John Hjorth

Honestly, right now I've given up speculating about it for now. Right now, I feel that I'm - as an investor - like Moses the Red Sea. I.e.,I have absolutely no clue of the Berkshire AAPL position YE2018, as of now. I've just started to study all the FAANGs, beside AAPL. [Long time ago I started looking at AAPL.] [i may loose some time on that, sure, but the entertainment & educational value is already not for my despise - absolutely fantastic stories.] All fantastic companies, with a fantastic [short?] story. None of that may make them fantastic investments, though.

Thanks for elaborating here, Greg, Your last post here puts more perspective on your line of thinking, at least to me. Thank you. The point here historically also being that what Cardboard has posted earlier many times is, that no FED boss has got a situation, similar to what we're in right now, right - based on visible judgements & decisions executed. [<- You may disagree with me on that assessment, though.] - - - o 0 o - - - Easy to say, that the sentiment has changed at the voting machine [for now].

Yes Greg, - Easy to say, hard to do [<- back then, about three weeks ago] ... Till "next time" .. - where Cardboard may end up being right - ... "Next time" may start tomorrow next week, perhaps not.

Jeff, I saw your grades on Twitter for second half 2018! - Congrats! -Please tell us some more about why the guitar [which I perceive as your primary] is some kind of a challenge for you, while at the same time, the piano is just some kind of breeze for you! Personally as a non-musician, I can't comprehend why it is so! [To me, it seems like both instruments are about touching something, to get a tone.] - - - o 0 o - - - Attached is the 2017 annual report of a very a successful Danish company living by providing joy to customers. Please don't take it too seriously - I'm confident you'll do well! Please think of it more like Mr. Buffett's promise to himself never to change the name of what he has called his biggest mistake - to never forget! - Just in case you later choose to incorporate! offentliggorelse_Down_the_Drain_Holding_ApS_2017.pdf

Great pick, Jeff! You'll do well!

Thanks, gfp!

Wikipedia : City Slicker. Do I understand your phrasing right now after reading that, Dazel? [lol -you never learn if you don't ask, right?]

Spekulatius, Please also see my post #8 in this topic which sheds some light on muscleman's new investment approach.

gfp, yes, it's hilarious. Paul, please start tweeting [and so] !

Post by muscleman of January 5th 2019 in the CoBF members 2018 returns topic:

Jurgis, Somehow, I knew in advance, that this particular topic may have triggered your interest, based on my knowledge gained over the years about how you invest. Here is CoBF link to the company as guidance. The family years. The stock exchange years. In short, I still thinks dredging stinks, -but please enjoy! [ : - ) ] [Credit: CoBF member : wachtwoord]

Ref. what I have already linked to : What's odd about a photo of a sheriff in the night with a gun?

Somehow, I agree a bit with the last post of StubbleJumper here, there is separate topic in the Politics forum about this topic too, as mentioned by Jurgis in this topic. I mentioned the annual report 2017 for the foundation earlier in this topic. LC mentioned also earlier in this topic that it's more about what Howard Buffett does, not so much what he says. I started reading the annual report late last night , and I almost "fell" into it - I almost couldn't let it go again. To me, it answers a lot of questions asked in this topic, a la "What has Howard Buffett done?", "How does he think about certain issues?", also "What does he say he will do going forward?" and so on, in his capacity as non-executive director at Berkshire [with his personal activity/agenda/mission] [so to say : his personal track record, and plan for the future, on top of what has already been mentioned here about board work etc.] I highly recommend the exercise, actually! [ : - ) ] [i'm not myself finished reading the annual report yet.]

cameronfen, That comment of yours makes sense, if that was the only part of the investment approach of the fund, which it's not. Its investment approach is a combination of investing in special situations and the investment approach primarily covered by the interview. For material about successful implementaton of this "compounder" approach I refer to the shareholder letters by Mr. Elkann for EXOR. [Every investment approach can be executed poorly.] - - - o 0 o - - - This topic was not meant as a pitch for the fund. I'm sorry I did not express that clear enough in the starting post.

I'll just read the annual report in full and try to stay open minded till then. At least I'll learn something about the line of thinking of the man. He has put a lot of effort into the report, that's evident just from a quick glance.

Thank you for shedding some light on the fund Mr. Marcus is running, Paul, Funds like this have always been a no-go for me personally, for two reasons : Taxes and fees. I was more posting with the intent of providing a link to some speaking of a money manager, who for at a part of his available capital has been practicing an investment approach, that has at least some traction here on CoBF, including my own personal interest. I'll definitely comb out to me interesting stuff in his writings that may have appeal to me, for further study.

StubbleJumper, -You "said it" - I "settled" with thinking it. [ ; - ) ] My post is likely based on home bias. There is public control with charitable foundations here in Denmark - both with regard to capital allocation decisions [donations] and spending, which again can have tax consequences.

Howard G. Buffett Foundation - Annual Report 2017. Especially page 1 may be worth your time. So, somehow it may be old news - perhaps we just didn't know, nor discussed it earlier. Personally, I'm puzzled about formal & real support of law enforcement can be accepted as charital activity. Edit: Comparing with the mission statement and purpose of the foundation in the six-year report 2000- 2005, the purpose of the foundation has been changed between 2005 and 2017.

SoundCloud - MOI Global Ideaweek : David Marcus - Great owner-operators in Europe. Mr. Marcus' Company Website. [<- Please note that financials, writings to clients etc. are available on the website.] I listened to the podcast episode yesterday, and I liked it. Mr. Marcus is in the interview touching stuff like the Wallenbergs and their Investor AB, Kinnevik AB, Ratos AB, Bolloré & EXOR N.V. etc. - some of it stuff that we actively discuss here on CoBF. If you're interested, I hope you like it too - It'll take almost an hour of your time.

I'm sorry for an unclear post above of mine, globalfinancepartners, It's about my try to reverse engineer Berkshire's Apple position. To do it I had to make additional assumptions to try to triangulate it. The difference to the reverse engineering of Berkshire buybacks is we have an "extra" fixpoint based in the information in the 10-Qs about buybacks and a reasonable assumption [you did it, and what you proposed made perfect sense to me] how the buy order to the broker is bolted together. That fixpoint we don't have for the Apple position [quarterly]. So it would be pure guesswork based on my own speculations, and what may come out of the Excel crushing the numbers would most likely be a self-fulfilling prophecy. In short, I would just be fooling myself. So I didn't try to proceed with the calculations. Also, I hope my fellow board members got a good laugh of this brainfart of mine! [ : - ) ] Also - and especially - the fact that aws has expressed a variant expectation to mine, which is as good as mine, gave me confirmation that doing the calculations was a no-go. Better to wait to mid February to see the size of the Apple position EOP 2018Q4 and the cost of it at a later moment in the Berkshire 2018 10-K. That said, rough estimates of the cost of the additions to the Apple position for the first 3 quarters of 2018 can still be done now, yes.

Well, Spekulatius, to me, you're not [in any way] related to this. In short, it's about double indentity here on CoBF. Please explain yourself, Og, here.

Spekulatius, Nothing. I actually appreciated listening to your voice. Somehow, it put some kind of colour on you as a person to me, personally. And I personally don't consider the content of that particular podcast your "incoherent ramblings". Exactly the same applies for me to your posts here on CoBF, which I also appreciate very much. So, in short, - as already indicated by me - this is not about your personal integrity [which is fully intact to me] -but about the personal integrity of others posting here on CoBF.

At 92 votes, I'm still the lonely guy in the 40 - 35 bracket, that nobody wants to play with. And I'm a chicken. -Mike, this better go well!

Thank you Mike! [ : - ) ] - - - o 0 o - - - Here, I'm adding a few personal thoughts - unordered, phrased short: 1. I always appreciate reading your posts, Mike. Thank you for sharing. 2. Spekulatius' concerns should not be disregarded. Doing so would be unwise. The risk is real. However, it's doable. 3. If Berkshire is broken up/starts fading/loosing its marbles, we'll leave it, seeking greener grass for our herd, whispering : "What a ride we had!" 4. This poll has been on my mind for years. Finally got my act together. 5. I'm surprised about how heavy the board in general is on Berkshire. I already knew about a few you, though - through your posts. 6. Asking about absolute capital allocation is perhaps not good form, ref. Sleepydragon. The short answer is: "A lot!" [ : - ) ]

Welcome to you here on CoBF, TB!