berkshiremystery

Some interesting points from Prem about RIMM: ------ Prem Watsa spoke to The Globe and Mail earlier this week about Fairfax’s decision to become the largest shareholder in Research In Motion Ltd., the struggling BlackBerry maker. These were his comments: “We believe in [RIM CEO] Thorsten Heins and we firmly support him and the entire BlackBerry team working tirelessly on the new [blackBerry 10] platform … He’s got the experience and the passion for it, and he’s going to get it done. He is on a mission.” “As John Templeton said ‘the best investments are made at the point of maximum pessimism.’ We don’t know if RIM has reached that point, but we figure it’s pretty close.” “This company has a tremendous brand name that is recognized worldwide. It has 78 million users, 56 million BlackBerry messenger users, patents and a worldwide network.” “When any company gets this cheap it could be taken over, but we believe this is a great Canadian company with a tremendous future. I joined the board to assist in any way I can.” “We’ve never seen a technology company, with assets and talent of this calibre, come down as cheap as the stock of this one has. The marketplace seems to be pricing the stock as if the company might simply close its doors shortly … It’s not like this is a start-up venture capital company. There is a worldwide following, significant capital, tremendous talent and singular focus on innovation.” ----- source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/fairfaxs-watsa-prepares-for-the-worst/article4443471/ If someone would compare RIMM vs APPL on market value relative to user base,... RIMM would be tremendously cheap. APPL $550 billion / 410 million iOS users = $ 1,341.46 RIMM $3.8 billion / 78 million users = $ 48.72 Source of iOS use base: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS

The FFH 2qtr conference call transcript might be an easier task for you ;). ... only 4 pages. http://seekingalpha.com/article/758141-fairfax-financial-holdings-limited-management-discusses-q2-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript

OMG! after the first moments reading the article I took it serious,... thought... some words of an immature beach slide wearing kid... that likes to sound cool,... ... until I saw the smaller headline above the article... fake news and political satire... Lol,... but still hilarious ;D

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX: FFH and FFH.U) announces net earnings of $95.0 million in the second quarter of 2012 ($3.85 per diluted share) compared to net earnings of $83.3 million in the second quarter of 2011 ($3.40 per diluted share), reflecting improved underwriting results (with a consolidated combined ratio of 97.5%) and lower losses on repurchase of long term debt, partially offset by lower interest and dividend income, lower net investment gains and higher income tax expense. http://www.fairfax.ca/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2012/Fairfax-Financial-Holdings-Limited-Second-Quarter-Financial-Results1130334/default.aspx http://www.fairfax.ca/financials/interim-reports/default.aspx

Thanks for posting,... just throws back into my mind a view on Jeffries Group, Inc. (JEF), some smaller investment bank that is favored by LUK. Jefferies Group Inc. is a full-service broker/dealer and investment banker. We acquired Jefferies in the wake of the MF Global bust after a pundit opined that Jefferies was also headed toward failure. We vehemently disagreed and believe Jefferies has unusual opportunities over the next decade as it operates without the constraints placed on commercial banks and Wall Street firms with bank charters. Further creating a vacuum, European financial institutions have retreated, licking their wounds and repatriating capital to deal with problems at home. Our case is reasonably simple – we expect Jefferies to average double digit returns on equity over time and we bought at a significant discount to fully diluted tangible book value. Unlike many of its peers, Jefferies has a balance sheet that is reasonably transparent, much more liquid than most, and supported by a significant amount of long-term capital. Equally as important, Jefferies has talented senior management with “skin in the game.”

Nope,... MrB,... seems bargainman tried to post the "CaseStudy II" --> AIG Here should be the correct link: Fairholme - CaseStudy II --> AIG http://www.fairholmefunds.com/sites/default/files/CaseStudyII180612.pdf I also post the link to the BAC file: Fairholme - CaseStudy I --> BAC http://www.fairholmefunds.com/sites/default/files/CaseStudyI180612.pdf ------------------ Source of Links: http://www.fairholmefunds.com/presentations

You sound like you never want to come back to this board,.. Anyway,... at RIMM they currently have to do some major adjustments. But someone shouldn't forget the strong service revenues,... the overall BlackBerry subscriber base continued to grow, and the subscriber base grew in all regions except for North America. So this part of the business has definitely some good value.

Yup! They are further along than I expected at this point after reading the 2nd Q report. But the stock is doing laps like it's still going to go under, and the market perceives it as the worst capitalized out of all major and regional banks. If Bank of America goes down from some cataclysmic event in the world, then Wells Fargo & JP Morgan won't be far behind...probably days at best...and I doubt if Citigroup would last as long as BAC. The markets are counting the broken branches on the tree, but not examining exactly how strong the trunk is and all of the other branches where leaves will still sprout. Cheers! Except, that as I started to put money into BofA, I thought it would be the only circle of my competence currently under financials. But my knowlege of the AIG situation also grew over the last months and made me very comfortable to put the same amount into AIG,... so currently I have for every $1 of BAC, also about $1 of AIG. Somehow Buffett's IBM share repurchase thesis gave me my "eureka effect" about AIG. The AIG position is mostly in common stock and a few warrants.

my BofA position is a mixture of 70% equity, 25% A warrants, and 5% leaps

Ah, great augustabound,... that you posted this page,... seems you found the same hidden promotional subscription offer that I had found some while ago by harvesting the google site with certain google search strings. Damn,.... I should had posted this earlier,... since I knew it also. The only drawback of the online version is that the single page profiles must be downloaded separately, while the hardcopy edition comes bounded. Anyway,... I can everbody who isn't a subscriber urge to snoop into the free trial subscription and get a sense for this publication.

The SRC Green Book of 50 Years is also pretty interesting. http://www.srcstockcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/digital-prods/Dow30-50YearCharts.pdf There you also have an overview of BofA until 1961 at page 7. Someone could harvest the SRC site with this Google search string: ----------------------------------------- site:srcstockcharts.com filetype:pdf -----------------------------------------

Here's an interesting new article about the Daily Journal Company. Assessing Daily Journal's Value 2012-06-28 http://seekingalpha.com/article/691661-assessing-daily-journal-s-value?source=yahoo

Steven Check of Check Capital Mgmt has on his website some great long term 35 years visual overview of Berkshire's valuation relative to its book value. He has uploaded the SRC charts from securities research company,... BRK.A is on page 4. http://www.checkcapital.com/Current_Holdings_Charts.pdf

Here's another video from Bloomberg just from another angle,... Buffett Empowers Deputies, Raises Funds to $8B (Todd Combs and Ted Weschler) http://www.bloomberg.com/video/buffett-empowers-deputies-raises-their-funds-to-8b-153z8IhhTuOK6JoJhOGwrw.html?cmpid=yhoo

I just saw that he wrote a book in 2011,... The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing) http://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/dp/0231153686/

Bruce Berkowitz of Fairholme Funds posted a new slide show on July 10th. Enjoy! Fairholme Stays The Course 2012-07-10 http://www.fairholmefunds.com/pdf/071012-FairholmeStaysTheCourse.pdf

Well,...now I have found a video clip from today that is 45 minutes long,... if we might subtract the commercial breaks it might be almost the whole interview. ;D http://www.bloomberg.com/video/jpmorgan-s-reputation-intact-for-him-buffett-says-Fuvdy1F5SoSqYINXCOMk3A.html yup,.. I just did watch the video a second time,... the BofA part is at 13:21 min/sec there he is talking about the BofA book and also about the $10 billion

The whole thing is not yet available, but you can watch at least some fragments of a puzzle,... sorry, but it's at least something. http://search1.bloomberg.com/search/?content_type=video&page=1&template=tv&q=Warren%20buffett

Also about Europe he said: The system that they put in place had a fundamental fatal flaw... It can’t survive with the present rules. That’s what they’re learning. The question is, can 17 countries get together in a way to essentially re-do something. It’s kind of hard to patch something with so many people consulting on the patch. Here's the part of the interview: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/buffett-on-euro-u-s-banking-system-housing-JWFK1YrdRt21pVb2GxuW~w.html?cmpid=yhoo

And he also said that he personally hasn't bought GM. It was done through Todd Combs or Ted Weschler,... Buffett wasn't specific and only said that he is not looking at GM. Also he mentioned for a moment that he would have loved to put $10 billion into BofA. Brian Moynihan is doing all the right steps he said.

Seth Klarman is also at the conference.

I just thought for a moment that Sanjeev has mixed up July 4th with April fools day,... LOL ;D

Ben,... unfortunately these are true words what you are saying. I'm myself see everything what might come now from him with some doubt. Just some wise quote from Buffett: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.

Buffett & Jon Bon Jovi perform song together for charity http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/buffett-joins-bon-jovi-in-a-song-for-charity/?partner=yahoofinance http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2012/06/27/the-46-billion-band-warren-buffett-and-jon-bon-jovi-live-at-forbes/ Official Video @ YouTube.com Jon Bon Jovi & Warren Buffett "The Glory of Love" Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. Some private video of the same event: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/zackomalleygreenburg/files/2012/06/BuffettJBJ.jpg

Nothing new about OPAP, but here is an interesting article about the prospects for the Greek stock market after it has plunged 88% since the end of 2007. George Elliott, some lone hedge fund manager is used to being treated as a curiosity. Elliot plans to buy nothing but Greek stocks. <snip>... In March, Elliott met with the investment chief of a family office in London who said within seconds of sitting down that the firm had no interest in giving money to a hedge fund wagering on Greece. The executive merely wanted to hear his story, Elliott, the founder of Naftilia Asset Management Ltd., said in a telephone interview from his office in Athens. Elliott, 39, responded by asking a few questions of his own, including whether the executive had invested in Russia after its 1998 currency crisis, in Argentina 10 years ago after the nation defaulted on its debt or in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) in March 2009, when the benchmark plunged to its lowest point in 13 years. Finally, Elliott questioned whether the family office’s investment chief had ever bought shares of Apple Inc. In all cases, the answer was no. “Then you are not qualified to be discussing Greece with me because you have missed the best investment opportunities over the past 20 years,” Elliott retorted. ...<snip> Here's the full article about George Elliott: Lonely Hedge Fund Bullish on Greece Tries to Woo Investors http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-20/lonely-hedge-fund-bullish-on-greece-tries-to-woo-investors#p1 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-20/lonely-hedge-fund-bullish-on-greece-tries-to-woo-investors.html ----- Here is the site of Naftilia Asset Management: http://www.naftiliaassetmanagement.com/