Parsad

Another reason might be that @18B in assets, Berkowitz is making $180M a year come rain or shine??? He could make far more with a "1 & 20" compensation plan in a hedge fund. I think folks are too hard on this guy. He's done better than 99% of fund managers and investors since inception, and people are now thinking he's suddenly become retarded. In a couple of years when his bets have paid off, they'll think he's a genius again. I hear the same crap about Mohnish, Francis, Tim, etc. A couple of weeks ago there were posters saying what a dweeb Arne Van Den Berg was. Now it's Berkowitz. Next week it will be someone else! You'd think I'd be used to hearing all this junk! Cheers!

MySpace was losing market share, whereas Facebook is growing. Not only growing...it's the 800 lb. gorilla and will be very hard to displace. My friends and family who use Facebook are hooked...almost addicted. It will only be a natural transition to incorporate live video chat into there. Cheers!

A sense of loyalty to the investors who trusted him from day one? Also, possibly because this vehicle is available to all investors, whereas an investment fund would be limited to accredited investors only. Cheers!

Article by blogger on how the Skype acquisition is suddenly looking like a pretty smart move. Cheers! http://seekingalpha.com/article/278290-facebook-video-chat-how-do-microsoft-investors-feel-about-skype-acquisition-now?source=yahoo

Pff, Publisher: HarperCollins (October 1991) I guess that wins. Wow, almost right on the cut-off. Just made it I guess! ;D Cheers!

Have you looked at his first book, though? I'm in the middle of reading it for the first time after seeing it highly recommended by people like Geoff Gannon and other value bloggers, and there's no magic formula so far in that one. It's all about analyzing spinoffs and merger equity offerings and such. Definitely over the head of the average investor, which is why he's been trying to make it easier and easier with each book, but interesting stuff for most on this forum, I bet. You're talking about "You Can Be a Stock Market Genius", right? I thought it was dumbed down...sort of like Peter Lynch's "Beat the Street". Better than his two recent books, but I didn't really like it. Yah his first book is probably the best value book in the last 20 years. Not even close! Seth Klarman's "Margin of Safety" is hands-down the best investment book written in the last 20 years. Cheers!

Short article on how some fund managers performed in the 1st half. Cheers! http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2011/07/05/first-half-of-2011-proves-humbling-for-paulson-einhorn-ackman/?mod=yahoobarrons

Frankly, I'm put off by any book that has the word "genius", "magic" or "secret" in it, and purports to tell you how easy something is. I've thought that Greenblatt has been supremely magical at marketing his books over the last few years. I do not use, nor follow the magic formula, or anything else that looks like fairy dust! ;D Cheers!

Google has taken share away from everyone. Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/googles-browser-tops-20-market-share-report/article2087414/

or just stay as a mutual fund (the mutual fund redemptions gotta hurt, usually occurring just when things are getting cheaper) That's usually how it works. People pull their money when they should be putting more in. Bruce will be proven correct on alot of these things he's bought. Cheers!

Iceland is no longer a pig! Did you mean Ireland? Sorry, yes Ireland! I got my acronym wrong. Cheers!

The "P" and the "G" are junk. Who is next from the PIIGS? Iceland? Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/43643974

Folks, The fact is that due diligence on this company outside of examining the financials and making some phone calls, is out of the realm of the average investor. MW spent probably hundreds of thousands to employ a team to dig for answers. Even then, their answers may be incorrect after spending that much money, since the common practices for legal filings, claims, etc. vary from province to province, city to city, village to village. This is in the too hard pile! There are much easier ways to double your money right here in North America. So everyone let it go, and let's just watch what unfolds. I just want someone to get their come uppance...be it TRE or MW. Cheers!

Folks, Unless the post title is in the format below, I don't want it in the "Investment Ideas" section: "Ticker Symbol" - "Name of Company" That's it! No explanations, no sentences, nothing. Anything else belongs in "General Discussion". The reason being, I want the "Investment Ideas" board to act as a resource library on various companies. By clicking the "Subject" heading on that board, users get all of the companies listed in alphabetical order, with all posts related to each company in there. Anything else just clutters that board and reduces the functionality of it working as a company library. Also, please make sure you are not duplicating an existing company ticker, as I want all posts in that board to remain under the same ticker, so that we don't have fits of discussion on any given company. Thanks very much! Sanjeev

Hope you all have a good holiday! Cheers!

Wellington manages something like $665B, so a $100M position or so in TRE is not much at all. I wouldn't worry about what Wellington does, or anyone else for that matter. I don't like Block's conduct and the way he approaches this stuff, as well as the people who have associated themselves with this whole thing, but unless you can conduct enough of your own due diligence to feel confident in the stock, I wouldn't even consider touching this thing. I do look forward to watching what unfolds. Cheers!

Short, but interesting article on how so many failed banks are from the state of Georgia. Cheers! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/georgia-the-unlikely-epicentre-of-us-bank-closures/article2083513/

Thanks for posting the clarification. It would be sad to see a good man brought down through guilt by association. Problem is that other news sources picked up the article and the insinuation that Berkowitz was also under investigation: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/st-joe-says-sec-is-investigating-financial-reports-and-chairman-berkowitz.html It's too late! Damage is done. Most news sources won't pick up the correction. You guys think there won't be redemption orders for the Fairholme Fund coming in Tuesday morning? Cheers!

I believe ValueCarl went, so perhaps he can put down some notes about the meeting. Maybe Munger even had something to say about LVLT. Cheers!

No, no...that would be pure speculation! Why does everyone always blame the shorts? ;D Cheers!

In a filing today, JOE has announced that they have terminated their credit agreement which prevented them from buying back shares. Also the SEC is investigating issues related to the impairment of JOE real estate assets. I wonder who made a call to the SEC? Cheers! http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/745308/000095012311063723/b87177e8vk.htm

Happy Canada Day Smazz! We've had nothing but rain really in Vancouver. We'll still pull out the barbecue though! ;D Cheers!

What if the shorts had driven Dendreon out of business? They've won coverage of their prostate drug under Medicare. How many lives will be saved? Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/dendreon-wins-final-medicare-coverage-decision-on-prostate-cancer-drug.html

Here are a bunch of stories related to Munger's comments from today's presentation. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/berkshire-s-munger-says-wall-street-megalomania-insanity-fueled-bubble.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/munger-says-he-hopes-he-dies-before-berkshire-hathaway-pays-out-a-dividend.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/munger-praises-wells-fargo-says-bofa-decisions-a-disgrace-.html?cmpid=yhoo http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Berkshires-Munger-stands-rb-2445262105.html?x=0&.v=1 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/byd-can-recover-from-missteps-munger.html

Long-time Berkshire Hathaway shareholder and former director, Malcolm Chace, passed away. He was there from the beginning with Buffett. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/malcolm-chace-who-watched-buffett-remake-berkshire-dies-at-76.html?cmpid=yhoo