Great points, Parsad! You remind us of Prem's long-term track record which is truly outstanding. And his reputation remains as strong as ever, in our view. It just seemed so easy to capture the M&A spread because Prem's statements seemed like money in the bank. However, any of us who tried to capture the spread for a quick (riskless?!) profit were speculating not on Prem but on the thesis that all the short-term M&A traders out there are dumb. Guess what? They're NOT dumb. In fact, maybe we were slightly dumb for thinking we could beat the short-term trading world at their own game. Why not stick to what we do best as value investors, which is to appraise businesses, find deep discounts, and invest in for the long term? This is truly where the edge is for people on this board. It's NOT in short-term speculation, even if BBRY seemed too good to pass up. Actually, it was too good to be true!
Parsad, just a note on managing money for a great group of partners -- this is really hard to find! Many investors may SEEM great and long term-oriented when things are going well. You really only find out your true friends and partners when times get tough. So don't be surprised if some of them turn out to have been less than you thought. Over time, though, you'll find a group of the right people (and you may have done so already!) and it will be a real joy to associate with such people. That's what makes it all worthwhile over time.
Good luck to all.