Parsad

Hey, you're a millionaire in training! I wish when I was 24, I knew what you know now at 24. So don't feel as though you are handicapped in anyway. You've got about 5 years head start on me regarding understanding Ben Graham and value investing, and I didn't start my own funds until another 7 years after that. So in those 12 years, you will probably be a millionaire before I even really started! ;D Cheers!

Thanks Brian! Keep it coming folks. Cheers!

Thanks Matt! Much appreciated. C'mon guys at Fairfax! Dig deep. Look, Mark Ram, formerly of Northbridge and a director for the CCC, is kicking my ass at over $19,000. How did he do that? You think he really went door to door...baloney! It's a fix...like the hedgies. I think he went to Steve Cohen and got a donation. You guys know Mark is a gloater! He's going to be rubbing my face in it until next year's Fairfax Shareholder's Dinner. He's got a bit of hair on the sides, and I have none, and he makes fun of me all of the time! C'mon Vinodh...Prem...don't let him get away with this! Mohnish! C'mon you're bald too or nearly there. You know how it feels. Whatever...$20, 40, 100...whatever you want to give. Tim, you're pretty much bald too...c'mon...$100 or something! Why is it that so many value investors are bald? Cheers!

Thought I would move this to the Fairfax thread...that way they can't miss it. C'mon Paul, canvass the office...I know everyone wants to help...make a pledge...otherwise I'm coming after you guys! ;D Brian, Chandran, Sam, Prem! And Vinodh, don't think I'll forget about you. Pat, smack these guys upside the head! Cheers! http://crohnsandcolitiscanada.akaraisin.com/pledge/Participant/Home.aspx?seid=8155&mid=9&pid=1686115

The TENTATIVE date is now: Wednesday, July 16, 2014 at 10:00am 949 East 2nd St., LA From an anonymous, but reliable and informed source! ;D Cheers!

Thanks everyone...that's much better! Keep it going. Cheers!

Thanks Constructive...very generous! Fantastic. Cheers!

Thanks Cubsfan...got the donation! Much appreciated. Cheers!

Hi Oracle, It seems that there is a bug if you are using Explorer. Open the link with Chrome or Firefox, and then select United States...it will then bring up the respective states. Cheers!

Thanks very much to the people who have pledged already! Now for you other cheapskates...c'mon, you can do better! Frickin' board full of millionaires and I can't get a $20 pledge from you guys. What happened...you were wonderful last year?! Let's go: http://crohnsandcolitiscanada.akaraisin.com/pledge/Participant/Home.aspx?seid=8155&mid=9&pid=1686115 Hey, and you guys at Fairfax head office. I know you read this board. C'mon Paul, get a pool together with the Hamblin-Watsa guys? Peter, get some of these guys to pledge. All my other friends...Tim, Francis, Mohnish, Jeff, let's go...even 20 bucks! Cheers!

Once again, I need your help boardmembers. As you know, we do our annual dinner for "Crohn's & Colitis Canada", where have raised over $70,000 in the last 4 years. On June 8th, I'm doing the national "Gutsy Walk" again in Surrey, BC, and am looking to beat what I raised last year. Thank you for your support my friends! Cheers! http://crohnsandcolitiscanada.akaraisin.com/pledge/Participant/Home.aspx?seid=8155&mid=9&pid=1686115

+1. There are not very many companies at all who truly pass this high bar. BRK stands out here. (other names welcome). I view handing out stock options, year after year to management as failing the test. Would much rather compensate management for their real contributions (pay above market) and let them buy stock with their own money. Just like the rest of us. Why is that difficult to understand? Because people inherently value themselves very highly! No one ever stops to think...maybe I'm not worth that! ;D We've indirectly acquired about 20% of a company through a convertible debt deal we just made in Vancouver, and I added the caveat of a director's seat to close the deal. We had our first board meeting last week, and I emphasized that the CEO should not be sitting on the compensation committee...they made me Chair of the Compensation Committee! Now this is a nano-cap company, just returning to form as they ran out of money to get their operations up and running. The CEO is a large shareholder, but some of the costs that the company has been paying in compensation is mind-boggling. I can't say much else, as we are in the process of dealing with this, but unfortunately corporations, big or small, are run with a culture of entitlement. I'm already rocking the boat on this one and I know it. Things are going to have to change. I don't know how CEO's justify their compensation in such matters to shareholders. Shareholders who have lost considerable money! And then you have CEO's who create a ton of shareholder value, but inherently think they deserve a fatter and fatter piece of the pie. It isn't enough to be well-compensated or enjoy your work...you just want more and more! Sad really! Cheers!

Thanks for the information Eric! That'll give Paul a little more to work with when I get him to investigate a bit. By the way, what the heck are you doing surfing the site while driving your Tesla? ;D I know it's an interesting site, but c'mon! Cheers!

A handful of people have had one-off or recurring unintentional bans from this forum over the last couple of months. If for some reason, you find this happened or happens to you from time to time on your laptop, desktop, tablet or phone, please clear out the cache. Sometimes stored pages or info won't update as they continue to go to the same stored page. If it still happens after clearing out the cache and history, send me your IP address for your phone, tablet or computer? Someone I banned was using hundreds of IP addresses…some of which belonged to other boardmembers. Not sure how that occurs. Let me know if that works. Thanks! Sanjeev

Jason Zweig writes about Guy Spier's upcoming book. Cheers! http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303749904579580173018598720-lMyQjAxMTA0MDIwMzEyNDMyWj

What no "Black Keys" or "Yeah Yeah Yeahs"?! Who am I going to hire for Corner Market Capital's 10th Anniversary in a couple of years. ;D Cheers!

Stansberry & Associates May 2014 report talks all about Fairfax's foray into Greece. See attached report. Cheers! Stansberry__Associates_-_May_2014.pdf

Agree. Hate that business. Do you feel the same way about niche branded cars such as Ferrari, or does the fact that it is part of the Fiat family kill the idea for you? No, I think niche branded cars behave less like commodities, because regardless of demand, there will always be a supply issue. There is much more elasticity in pricing and margins. But if the business becomes part of a larger company, with more commoditized products, it's pricing power becomes irrelevant, since it is so much smaller than the overall company. Right now, we can see this clearly with smartphones...the Apple brand is being diluted by more commoditized products they are bringing out...margins are shrinking, pricing less elastic for Apple products. Cell phones are now very much like cars or computers. So Ferrari on it's own is a great business, but that doesn't make Fiat into Ferrari. Cheers!

This is part of the reason why we've stayed away from automakers, yet every value manager I see is loading up on them. Automobiles are commodities and their price will ultimately be decided by supply and demand. Not too mention the tight unions that undermine their profitability, and the price of the underlying materials needed to produce them. Cheers!

Hamblin-Watsa's committee members are given a certain amount of the portfolio to look after, and the analysts are also given portfolios...but much, much smaller. It could very well be that one of the analysts was buying it in his/her portfolio...not unlike what you see in Berkshire's filings when Todd, Ted or in past days, Lou Simpson would buy a position. Cheers!

New plate on a new car...guess what it means! Cheers!

Floyd Mayweather is an interesting example to use because he exemplifies different expressions of arrogance. You are referring to the "Money" Mayweather cartoon that we see between fights. But in the ring, he is a more disciplined fighter than past talents like Sugar Ray Leonard and Roy Jones Jr. Every move he makes between the ropes in intended improve his odds of winning. And, of course, he is always in shape. So you see the practitioner's humility in knowing that he is only exceptional in so far as he behaves smartly, and not due to some inherent characteristic of being special just because. Agreed. The fact remains, he probably would have even bigger box offices if he got rid of the schtick (arrogance or act) and stuck to boxing. Cheers!

Well, look at guys like Floyd Mayweather, tweeting about how much he made, including per second, in last week's fight. Then having two women lie on his bed and count $100K cash. These people are just idiots to begin with or try and maintain that bad-boy persona because it sells tickets. Then you have people who always think that their success is solely dependent on them, and not others...but then you get such a nice contradiction when you have someone like Kevin Durant, who gave an amazing MVP speech last week, relegating himself to the last person who deserved all of the credit and put his team-mates, coaches and his Mom well ahead. I think if you just step away from the whole thought-process of your own success, and simply focus on the work at hand, that would help you the most in avoiding this...in other words, just try and let go of your emotions, good or bad, and play the game for fun...easier said than done though I suppose! Cheers!

From what I hear, Prem was an IIT table-tennis champion! Also, my father was a Simon Fraser University and BC Champion back in the 70's. I can play too...not as good as my father, but I was pretty good. Alan, we should play next time in Toronto...I'll get a table set up before the Fairfax Shareholder's Dinner. ;D Cheers!

Sure, but plenty of good examples as well...Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, P Diddy, JayZ, Paul Anka, etc. Cheers!