berkshiremystery

The ice is melting further beneath SAC.... Probation for Ex-SAC Analyst Who Cooperated in Insider Trading Inquiries 2013-01-09 NYTimes.com http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/probation-for-ex-sac-analyst-who-cooperated-in-insider-trading-inquiries/ ------- SAC analyst Wesley Wang, who helped government with insider trading probe, gets only two years probation 2013-01-09 NYPost.com http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/sac_sentence_drops_hint_to_martoma_CPPV972H9kbITMUMJZHYfK ------ Former SAC analyst who cooperated with probe gets probation 2013-01-09 Reuters.com http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/09/wang-hedgefunds-idUSL1E9C99T820130109 ========= It seems they close an office to cut expenses... SAC to Close Chicago Office 2013-01-10 WSJ.com http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323442804578234040466328894.html ----- SAC may lose $30 million in revenue amid withdrawals 2013-01-11 StamfordAdvocate.com http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/SAC-may-lose-30-million-in-revenue-amid-4187477.php#ixzz2Ho7RJIIh http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/SAC-may-lose-30-million-in-revenue-amid-4187477.php

Lawyers Preventing Financial Advisors from Investing in SAC Capital 2013-01-11 FOX Business (Video 5:15min) http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2088210328001/

Welcome Kyle,... I'm looking forward to read your followup letters.

https://www.ironkey.com/product/products-for-windows/ sure,... and they are also funded by the government ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IronKey

Why does this interview always come in pieces, now part 8 of this series,... I feel like searching for Easter eggs. ;D

Berkshire Venture Buys Hendricks in Buffett Apartment Bet 2013-01-09 Bloomberg.com Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC, the real estate venture backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), acquired closely held Hendricks & Partners to expand in apartment sales and research. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-09/berkshire-venture-buys-hendricks-in-buffett-apartment-bet.html?cmpid=yhoo

Icahn might have joined Loeb on the long side. “It’s going to be an Ackman sandwich,” one hedge fund manager wailed. ------- Of those 4, Ackman is the only one short. Whoops my error, Chapman is long HLF and is a 35% position Herbalife: Why I Made It a 35% Position after the Bill Ackman Bear Raid 2013-01-01 http://thompsonburton.com/mlmattorney/2013/01/01/herbalife-why-i-made-it-a-35-position-after-the-bill-ackman-bear-raid/ ------ Some interesting old article,... Dated July 2000 Robert Chapman @ WSJ.com In 2000, Chapman Capital was an activist versus Herbalife following the death of Herbalife’s founder Mark Hughes 2000-07-19 https://m.box.com/view_custom/thompsonburton/chapmancapital https://dl.boxcloud.com/bc/1/bd7f1525c43c390f286792b9a049b5e0/JolueqOGpciD6dgYhecNBoVpYxkvmYe1ZLheZor6BF4DUBIelMQTkFwYIys3nIibNIIEHUp447tBZLaXDzIbNQ,,/a565f18696edf9a0ceef05fcc7e91ab6/

Damn,... I did even lurk at BronteCapital's blog after years,... because somebody here in the other HLF thread did mention it,... LOL He has similar words as Munger.... This is the hedge-fund equivalent of Stalingrad. Someone is going to lose big. And the victor will be so bloodied that the word victory will sound hollow...

That's a new part, but still from the same interview series as before. ----- Here's part 5 Checklist Investing: How to Avoid Errors and Learn From Mistakes (=Mohnish Pabrai) 2013-01-08 Fool.com PabraiShorts05 ---> http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/01/08/checklist-investing-how-to-avoid-errors-and-learn.aspx

I might throw some things into thinking,... specially also the word "temporal analysis". Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise hunting future criminals may be spoky,... is it,... but currently the C.I.A.'s secretive "In-Q-Tel" venture capital subsidiary in a partnership with Google Ventures is experimenting in predicting future outcomes of events unfolding today through their Recorded Future, Inc. investment. Recorded Future tries to build a similar algorithm like Google famous page-rank algorithm,... by harvesting "chatters" accross all the Internet, Reuters, Bloomberg...and CNN news reports, Facebook, Twitter, boards and forums,... etc. ...comparable like Sanjeev beeing some secretive overlord here and watching these boards over those years,... seeing a slowly rising trend in BAC & AIG discussion threads. That's "Eureka" !!! I have found the Tooth Fairy,... like the little boy in "A.I.", an artificial robotic little boy, that becomes almost human in his feelings through genetic algorithms, just by stalking and crawling his positronic brain. Of course, there are many variables that make the future blurry the more agents interact in complex systems,... i.e. Edward Lorenz Butterfly Effect/Chaos Theory. But at least this new developing science field and such an algorithm might spot new emerging trends. Google Teams Up With CIA to Fund "Recorded Future" Startup Monitoring Public An Introduction Recorded Future http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2YQNQ_GLe9Q&feature=m-ch-fea Intelligence Analysis @ Recorded Future http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5CZQaFWWKtA ------- RecordedFuture, Inc. https://www.recordedfuture.com/ RecordedFuture, Inc. @ Wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recorded_Future In-Q.-Tel (C.I.A.'s venture capial firm) @ Wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-Q-Tel

My personal guess is roughly around $7b,... below is my math: Around 10.78b shares outstanding x $0.98 EPS (e) for 2013 = $10.56b / 3 x 2* = $7.04b * means about 2/3 will be returned (1/3 as dividends and 1/3 repurchases) http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=BAC+Key+Statistics http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ae?s=BAC+Analyst+Estimates

The easy money has been made with the run-up from about $5 to $12 in the in the last 12 months where knowbody wanted to believe in BofA. The next phase will definitely follow, but it will be a little more modest until we might see around next Christmas prices around $17. Thus only a gain of around/ less than half the value of the past year for the dumb money of folks like Cramer & Co, who joined too late. Of course, if all legacy issues are cleared and behind them, they will probably come closer to WFC's BV multiple over the following years. For a three year horizon, they might even double from current valuations at $12, depending on the underlying variables influencing them. ----- Bank of America cut to neutral at Credit Suisse 2013-01-09 MarketWatch.com Current valuation appears to be ahead of the company's near to intermediate-term performance and appears to be discounting significantly faster improvements in efficiency than we would be expecting," Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a note to clients http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-america-cut-to-neutral-at-credit-suisse-2013-01-09-891212?siteid=yhoof2

Thank you again,... for posting the updated new link ;D

The Secret Of Warren Buffett's Alpha 2013-01-07 SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.com/article/1097441-the-secret-of-warren-buffett-s-alpha http://static.cdn-seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/1/6/616824-13574492994691684-Sean-Bellamy-McNulty_origin.png http://static.cdn-seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/1/6/616824-13574493197995718-Sean-Bellamy-McNulty_origin.png http://static.cdn-seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/1/6/616824-13574493877146635-Sean-Bellamy-McNulty_origin.png

Why Warren Buffett Keeps Buying IBM 2013-01-08 Forbes.com Buffett said in Nov. 2011 on NBC when he announced owning a stake in the company that “he would not be announcing it if he were not pretty much done” buying shares. But over the next 3 qtr's he has found the stock attractive enough to continue buying, making it the 2nd most-bought stock in his portfolio, and causing investors to ask why. IBM consistently uses “Road Maps: · $50 billion in share repurchases · $20 billion in dividends · $20 in EPS (non-GAAP) · $100 billion in free cash flow · $20 billion spending on acquisitions · Software becoming about half of segment profit http://www.forbes.com/sites/gurufocus/2013/01/08/why-warren-buffett-keeps-buying-ibm/

Only the medical profession appears twice in contradiction,... surgeon vs doctors. The surgeon must probably be a Dr. Hannibal Lecter without emotions while cutting in flesh and blood. :o The home doctor otherwise some sensitive character, because he never does surgeries. ----- The following jobs have the highest rate of psychopaths, according to Dutton's research: 1. Chief Executive Officer 2. Lawyer 3. Media (Television/Radio) 4. Salesperson 5. Surgeon 6. Journalist 7. Police officer 8. Clergy person 9. Chef 10. Civil servant It shouldn't be a shocker that professions that require empathy or emotion had a lower rate of psychopaths. According to Dutton, these professions have the lowest rate of psychopaths. 1. Care aide 2. Nurse 3. Therapist 4. Craftsperson 5. Beautician or stylist 6. Charity worker 7. Teacher 8. Creative artist 9. Doctor 10. Accountant

Hi RJ, No, not currently. I don't think George puts the conference presentations online. Prem also doesn't like videotaping the AGM, and because they attend the dinner, we don't record that either. We will have photographs from all of the events on here, and I'll get a volunteer from each event to write up a summary for boardmembers and post it on here. Cheers! I only know that "Buffett_Groupie" made some photographs as usual last year at the dinner and uploaded them to KodakGallery.com,... but the old link posted by him here at the board seems currently outdated. Anyway,... Sanjeev finally got my dinner ticket purchase about one hour ago, ;D and money should be in your Paypal account by now.

50 Most Influential 2012: a ranking of Toronto’s top tycoons, backroom operators and supersize egos TorontoLife 2012-12-03 Main Story http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/from-print-edition-informer/2012/12/03/50-most-influential-2012/#more-179422 Prem Watsa http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/from-print-edition-informer/2012/12/03/50-most-influential-2012/37/

Daniel Loeb Up 21 Percent on Wins in Greek Bonds, Yahoo, AIG 2013-01-04 GuruFocus.com http://www.nasdaq.com/article/daniel-loeb-up-21-percent-on-wins-in-greek-bonds-yahoo-aig-cm204367#.UOjAOny9KK0

Welcome Phaceliacapital! you might be interest to study one of board's silent lurkers ;D (i.e.,... Mohnish Pabrai moves inside the shipping industry). Among Pabrai’s classic value investments that is spoken of in admiration in the market is when he dipped into the Norwegian oil tanker firm Frontline in 2002 soon after shipping rates fell to $5,000 a day. To remain profitable, the company needed rates of at least $18,000 a day on its 70 double-hulled oil tankers. Investors fled the stock, and it fell to $3.Frontline wasn’t considered a classic value play since it didn’t have much by way of net current assets. But it had hard assets in the form of tankers. Pabrai studied the oil shipping business and discovered that small Greek shippers with near-obsolete single-hulled tankers were being hurt more than Frontline and were selling their ships for scrap. So he knew that when oil demand next surged, Frontline would be able to command premium rates. Months later, Frontline was charging $50,000 a day per tanker and Pabrai made a killing.

Here's Prem's belated Christmas gift for all of you. If you like it or not depends on each individual investors perspective. I know, a lot of you guys & dolls, might have wanted to keep it the Berkshire way,... without naughty presents. ;D. But anyway,... this is the amount what most folks probably had expected, if we get a dividend. ----- Fairfax Declares Annual Dividend of $10 USD per share Toronto, Friday, 2013-01-04 http://www.fairfax.ca/news/press-releases/press-release-details/2013/Fairfax-Declares-Annual-Dividend1132512/default.aspx http://www.fairfax.ca/files/PRFFH%20Jan%202013%20Declares%202012%20Annual%20Dividend_v001_q2qil2.pdf Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX: FFH and FFH.U) announces that it has declared a dividend of US$10.00 per share on its outstanding multiple voting and subordinate voting shares, payable on January 29, 2013 to shareholders of record on January 22, 2013. Applicable Canadian withholding tax will be applied to dividends payable to non-residents of Canada.

Happy New Year 2013 to all board members

Well,... here's also part 2 of this interview series... Financial-Crisis Lessons From a Great Investor (=Mohnish Pabrai) 2012-12-14 Fool.com PabraiShort02 Video ---> http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/12/14/a-great-investors-lessons-from-the-financial-crisi.aspx

The Untraditional Path of Becoming a Great Investor (=Mohnish Pabrai) 212-12-14 Fool.com PabraiShorts01 Video ---> http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/12/14/the-untraditional-path-of-becoming-a-great-investo.aspx

Here seems to be another part from the interview,... at least it seems to be made at the same day, because he wears the same suit and tie. The No. 1 Trait of a Successful Investor (=Mohnish Pabrai) 2012-12-17 Fool.com PabraiShorts03 Video ---> http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/12/17/the-number-one-trait-of-a-successful-investor.aspx