Parsad

Perhaps, it was the only way to appease the Gods of investing, but Time Warner will spin AOL out as a seperate company...after the ludicrous $147B deal back in 2001 combining AOL and Time Warner, which epitomized the irrationality of the internet bubble era. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Time-Warner-to-spin-off-AOL-apf-15368617.html

i am sorry guys but ostk was (is) a good short and a bad long. its not a good business and the ceo is nuts. The shorts have been saying that for five years...it's still around. In actuality, anything is a good short at some point in time (even Berkshire), but that doesn't mean it isn't a good investment at various points in time as well. Cheers!

I think the most valuable thing Buffett does with his notoriety is inspire others. Take a look at Mohnish, who was a successful entrepreneur, but started the Pabrai Funds and grew it to nearly $600M at one point. He then started his own foundation to help underprivileged, but talented students, in India to increase their odds of getting IIT placement. Dakshana just put out a press release that shows the enormous success they've had in their first year helping these students, and I'm sure they will help many thousands more over time. But each of these students will go on, and many of them will somehow give back because of the help Mohnish gave them. That's probably the most important lesson Buffett has provided...giving back of one's wealth and more importantly one's time, and seeing that success passed on. Congratulations Mohnish and to your staff at Dakshana! Cheers! http://www.dakshana.org/news/first_Dakshana_Scholar.asp?id=6

Are the shorts on Overstock finally covering and moving on to other pastures? The short interest which was at 5.5M shares at May 30, 2008 is now down to 2.8M at April 30, 2009. Alot of the noise on various message boards has subsided to a din, and Overstock has barely put out any sort of significant rebuttal to the hoard of journalists who previously were on a rampage. The most recent piece of crap written, is by purported forensic accountant Tracey Coenen, on her blog. She says she's pretty much tired of covering Overstock and Patrick Byrne's attacks on such ethical and noble journalists such as Jim Cramer, Herb Greenberg, Joe Nocera and Gary Weiss...pphhhhphhhttt! http://www.sequence-inc.com/fraudfiles/2009/03/11/in-agreement-overstockcom-sucks-and-patrick-byrne-is-wacky/ Even Sam Antar seems to have quieted his garrulous attacks on Overstock and Byrne on the various message boards. I wonder what other targets these guys have picked? What is the next big score...could it be Interoil? Cheers!

Star manager, Jean-Francois Tardif, will be retiring from Sprott Asset Management at the obscenely old age (which I turn in July) of 40! Tough for Sprott, but great for Tardif. Cheers! http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090526.wtardif0526/GIStory/

Acquired loans by many banks including JPM and WFC, will end up providing them with income over the next few years due to purchase accounting rules that forced them to mark the loan values down when acquired. Probably the income will be well over the actual acquisition cost of the companies they bought. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZ838mo99dGo&refer=home

Do not fall in love with stocks, be it Berkshire or Fairfax. Prem is my mentor, but if somebody wanted to pay me 2.5 times book for Fairfax, I would sell in a heartbeat. The market provides the opportunity of exploiting inefficiencies that whole business ownership does not. If you are a passive investor, always base your decisions on price, quality and risk/reward. That will secure a retirement better than any one investment. Cheers!

That's right ubuy2wron, I forgot! Cheers!

Yeah, the same thing happened to Martha Stewart, except it was an officer of the company who told her the information. In Cuban's case, I believe it was an employee, but not one of the officers. It's still non-public information that he traded on. Cheers!

Mark Cuban's SEC investigation for insider trading is coming to a head, and he has five professors who support his stance. But the comment from one of these professors in this Globe & Mail article is mind-boggling to say the least! One of them, Alan Bromberg of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said he researched the case after being contacted by Mr. Cuban's lawyer, Ralph Ferrara, and came to the conclusion that the SEC has gone too far. "It's like if somebody from company X called you and mentioned there's about to be an acquisition at a very attractive price but asked you not to tell anybody," Mr. Bromberg said. "You might say, 'Well, sure, I never spill information I get from prospects or contacts,' or you might say, just as a courtesy, 'I'll keep this information confidential.' Does that make you an insider? We don't think so." Insane! Cheers!

An absolutely fantastic interview with Wells Fargo's CEO. Any WFC shareholder will love this interview...a superb leader! Cheers! http://www.startribune.com/business/45799642.html?page=1&c=y

I love the guys at Hamblin-Watsa, but I wonder who had the Abitibi idea! Hey guys at Hamblin-Watsa, alot of us shareholders are going to give a beat down to the fellow who came up with that one. We're rolling up our Fairfax annual reports as we speak...and those babies are thick! ;D It would be pretty funny if it was Brian. Cheers!

I would say Buffett-mania has offically jumped the shark! Cheers!

Pretty cool Marlin! I wish the stats on here showed that stuff. Cheers!

Geithner discusses California...no TARP funds, but they will assist California only in certain ways. The bulk of the effort has to come from the Californians themselves. Buffett talked about Prop 13 a few years ago, which has created some of this mess as well. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaizmTjKpTlw&refer=home

Makes me think of the old line: "when the student is ready, the teacher appears." Wasn't that from Kung Fu Panda? ;D Cheers!

Thanks Kawikaho! Also, obviously lifestyle plays a part as well. Unless things get horribly worse in the job market, most people will continue to want to live in the LA or Bay area, since the quality of life is so good. While people will leave, over time more people will come back. I'm sure at the state level, most will get help from the federal government, but municipalities will fail except where the state's will intervene if they can afford it. Cheers!

I totally agree Rabbit, but at least Lewis' critical articles are more fascinating than anything Doug Kass spews about Buffett. Lewis does it with a bit more flair, which makes for better reading. I didn't like the Snowball either...it sounded very much like Lewis. But like Lewis, Schroeder also does write very well, so I kept reading even though I didn't enjoy the tone of the book. Cheers!

I think the most important thing is that they show an interest and act on it on their own accord. I've talked to hundreds and hundreds of people about Buffett and Ben Graham when they ask me about stocks and investing. Yet, I only know of maybe two or three that actually went and bought a book on them or researched them on the internet. And when someone does, I'm actually taken by surprise because I know it doesn't happen often. One of my brother's young friends knows I run a fund, and asked for some advice. I discussed Buffett with him and Ben Graham. I didn't think much of it afterwards, but a few weeks later, he came back to me with some more questions. I found out he went out and bought two books on Buffett and The Intelligent Investor on his own. I've probably said the same thing to a couple hundred people in the last two-three years, and no one has done that...yet here was a young man who did. I'm much more willing to give him much more of my time! When I first started learning about Buffett, I heard recommendations about the Intelligent Investor. I bought it, but it was difficult to get through in a first read, so I read other books and did other research. I then went back to it and re-read it once my base of knowledge was a bit better...it was much easier to grasp. Since then I've probably re-read it 10-12 times and referenced various passages on many, many occasions, but I did it on my own. No one asked me to read it or struggle through it. And I think that is the most important lesson for any investor...they have to have a real interest, otherwise they are wasting their time, as well as yours. Jimmy Pattison is a famous businessman in Vancouver, and he's acquired many businesses when people did not want them...very much like a value-investor. He started his company with one car dealership 50 years ago, and today is worth about $4-5B with businesses in various sectors. There is an old, legendary story of him firing the lowest producing salesperson at his auto dealership each month. One Christmas many, many years ago, he had to fire a salesman. He explained the situation, and the employee broke down sobbing. He explained that it was Christmas and his wife and children were expecting a cheerful holiday. Jimmy broke down with him, and they both commisserated while they sobbed. After they cried, he turned to the employee and said "I still have to let you go." When asked years later why he did it, he explained that if he did not, he wouldn't be doing the employee any favors. The employee would continue to struggle in an occupation he was not terribly good at, and he would continue to make low commissions. By firing the employee, it forced him to look for alternative work where his talents may be better served, and he could better provide for his family. In a twisted way, his logic is perfectly correct, even though perhaps he could have waited until after Christmas. The moral is, if someone has difficulty reading the Intelligent Investor, you probably aren't doing him or her any favors by steering them to some Robert Hagstrom book. Cheers!

Gurufocus.com has an aggregated BRK and FFH portfolio article. A few grammatical errors, but you'll like the gist of the article. In particular, how they praise the team at Hamblin-Watsa. Cheers! http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=57161

Vallejo has already files bankruptcy, but they say there are roughly 10-12 municipalities in California alone that are on the brink, as well as another ten or so that are fighting for their lives. And that's just California! What about Florida, Michigan and Georgia? Cheers!

I think the possibility of municipal bankruptcies is enormous in the U.S. today, and the possibility of state bankruptcies is very real, although I think the government would step in at the state level. Jack Cafferty from CNN discusses the possibility of California going under...I thought this would make an interesting debate. Even the best case scenario is that there will be massive layoffs and huge reductions in services across the state. If you thought DMV lines were long before, you ain't seen nothing yet. And California isn't unique here, others will follow. Cheers! http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/20/what-would-it-mean-if-california-went-bankrupt/ http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/20/news/economy/california_budget_crisis/index.htm?cnn=yes

Fairfax short interest is now down to 264K shares or about 1.55% of float. That number is about comparable to WMT's short interest of 1.48%. How times have changed from a few years ago. Cheers! http://www.shortsqueeze.com/?symbol=ffh

Parsad All solutions are correct. I'm guessing you meant to say, "the simplest of solutions is often the best one." Yours Jack River Yes, that's correct Jack. Thanks. Cheers!

What a terrific little article! Wish I was there. Cheers!