Parsad

Swiss Re has repaid Berkshire early. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-04/swiss-re-agrees-to-repay-buffett-s-berkshire-hathaway-capital-injection.html?cmpid=yhoo

Don't know what will happen. It's kind of like a call option on Overstock and Fairfax. If they win, shareholders will probably get some sort of settlement, or it will be dragged through Appeals court for years. With all the stuff regarding naked short selling, hedge funds, brokerages, etc, public sentiment is favorable. We'll see. Cheers!

The webcast replay should be available in a while, but you've got to listen to this thing...in particular the Q&A period. You have to wonder if analysts actually do any work, or do they want management to do it for them? I cannot comprehend why any rational company would go through the whole rigamarole of dealing with these guys...especially if you don't need financing in the public markets. This one Bank of America analyst...he pretty much wants them to pinpoint exactly what their margins will be and their cost structure going forward. Geez! On another note, Jonathan Johnson and Steven Chidester both did a good job! Incidentally, the broker/dealer trial is scheduled for September 2011. Cheers!

SEC has clamped down on brokerages that provide "naked" access to clients on their trading platforms. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/39988437

Article by Ben Stein after having dinner with Buffett. Cheers! http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/18/pf/investing/buffett_ben_stein.fortune/index.htm

That's why Yahoo and Goog/Tube and the rest of the www-guys do not actively police their content (only promise to remove infringing content upon duly made requests) Great! I just made even more work for myself now. ;D Cheers!

Al, It's about scale. Not an easy business when you've got Amazon already doing the same thing, and guys like Walmart and Costco online competing with just as slim margins. Byrne is crazy and loves a challenge...win or lose! He picked one of the hardest businesses to try and build a foothold in. The easiest way to explain is below: http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=AMZN&region=USA&culture=en-US http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=OSTK - Overstock is now profitable on a 12-month basis on less than a third of the revenue it took Amazon to do it in - Both companies had negative book until they hit a critical mass - Overstock has reached that critical mass faster than Amazon - Overstock's customer service numbers are on par with the best online providers in North America - Incremental improvements in margin will now have a full impact on net profits - Overstock has reduced their senior notes to $34M, while maintaining $76M in cash after leasing back their IT equipment - Cash should exceed $140-150M at the end of the 4th Q, before current liabilities are paid - Share count in the last three years reduced, whereas AMZN was still issuing stock - Byrne will grow Overstock while undercutting everyone else's margins...dangerous, but the only way to build a moat...think Costco or McLanes! The wildcard is can Byrne remained focused? I think with Byrne Sr. and Sam there, it will definitely help. This isn't like LVLT. Alot of investors hoped LVLT would also hit a critical mass, but their debt servicing costs are too high and they will probably run into serious problems before that...unless their benefactors can continue to refinance them, and receive insane interest rates on that debt from cash flows...but it's just not sustainable with their debt load as is. Overstock no longer has that problem. Cheers!

I think there's a difference between a "repost" and a "quote". Anyways, Sanjeev, you are taking some personal legal risk by exercising active censor control (instead of letting the owner request the removal of a piece). Just my 2c... You're kidding me right? I own the site, and therefore have the option of removing any post that I feel would be an infringement of someone else's copyright. Cheers!

Sanjeev, do you still have a position? If I answer that I'll have to kill you. ;D Or at least the partners in our funds may. Cheers!

Let's give the lady a chance with open minds and lack of "censorship," in order for this liberating medium called "the internet" to reach its maximum potential. I believe we're going to be surprised! imo Umm, the board wasn't censoring what you said. You quoted a copyrighted interview, the title of which specifically says by the interviewer and interviewee: "Please do not repost without asking for permission". I'm guessing Alice and Miguel didn't give you permission Carl! ;D Thus the edit. Cheers!

Lastly, I buy a lot of stuff online, and don't think I've ever found something I was looking for on their site. I've never bought anything from Walmart or Costco Online either, but they both seem to be doing ok! ;D Overstock is trying to create their barrier to entry, by becoming profitable on the thinnest of margins and providing a high level of customer service. Byrne picked a doozy of a sector to try and become dominant in, but they have a fighting chance. Cheers!

I listen to maybe 2 or 3 every quarter. Not much! The financials really tell you everything you need to know as an investor. The conference calls just give color on the managers. Cheers!

Not sure if this was mentioned previously anywhere here, but this is a fantastic website that collates all filings, newsletters, etc for value investors. Thanks Glen for telling me about the link! Cheers! http://www.dataroma.com/m/home.php

Nope, just tracking raw material shipments and the distribution of finished goods. Cheers!

Fairfax is acquiring FMR for $16.50 a share. Ericd was on to something here a month ago, but you guys stopped him! ;D Hopefully he didn't listen to anyone and bought...would have been a nice 50% gain in a month. Cheers! http://cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/index.php?topic=3049.0 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fairfax-Financial-to-Acquire-prnews-1520281664.html?x=0&.v=1

Here they are: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-iw-1029849445.html?x=0&.v=1 Cheers!

U.S. continues to look really good: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-28/north-american-rail-freight-carloads-for-oct-23-table-.html?cmpid=yhoo Canada not bad: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-28/canada-rail-freight-carloads-for-week-ended-oct-23-table-.html?cmpid=yhoo Mexico, some looking really good, and some...not so much: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-28/mexico-rail-freight-carloads-for-week-ended-oct-23-table-.html?cmpid=yhoo Cheers!

North American freight car orders are up significantly with large backorders. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-28/north-american-third-quarter-rail-freight-car-orders-table-.html?cmpid=yhoo

Chicago is one of my favorite US cities (if not my #1 favorite). I totally agree with you on this Bronco. I really love Chicago. I prefer it to New York or Los Angeles. Cheers!

uccmal - are you saying Daphne is old? Anyone who knows Daphne knows she's beautiful and intellectually stimulating. She's been a shareholder for as long as most of the other old-timers here, like myself and Uccmal. I think she was just wondering if anything had transpired that would warrant the recent move. We all held or bought through the drop from $200 to $57 back in 2003, so I think she can handle the swings. ;D Cheers!

The one thing I noticed is that the "Investment Ideas" board is going to get quite full in a very short period of time. I'm not sure how many of you are aware, but when you go on that board, an easy way to arrange the companies is to simply click the "Subject" heading on the top of the message board. That will put the posts in alphabetical order, so that you can just look up the name of the company you want. Cheers!

Thanks for posting that Damian! I did not want to put the spreadsheet out unless you felt it was ok. The tweeks I made were to make the ROE numbers and payouts much more conservative. That will give you a better margin of safety. I also made a few other additions based on capital, etc, that unfortunately I cannot share...they are now proprietary! ;D Cheers!

Financial terms not disclosed. Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/sun-life-sells-reinsurance-unit-to-berkshire/article1774898/

There are some out there, or they do it slightly differently, but Leucadia is pretty unique. Cheers!

That's terrific news! They needed that. Now with Jack Byrne on there and Sam, it's terrific! And you know Fairfax is going to hold the stock for the long-term. Cheers!