Parsad

Giggles... That's mean A_Hamilton! ;D Buffett_Groupie, check Expedia or other sites for hotels in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It is two minutes across the river from downtown and the Qwest Center (is it still called that?), and usually there are rooms there even a couple of weeks before the Berkshire weekend. I usually stay at either Harrah's or Ameristar, which are both very nice with lots of restaurants, and very close to the meeting. Cheers!

...Meanwhile, Jefferies is doing just fine. 8) That's hilarious! They should crack the whip on this guy...SEC and Jefferies should both go after him. Cheers!

Last chance to buy tickets! I will be removing the ticket purchase box at 5pm EST. You can still buy until then at www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca...on the right hand side. Cheers!

That CNBC list was garbage for the most part. The other list was modestly better. Every one of those trades could easily be usurped by one Buffett act that created more wealth than many of those trades combined...his hiring of Ajit Jain! But hands down, the greatest trade in the last fifty years was Bill Gates getting ownership of MS-DOS from IBM. Cheers!

Thanks Guys! I'll be in front or inside the "Imperial Room" from just before 5pm on. Just come by whenever you can. Norm, I know you probably won't get there until 6-6:30pm with the pre-dinner event, so could you do me the favor of being our journalistic scribe for the night? ;D Any notes you can take of the speakers, and especially the guests from Fairfax, would be enormously appreciated by everyone on here. Cheers!

Hi Folks, So we'll be seeing many of you next Wednesday evening! I have a couple of requests for the dinner: - Anyone or their companies interested in donating any sort of prize for the silent auction. We want to have 6-7 items for the silent auction. We've got one from the Fairmont Royal York, and a couple of items from Fairfax. Alnesh's accounting firm will probably donate a prize as well. Anything will do...a nice bottle of wine, a gift basket, value investing item (old Berkshire autographed annual report or something). We'll have the logo of the donor on the table in front of the item. - Uccmal has already volunteered, so you are going to see him all over the place on Wednesday, but can I get a couple more volunteers. I want to rotate the volunteers, so that you all get to enjoy most of the evening. I need help with somebody briefly manning the silent auction table, the nametag table and taking photographs with Alnesh's camera...Alan, you up for it again? Details for the dinner are below, in case you don't remember. We have about 126 people for dinner, and 11 people who are attending with no dinner...all together we have 137 people, and still counting until tomorrow morning. We had 89 people last year! So thanks so much for your support! Everyone please bring lots of cash, as the grand prize is a copy of "The 25 Years of Fairfax" autographed by Prem. There are none left, and the exact same item was donated to Mohnish Pabrai last year, who auctioned it online for $730. While the other items are silent auction, this will be raffle so everyone has the same chance. I'm betting Mohnish that we raise more money through the raffle than the online auction! Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner April 25th, 2012 The Imperial Room Fairmont Royal York 100 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario (416)368-2511 All proceeds, including any profits from tickets sales, corporate sponsorships, raffles, auctions and donations, go to "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of JoAnn Butler, who was Prem Watsa's assistant for many years! Reception: 6:00-6:45pm Speaker: 6:45-7:00pm Dr. Kevin Glasgow, CEO of "The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada" Dinner: 7:00pm-8:30pm Speaker: 8:30pm-8:45pm Dr. George Athanassakos, Chair of the Ben Graham School For Value Investing, Ivey Guests: Approximately 8:45pm on Buffet Menu Bakery Fresh Assorted Rolls & Butter, Grissini Bread Sticks Italian Farm House Minestrone with Basil Pesto and Parmesan Cheese Baby Ruccola Leaves, Vine Ripe Tomatoes, Bocconcini and Pesto Vinaigrette Caesar Salad with Sundried Tomatoes, Foccacio Croutons and Grana Padano Grilled Zucchini, Red Green & Yellow Bell Peppers, Eggplant, Antipasto Platter with Olives Genovese Basil Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Fennel, Peppers and San Marzano Tomato Sauce Herb Marinated Red Snapper, Pickled Mushroom, Blood Orange and Truffle Emulsion Lemon and Thyme Roasted New Potatoes Wild Mushroom Tortellini tossed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Calamata Olives, Sundried Tomatoes and Grilled Artichokes Chocolate, Riccota and Vanilla Cannolis, Tiramisu Coffee Cups, Chocolate Espresso Drizzle Fresh Cantaloupe with Blueberries Fresh Brewed 100% Columbian Rainforest Alliance Coffee, Decaffeinated Coffee Fairmont Blended Black, Green and Herbal Teas Cheers!

In their response to the suit, filed on Tuesday, April 10, Bronte and Mr. Hempton deny that they did anything wrong. They say that the blog had a disclaimer which stated that the content represented Mr. Hempton's opinions. The disclaimer also advised readers that the content should not be used for investment advice and "is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author." So apparently Hempton believes he can say whatever he wants without any personal responsibility or consequences. That's a great way to live! What a doofus! Cheers!

All the best to Warren, the Buffett family and everyone at Berkshire! Get well soon! Cheers!

Interesting and probably will be happening soon. Thanks to David for the link! Cheers!

John Paulson has bought credit default swaps for Europe, and in particular Spain. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-16/paulson-said-to-short-europe-bonds-amid-spain-concern.html

How do you know the timing of when this is going to implode? No idea, but they are only half funded for their debt requirements through 2013. If rates are going up, and they are having to introduce spending curbs because austerity measures aren't adequate alone, then you've got a problem if the markets lose confidence. ECB needs to come up with enough funding to cover Spain and Italy. They are having trouble getting funding for Spain alone at decent rates. Germany is not going to do much more. Either the U.S. and China have to step in...and the U.S. cannot really afford it...or you are going to see some serious consequences. You had some firepower before, but now the gun is down to a couple of bullets! Cheers!

If you are going to buy a dinner ticket, you need to buy by the morning of the 19th. I have to finalize the numbers with the Fairmont Royal York that afternoon, and tickets only for the presentation will be available at the door. No dinner ticket bought, no dinner! If you are on the fence, I assure you that the meeting will be terrific as always...probably even better than you could imagine! Thanks very much, Sanjeev

After reading a response from a boardmember on another related thread, I just kind of wanted to know how many people are still Biglari Holdings shareholders. At one point, this board had many...including myself. Cheers!

Spain bond yields up. May impose spending curbs! The life line is beginning to chafe badly. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/47060468

Sprott Asset manager, Charles Olivier, to shave his head head after making a bet four years ago that gold would hit $2,000 an ounce by April 16, 2012. He was very close, but lost the bet. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-13/fund-manager-to-lose-hair-after-betting-on-2-000-bullion.html

IMF's LaGarde is saying that the bailout fund doesn't need to be as big, while Spain's deputy minister is saying that the ECB needs to buy Spain's bonds because interest rates are going to kill them! Hold onto to your shorts this year or early next year...the tide is going out! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-13/spanish-minister-calls-on-ecb-to-do-more-as-crisis-accelerates.html http://www.cnbc.com/id/47049024

Yeah, I couldn't really believe he said that at the beginning, and then when he uncomfortably corrected his assistant on the tax rate she's paying...yikes! Not sure what possesses him to do this stuff. Cheers!

Berkshire subsidiary investing in low-cost housing in trade for tax credits. Cheers! http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120412/NEWS03/120419922/oracle-of-omaha-invests-in-chicago-area-affordable-housing

The intentions are right, but Tilson comes off all wrong! Just brutal! Cheers! http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000083600&play=1

Will be near impossible for them to take significant market share away long-term, but they are giving it a go! Cheers! http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2012/04/netjets-veterans-start-competing.html?ana=yfcpc

Yeah, they didn't post my comments either! Very objective aren't they. Cheers!

Hah! I didn't even notice that. That guy gets around! Cheers!

Article on the announced stock split. Cheers! http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/12/technology/google-earnings/index.htm?source=cnn_bin

I agree with you Hawk! Long-term shareholders have been very patient with Chanticleer, so a portion of the allotment could have been set aside for existing shareholders to purchase. This is something that shareholders could still address with Mike. Send him your comments...he's a very receptive CEO and if enough shareholders feel it is important, something could always be done. But if he doesn't know how shareholder's feel, he's going to move forward with maximizing shareholder value for all shareholders...whichever way that can happen. Cheers!

Terrific article on Amazon's CEO in Forbes. Thanks to Glenn for sending it to me! Cheers! http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2012/04/04/inside-amazon/