Munger_Disciple

Is there a non-insurance/finance related operating business 100% owned by Fairfax that has worked out well?

I hope you are right @Parsad! As someone else said, we in the US can't think of a mattress retailer with a moat. May be Canada is a different beast? (they sleep more in the winter? Just kidding )

I don't think people have an issue with Fairfax acquiring good companies at fair prices like Berkshire does. Just seems (at least on the surface) this is a so so business with no obvious moat. And that's causing some understandable "heartburn". All the more so when the stock is trading at what seems like a decent discount to intrinsic value so they could just do a buyback with the capital as an alternative.

The silence is deafening.....

Yeah even some members of this board don't think a mattress retailer reminds them of See's Candies. If it turns out to be 1/2 as good as NFM, I would be happy.

That's what I thought but apparently he sold some in the seventies. I am sure he bought back those & more later.

I recall reading a few years back somewhere that Buffett sold some Berkshire stock to buy the beach house for his wife in 1970s. I am unable to find the article which says he called his personal broker to direct him to sell Berkshire stock. Does anyone here have the reference? Thanks

I highly doubt that.

Ok. It is just surprising because MO seems like a higher quality company than IMB with better brands and US exposure. Now they seem to have multiple FDA approved NJOY vapes as well.

Why higher weighting for IMB than MO?

That's my understanding as well.

Prem donates $5mm to IIT Madras for brain research: https://acr.iitm.ac.in/iitm_in_news/mr-prem-watsa-donates-5-million-to-iit-madras-for-brain-research-advancement/

Pacificorp paid out another $150mm. Total payout to-date is $1 billion. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffetts-pacificorp-reaches-150-214105974.html

Why would anyone want to renounce US citizenship? You can live practically anywhere in the world while still being a US citizen and perhaps acquire permanent residency status where you live. Many countries like Portugal offer incentives for digital nomads these days.

Not good for BJP's economic reform agenda at least for the next few years.

@Parsad Ignore the jerk+a$$wipe who trolled you. You have created a platform for like minded (value) investors that I and many others benefited enormously from. Thank you!

More importantly BJP won 303 seats in 2019, a majority by itself before counting on its partners in NDA. That has gone now, so Modi has to rely on his partners (who have varying ideas) to get anything done. Definitely a negative for reform plans of Modi.

That doesn't matter. Warren and Greg make the call on acquisitions.

That sounds like a shitty acquisition target. I hope to God that Berkshire doesn't buy this melting ice cube.

IIRC Prem controls the voting of 1,548,000 multiple voting shares but he has an economic interest in only 1/2 of those, i.e., 774,000. So he had economic interest in a total of 1,569,000 FFH shares (multiple voting+subordinated) prior to the sale of 275,000. So he sold 17.5% of his economic interest in FFH, a reasonably significant portion.

It seems to me that Prem is selling enough shares to take out the cost basis of 2020 purchase plus an additional $100mm (USD) post-tax. It makes sense for him to repay the loan at this point if he had indeed used a line of credit (I don't know if he did that or not) to purchase the 2020 shares worth $150mm. Of course it would have been better if he didn't sell such a large block. However he still has > 90% of his net worth in Fairfax so that should make shareholders feel better.

Another WSJ article in the lead-up to the annual meeting: https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/charlie-munger-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting-missed-7a5d2ee5?mod=lead_feature_below_a_pos1

Another day & another $30 Billion lawsuit aimed at BHE. BHE is looking more like a tobacco company these days: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-pacificorp-now-faces-215442680.html

I don't think it is a coincidence that Warren has recently been talking about Coke, Amex and Japanese trading companies in the annual reports. There is no way Berkshire will sell these post-Buffett. Is there a way Berkshire can distribute the large holdings in-kind to shareholders without incurring any corporate taxes? My guess is no.