John Hjorth

An - at least to me - interesting article about Berskshire deferred taxes from SA: http://seekingalpha.com/article/2428045-how-buffett-is-changing-the-future-of-berkshires-float-from-insurance-to-uncle-sam [i haven't tried to verify any info in the article.]

Personally I see the following reason for the disconnect - more reasons may exist: The drag on CAGR from the laggards : From owners manual, paragraph 11, especially from "We are also very reluctant..." and onwards: "You should be fully aware of one attitude Charlie and I share that hurts our financial performance: Regardless of price, we have no interest at all in selling any good businesses that Berkshire owns. We are also very reluctant to sell sub-par businesses as long as we expect them to generate at least some cash and as long as we feel good about their managers and labor relations. We hope not to repeat the capital-allocation mistakes that led us into such sub-par businesses. And we react with great caution to suggestions that our poor businesses can be restored to satisfactory profitability by major capital expenditures. (The projections will be dazzling and the advocates sincere, but, in the end, major additional investment in aterrible industry usually is about as rewarding as struggling in quicksand.) Nevertheless, gin rummy managerial behavior (discard your least promising business at each turn) is not our style. We would rather have our overall results penalized a bit than engage in that kind of behavior."

Add to that deferred taxes as per 1H2015 approx. USD 62.7 B. [Nature of the deferred taxes is different from the nature of insurance float, but also basicly low/zero cost leverage]. Insurance float as per 1H2015 USD 85.1 B. Sum of deferred taxes and insurance float as per 1H2015 approx. USD 147.8 B, relative to shareholders' equity as per 1H2015 USD 246.0 B, [ie. sum of insurance float and deferred taxes relative to shareholders' equity approx. 60%].

BRK.B, SAN & INVEa.ST [investor AB, ser. A shares, NASDAQ OMX Stockholm].

cayale, For starters, you could take a look here: https://www.nordnet.dk/mux/web/etf/oversikt.html . It's possible to use the dropdowns as filters. Under "categories", [in Danish : "Kategorier"] it seems a few possibilities states "value", and futhermore you can work with your geografical scope also.

cayale, Which are the functional currencies of your uncle?

Heilko, Which European countries are you referring to here?

It would be much appreciated, if a fellow board member would provide a link to a website explaining the US estate tax on the rim. It's important for non US residents board members understanding of what's going on in this topic. Thank you in advance.

I'm located in the Northern part of EU, - a few hundred kms NE of Tom -, and I had no issues while ordering, and got the usual email confirmation of the order from Amazon.

Hi Ross, Thanks!

Some information about the new BRK unit

Alcatraz? Isen't getting out of there basicly about your swimming capabilities? As long as you don't compare to getting a divorse, you haven't really had registration problems! ;)

I hope for electrical power for fellow board members located in the Toronto / Ontario area! The area appears to be seriously challenged and I hope that everyone on here is OK and will not have their Christmas ruined by lack of power!

I'm 55.

It's now available here. It seems that the omitted position by 13-F reporting as per the end of Q2 2013 is XOM [!].

LOL! - Gio, Mungers words "Invert, always invert!" comes to mind, and then you will find Kravens post usefull!

+1! As already said: Just be yourself! ;-) x) From her profession to judge you most likely will be met with Qs from her about your work and your company. Try to reply on overall level, but also with some balanced detail, but without beeing too elaborative, and at the same time without giving her the perception of beeing evasive on those questions. x+1) Stay out of the LRE.L and FFH-topics today on the board, and concentrate/focus on what is important for you today! ;-) [Your LRE.L and FFH positions are afterall long term!] x+2) I certainly second xtreeq's advice about getting her to laugh! Try get to know what kind of humor she is into. If things work out the way you want right now, you will really need that information for the future, because you are about to double the ups and downs in life for the future. Her downs will then also be your downs, and there is nothing as redemptive like a good laugh when life you lemons. x+3) Please remember this is a win-win situation, simply because she has already said yes to your invitation! Things might not for whatever reason work out as you want right now, but then you have had the pleasure and opportunity to get to know more about a person, who has caught your attention, interest and attraction! No talk about bumpy rides in this topic, please! Good luck Gio! :-)

BRK is a darn good cluster of companies.

It's available now at : http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/qtrly/links3rdqtr13.html .

Ohh, well... I wonder if this was anticipated, it must be about quite some ketchup per year: McDonalds ends relationship with Heinz.

I checked the Marmon website for information about the aquisition, and found basically the same information. [ link ]. Marmon was privately held and run out of Chicago before BRK's acquisition, so there are no BRK filings about it. So basically a European bolt on aquisition on a US BRK sub, still not fully owned by BRK. So I guess the aquisition has been agreed with the Pritzker Family Trusts.

I'm trying to stay tuned about what BRK and BRK subs are doing on this side of the Pond. I haven't seen anything material for long not already brought up and discussed on this board. Munich Re position seems unchanged, there are no notifications of change of BRK position on Munich Re website.

The telegraph: BRK cuts Tesco stake by £300M.

Bloomberg: SAC's Cohen said to face 1.8B settlement price tag.

Perhaps time for a bump here, 172 board members voted at the beginning of Q3, ref. here. Right now 67 board members have voted, and only few days left before the poll closes. Ross, your work with this is much appreciated.