John Hjorth

Mark Millard is a Berkshire Hathaway Vice President [please see inside back cover page of the 2019 Annual Report], and the provided telephone number appears to be Berkshire's main [desk] number [i.e. also used by Mr. Hamburg as contact node related to Press Releases].

Me too, Swedish_Compounder & LC.

I agree with Viking and Spekulatius, This is getting really bad and concerning. The best source I've found to look at data instead of reading headlines and other stuff all over the place is : Covid 2019 tracker. On the "About this site" tab is specifically mentioned the data basis [For everyone to make up their own mind about the reliability of the data basis].

Carrying some posts and quotes recently from another topic in the Berkshire Forum, to this topic : This would be a foolproof argument if they *could* easily buy oodles of stock over the market. But they can't. I'm not saying that he thinks it's at 50% of IV, but probably - at most - something like 80%. There is room to be somewhat more aggressive with bids over the market, but likely not as much as people seem to believe. If suddenly buyback volumes in a quarter were ratcheted up 100% from these levels, the stock would take off, making further buybacks that much harder. There is both a volume problem and a serious front-running issue. Also, as Munger expresed recently, other opportunities are dwindling while cash is growing. He has every incentive to undersell the fact that they were doing buybacks all the way up until Dec 31 and that's what the overall effect of the letter was, while still, oh-so-galantly, offering to relieve people of large blocks of stock. Just like he last did in the 1999 letter, mind you: I'm sorry, but I'm with Viking on this one. I don't buy the it's hard to buy stock argument. You have to keep in mind that this is Buffett we're talking about. He may be a geezer but he's probably one of the savviest stock traders that ever walked the face of the Earth. He didn't have a problem buying huge amounts of stock in ANY company if it meant making money. And we're not talking here just large companies like Coke and Apple. We're talking obscure shit like Sanford Map and other stuff. The man know how to buy stock if he wants to. But all of a sudden it's hard for him to buy stock in the 5th largest corporation in America? Nah man. If he's not buying huge amounts of stock is because he doesn't want to, not because he can't or doesn't know how. I guess Buffett is just completely full of shit here then: -Certainly an interesting discussion! [-and to me, more relevant in this topic][ : - ) ]

I thought it was interesting when he was talking about apple - a $75-80 Billion position for Berkshire - that he characterized it as their 3rd biggest commitment after Insurance and the Railroad. Which indicates roughly how he values those two businesses within Berkshire. Good one!, gfp, I did not personally catch that one on the fly. [Letters are good to have, interviews are good to have also, the combination of both is the best, - unfortunately not so much of the latter within the last year or so, ref. what alwaysinvert has posted recently in another topic not so long ago.]

Swedish_Compounder, The point of the SAI 2019 Client Letter in that regard is, that Mr. Bloomstran can't - because of Berkshire's reporting in 10-Ks & 10-Qs. You have to read the "If a Tree Falls in the Forest" section starting on p. 80 & ending on p. 84. It's pretty vocal and direct, peaking on p. 81 82 with : Furthermore : - I don't think it is forthcoming for a constructive discussion with the company about its reporting to involve the sisters of the controlling shareholder, Chairman & CEO - but Christ! - it's just entertainment value for free! [ : - ) ] - - - o 0 o - - - Mr. Bloomstran is a Berkshire reporting activist. - And I certainly think he has a point. - - - o 0 o - - - The methodical valuation framework is in the SAI 2015 Client Letter, which one always need for reference, while studying what is now gradually evolving to the Sagas of Icelanders.

lol. -It's great to have a Berkaholic around with a seasonal writing itch/OCD - willing to share his stuff. [ ; - ) ]

wisowis, Mr. Buffett can't sell [the bulk of [<- ?]] his shares, because they are pledged to charity. [i haven't made the exact calculations.]

Thanks for the exchange, longinvestor, Your interpretation of this move may be even better, and more relevant, as of now.

Avg daily volume is 80M+ on the As and 800M on the Bs. Why would you call? Daniel, Likely nobody from CoBF would use that line to offload Berkshire shares in this actual environment [because they don't want to sell at all]. Posted by alwaysinvert in the "tender topic" : Frankly & honestly, I consider this a brilliant move! ... Friendly help & support to the indexing community, when fear is raging!

Wrote some more puts, 215-strike, Feb 28-expiration. Every time I read about Mike [CoBF member boilermaker] doing this stuff, I get hit - in a mild way - by a brain hemorrhage [because I can't do stuff like this, for Danish tax and other regulatory reasons for Danish investors]. Today, two times! *sigh* There are ways around that. Well, I actually agree on that. It's about moving your own butt, - to get subject to another tax system. Last time I vented something like this, I got a reply from wachtwoord here on CoBF : "Why don't you just move?" [-or something like that, - now years ago]. Perhaps just time shut up here for me.

Wrote some more puts, 215-strike, Feb 28-expiration. Every time I read about Mike [CoBF member boilermaker] doing this stuff, I get hit - in a mild way - by a brain hemorrhage [because I can't do stuff like this, for Danish tax and other regulatory reasons for Danish investors]. Today, two times! *sigh*

Thank you so much OracleofCarolina, Is it possible for you to be a bit more specific with regards to link? -Thank you in advance.

I wonder if we will get a Semper Augustus Letter this year?

Copied from this post by Greg : [intentionally edited to beyond recognition & context, - so Greg may disagree! [ ; - ) ]] : Instead of just "+1!", I'll here post "Worth repeating!" [somehow, it's "head shaking times" right now - with a lot of stuff ... [-but not all stuff].]

Actually, I agree with you. I also would be surprised, if the outcome will be differently. Mr. Buffett wouldn't have written that in the "past-present-future" shareholder letter if it wasn't backed by the board. But time passes on, and things changes over time, so I think it's better to stay open-minded, like longinvestor's comment earlier in this topic also implied. The most important thing is that we actually have seen real and material changes in management and the relation between management and board to the better for the future, so it won't eventually end like [- after which "everything" dissolves & falls apart]. I can't help it - about Mr. Buffett's irony : 2000 Shareholder Letter :

Your basis does not support your conclusion here, longterminvestor, Suggested reading : Berkshire Hathaway Corporate Governance Guidelines [last amended January 28th 2014], especially section 4 to 10 [both included].

Agreed, and somewhat striking.

writser, have you now reached your personal peak?

I really hope this now works out satisfactory for you, Spekulatius, -Pretty impressive, what combined brain-storming on CoBF actually can accomplish!

Thanks, rb. [And now I'll just keep my ignorant mouth shut here.]

Thanks, writser, I'm certainly an ignorant about this kind of back office stuff. So just consider it a try to get a name of my primary brokers custodian for BCAM [if any now] for Spekulatius - hopefully - to get a direction for a potential "hole" through which to communicate.

Ref. Nate's post, I've now opened a support ticket at my primary broker [in Danish, here translated to English] like this :

I just hung up the phone on a conversation with my primary broker. I ended up in contact with a guy at the trading desk in Stockholm. He was very patient with me, listening to me through my lengthy explanation of the situation. His suggestion how to approach the situation was very much - if not fully - identical to the latest suggestions here in this topic from rb and Greg, while he also mentioned the alternative originally posted in this topic by Greg to ask for the share certificates combined with the DIY method for the rest of the process.

Christ that sucks, Spekulatius, As you may be aware of, I own shares in a few French companies, too. This week is winter vacation week in Denmark, so all IRL stuff that I have as work in progress is pretty much standing still right now. I'll try to make some calls for you, to both my primary broker and my secondary broker. The shares in my largest French position [MC.PA] is at my primary broker, the rest is at my secondary broker. I'll call them both. It's my experience, that you get better outcomes by dealing with something like this by using the phone than trying to write page up-page down in an e-mail. And it's much easier [read : free] to handle by phone on this side of the Atlantic Ocean related to a French stock [ref. the Forward Pharma A/S situation some time ago]. I've been in some weird situations with stocks and corporate actions at my primary broker a few times, too, and I've never been let down on anything. - - - o 0 o - - - To simplify things just a bit, would it be an idea to get the shares "traded out" of the Roth IRA into a taxable account ["substituted" by cash from one of your taxable accounts]? -I mean, you have an "objective"/visible value of the shares [from the tender]. [internal records/transactions at IB.]