cwericb

Integrity. Yes that is what I was getting at in my previous post on Fairfax and it legal problems. Essentially the judge in the matter found that Prem integrity was at very best - questionable. And that is overlooking that the deal was crooked in the first place as was found by the court. Wasn't Prem also on the board of Fibrek when it rejected a higher bid for the company only to sell to FFH at a lowball offer? I think this is one of the reasons that the market discounts Fairfax when pricing it. As it is still my largest holding I sincerely hope that he will clean up his act and that the market will come to trust the company again. And before I get criticized for the above, I would suggest reading the reports from the trial and perhaps explain the situation rwith Paul Rivett and Torstar because I think both are issues that raise questions about integrity. HOWEVER... I still think that Fairfax still has the potential to do very well in the future if it can keep its nose clean.

No Blackberry shares sold? Given Prem's position on the board of BB he is obviously in a position to know a lot more than we do. Hopefully he sees significant developments that are in the works and it is not a situation where FFH is so involved with BB that it is very difficult to get out. Just thinking out loud.

It boggles the mind how some continue to hold Prem Watsa in such high regard. But some might now think that his reputation of being the “Buffett of the north” is an insult to Buffett Prem egotistically bought Blackberry - with shareholder’s money - primarily to make himself look good. At least he had the good judgement to put john Chen in charge. But surly by now he has run out of excuses for not selling BB. He told us regulations prohibited him from selling when the price exploded. I believe those prohibitions expired, so did he sell during the last run up or will he come up with a new excuse? Moving on from Blackberry there is that little problem with Torstar. Why did he give Paul Rivett a sweetheart, under the table deal, on Torstar which seems to have cheated shareholders? There are some serious questions that need to be answered here. But some think Prem’s motives are beyond reproach. Read on. Let’s not forget the disgraceful and embarrassing Fibrek - Resolute deal where Fairfax blatantly ripped off Fibrek shareholders and both Watsa and Rivett ended up being investigated for insider trading. That investigation resulted in Fairfax being put on trial and Watsa was hauled into court where he attempted an embarrassing feeble attempt to explain his actions. The judge found Fairfax “was in a blatant conflict of interest situation” and that Watsa’s testimony was “purposely forgetful” and “mindboggling”. “Watsa often appeared to be on the defensive and when pressed on crucial factual elements, the witness hastily took refuge behind ‘I do not remember’ or the like.” “Watsa’s testimony was so vague and filled with so many uncertainties, unlikelihood, unsubstantiated denials and contradictions that it is very difficult for the court to give credence to the affirmations and explanations of the witness whose memory appeared to be failing on the most crucial aspects of his testimony” And of course Fairfax reaction to the judgement against them was: “A spokesman for Fairfax disputed the judge’s conclusions, and said the company may appeal.” For the record, Fairfax did not appeal - which tells you all you need to know. An honest, innocent party would defend their reputation at all costs. Remember how Watsa used to say “Fairfax” stands for “Fair and Friendly” acquisitions? Well in this incident Fairfax was found by the judge to be “complicit with Resolute in the abusive hostile take-over bid scheme to the detriment and prejudice of the dissenting shareholders,” Fair and friendly for sure. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/watsa-s-mindboggling-reasoning-in-takeover-prompts-court-award-1.1323226 And by the way .... Recently Blackberry shareholders began an attempt to dump Watsa from the BB board as “Watsa is plainly unfit to serve as a director of the Company”. Blackberry shareholders went on to say: “Watsa has a history, when presented with a conflict of interest, of working against the interests of minority shareholders and for the benefit of Fairfax. Even before the Fairfax Refinancing, in September 2019, the Quebec Superior Court rendered a judgment in which it found that Watsa and Fairfax, as insiders of Fibrek Inc., acted in a "blatant conflict of interest situation" for the benefit of Fairfax by enabling the acquisition of Fibrek at the "lowest possible price," to the detriment of Fibrek's minority shareholders who were bought out at an unfairly low price. The Quebec Superior Court, in awarding those minority shareholders $13.5 million plus interest, also found that Watsa abused his position of trust and confidence at Fibrek by failing to disclose Fairfax's true intentions to Fibrek's management, and that Watsa's testimony at trial was not credible—indeed, the Canadian judge found Watsa's explanations to be "mindboggling." The judge further described the situation as "odious" and "reprehensible." One who lacks credibility and engages in odious and reprehensible conduct to the detriment of minority shareholders is not fit to be a corporate director.” https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/concerned-shareholder-urges-blackberry-board-to-follow-lead-of-major-corporate-governance-advisory-firm-and-oppose-watsa-as-director-857512533.html

Article on Seeking Alpha today: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4438293-digit-capital-raise-highlights-fairfax-financials-attractive-valuation?mail_subject=frfhf-digit-capital-raise-highlights-fairfax-financial-s-attractive-valuation&utm_campaign=rta-stock-article&utm_content=link-0&utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha

"disagreeing with ideas in a post" Yes Viking, that is what keeps the discussion balanced and adds value. Pointing out the negatives is certainly as important as pointing to the positives.

Ain't that the truth ... Without naming names, there are a number of people on this thread in particular who do an excellent job of analyzing Fairfax - and a number ofl other companies. Yes, there are numerous others who share their opinions on other topics in various sections of COBF, but on the Fairfax section there is a very high level of research, knowledge - and most importantly - credibility. I doubt you guys fully understand how much others appreciate your posts, but a sincere thank you from the rest of us!

After holding Chou Associates for 10 years or so I finally dumped it late last year. So it will likely do very well over coming years. Never fails. Sigh.

And so much for Garth Turner's prognostications. I feel sorry for those who agreed with Turner's line of thinking back then and rented rather than bought, waiting to pick up a house when the market crashed. This is nine years on and prices are rising faster than ever. However the big difference is that the dramatic price increases are no longer confined to Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, but are spread all across the country. While the pandemic has caused many in the large cities to look at less densely populated more rural areas, prices in the large cities don't seem to be showing any effects from this. One thing for certain, the building industry is booming and the price of materials seems to have no ceiling - and price seems no object, only availability. We live in very strange times.

Look, there is a lot we still don’t know about Covid and the vaccines. But the odds are that the vaccine will likely be the answer to stopping this epidemic. If not, do you have a better idea of how to stop Covid-19? Don’t contribute to the problem, get vaccinated.

“If you get vaccinated, it helps you is the claim for vaccine. But even Fauci is not saying it helps others.” Simple logic would tell you that if you don’t get the virus than the risk of you spreading it would negligible. “It is far easier to convince people to take a vaccine because its good for them rather than make up that it reduces transmission to others which is still being studied and raises suspicions about other claims of vaccine.” I guess if you are trying to apeal to selfish or sociopathic people, but most people are not that way and would do everything they can to avoid spreading it to others. Are you suggesting that there is a qusetion about wether or not people with the virus can spread it? Surely you are not. My point is not very difficult to understand. Get vaccinated and help stop the spread. Pretty damn simple.

Because I care about what happens to others. Because many people have not yet had access to a vaccine. Because if we don't act together many more will die. I could go on, but surprised you would ask the question.

Yeah, and when we start to fly I doubt anyone is going to be allowed anywhere near a commercial flight without proof of vaccinations.

Just for anyone interested. I received my first Pfizer shot yesterday around noon with no side effects until evening and then noticed that I had a fairly tender arm. Still a bit tender this afternoon. Otherwise so far so good. PS I requested and received a written copy of a statement saying when, where and what I was vaccinated with and will also do the same when I get my second shot.

Seriously? I think that you are missing the most important part of taking the vaccine. If you get vaccinated it is, at the very least, very unlikely that I will contract the disease. If I don't contract the disease than I am not going to spread it to others. "Would it be not more polite to just say, I got vaccine...I am protected." No, not at all because that misses the point. As I said, if I get the virus I could spread it to my family and dozens of others - that is much more important than simply protecting oneself. So the point is that if we are going to stop spreading this virus ...we need everyone to get vaccinated.

Had my first Pfizer shot this morning. Still alive and no after effects so far. Risk? Well, on one hand I haven’t heard of anyone killed by the vaccine yet. On the other hand, half a million Americans and 30,000 Canadians have been killed by the virus. You don't have to be a genius to use a little common sense and play the odds. Refuse the vaccine and you become part of the problem.

You might get more response if you post this topic under the "General Discussion" section.

"Tracking Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings Portfolio - Q4 2020 Update" https://seekingalpha.com/article/4406115-tracking-prem-watsa-s-fairfax-financial-holdings-portfolio-q4-2020-update?mail_subject=frfhf-tracking-prem-watsa-s-fairfax-financial-holdings-portfolio-q4-2020-update&utm_campaign=rta-stock-article&utm_content=link-0&utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha Article from Seeking Alpha.

I can comment on PEI. We have had slightly more than 100 cases to date and presently have just five active. There has been no community spread, not a single person has died and no one has even been hospitalized. If you can qualify to come to our province, you MUST be tested and self isolate for 14 days. We have been very careful and have locked down certain businesses temporarily at times when necessary and then re-opened. Given that our third largest industry is tourism (1.6 million visitors annually in a population of 160,000), we have faced a lot of challenges financially and that industry in particular has suffered greatly.. However being proactive has also had its benefits. Presently life here is relatively normal or at least a new normal. Restaurants, gyms, etc are all open. Our provincial budget actually had a decent surplus in 2020 and most businesses are operating as normal and some are booming. Real estate and construction are setting records, partially due to people seeing the province as a relatively safe place from Covid. However we have been setting sales records for several years. The fact that we can control who enters the province and having a relatively small population certainly makes it easier. However if we apply the US death rate to our population we should have had thousands hospitalized and hundreds of deaths. Yet we have no dead and no one has yet to be hospitalized.

Funny how things go though. BB seems to be holding in the $12 US -$15 CDN range. If someone told us a month ago that BB would double in the next 30 days we would have been quite pleased.

Yes! Not sure what I’m nervous of though! I feel exactly the same way. Surely to heavens Prem is selling portions daily as this rally goes on.

The Dow is down over 600 points today. Blackberry is up nearly 40% today. Blackberry has quadrupled since the first of the month. Have I lost my mind or is this just a dream? Will we soon be criticizing Prem if he sold BB a week ago for selling too soon? Anyone else getting nervous?

How quickly things change! That was this morning when we thought BB pricing was nuts. Mid afternoon and BB is up nearly another 30% ($23.00).

Dumped the rest of Chou Ass. Dumped some in October but hung onto the rest until now and has been up 15-20% since I sold in October Added to RY (Royal Bank) a few weeks ago. Added to FFH today. Started a position in BRK.B. Also started a small position in WLF.TSXV (Wolfden Resources) just for fun - have been watching this for a couple of years and it seems they could be on to something interesting in Maine, at least Altius (ALS.TO) thinks so.

Greed.

Yeah, had a friend tell me not long ago that they had "invested" in TSLA and how well they were doing. They have never invested in the market before and probably shouldn't be. I told them to be very, very careful that at these levels it was a very high risk stock for them to be in. But since then TSLA has been up nearly $200 so what do I know?