usually boring for most people and/or difficult to portray on camera. Well, of course I cannot say how good this movie is going to be… But the trailer is so funny and the cast is so great I am going to watch the movie the very first day it hits the cinemas! ;) Cheers, Gio

Isn't your article the same one I had just posted? Am I wrong? Cheers, Gio

??? ;D Cheers, Gio

Never heard of him before... Therefore, at least as far as I am concerned, a big 'thank you!' for posting those videos! ;) Cheers, Gio

I don’t think so… The book opens with a letter in which Fugger asks a debtor of his to be repaid with interests… And that debtor was Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor!! ;) Cheers, Gio

Well, at Fugger's death his net worth was estimated to be around 2% the GDP of Europe… Rockefeller’s net worth at his death was less than 2% the GDP of the USA. Of course then the GDP of Europe in the sixteenth century could have represented a lower percentage of the world’s GDP than the GDP of the USA in the twentieth century… I don’t know… Cheers, Gio

Well, so far so good! But I will write more when I finish the book. Cheers, Gio