Parsad

Interesting article on how Google is adopting "Notice and Access" disclosure for sensitive company-related announcements, rather than using press releases through major business wires. Cheers! http://news.stv.tv/business/170695-googles-unorthodox-press-release-raises-questions/

I'm glad the SEC is making these charges. I think Goldman's actions during this whole period is akin to what the tobacco companies did...cigarettes or CDO's...take your pick! Cheers!

Heh, whereas, I've been doing that with laptops for over a decade. (You should follow a strict "bathroom sanitary protocol", though.) How exactly do you do that? Put it on your lap? My legs would go numb! ;D Or do you keep a folding table tray in there? Cheers!

The other thing is that I don't see myself ever carrying a Kindle or IPad into the washroom! ;D Cheers!

I think it is most definitely a generational thing. I would be surprised if newspapers are around three generations from now in their current format. Cheers!

It will be a sad day in hell for me if newspapers are ever completely discarded for electronic media. I like receiving the paper every day. It's the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up...get the paper. I like the feel of the paper between my fingers, being able to skim two broad pages at a time for articles that peak my interest...hard to do that on a laptop! I like keeping old articles or entire papers for posterity. The broad base of information that it provides is unique. A dying business, but one that I find extremely valuable and nostalgic...kind of like hardcopy annual reports. I like the feel of an old annual report...gently opening the cover and paging through it...imagining the time when the individual wrote it. A very kind individual gave me all the Fairfax Financial annual reports...thought I would find it more useful than he...I love paging through all of them. I can imagine what was going through Prem's head when he wrote the first one after acquiring Markel. I do it now just before I start writing our own annual report for our funds. Cheers!

Senator Schumer believes more funding for the SEC could have prevented Bernie Madoff. http://www.cnbc.com/id/36562610 I'm sure the SEC is understaffed and underpaid as Schumer says, but more funding would not have stopped Madoff. There is a disconnect between the training some of the staff at the SEC receive and the enforcement of the law. I don't think Harry Markopoulous could have done anything more than he did to draw attention to Madoff...at various levels of SEC enforcement. All to no avail! Cheers!

Parsad - this is a little random, but can you disclose your main sources of info (maybe the top 3 - 5 that you look at daily)? Oh boy, that's not easy! I'll give you the ones I go to everytime I turn on the computer each morning and I resurf them at least four-five times a day until I go to sleep around 12-1am: Yahoo Finance - U.S. site Google Finance CNN Bloomberg CNBC Globeinvestor.com FT.com EDGAR (filings & annual reports for various other companies) SEDAR (filings & annual reports for various other companies) The Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax Message Board (of course!) During the rest of the day and evening, I read the Vancouver Sun & Globe & Mail. I also read the National Post & Washinton Post online and Business In Vancouver. When I read the paper, I read every page other than certain portions of the classifieds. I'm a newspaper junkie! I can easily consume 3-4 a day. Surprisingly, I don't read the WSJ unless I'm at the airport...go figure! I'm cheap and for the price of the WSJ, I can get the other four papers I like. I also like to read on all sorts of subjects not just business. In between and weekends, I view various other sites...too many to name...but I stay away from any other message board sites - too much group think even if they are value investors. Any other chance I get, I re-read all the foundation books - Securities Analysis, Intelligent Investor, Common Stocks & Uncommon Profits, Of Permanent Value, Old Buffett Partnership Letters, Old Berkshire Annual Reports, Old Fairfax Annual Reports and any other books I want to read. Throw in there any other business magazine I find lying around at the office. I also read all the community papers, flyers, etc. It gives me a perspective on what happens with business and pricing of goods locally. Cheers!

Berkshire insurance subsidiary Pacific Gateway, which is under the National Indemnity umbrella, has acquired a book of business from Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies. What an easy way to know that you are acquiring a quality book of business with legitimate underwriting! Cheers! http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2010/04/15/109025.htm

Interesting article on Eddie Lampert and Sears. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601108&sid=av1tr0zzmrgg

Hi Folks, As I've mentioned in the past on this board, as long as we are working on ITEX in the MPIC Funds, I won't be allowing discussions on here. The Polonitza Group was interviewed recently on ITEX: http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=90134 If you have any follow-up questions, David will be more than happy to answer them to the best of our abilities, since they will be printed within the public domain. Please submit questions directly to the author of the article, not us. Any subsequent posts on here relating to the article will be removed. Cheers!

Hi Folks, This is last call for our annual dinner! We've got 60 people attending...may creep closer to 70 by the time all is said and done. For those that have already RSVP'ed, I will send an email confirmation out to you Friday evening. Please email me Monday morning or earlier to confirm your attendance. I have to give the final tally to Joe Badali's Monday afternoon so that they can prepare. See you there! Fifth Annual Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner When we first started our annual dinner in 2006, we had nine people attend and Francis Chou was our lone representative from Fairfax. The following year, we had about 17 people and Francis brought Sam Mitchell as well. The third dinner in 2008, we had about 28 or 29 people and our guests were Sam and Francis again. The fourth dinner in 2009 had about 38 attendees and Fairfax surprised us by sending Sam Mitchell, Wayne Cadwallader and Brian Bradstreet...of course Francis was also there...he never lets us down! This year's dinner will have well over 50 attendees...probably close to 60! Don't worry, we have a mic and speaker system set up this year! It's an amazing opportunity to ask questions and listen to answers from some of the best investors in North America, as well as meet with fellow Fairfax shareholders and "Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax" board members. We will also have a raffle with various prizes, including Fairfax memorabilia and books signed by Prem, and other prizes donated by Corner Market Capital. All proceeds, along with the $5 admission (and matching contribution by Corner Market Capital) will go to the Crohns Colitis Foundation of Canada, in honor of Jo Ann Butler. Joe Badali's 156 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario Drinks: 6:30pm Dinner: 7:00pm Q & A: 8:00pm-9:30pm RSVP: sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca Admission: $5/head with all proceeds going to the "Crohn's Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Jo Ann Butler (Corner Market Capital Corporation will match all admissions). Cheers!

A good article on how the government is making taxpayer interests more aligned with the private sector's interests in profiting from bailouts of distressed assets. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=auaKDb0RLjWQ&pos=10

Morgan Stanley reported to investors that their 2007 Global Property Fund will probably recover only about 40% of its total value...$5.4B down the drain! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeO9Ze5Vz7bo&pos=5

He's said it a number of times now...the most recent comments that have been published are in "The Snowball". Also in this excerpt from Schroeder's other book: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alice-schroeder/warren-buffett-and-the-bu_b_351034.html In the 1990s, more passivity crept into his investing style. By then, Berkshire had far more money than it could use. During the Internet bubble, rather than sell overvalued stocks such as Coca-Cola (another of his Inevitables), Buffett diluted the risk from these stocks to Berkshire's balance sheet by acquiring General Re. With hindsight, he did say his failure to unload some of those stocks was a mistake. He explained that his role as a board member had gotten in the way of his selling Coca-Cola. Buffett finally stepped down from the board in February 2006, avoiding another referendum on his independence as a board member. Privately, Munger complained that Buffett should have resigned from the Coca-Cola board earlier so that they could have sold the stock. Selling would have pushed down the price, but not by as much as it eventually declined. "I always used to tell Gates that a ham sandwich could run Coca-Cola. And it was a damn good thing, too, because we had a period there a couple of years ago where, if it hadn't been that great of a business, it might not have survived." The company--and its stock--did rebound. By 2008, most of its business problems had been largely resolved, and CEO Neville Isdell, who announced his retirement in 2007, had settled the Justice Department investigation and closed a $200 million racial discrimination lawsuit. The new CEO, Muhtar Kent, had led the company's successful push into non-cola drinks, where Coca-Cola had been lagging and was strategically off course. Still, as of early 2008, Coca-Cola's stock price, at $58, was fifty-six percent above its lowest price, but did not approach its pre-bubble high of more than $87 per share, and couldn't justify Berkshire's having held the stock for a decade. And it would soon turn out that Coca-Cola's stock price was tracking the overall stock market, which would be revealed as part of another speculative bubble, this one buoyed by the ebullient "consumer economy" and driven by cheap credit. Cheers!

Something I have been concerned about for a few years is finally coming to fruition. I believe that Chinese banks have over-expanded over the last several years and that the bad loans would eventually appear. It seems as though some of the big Chinese banks have a $70B shortfall relative to regulatory requirements...and things are still relatively good in Asia...I can only wonder what the magnitude of the shortfall could become. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=angRgjyJDhQQ&pos=6

Buy and hold works amazingly well when intrinsic value keeps growing. Everything held equal it is by far the best way to invest unless you don't pay taxes. I disagree. I think buy and hold reduces your margin of safety as valuations rise relative to intrinsic value. Buffett could have done a whole heck of alot with the cash tied up in Coke over the last twelve years...even after paying capital gains taxes! For the record Fairfax hasn't been near intrinsic value in the 4+ years I've owned it so maybe you are not selling at IV, you are trading in and out of a stock based on historic patterns. A stock doesn't need to be near intrinsic value for someone to sell it. If you buy stocks when they are less than 40% of intrinsic value, and sell when they are at 75%, is that worse than buying a stock at 60% of intrinsic value and selling it at 95% of intrinsic value? Simple mathematics would tell you that the former provides a return of almost 90%, while the latter provides a return of about 60%. Cheers!

I think some board members have a misconstrued idea of what value investing is...or at the very least value investing in terms of Ben Graham. You buy investments at a discount to intrinsic value and you sell when that margin of safety is reduced. This whole Buffett "buy" and "hold" value investing idea is something that came up because Buffett had to do so to encourage people to sell their businesses to him. Why would someone sell their life's work unless you promise not to sell it off in bits and pieces or to someone else at a profit! If you've read the early Buffett Partnership letters, and even early days of Berkshire itself, you've seen Buffett trade out of positions as the prices moved closer to intrinsic value. Mohnish is doing just that. Sardar will have to behave like modern-day Buffett, as does Prem, but Mohnish understands that the markets provide him an opportunity to exploit the folly of others. What Buffett has done with Berkshire is not only amazing, but admirable from an ethical standpoint. If Buffett behaved like young Buffett, his returns would have been better by selling certain businesses or positions as they reached intrinsic value or surpassed it. Cheers!

Excellent interview! Thanks Keerthi! The one thing I truly have admired watching Mohnish over the years is that he has become an incredible teacher and lecturer. He has a very natural fluidity to his ideas and how he gets them across to the listener. Combined with his self-deprecating sense of humor, it is always enjoyable to hear him speak. Cheers!

The Omaha World-Herald's Warren Buffett Watch: Update on Miles dividend article, DQ Mobile and a couple of other subjects. Cheers! http://www.omaha.com/article/20100411/MONEY/304119999

33 States and the Virgin Islands are now borrowing money to fund unemployment benefits. Cheers! http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/08/news/economy/state_funds_jobless_benefits/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

I disagree. I think the company has now hit a critical mass, where the bottom line improves as they continue to increase their percentage of revenues from the fulfillment business. Depreciation is falling off and costs are under control. As long as inventory turnover remains quick, or speeds up even slightly on the direct side, they will be able to continue to generate net operating profits. Cheers!

A Forest River manager who helped form the acquisition deal of the company by Berkshire is now suing Berkshire. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601108&sid=aLydkapMrw_k

Also check Sidestep.com or GTAhotels.com for deals. We got a really nice hotel for dirt cheap on GTA. You want to stay in the downtown Toronto area, and preferrably close to the lake...the hotels nearest to Roy Thompson Hall and Joe Badali's are the Strathcona (as mentioned), Fairmont Royal York, Intercontinental Toronto, Westin Harbour Castle, Residence Inn Toronto, Novotel, Soho Metropolitan, Radisson Admiral & Hyatt Regency Toronto. As long as you are downtown, you are still a 10-15 minute cab-ride to anywhere anyways, so don't worry too much. Cheers!

Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner When we first started our annual dinner in 2006, we had nine people attend and Francis Chou was our lone representative from Fairfax. The following year, we had about 17 people and Francis brought Sam Mitchell as well. The third dinner in 2008, we had about 28 or 29 people and our guests were Sam and Francis again. The fourth dinner in 2009 had about 38 attendees and Fairfax surprised us by sending Sam Mitchell, Wayne Cadwallader and Brian Bradstreet...of course Francis was also there...he never lets us down! This year's dinner will have well over 50 attendees...probably close to 60! Don't worry, we have a mic and speaker system set up this year! ;D It's an amazing opportunity to ask questions and listen to answers from some of the best investors in North America, as well as meet with fellow Fairfax shareholders and "Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax" board members. We will also have a raffle with various prizes, including Fairfax memorabilia and books signed by Prem, and other prizes donated by Corner Market Capital. All proceeds, along with the $5 admission (and matching contribution by Corner Market Capital) will go to the Crohn's Colitis Foundation of Canada, in honor of Jo Ann Butler. With two weeks to go, if you haven't RSVP'ed me, please do so. See you all there! Joe Badali's 156 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario Drinks: 6:30pm Dinner: 7:00pm Q & A: 8:00pm-9:30pm RSVP: sanjeevparsad@shaw.ca Admission: $5/head with all proceeds going to the "Crohn's Colitis Foundation of Canada" in memory of Jo Ann Butler (Corner Market Capital Corporation will match all admissions).