John Hjorth

I have a raw estimate of Berkshire equity YE2017 of USD 357 B ex. minority interests. With end 2017Q3 A share equivalents at 1,644,656, that gives me a BV per B share of 145, exactly as longinvestor has posted in a topic in the Berkshire forum a few days ago as a reply to wescobrk [longinvestor posted 143]. So to me, buying the B at 196 is equal to buying it at 1.35 x BV. We could go to that particular topic for further discussion, if needed.

John, take a deep breath, and make sure to ask yourself if this is because you yourself are ready to take advantage of them, or is it because the market has shown little to no volatility (beyond a week or two) over the last 6 years (since the 2011 drop)? I'm only asking you to take a moment because I respect your insight, and the help you've given me on many Danish names that popped up for me in the past, and I want to know your thoughts tomorrow and beyond as we find a floor or continue to build a top. :) Sharad, As you already know, I always appreciate your posts. [ : - ) ] Everything is relative, depending on what you hold, and what you want to buy. [Please see attached file # 1]. Last night I studied with great interest a Danish company, that has just reported nothing less than minus 9,044.1 percent ROIC. [Please see attached file #2].

Somehow I personally consider this initiative an employer-owned PBM, that will be running on some kind of non-profit basis. Attached is a part of note 1 from Novo Nordisk Annual report 2017 released yesterday. It's ludicrous. Gross sales af DKK 216 B, net sales of DKK 112 B, US rebates etc. alone of DKK 100 B. Novo Nordisk diabetes US market share 39 percent. Very rough calculation of total potential savings [with a lot of short cuts with regard to not taking NVO product mix etc. into consideration], here assuming without diabetes pharmas earnings affected: Savings potential for diabetes alone ~ DKK 100B / 39 percent minus J/V internal operation costs ~ DKK 256 B minus J/V internal operation costs ~ USD 43 B minus J/V internal operation costs. What US politics haven't been able to fix so far, will eventually be fixed by Corporate America.

Will poor Starman end up in the Asteroide Belt? - SpaceX overachieving/overshooting "a bit" here?.

I have now started looking daily on the Semper Augustus website for new interesting stuff from Mr. Bloomstran to read. It seems to be about this time of the year new letters are posted. I'll post here if I see something new comes up.

Attached is an elaboration by screen shots of what LC said. This gives you one hit - every time. [ : - ) ] CoBF_-_Search_Setting_for_Aimia_topic_-_20180207.docx

Honestly, I've lately been thinking about ~33 percent probability of pulling this off to success. - - - o 0 o - - - What happened at the barge? Thank you in advance.

BRK.B, today [A lot, a lot just below 196, more just below 197, and some at 199] At around 35 percent position now.

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Absolutely awesome! - World's best advertising stunt, and a success!

For me, the best part of what's going on right now, is that I've finally managed to get mentally free and detached to these swings. They don't bother me one whit any longer. A condition for taking advantage of them.

Pretty wild and violent movements around 3:10 PM NYSE time today. Berkshire hit hard, the big four US banks not quite so hard at that time. Perhaps the share buyback programs in the big four US banks here work as some kind of shock absorbers in the situation.

There is also the essay "Measuring returns" by Joel Stevens [fellow board member Razemice], which can be downloaded from here.

Berkshire Website Announcement [2018.01.30]. After reading it carefully, I speculate, that is an idea shared between [Mr. Dimon and Mr. Combs] and Mr. Bezos, without having any idea about who initiated the contact. Somehow one get the feeling from the announcement, that Mr. Buffett must have said to Mr. Combs something like "It's "your idea" [in the meaning : "It's your idea" or "You came to me with the idea"], so you do it.".

To me, a pretty accurate - and short - description from you about what these two men have in common, DooDiligence. Thank you to villainx and Cigarbutt for bringing this up about Mr. Buffett's thoughts about compensation for the next Berkshire CEO. That has skipped my attention. Cigarbutt, somehow, I like the concept of shooting fish in a barrel with an elephant gun!

What is your source for posting this, villainx?

From the 2017 AGM proxy, we know the 2016 compensation of Berkshire SVP & CFO Marc Hamburg as USD 1,550,000 [no bonus that year] plus a bit pension. So I suppose we will see the total compensation of Mr. Jain and Mr. Abel in the 2018 AGM proxy, right?

I have to agree with longinvestor & rb here, What's the basis for this platform with regard to headcount? Berkshire: 367,671 [berkshire Annual Report 2016, p. 116, - add to that at least the employees at Flying J] Amazon: ? [i don't know, and I don't bother to look it up - please fill in.] JP Morgan Chase & Co.: ? [i don't know, and I don't bother to look it up - please fill in.] - - - o 0 o - - - It's a lot.

ValueWalk [2018.01.30]: Berkshire Healthcare Business May Never "Reach Its Potential".

Thanks for setting this thing in perspective here, SharperDingaan.

Here we go, Johan, Bank of Canada Staff Discussion Paper: Central Bank Digital Currency: Motivations and Implications. [Earlier linked to by SharperDingaan.]

Why is this Swedish phenomen in its early innings even a cryptocurrency? Isen't it just digital notes backed by Riksbanken, thereby giving Swedish persons access to a current account with Riksbanken? - a right so far only given to Swedish financial institutions [banks etc.]? - So in a way Riksbanken goes into competition with banks etc. about payments? [implying: one svenska krona always equals one e-krona]

NBL0303, You can find gold [for you] in this topic from Racemize and DooDiligence. [ ; - ) ]

Somehow, I consider this activity disruptive to this activity of Berkshire. I want one! - And I hope that Mr. Buffett does not get angry and starts buying Tesla agressively!

NoCalledStrikes, As always, it's easy to see in the polished & clear rear mirror. [ : -) ] There is much randomness, luck & unluck related to rolling between positions in the short term. My only addition here is, that rolling out of Berkshire and into something else most likely adds risk to the total portfolio, so the judgement of potential return on what one is rolling into matters much while doing that. [because Berkshire has lot of built-in diversification.] - - - o 0 o - - - Anecdotal: In the beginning of November 2017 my oldest brother decided to join "the gang" here. He's been a DIY stock investor since 2011. We have talked on/off about stocks since then. He has done well for himself stand alone. After talking with him in detail in April 2017 and seeing his actually portfolio etc. at that time, however I had three comments to him: 1. His total cash position is much too large, based on his life expectancy of about 20 years. [Time deposits, with negative real return after tax]. 2. His NVO position is too large. That he won't reduce because of taxes, ... OK. 3. In general, his otherwise reasonable diversified portfolio is a bit too GARPy. Mostly some Danish Blue Chips with relatively high P/Es. I suggested to do something about all three points by buying Berkshire - a ton - to him. I suggested some sort of average in, to get it roughly right. His reaction: "No, just buy it. You say the entry point right now is not totally silly, and it's long term, right?" So he established a trading power of attorney to me, and moved a material part of his cash into his brokerage account, and filled up unused limit for the year in a tax deferred account. I got some BRK.B for him at 182.80 on November 27 in his tax deferred account, and the rest - a lot - the day after - actually the exact day that Berkshire started to take off - at 186.00 in his taxable account. Think about lead times in the Danish mail on the processing of physical power of attorney, circumstances around our communication, my brothers decision making patterns etc. It was just a lucky punch, based on several elements of randomness, that got him out of the start block in a good way with Berkshire. - - - o 0 o - - - I personally considered the probability of an adopted US tax reform before Christmas uncertain with a bias to unlikely at that particular time.