woodstove

Thanks to gfp for posting that BHE presentation. Very interesting read. A reminder of what a good business BHE is. Best wishes.

Thank you to hasilp89 for the link to that potvin presentation. I've admired Ben Graham's commodities currency ideas for a long time. Value linked to tangible assets and productive capacity -- the essence of value investing, for society as well as for business operations. Nice to see others agree! Details -- well, I'm not smart enough to figure that out. But there surely are younger folks capable if we give them the tasks and older folks listen and support their efforts. Cheers!

Lots of talented investors, but how to tell them from lucky coin-flippers (per WEB intro to Ben Graham's Intelligent Investor)? If you don't know -- and life is uncertain -- I like the discipline of money manager given X capital to work with, "forced" to return about 4 pct of capital to investors. Can be a variety of ways - special or regular dividends, repurchases to reduce number of shares, spinoffs, etc. But having to make concrete return annually reduces a bit of the agent-ego risk. If business is well managed but context is difficult, and cannot return 4 pct of capital annually, well then, let the business shrink. One can play with the numbers and spreadsheets. It's the discipline that matters.

The letters book arrived. Wonderful! And yes, it is the 50 years 1965-2014 letters, which I knew at the time of ordering, so no adverse surprises. Very happy to have the book, 750+ pages of quality reading, comfort of easy chair instead of screen time. Cheers!

Thank you. Ordered the letters book. Look forward to using the search / database from time to time. Best wishes.

Wow, thank you! I listened to it earlier, and even kept an audio copy, but this pdf is much better for sharing with others.

Very good interview. Guess that the interviewer was George Goodman, as he refers to his book Supermoney. A comment at Youtube says interview was recorded in 1984 and aired in 1985. Pretty consistent message from WEB, 1984 to 2022. Consider business behaviour not stock behaviour, can be patient until opportunity just-right. Wow!

Thanks you ComAdv for that Forbes article reprint link. Very enjoyable!

Found in my community book exchange, a copy of Supermoney (1972) by George Goodman (writing as Adam Smith). Pages 177-204 have excellent profiles of Ben Graham and Warren Buffett, written in 1972, when Buffett had left the market. Well before Roger Lowenstein's 2008 biography, Buffett: Making of an American Capitalist (memorable phrase: "Buffett was back"). If you can find Supermoney, I recommend it. 50 years ago, good to remember we were as foolish then as now. Goodman writes well. His closing essay, "Well, Watchman, What of the Night?" (pages 242-295), regarding motivations, is very thoughtful, and relevant to today's circumstances. See other works by Goodman via wiki page. "The Money Game" was reportedly a bestseller. Haven't read that (yet). Merry Christmas and Best Wishes to All!

Thank you Ulti for posting the BHE presentation slides.

gfp... Ok, thanks for clarifying. I did not know that. My main source of BYD news is Mazor's Edge website. BYD seems a company that keeps making good moves, getting market share, etc. I can understand reducing exposure to political risks, if any, but as a valuation call on the business, it seems inconsistent. However, that's why WEB et al are driving this bus!

I'm no expert on BYD, etc, but here's my simplistic take on why a BYD partial sale: -- When originally investing in BYD, WEB/CTM wanted to buy 25 pct position, founder wanted them to limit to 10 pct. -- Over time, due to BYD buybacks I presume, position crept from 10 pct to 20+ pct. Likely WEB/CTM were asked to reduce position to below 20 pct -- their role is to be silent partner. So they sold 1 pct as a courtesy. I do not expect a big further reduction in BYD position, except to keep below some threshold (something between 10 and 20 pct) as a fraction. -- Still a great business, and getting better all the time. Why not continue to hold as big an economic interest as BYD is comfortable with? Interested in others' takes on the business logic, as distinct from tax implications, etc. Unfortunate that had to telegraph the possibility of selling, but I imagine the securities laws in China require a partner who wants to register a holding as available for sale, to register all shares held? Thanks!

gfp - Thanks for that video link re Pilot and Diesel, DEF, Ethanol transport issues with strange Union Pacific actions. I did not know before. It seems outrageous, terrible mis-management at U.P. One thing I do like, I think this gentleman as CEO of Pilot is excellent manager, and I am happy he is on Berkshire team.

Seeing the Bloomberg article was, for me, a reminder of the excellent info provided by this discussion forum. We learned of this BHE presentation over two months ago, courtesy of MMM20's post of lst 23-Nov, and then it was posted on the main BRK website -- appropriate, since it is material to understanding the company's business. Re BYD, I don't see any rationale for monetizing yet -- we are in early days of the fossil-->EV transition it seems. Re another monetization suggestion sometimes made, Apple, I used to be in favour of a partial monetization, reasoning solely from an overall share of the total market cap represented by AAPL and BRK. But now I'm not so sure. I had to consider an assist to a friend wiho has failing eyesight and loves to read serious and diverse material (old newspapers for instance, for historical research), and realized that Apple products would be the base I would trust for providing a trustworthy personal assistant for my friend. And I'm not an Apple fanboy, not even an Apple user at present. But I would not be willing to expose my friend to certain other software app offerings which are, in my opinion, too likely to abuse the trust one would have to place in a personal digital assistant. A bit of an eye-opener for me. So maybe Apple has further to run, as a business. Anyway, back to the point -- good stuff here at this discussion group, it is one of my most valued resources.

That is impressive. $200B in residential real estate sales, 400k home sale transactions (so average $500k selling price per transaction), 46k sales associates. How does that compare with the total US market? What percent of real estate sales is typical revenue and typical profit, to Home Services? What are the synergies and possibilities? The article spoke of "delivering the highest level of customer service while removing any stress and worry from the moving process." Seems like a good focus.