John Hjorth

Honestly, if you think carefully about it, @cwericb, It's quite hard to argue aganist @Gregmals stance about not wasting time and mental energy on things out of our control. pulling the cheap 'TDS card', or should I call here call it 'the anti TDS card' to me seems a bit cheap. It may in casu seem cynical, but it is certainly logical, by any measure, except, a part from, we're all citizens in some society, that need to function well, for the good of all of US citizens. It all boils down to personal opinions and judgements about the design of such. But in the US and everywhere else on the planet it's needed to get to work. Gregs [ @Gregmal ] wifey suggesting Greg [ @Gregmal ], to get a paid job is about the meanest and unfair card to pull at all a discussion with somebody like us. It's a totally under the belt argument, depiving any of us our self esteem and digninity.

We don't need more Berkshire shareholders, we need more shareholders from the right mold. Let the damn thing sink to what ever, .... 0.7 book value, whatever, and we'll just find more money somewhere to pick up, more! Heck, some day when Warren Buffett is gone, here on CofB&F, eventually a self grown idea of a SPAC called BHH will a rise from out of nothing, in the articles of association for it will be mentioned, that the purpose of the vehicle is to achieve Berkshire in pratice voting control, so CofB&F will eventually take effective control over the whole thing, the articles of association will also mumble something about a secondary long term goal of word domination. We will naturally appoint @gfp to be CEO of the thing. Entry card will be a tax free swap of your Berkshire shares for BHH shares. All B shares contributed to the thing will be dumped gradually, to pick up A shares for the proceeds from the selling of contributed B shares. It's going to be just great, it simply can't fail, it's simply doomed to become a resounding success, and I think you read it here first.

Exactly this, expressed so it is bent in neon tubes by @Munger_Disciple. Either by converting A shares to B shares, and then sell some of it, or 'just' by selling B shares, directly, at own discretion.

@Eldad, I personally think that is not fair towards Greg Abel, but he is offcourse materially different than Mr. Buffett. He is more of an industrialist than Mr. Buffett ever has been, or will become, with a great proven track record, that is. I don't think Mr. Buffett is spending time on teaching him capital allocation at all. It's a long time since Greg Abel left the nest in that regard. Like all other shareholders I hope it all will work out well for all of us.

I'm carrying it over to the separate BN topic in the Investment Ideas forum now, Charlie [ @dealraker ]. That's despite deception as a concept certainly is still relevant in this topic!

Exactly. Thanks @gfp.

Are your Berkshire shares in a taxable account, or tax deferred account, or some mixed allocation, @Jeff [ @DooDiligence ] ?

Haha! - It's cracking me up!

@ValueMaven, lol! - Thinking about it, it actually appears not appalling to me, but more like some kind of sad. I must be out of my mind! 'I'm in the' print - reprint' business, and it works great!' - Please give me a break here!

Noice. Not worth your time, nor your attention.

There is actually nothing like living together with, perhaps even to be married to, the very person that you love, that person also amalgated with the person loving you back!

*chuckle* - I personally learn a lot about southern US humor here on CofB&F!

Cheers @Charlie, Which brings us back to what Monish is actually doing with his own, and client money, which is totally different than what he is preaching, after which we are going full cricle in the wrong topic.

@Pellom, Thanks for elaborating. We're on the same page / frequency.

What are you taking about? A part of his A-shares are locked up when alive on covering his gift obligations from assuming them in 2006 to The Gates Foundation and his three kids foudations when he is alive, and rest he'll not sell ever, they go into his estate according to the mechanism set out and explained in last and this years Thanksgiving Letters. Please see @gfps post about it above, upstream in this topic. Or am I misunderstanding your post?

I'm looking forward to read what you think about it, @Jaygo, I just checked, actually available to me here in Denmark at Saxo.com [no hazzles with import handling and duties, and risk of not getting it] at DKK 259.95 for Saxo members [free shipping built-in to membership], and for non-Saxo members at DKK 284.95 + P&P, with presubscription avalilable, release date here set to 18th November 2025. I'll order it in the coming weekend.

It's Thursday, so soon Friday! LOL!

LOL! - It's good!

@jbwent63, Have you by this proposal thought of the tax conseqenses of your proposal? Are you imagining Berkshire as a controlling shareholder after the spin-off [so a partially spin-off], or a total spin-off? I personally think that a total spin-off is a no go because it complicates Mr. Buffetts personal situation, because of what he has already planned, ref. what @gfp has posted above about Buffetts de facto effective control. There are things that BHE can do, while other energy companies aren't able to do at the same terms, only because of BHEs joint taxation with Berkshire, the parent. BHE would loose that competive advantage as a stand-alone company.

Photo from fontpage of JPs [www.jp.dk] webpage today [photo source unspecified] : - - - o 0 o - - - Please focus on POTUS' eyes! Which drugs are POTUS on?

LOL! - Or perhaps to avoid falling asleep at the keyboard dropping the forehead down on the sell button on a huge long term buy and hold position with with dire tax consequences! *klonk* It reads as if Angela has a wonderful sense of humor.

@73 Reds, Also that post of yours very well phrased, in my personal opinion. Earlier on, he was preaching - what did Munger call it : 'Delegation verging towards abdication, based on trust', while getting a geriatric he appears more like a 'never let go' control freak, who really cant let go. He is the father of all Berkaholics, the uber-Berkaholic of us all. If somebody would tell him his rights to his office at Berkshire HQ were revoked for other purposes, because he does not not need it any longer as chairman, to meet in regularly at it, were revoked, he would likely wither away pretty fast. And I think he himself has realized, it's so for himself. It will likely not happen, because nor the board, nor Greg Abel likely would do that to him. So, I would not be surprised at all, if he ends his days sitting at what was his fathers desk, if I'm around longer than him. There are traits of his personalty I really dislike, like getting heartbroken, loosing weight etc. after ridiculing himself and dishonoring both his wifey, mother of his kids, and himself publicly, after which to see himself outcompeted by wifeys tennis coach, likely because his wife wasen't supplied with a pool, thus no pool guy in the first place, to push around her bar wagon and keeping her happy doing miscellaneous stuff, based on a pretty wide job description. All while he already then was preaching 'integrity of management'. Many years ago, I bought a copy of 'Snowball', it's the one and only Berkshire related book, that I'll likely end up never read in full. I hate it. I can't explain why I haven't already got rid of it. His estate planning does not bother me personally much, but that's likely because I'm not the controlling shareholder of what he calls 'his picture', worlds likely largest conglomerate. I certainly think differently about estate planning than him, not only because of that, like you.

Do you, @Cigarbutt and @73 Reds think [speculate] it is eventually may be about building up cash reserves to getting orderly prepared for 'next time'? for such action in the next serious downturn. The mother of all crises sholpping spree's! - Perhaps eventually posthumously? - That would really be morbid!

Thank you, @73 Reds, Your observation that it's not between the lines but in the lines is to me now indisputable. I simply need to do myself the service and favour of reading it - the letter - again. I will tomorrow do so, before posting much more here, however, with one exception today. I simply also need more time to think about the content of your post in this topic, in the post of yours quoted by hereby me. Great input!

lol! , There are no limits for what a Dad will endure for his kids! Same goes with the wifey, if the love is true! - And then yet, a lot of marriages end up stranded anyway? - What is it? : It's in the reptile brain! - It's called attraction! - Marriage is the most oversold and overrated concept in many cultures around the world! If you really love your songbird, then you're also willing to let it fly if it wants to! - Unmanagable attractions lead to infidelity, breach of mutual trust, combined with greed and such, it keeps world go around! - Dynamic! - and already fat lawyers keeping up on their weight