CorpRaider

It was cheap back then, remember they weren't able to innovate anymore and had just had an iPhone that underwhelmed. Einhorn even had a pretty big position, but I think he exited his holdings after it ran back to moderate levels following the services and wearables narrative/reality starting to take hold; Buffett rode the tail as he does.

I was/am of the same opinion about the superior business mix/deposit base (following the Wells comparison) and agree they have done a good job simplifying and resisting questions about di"worsifying" into other businesses and continental Europe (so far). I was mulling it over last year and listened to an appearance by the CEO and maybe it was the language barrier, but I was really turned off. I think he was also really hawking insurance and/or investment management alliance? I just put it in the no basket and now I can't exactly remember why. I see he is stepping down so maybe time to take another look, but IDK; looks like new CEO is coming from Centerview Partners? Yikes. Not sure what that means for the clean, simple banking business mix.

I agree. My impression reading the article was, "yeah BRK is really hurt by raising capital that is subordinated to the preferred in this environment." ::)

Good find. Al Marshall got them to buy Sees! He was like a friend who was unemployed and worked with Munger on his real estate as the sales guy. I'm not sure I get how the artillery thing translates. Maybe in the early days when they were doing some activist stuff?

Either that, or rapidly kill the site because you lose critical mass and attrition isn't replaced by new blood. Pretty big gamble. Making something more exclusive and expensive doesn't automatically make it better. All the good contributions of the past on this site were done by people who just joined for free. I think the funk that this site is in is as I described in the other thread here: https://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/not-an-investment-board/msg422378/#msg422378 If traditional value starts doing well again and there's a bunch of opportunities in that area, I expect the posting on this board to become quite valuable. In the meantime, it's just resting a bit. I agree. In my few years on the board, I have noticed activity spikes when people are more excited about opportunities they are seeing. Looking forward to the new site.

This sheet doesn't have the cash/t-bills right? Just making sure I didn't miss a cell.

I think BAC got to like 40% of TBV in 2011 (the good times when they were stroking all those settlement checks), so we could get some more pain (probably when they cut the dividend next week), but what can you do?

Bot some more wells gotdamnit.

Munger has commented on a similar way of approaching the question a number of times. I noted one time he mentioned this maybe a week ago when I was watching an annual meeting on the cnbc archive. I think I tweeted about what year it was. I will see if I can find it. He also has said before (essentially), "It used to be like shooting fish in a barrel, you could buy Berkshire below the book price of the marketable securities and get the insurance and the other wholly owned subs for free." Yes - would be interested in seeing this ... Thx He briefly mentioned it in the 1999 meeting in response to a question about how to value berkshire. I think the other time I am rememebering was at a DJCO meeting, maybe a year or two ago, where he was kind of discussing why he's rich and you are not (haha) and he was really kind of like "duh, you could get BRK for less than securities portfolio and get operating businesses and negative cost float for free."

Munger has commented on a similar way of approaching the question a number of times. I noted one time he mentioned this maybe a week ago when I was watching an annual meeting on the cnbc archive. I think I tweeted about what year it was. I will see if I can find it. He also has said before (essentially), "It used to be like shooting fish in a barrel, you could buy Berkshire below the book price of the marketable securities and get the insurance and the other wholly owned subs for free."

People are tripping. BRK didn't announce the BNSF acquisition until like 6 months after the bottom in 2009. Pretty much every reputable voice acknowledges a high probability of another round of covid in the fall not even counting the continued blossoming in the South of the U.S.

Feeling better about this now. ;D

Based on their -20% and my own freaking whipsaws in an account where I try and implement a TF strategy....they might just be trend followers.

My man.

What's the twist? Why hasn't IVAL done this?

Yeah, I prefer Kahneman's system type characterization/nomenclature and agree this is probably just a specialized artifact of what I prefer to think of as the overconfidence and confirmation biases.

Congrats again! We will miss ya'. Don't be a stranger, if you can help it. I saw something today that said CRE vacancies are projected to be highest since 1991. That was the best time to buy REITs since they became a thing as far as I know. I'm sure you will soon be in a position that you can pretty much talk about whatever you want with whomever you want.

Has anyone ever asked them about fiber to the premises as being a potential growth area in the future for BHE (and utes as a whole). It seems like this covid thing has really highlighted, for me at least, that high speed internet is basically an essential utility. Seems like as they build out "smart" grids with all the way fiber to the meters they could just tack on fiber service to the home for almost zero marginal cost. Seems like utes already have the rights of way and cable management, equipment, workforce expertise, etc to dominate this segment. Though I know I've seen some SE regional utilities who built this stuff out some in the internet bubble and then sold it off/took a loss, but maybe they were just very early.

WFC.

His actions jibe with Charlie's words.

Lost weight. Think it was all muscle. Not great.

They put all their AGMs on the web. I've watched everything they've ever put up. It gets highly repetitive after a few years, but I'm a bit of an anglophile so I am fine watching for the accents and backgrounds, etc... Seems like another good quality-compounder investor, but that style has had an epic run. I found the flip flop on colgate to be abrupt and the explanation, which I recall was basically a critique of management's plan (I thought we were investing in such great businesses, particularly colgate with the oft mentioned tailwind of emerging markets, that management didn't matter that much). He did savage Michael Mouboussin once tho by referencing Mouboussin's pounding the table for Nortel Networks (I think) back right before it imploded (when Moubosson was an analyst, prior to becoming a guru). Smith is pretty entertaining, seems like the Julian fellow who lives in Connecticut is a big portion of the brains of the operation.

Why can't he just issue negative yielding euro and yen bonds and produce free float and use that to lever holdco investments into the regulatory capture businesses (energy and transportation) with guaranteed double digit returns (with maybe a little more regulatory-capture, bank industry exposure via stocks)? If memory serves, UTES did grandly during the great depression (after initially cleaning up the holding company excesses from prior period). People are kicking dirt on him and AAPL from what last year was probably one of the greatest investments of his career.

Not a ton of room for BRK to back up the truck on banks. They are already near the top of shareholder roles for like 8 big banks. Munger couldn't really get more concentrated in banks in DJCO without hiring some tellers. I don't think there's a big rush. He did the BAC deal in 2011. This thing drags out, I could see him bagging Disney as a distressed seller or something crazy. Also agree with you guys that Munger really is probably only speaking for himself.

He is such a unit. I agree with him on the effects. Zero chance I take my family to a ballgame or on a plane until there is a proven, effective vaccine (or we have tested positive with antibodies and the medical community has established the likelihood of reactivation/infection).