Parsad

We still had a chunk of cash, but all the positions we took are up about 18-20%+ since the middle of December. Our financial equity positions have made up for more than the losses on the original warrants we bought earlier in the year. OSTK is the only thing still keeping us from going above our high watermark from June. Hopefully, they've been working on turning around revenues and that changes after the 4th Q and 1st Q reports come out. We have alot of cash from ideas that weren't long-term positions and went up alot. Also, we sold our Winn-Dixie position when it was bought out. I think things will get very choppy again through the year and we have plenty of liquidity. Have not and will not sell a single share in BAC or WFC. Cheers!

Hi Folks, We are 80% sold out, so please get your orders for tickets in soon! Go to www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca and the ticket purchase box is on the right hand side. Thanks very much! Sanjeev

Looks like they have tape recorded conversations on these guys, but us Fairfax and Overstock shareholders know it's a hell of alot bigger than this. Cheers!

Article on Buffett told Debbie Bosanek that now is a great time for her to buy a home. Cheers! http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/01/27/warren-buffetts-advice-to-a-boomer-buy-your-sunbelt-retirement-home-now/?partner=yahootix

Ajit Jain was interviewed by the prosecution and defense in the Rajat Gupta insider trading case. Cheers! http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&data-ipsquote-timestamp=20120127&id=14736127

Don't get carried away. He's going to make investment bets on various things and like any manager, some will work out and some won't. He's making the best calculated investments he can. Half a billion in RIMM, which sounds like a massive amount to you and me, is less than a 2% position for a business that has $30B in assets. Even if you only go by investable assets of $23B, it accounts for less than a 2.5% position. So everyone keep your pants on! :o Cheers!

Article on Debbie Bosanek and Warren Buffett. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/46163945?__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Ctext%7C&par=yahoo

Agreed. He entered a grey area where a reasonable case can be made either way. His big mistake was failure to exercise an abundance of caution, or use the Buffett standard of WSJ page A1. He should have known better and as his public profile increases he will get less of the benefit of the doubt. As a matter of habit, I try to conclude each conversation with an insider by confirming that material non-public information was not disclosed. Had Einhorn asked that simple question on the recorded call, he would not be in the trouble he finds himself in today. That's no free pass. It's the reasonable man test that applies. It's better to avoid any questions about market sensitive topics. Then, if something material to trading should be revealed anyway, don't trade on it. If something material reinforces a trading strategy in progress, cancel future trades until the news becomes public. Yup! Either that, or follow Mohnish's rule...don't talk to management! That's pretty simple too, but every investor wants a leg-up, or they need confirmation, or what have you and they talk to management. Tell me, why do smart investors actually need to speak to management? Buffett never even visits the head offices or warehouses of many of the businesses he owns. He goes solely by the financial statements. Yes, when he was younger he would do more legwork, but he also did alot of other things when he was younger that he doesn't need to do today. Einhorn has zero excuses for what happened. This is a guy who tears apart CEO's of other corporations because of something they did that was slightly out of whack...never mind actually fraudulent or fined by a securities commission. There is no underlying context or explanation for what happened to him. He received non-public information on which he traded...the end! Cheers!

Wells Fargo accounted for 30% of the mortgage originations in the 4th quarter! Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-america-extends-drop-mortgage-211526600.html;_ylt=Avf708Siwu1twQazlDrQfnWiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTQ0ajhtMTltBG1pdANGaW5hbmNlIEZQIFRvcCBTdG9yeSBSaWdodARwa2cDM2QyMmRhOWUtOTIzYS0zN2EyLWJiOTgtYTNjM2RkNjExYjFkBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzA0ZjQwYTUwLTQ4NjMtMTFlMS1hZjdlLTg0NjM5MGU2NDhjOA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Creeping closer to a deal...maybe by the weekend. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/creditors-could-accept-lower-coupon-080703727.html;_ylt=AhB4c64W6KBjHkTtsN97ttuiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTQ0dm9mazNoBG1pdANGaW5hbmNlIEZQIFRvcCBTdG9yeSBSaWdodARwa2cDNmEyZTAwNTctZjEyOC0zYTYwLWFlNzctMmRiMjc0OWZlYTE2BHBvcwM1BHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzQ3YmYzZGUwLTQ4NzMtMTFlMS1hMzUzLWYwMjA0NjVlODNiMg--;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Slow and steady. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-26/north-american-rail-freight-carloads-for-jan-21-table-.html?cmpid=yhoo

I still think that the best way forward for RIM is that they should either become a hardware company, a software company, or split themselves in two. I would also support a niche business model where they service only the business world, with product development geared towards security, reliability, device fleet management, and other business-oriented concerns. Right now, they appear to be fighting too many battles on too many fronts, and I think it's pretty clear that they are losing most of them. I think you're dead on here and they need to focus solely on business, security, etc. Unfortunately, there are facets of their business they are going to have to add to, so they can compete with others...such as cloud computing is becoming an integral part of data management for businesses. The easier they can make the set-up and transition for IT departments, the more likely that will be the system people want to use. Apple is making inroads into business users because they are slowly offering the broadest array of services, and the useability factor is extremely high. Most of their competition is going to have to focus on niche areas to survive. Cheers!

Jamie Dimon says that a Greek default would have almost zero direct effect on U.S. banks, but there could be some indirect effect. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/46144727

Foreclosures still account for a hefty percentage of housing sales. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/46146636

Doesn't matter if it is a grey area. If it's grey, don't tread there! Pretty simple. Cheers!

Yeah, his proof reader (legal counsel) should probably have caught that. Or he could also just be saying, yeah I traded on insider information. Cheers!

Parsad, In the CNBC summary there are mentions of the reduction of some lines like Private Equity and Prop Trading but nothing on the live interview. There is only one segment on the site,. Do you know if more are coming? I was wondering the same thing. I can't find anything else, so my only guess is that they either edited the interview or added some other material that wasn't asked during the actual on-camera interview. Cheers!

Interesting article on affiliates and nexus tax bills in various states. Cheers! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/smallbusiness/drive-to-tax-internet-sales-harms-affiliate-marketers.html?partner=yahoofinance

Here's a short interview with BAC CEO Brian Moynihan...not a great speaker, but I like the way he gets things done. He feels good about the stress test, reduction of balance sheet is pretty much done, doesn't think they need to raise more capital, and is now focused on ramping up the core earnings of the banking business. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/46132121

I think you are being overly simplistic. If Apple is selling products for the twice the price of similar offerings why do they only have 40% gross margins. It is mathematically impossible. They must be selling something better. The XOM comparison is really irrelevant - totally different industry with different economics. Sure their margins are better than a Dell of HP but they are not as high as Microsoft. Apple's laptops are very overpriced. You can get computers that do far more for half the price...it was all marketing...not unlike a Louis Vuitton suitcase, or a Ferrari! With the iPhone and iPad it's completely different. The user interface they use, and the software running the phone, is superior to the competition...so far! That won't last. When the iPhone first came out, I tried this thing and couldn't believe someone actually made something like this back then. It was light years ahead of the competition. That gap has slowly contracted while Steve Jobs was around, and now it will accelerate without him there. Take a look at what the competition's phones can do today, compared to the iPhone four years ago. That technological gap is shrinking. You've already got Acer laptops that now have instant on. Touch screens on other phones are as good. Cameras, screen quality, etc all markedly better and comparable to Apple. The only thing that still isn't quite there, and will take some more time is getting the user interface to be more intuitive and useable like Apple's. But Apple's competition over the next five years will catch up quite a bit. Cheers!

Here is a series of ABC interviews with Bill Gates. Obviously it was probably one interview, but these turkeys cut it up, so they could put ads in between. Anyway, a terrifc discussion with Bill Gates about all sorts of things. Cheers! http://news.yahoo.com/video/newsmakers-26771768/a-typical-saturday-night-at-bill-gates-house-27974671.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fnewsmakers-26771768%252Fa-typical-saturday-night-at-bill-gates-house-27974671.html

JC Penny's is changing their whole pricing structure. No more sales and regular everyday pricing discounts on merchandise. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/j-c-penney-gets-rid-151954852.html

Yup! Exactly correct. At some point, the competition will start to eat away at their market share...always happens. Cheers!

Reuters article on Prem: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Prem-Watsa-brings-hope-RIM-rb-1429523596.html?x=0 Cheers!

Never liked the guy! Smart, but the fact that he's never spoken about New Century while sitting on the board, and constantly criticizing others in the financial industry was a stickler for me. Second largest mortgage bankruptcy in the United States, and this guy never utters a word about what happened there, what he knew, and if there was anything he should have done. Cheers!