Parsad

I guess the pundits have never heard of Apple, See's Candies, In & Out Burgers, Starbucks or Costco! ;D Cheers!

You're absolutely correct! I remember talking about Fairfax Asia on the old message board several years ago, and at that time it was tiny, but growing rapidly. No one cared or noticed that arm of the insurance business. Today, it's got the best combined ratios of any Fairfax insurance arm, continues to grow like a weed, and Prem was way ahead of his peers. He was also way ahead into India! I said many years ago that Fairfax is actually growing into the global insurance business that AIG was and should have been. As long as they remain careful, Fairfax will be one of the top five property-casualty insurers in the world in the next 15-20 years. Cheers!

John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo, was on CNBC this morning. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/46428124

I've listened to this thing twice now, and I have to tell ya, it is probably one of the best conference calls I've heard from Prem in the last few years. Alot of detail, lessons, insurance discussion...very, very good! If you have only read the press release or quarterly, you need to listen to the call. Good stuff Prem! Cheers!

I'm reading lots of stuff on the quartely report, and I think people are over-reacting immensely. Bigger the catastrophe loss, the bigger the combined ratio, the better it is longer-term for companies like Berkshire and Fairfax. You have incredibly low interest rates right now, volatile equity markets and insurance premiums that were incredibly underpriced for several years. We are now entering a real hard market and as both Berkshire and Fairfax start to write more and more well-priced business, the combined ratios will go down as the new policies kick in and the old policies start to run-off. Fairfax's combined ratios aren't high simply because of losses, but because they don't fire employees left, right and center when pricing is not good...so the the actual operating and administrative expenses is what piles onto the loss years. When business improves, you will see very good combined ratios. We've been here about three times in the last 12 years, and now the cycle is going the other way. Patience, patience! And if any of you were waxing poetic in the past about how Fairfax should stick to only insurance and forget about whole non-insurance businesses, that third leg of the revenue stool like Berkshire's is looking pretty good right now, isn't it! I've received a few emails and read some posts on the bonds and hedges. Again, while Prem may want to disagree, as well as others on this board, in my opinion, the hedges are a necessity because of the leverage Fairfax uses. Why doesn't Berkshire hedge? Because Berkshire's got whole operating businesses that steady their cash flows, use less leverage and keep more cash. If Fairfax operated at two and half times leverage, kept $4B in cash (or even more cash in just the subs) and had more non-insurance businesses, they would not have to hedge. You get a 20% drop in Fairfax's investment portfolio (bonds and equities), you get a $5B loss in equity. If you get a 50% loss just on the equity portfolio, you get a $1.5B hit to equity. That percentage hit to equity will not happen at Berkshire! So the quarterly gains/losses you see from the bonds and hedges is the cost of that leverage...which works pretty damn well long-term if you do it right like Prem! Finally, outside of Berkshire, you've got the most ethical, honest, shareholder friendly CEO I know of. Whose been pretty damn open with this particular group of shareholders on here, and will be sending a host of his executives and investee CEO's to our dinner. He's been almost as good as Buffett in teaching us about insurance and investments, and his humble, cautious attitude toward business has made many people very wealthy, including himself. My opinion...short-term shareholders, sell your damn stock if you're worried...long-term shareholders, suck it up if you are concerned. And as always, only invest as much as you feel comfortable with, so you can get a good nights sleep. If you are greater than 10% in Fairfax, you better be sure you are comfortable with that risk, because Prem is making a bet on the bond side. Controlling your own emotions is the biggest part of investing. If it wasn't difficult, everyone would be rich and beating the market all the time. Cheers!

They're not opting for the cash, but restricted to receiving alot of it in cash because securities laws prevent an affiliated company from receiving too much stock of an affiliated company. Cheers!

Unfortunately, BAC has indicated they are not going to request to buyback shares. I don't understand this at all. If you don't ask, then you don't have to tell the world they said "no". I think Moynihan knows that it is 50/50 that they would be granted the chance to buy back shares or increase their dividend right now, so why risk having to tell the press you were denied that request, when you know that in 6 months or a year, you will have no problem getting approval. Fix the problems and the rest takes care of itself over time...don't over-reach, don't assume, don't have grandiose visions until everything is fixed. If shareholders are impatient, then that is the shareholder's own issue to deal with. Cheers!

Fidelity National buys O'Charley Restaurants. Happened on February 6th. Cheers! http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/insurer-fidelity-national-enters-the-restaurant-business-02162012.html?campaign_id=yhoo

Yeah Rabbit, after reading that, it looks like any adjustment would be deemed a taxable dividend. They would issue a 1099 to the shareholder I assume. Cheers!

I suspect Richard Garneau, CEO of Abitibi, may be at our dinner like last year. So feel free to ask him questions. Again, whether he'll be able to give any real answers because they are in the middle of the whole process is another matter. You can also ask Mohnish, as he tendered his shares to Abitibi, and due to his frank Munger-like nature, will probably tell you exactly what he feels. ;D Cheers!

Not very good due to mark to market losses on the hedges and catastrophe losses. A breakeven year. Hedges still in place as Prem thinks things will be bad in the next few years. Nice to see Northbridge coming back to form, and Asia is still a rock-star! Cheers!

It's out. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-iw-477178339.html?x=0

Frankly, I don't understand a lot of comments regarding FFH. Their loyalty lies with their own shareholders first. You got it! Alot of people on here are double-dipping themselves by owning FBK and FFH, yet they chide Prem for protecting his shareholder's interests. Pot calling the kettle black, me thinks! ;D Cheers!

I don't think you would recognize the gain on the common stock exercise price decreasing in any given year. When you exercise the warrant, your cost basis adjusts to the exercise price on that day, plus your original warrant cost. The difference between that total cost and the market price of the stock is your gain or loss. For example, say the exercise price is $12 and you paid $3 for the warrant...total cost is $15. The day you exercise the warrant, the stock is at $25. Your gain is $10. You don't recognize the decrease in the warrant exercise price except on the day you exercise. The annual adjustment to the exercise price goes through the bank's P&L statement and is incurred by them. If I'm wrong here, maybe our CPA friends on the board can correct me. Cheers!

Could very well be possible SD. If anyone wants, you can call in and ask tomorrow morning. They may not answer anything, as they are in the middle of the whole process still. Cheers!

Usually they release around 2pm PST. Cheers!

Article on Wells Fargo. Cheers! http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2012/02/16/missing-from-moodys-downgrade-list-warren-buffetts-favorite-bank/?partner=yahootix

Article discussing how affordable homes are today. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-buying-most-affordable-decades-150500530.html;_ylt=Anxq67F4hANs5kILK9KZVsaiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTQ0ODc4cGhiBG1pdANGaW5hbmNlIEZQIFRvcCBTdG9yeSBSaWdodARwa2cDNWE1YmMxNDQtNmFhYS0zMDcxLWE0MzQtNTA4YTM2N2Q0ZTRkBHBvcwM2BHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzNjZjZiMmI0LTU4YzAtMTFlMS05YzhlLTc4ZTdkMTVkYmVhYw--;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Looking real good. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-16/north-american-rail-freight-carloads-for-feb-11-table-.html?cmpid=yhoo

You could go either way. You could say that Prem is forcing shareholders hands to Abitibi, but at the same time, you could say that FBK management is just trying to keep their paychecks going by selling to Mercer. Interesting to watch though. Cheers!

Qiao Xing Mobile? Wow. Completely out of my scope, and just not something I can analyze properly from here. Maybe boardmembers can ask him about it at the dinner. Cheers!

Never underestimate the power of a clutch player and some team momentum. How did Eli knock out all the quarterbacks supposedly better than him...Sanchez, Romo, Smith & then the best quarter back of the last decade...Brady! It was a team effort, but that clutch player gets the momentum rolling. Instead of shooting, Lin dished out the ball tonight...13 assists and none of them were easy ones. I think he had like four or five great alley-oops...another two slicing passes between guys...another three after drawing two or three guys to himself. Sacramento's not a good team, but the Knicks were killing them early on and that comes from the team geling and growing. Lin's greatest attribute may be that he's just bringing a dysfunctional Knicks team together! Cheers!

A couple of years ago, when Biglari Holdings decided to change its name from The Steak'n Shake Company to Biglari Holdings, I sent a letter on behalf of Corner Market Capital to the board of Steak'n Shake. We subsequently sold half our stake when they decided to change names regardless. I've attached the letter. At the time, as Steak'n Shake was based in Indianapolis, I used Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts as an analogy. Interestingly enough, today the owner of the Colts is making hard choices based on practicality, price and the fact that he owns the Colts...not Peyton Manning. I'm a huge, huge Manning fan, but he didn't own the Colts and he doesn't deserve to be paid any sum he wants, nor did they ever rename the Colts after him. Cheers! http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/jim-irsay-says-welcome-peyton-manning-back-price-051955332.html Letter_to_Steakn_Shake_-_January_31_2010.pdf

It's ok if it is your money, but he did it with other people's money. Big difference. Cheers!

Thanks Ballin! I think that's ridiculously stupid though of the SEC, and no wonder you have so much manipulation in the OTC market. We filed on Chanticleer, even though we didn't have to report I guess. I'm much more comfortable doing that, whether required or not. Cheers!