John Hjorth

Jeff @DooDiligence, To me, true. And it is - as Mike @cubsfan states above - the reason we can - to some degree - assume real compounding for Berkshire going forward long term - compunding here meant as the opposite of linear thinking about returns -, despite Berkshire's size.

@Dinar, As I have already posted, please have me excused with regard to reaction to your posts in this topic. The exchange between you and me in this topic stops exactly now and here. Period.

@Dinar & all continually reading participants in this CoBF topic, I'm not going to engage further in my exchange above with @Dinar.

@Dinar, What's your nationality? -I ask as basis for replying to you. Nothing of your post above basically makes much sense to me personally.

What @Spekulatius is writing here to me not only a fact, but a fact that is not covered and given weight sufficiently in the coverage and the overall picture painted of the conflict in the main steet media. And that fact must matter a lot going forward for the outcome of this conflict. Facts : Trading Economics - GDP by country - Europe . Russia has a GDP comparable to less than twice the GDP of the Netherlands or about equal three times the GDP of Sweden. Further sanctions against Russia are in the mould to be decided and implemented in February 2023 to further increase the pressure to break the spine of the Russian economy.

@gfp, Your line of thinking here makes perfect sense to me.

@Xerxes, Yes, but those taxes that are not paid related to a given year are recorded as deferred taxes. Please see Annual Report 2021, p. K-100, note (19), ref. the line : "Investments – unrealized appreciation" in the specification.

@StevieV, Companie de l'Odet [ODET.PA] [ Website ] and Bolloré [BOL.PA] [ Website ].

+3%. Carried by Berkshire Hathaway+9,9% in my functional currency [DKK, Berkshire Hathaway +3,3% in USD], and Novo Nordisk [+27,6% for the year] - also both largest positions in the mentioned order. I'm certainly not complaining, while seeing SP500 -15,5% for the year and OMX C25 -13,5%. I was expecting a meager 2022 anyway upon a wild 2021 at 40%.

@kab60, Congrats on the returns over the years, and to me it reads as you have opened up a new shop managing money. If I haven't misunderstood your post, I wish you the best with the new endeavour of yours!

Reuters [ December 31th 2022] : Putin uses New Year address for wartime rallying cry to Russians . *Shrug* Tell me about it. No mercy, sympathy, tolerance or understanding from me.

@Gregmal, The above actually stroke me like a cub over my head while reading it. It's actually true. I also now hear the resounding silence of the former preferred/favorite activity by some CoBF members on here: Prem Watsa-bashing [, which has actually stopped] - for a good reason, but after I-don't-know-how-many lean years! -Good! -and about time!

The posts in this topic by @UK and @Dinar are to me a so frustrating read [, but thank you to you both for them!]. It's simply difficult to think about what to think, because propaganda is an information tool [weapon] used on both sides in the war. Personally I think the baltic states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania are all in the same boat as Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Poland, because of the strategic importance of the Baltic Sea for everyone, including Russia. It's a calamity and and a sh*t show, imposing a potential threat on our way of life and our future.

@Charlie, Please read between the lines of my post. I'm simply just grumpy because I have never downloaded the Semper Augustus letters in a systematic way and saving them, because I did not expect this change in access to them ever to happen. Personally I've always considered the letters high quality related to Berkshire. - - - o 0 o - - - After looking at it for some time I found the following : The fact also is that they are still available on the website, please visit: https://www.semperaugustus.com/clientletter , and https://www.semperaugustus.com/client-letters . Perhaps this is a change for the 2022 letter and going forward, the letters earlier released then will go dark?

Thank you, @Xerxes, You're right, i.e. same observation for me. Personally, I have enjoyed tremendously Mr. Bloomstrans Berkshire writing for years now, but since I read his first letter, always have been thinking about the below mentioned. There was no way with regard Mr. Bloomstrans public appearance and behavior [public letters for clients, twitter appearance , interviews, etc.] during the last years that he would not be approached by one or several of his LPs asking him challenging questions about his time allocation, confronting him with questions about if running a fund with external partners with USD 330 M in assets is considered by Mr. Bloomstran as a part time job. There is a difference between being an investor, a writer, a money manager, a GP in a fund or a sermonator when you're a Berkaholic. In my opinion, there are lots of people out there who can't relate to their role and assumed responsibilities, related to actual own behavior. Somehow, it's all about ticket selling or personal branding, most of the cases "I'm good in this I'm doing, so now I'm going to make money on that as a writer [, too, $X pr. month pr. subsciption]", forgetting what I was actually doing in the first place, and getting paid for doing before this "misperception".] I simply can't remember how many of these "writers" I have seen run out of steam in the last decade.

We need mentally to be prepared for the worse and at the same time try to aim for maintaining a constructive attitude based on realitistic optimism. ["This too shall pass"] I think @Spekulatius said it the best on the former Simple Machines software platform for this board in his signature in his posts : "To be a realist, one has to believe in miracles". [Important footnote kicked in here! : That signature was before @Spekulatius changed it in his posts to "Life is too short for cheap wine".] Perhaps all this adds up to it would be more meaningful to seriously assult some good wine than to post in this topic.

@UK, I respectfully towards you and your right to privacy take the freedom to ask about your nationallity, mother tongue and location. I will naturally respect your refusal to provide this information, if you do so. My own similar information is as follows: I'm a Dane, my mother tongue is Danish, and I'm located in the city Odense, in the central part of Denmark. I'm asking because the basis of your posts and their backdrop are important to me for my understanding of your posts. This whole calamity / sh*tshow is quite close to me from a geographical perspective, as a Danish citizen. I consider Denmark at risk if this event escalates and gets somehow out of control. Thank you in advance for your time and your posts in this topic.

@formthirteen, Here is a Christmas gift for you.

Merry Christmas to all fellow CoBF members!

To all dear fellow CoBF members posting constructive input in this topic, Thank you!

Let him try, I would say. Perhaps this thing would come much faster to an end, if he did. Personally I think you as a Canadian citizen are greatly underestimating the sentiment in Northern Europe about this here. It's not a "... very high "hurdle rate" ...", here, it's simply considered a suicidal action for his part trying. The crap will simply be beat of him, if he tries.

@wescobrk, It's in no way my intention to be rude here, but yet another lame, unsubstanciated and absolute false assertion and statement laying and flying around in main stream media and on the Net about Mr. Arnault, here about his net worth. There is no way you can get to the conclusion that Mr. Arnault is the richest person on this planet, based on market values. Method: Grab the last half year report for Financiére Agache [2022H1], look up the ownership stake in percentage in CDI.PA and calculate actual market value, and add to that the value of other net assets of Financiére Agache, Assume Agache owns 100% of Financiére Agache [unknown], & Assume Mr. Arnault owns 100% of Agache [, which you know he doesen't, if you have examined the topic].

@wescobrk and @Xerxes, I have done my very best to understand Mr. Arnault, his modus operandi etc. for years now. I haven't found any relevant books. I've been searching for books, articles and such trying to get the whole picture of how Mr. Arnault [and his family] got to where he is today. It's uncomprehendable that he got to where he is today, thinking based on a modest capital base from his fathers original engineering company, back in the 1970's and the formation of LVMH in the 1980's. From what I have found and read about it he back then was quite a corporate raider taking on enormous risks [using leverage to a wide extent, likely debt to major French banks], getting away with nearly everything he tried to lay his clammy hands on, the exemptions being Guzzi and Hermes. But with these exemptions he basically got away with everything with enormous returns over the years as the outcome, the [only?] alternative being loosing his shirt. In the early days he shared very competent and vey connected lawyer with Vicent Bolloré and family : Antoine Bernheim. Link : Financial Times [August 1 2019] : Meet the Breton Pulley. A guide to understanding some of France’s most complex companies . Mr. Arnault is using both this structure in the total group [minorities capital in a pyramid group structure] and leverage in several of the group levels in the structure. Somehow, it reminds me of the structure of Brookfield. The visible group structure - bottom-up - as of now is the following: LVMH - Moët Hennesy Louis Vuitton SE [MC.PA] : LVMH website, Christian Dior SE [CDI.PA][parent to MC.PA] : Christian Dior Finance website, Financiére Agache SE [parent to CDI.PA, non-listed, but financial statements available because of issued public listed bonds] : Financiére Agache website . Financiére Agache is owned and controlled by a legal entity named Agache, which recently changed legal form from an SE to a partnership. This legal entity and its finances are a black box to me.

@Cod Liver Oil, Why do you consider it a dark art? It reads entertaining to me. [I may be over-interpreting your choise of words.] Likely, it's about which tax systems we on a indiviual basis are subject to, based on where we are subject to taxation.

@Xerxes, The whole thing going on since February this year is just pure play madness - and very grim, indeed. You are in Canada, I'm living [basically - on surface - still in calm and peace] - in the distance of about 1,200 km from Kyiv, about 20½ hours by car - in the northern part of Europe. Mentally it's tangible [if something even can be mental and tangible at the same time].