Parsad

Deepcapture has started putting out a chapter a day of the new story Mark Mitchell has put together about Dendreon, Michael Milken and the network of connected hedge fund managers. Chapter 1 and 2 start off slow but don't let that stop you. Chapter 3 is when you start to hit the good stuff. The writing is average, but I'm quite impressed with the amount of detail Mitchell has put together. In fact, while some of the connections he makes might be coincidence and industry-related, much of the other connections between certain hedge fund managers and corrupt investors, including the underworld, cannot be. Mitchell could legitimately be putting his life in danger. The man has balls! Cheers! Chapter 1: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-1-of-15/ Chapter 2: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-2-of-15/ Chapter 3: http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-3-of-15/

Very good interview with Buffett on CNBC. His best quote..."You can't make a baby in one month by getting nine different women pregnant!" Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/31526130

This interview was from March, but I don't think it has been linked here yet. I understand Alice's points, but I think life is far more complicated than even a 500 page book could encapsulate. I was quite disappointed with "The Snowball". Often it gave off a daytime soap opera vibe, and I thought if you were the one person in the world picked to do a book on Buffett, that was probably not the way to go. Cheers! http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/03/22/03222009wacQNAschroederWEB.html

I love it when one numbnuts after another comes out to criticize Buffett. Now its Dennis Gartman. What intrigues me is how he talks about net asset value, yet criticizes Buffett for a 45% loss in share price. Shareholder equity was down only 9.6% last year, which was nearly 28% better than the S&P500. And that's even after Buffett admits he made a couple of errors. Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/31494704

...at the Washington Examiner. Apparently, they can't afford to pay for up to date news releases. They just reported that Berkshire won't be releasing its 1st Quarter report on the eve of the Berkshire AGM. :D Cheers! http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/economy/ap/48691027.html

Globe & Mail article on students from a Ben Graham value investing class provided by U of T's Rotman School of Management. The course is one of the few Canadian business classes that go and visit Buffett once a year. Cheers! http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/GAM.20090622.RINVESTINGROTMANART1823/GIStory/

NY Times has a very good article on defacto Fed Governor Bill Gross. Cheers! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/business/21gross.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1245538946-7fOZhUVrXoA7N773UCTwgw

It's weighted, so if you have say a block of 15,000 institutional shares selling at an ask that is 5-6% lower (need to get the block sold), and the rest of the shares (remaining 3,000) average out to a ask price of just 1-2% lower, you get the 4%-5% drop that the market maker has to set the floor at. So that damn institution probably deserves most of the blame! ;D Cheers!

Charlotte Observer has an interview with Wells's Fargo CEO John Stumpf. Cheers! http://www.charlotteobserver.com/business/story/785220.html

GenRe has been dismissed from the AIG shareholder lawsuit against them. Cheers! http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1944254420090619?rpc=44

Apparently, Deepcapture will be shortly releasing a lengthy new article on its website by Mark Mitchell surrounding Dendreon...www.deepcapture.com. Patrick Byrne on his site is saying that some of the stuff is mind-blowing. Anyway, please visit the site and take a look in a little while. Cheers!

The question is... did his attitude actually lower his long run returns? I would wager not. In certain circumstances, yes, and others, no. For example, he held onto things like newspaper companies, shoe companies, etc. when they probably should have been sold because of changes in the economics. But I would think that in many ways, he benefited far more than he lost...permanent capital, rather than at the mercy of limited partners emotions...enormous competitive advantage formed because business owners wanted to sell to Buffett...leverage of insurance float was huge. Overall, I not only think you are correct that it didn't hurt his results, it probaby improved them significantly. Cheers!

Most likely Sprint. They were working on some sort of deal with Sprint for their long-haul service. Funny, we never owned any LVLT over the last ten years...not even the debt. We loaded up on a ton of call options when it was in the 60-70 cent range, and now we are really starting to get interested on what could happen with this business. Sam Mitchell a couple of years ago at our FFH dinner, responded to our question of how long it would take LVLT to hit critical mass. Many of us thought it was several years away, and he said that he believed it was a couple of years away. I think he may have been correct. I can really see LVLT's margins increasing over the next five years. This will be very interesting to watch as they have so much debt. Fortunately for them that their equity and debt holders are such a tight knit group and will continue to support them. One of our fund partners has quite a bit of his net worth in LVLT. I think the tides are now slowly changing, and his patience may finally get a respite from all the pummelling this stock has taken over the years. Cheers!

For our next interview, we will be speaking to Amitabh Singhi, who runs "Surefin Investments" from New Delhi, India. I thought that with so many Asian investors, including many Indians and Indian expats on the board, combined with so much interest in Fairfax's Asian investments, it would be wise to get more views on what is going on over there and what the potential market could be. Amitabh's firm is a value shop, and he is an ardent disciple of Ben Graham who makes the pilgrimage to Omaha every year. He studied at Wharton, and worked for Credit Suisse First Boston in their Investment Banking and Advisory Divison. You can visit his site at www.surefin.com . Please submit your questions to me over the next week or so by replying to this thread, and then I'll contact him. Cheers!

Or buy a small bungalow for ten-fifteen grand and you could probably fit that on a flatbed and drive it over. ;D Cheers!

These guys were flying out of the woodworks over the last year. I'm sure we'll see more over the next year as well. Cheers! http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090616.wsextant0616/GIStory/

Probably the first of a bunch that we'll see, and I'm guessing they'll be wrong on the outcome. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aku06Rgam3n0

Boy, this tide really did point out the guys swimming with their shorts around their ankles! Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0uGVcMBeH_k

A new wave of hedge funds are appearing after the markets have recovered. Here is a list of the upcoming participants. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZJCL4hmPpb8

The last of the GenRe executives under investigation have now been sentenced. The end of this sordid saga! Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Former-General-Re-executive-apf-15538804.html?.v=8

It's also a pretty captive audience, that outside of Vision TV and a couple of other stations, don't get much dedicated airtime except on Sunday mornings. And I would bet that purchasing power and loyalty to specific advertised products is much higher in this market segment than many others. Cheers!

Hi Arbitragr, No, I'm not moving. I was just saying how expensive houses are in Vancouver, and how Omaha is a very nice city. Although one day, I plan on living for a few months at a time in the U.S. and elsewhere. Just something I've always wanted to do. Cheers!

The bidding for the annual "Lunch With Buffett" benefitting the Glide Foundation begins Sunday. $2.1M last year! Cheers! http://www.cnbc.com/id/31369476

"...for my new grandaughters RESP..." Congratulations Grandpa! Cheers!

Thanks very much Jeff! Great points. Cheers!