ragnarisapirate

What are the board members thoughts of the poison pill? I personally dislike it; as I do with most poison pills. I just think that they are in bad taste. While I hate Sardar's compensation package, I wouldn't care a bit if he took over RRGB... and this is coming form a guy that owns significantly more RRGB than BH.

I would REALLY like that. :) In fact, if your compensation plan was adopted, and shares were at their present price, I would buy more stock in BH.

I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't have the votes needed for the thing to pass. Maybe he is trying to pass the thing with 70%, rather than 55% of the vote, just so there are not as many angry people out there.

Being the country's staple food, that is a pretty laudable goal... served with fries and a coke.

what are some firms that do the sorts of workouts in the spread that you talk about, sanjeev?

It may just be a matter of time before they start coming after us for posting our opinions on here. I swear, while I think that the blind use of ratings is stupid, I think it is worse to legally hold a company responsible for giving their opinion... I don't understand why an investor couldn't simply buy insurance or hedge their position instead of just relying on a rating. It will be interesting to see what happens as a result of this legislation.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Shares-of-Steak-n-Shake-apf-3610104287.html?x=0&.v=1 So, I see this, and I think to myself: "the stock is up 4% on this report, which basically says the same things that have been posted on this board for quite sometime... how un-original on part of the market." I mean, really, the franchise growth, prototype stores, effective turnaround and the like, shouldn't come as news to anyone with an internet connection and interest in the stock. Is there anything else in the report that didn't get published in the yahoo article? I would love to see a copy of the thing, if anyone feels like forwarding a copy to me; I just want to know what was so damned compelling that the stock would go up like that...

The company that turned down the offer was a mutual insurance company, that was selling off one of it's lines of business. While the exact period of time escapes me at the minute, he can't pay off the WEST debt for, what? 1 year after issuance?

Unfortunately, there is also a great amount of ego boost, if they can say " I grew this company from 5,000 to 80,000 employees!" or "I tripled revenues!" or "I made this into a billion dollar company!"

notice that it is a 13G: this is the first time that Biglari has gone with a "G" instead of a "D" for a block of stock this large.

I find it interesting that with bond rates so low, stocks are still high relative to March. Overall, I am with you, the situation doesn't make sense. Is this implicitly stating that a crash in stocks is coming? What happens when bonds eventually get dumped and rates rise? The money either gets spent, which will help earnings, or, it gets redeployed in stocks, bidding up prices? When the fed raises rates will everything just work it's way out? The situation just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Implicitly, people are stating with their wallets that they trust the US government to pay them back more than they do most US corporations. Personally, I trust most corporations to pay me back their debt more than the government, absent some crazy seizing of assets or legislation. Even as much as the board seems to hate Sardar Biglari at the moment, I think that everyone would rather have a SNS bond over a US one. ;) Anyone buying TBT calls?

hmmmm... an interesting black swan sort of event: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/21/could-gulf-oil-leak-lead-to-methane-bubble-tsunami-bp-responds/

when and where is the meeting over the agreement happening? is there even a rough estimate out yet? If Gabelli show up and they give competing speeches/presentations, I will quite literally have some popcorn!

I think that it is a bit ironic, how, they say $30 million a day is illiquid, where I own shares in companies that quite literally, average under $1K in shares a day... When I think of super illiquid, I think of stuff that trades even less than that! Nanos are hard to get in and out of, but the rewards can be huge. Management will generally talk with you and you can give them suggestions that they will actually take. Besides, if you think that you are going to need the money soon (where you would need the liquidity), you probably shouldn't be in stocks in the first place.

For one, competitors of Chinese exporters, in the economies that said Chinese exporters export to.

^bump^

and the selling continues... http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/93859/000119380510001735/xslF345X03/e607180_ex.xml

Try to keep personal feelings on the matter aside, as most everyone on here will probably be voting against it (if they are still shareholders). Just for fun, let us vote on what we think will actually happen. If you don't already know, here is the 8K with the pay package in it: http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?FilingID=7219296-1239-15227&type=sect&dcn=0000921895-10-000667

Well, we don't know the intentions of the purchase... I do agree that there is cheaper stuff out there than BH, but, I also think that BH is cheap. Furthermore, if BH makes some sort of crazy awesome acquisition it could be very beneficial to the lion fund/BH. We don't know if BH has been deploying capital either; there are just too many intangibles. I really don't think that the vote on the pay package is going to be close enough to be made up by Biglari's buying... Does anyone think that a few percentage points in ownership will make a difference? I after all the controversy on the name change, (which overwhelmingly passed) it is a tough sell for me. But, granted, Gabelli was on board with the name change...

buy buy buy: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/93859/000119380510001726/xslF345X03/e607175_ex.xml

I am guessing "no". While Wendy's has the potential to be a cash flow monster, I just don't get the feeling that BH is going after it. What makes you think so, Sanjeev?

Let's not jump to conclusions; we don't know that he is levering up. He could have raised more funds, been using some of his personal cash/salary (after all, he does make 900K in cash from being CEO), sold an Aston Martin/some other asset, OR be levering up. If he wants to get his way, so be it- that is his right; just the same way that everyone else wants to get their way. He has done well with the company, and in my opinion will continue to do so in the future, irrespective of how much he makes. I look forward to the vote, and plan on being at the meeting. :) With all that said, I am voting against the compensation agreement, since, by my back of the envelope figuring, I think it erodes more shareholder value than it creates. At the end of the day, I don't think that he is the type of guy that would sandbag shareholders over compensation.

Does anyone here have an opinion of Warren Lichtenstein (Steel Partners) that they would be willing to share? What about the guys at Steel Partners or Cosine in general? The guys at Steel Partners basically make up the board and management at Cosine, which seems interesting at the moment... The whole reorganization thing with Icahn and the Steel Partners is hard for me to wrap my head around at the moment. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE55I5RL20090620 thanks in advance

While they just found one of the few ways to make the K-Mart Brand seem cheaper, I wouldn't be surprised if they can use this to juice a TON of money out of the business.

I just saw an ACE Hardware commercial, where you can now buy Craftsman tools. Now, I doubt I will ever go to Sears, unless I just happen to walk through it in the mall or am buying a Kenmore appliance. As a result of buying Craftsman tools in the past, I have spent money on other stuff in the store, that I would normally have gone to different stores for (Macy's and Best Buy come to mind) Certainly, I am sure that Lampert thought out this move, but, I don't get it; I would have understood a partnership with Home Depot, since they are HUGE in comparison to ACE; plus, I have always thought that ACE is an inferior store to Home Depot/Lowe's. I will add in that I don't think this will be make or break for the company, but is an interesting thing to think about. On the flip side, Stihl has made a great business out of selling chainsaws and other gas powered lawn tools through places such as ACE, who also service the product.