gfp

He said he didn't have a European acquisition at this time to use it for, and that he planned to change it into dollars - but would be perfectly happy to find something and change it back into Euros. I would certainly leave 400 million in Euros and pay for the entire Motorcycle supplies company with it though. It does seem like he may have a potential large acquisition in the works. He said he sold XOM because he had another use for the money. The way he was saying DE will have a tough next couple years made me hope he bids for the entire company. Would certainly make Howie's day..

So much for "praise by name and criticize by category"..

A lot of them are owned by foreign governments like Japan and China. Then you have insurance companies and pension funds, etc... Even Berkshire - which obviously knows they are a lousy investment - owns $1.75 Billion worth (not counting the Clayton loans).

Charlie is definitely publicly tipping Ajit and Greg Abel as the two successor CEO possibilities. Not that that should come as a surprise, but this is the most explicit naming of a narrowed field we have seen so far. Leave it to Charlie!

8 am eastern http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/FEB2615.pdf

I collect original Berkshire Hathaway annual reports. My collection covers every year since 1985 (some I purchased and some were given to me as gifts).

RIP Irving Kahn - 109 years old! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-26/irving-kahn-investor-who-made-money-in-1929-crash-dies-at-109

Sorry for slightly off-topic, as this is not really a European business - but Exor / Agnelli family is selling Cushman & Wakefield, which would probably be a good fit for either Berkadia or stuck in adjacent to HomeServices. http://www.wsj.com/articles/cushman-wakefield-going-up-for-sale-1424820846?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

insurance insider article this morning - ----------------- Brit CEO Mark Cloutier has underlined his intention to remain at the company for the foreseeable future, as well as indicating that there may be opportunities for him in the longer-term at other operations within Fairfax Financial. In addition to publishing its full-year results this morning (25 February) - which showed a 40.5 percent jump in pre-tax profits to £149.1mn - Brit announced the promotion of Matthew Wilson from head of global specialty to group deputy CEO and CUO. Wilson has long been assumed to be Cloutier's designated successor, which the CEO said the business has made no secret of. "Matthew has been the architect of the significant improvement in our underwriting business, and in my view his leadership is critical to the future of the business," Cloutier told The Insurance Insider. "That doesn't mean that I'm going anywhere soon...but it does set a clear indication of the future direction of the business." Cloutier went on to say that there was no timetable for how long he would remain in charge at Brit, but that he intended to be at the helm for "some time", adding: "My principal job right now is to make Brit fit into Fairfax and make it a big contributor to shareholder value at Fairfax." And hinting at future collaborations with Fairfax CEO Prem Watsa, Cloutier added: "My hope is that I'll continue to work with Matthew and the team here for the foreseeable future, and it may be that I'll have the opportunity to poke my fingers around into things that Prem may ask me to help out with." Watsa has known Cloutier since the latter worked for Fairfax's loss adjuster Morden & Helwig. The two have remained in contact ever since, and their relationship was thought to be a key factor in the speed at which the proposed merger was agreed. The Fairfax CEO prevented a potential bidding war for Brit by offering a $1.88bn binding all-cash offer just 10 days after entering into serious negotiations. Commenting on the importance of his personal relationship with Watsa in getting the deal over the line quickly, Cloutier said that the fact they'd done business together in the past and knew how each other worked certainly helped. "There have been a couple of pretty large transactions that I've been involved in with Prem where we were able to do [them] on a hand shake, the old-fashioned way. So I think a combination of a longstanding relationship and understanding of each other - and certainly from my side an appreciation of how Prem does things - was an enabler for the transaction to move very quickly," he said. "Given we'd traded in the past, there was a level of trust that really enabled the transaction, which is what underpinned the ability of the deal to get done quickly. Given the business we're in, the market outlook and all the uncertainty facing our businesses today, a rapid, well-priced deal with the highest level of certainty was in the best interest of all of our shareholders." Cloutier also suggested that Brit's chief investment officer John Stratton, the main architect behind the carrier's impressive 2.9 percent investment return, could yet be retained. Under traditional Fairfax take-overs, the investments of the merged entity are moved into Fairfax's portfolio. Cloutier said that he expected Brit would move towards the Fairfax model, but said he would not speculate on what that meant for the company's staff. He added: "Having said that, John's done an outstanding job for us, and that's recognised, so I don't think people should make any assumptions one way or the other."

Exactly right - they pay a dividend so Prem can "make sure that my family survives." Simple as that - from the 2000 annual report: "This brings me to my own compensation arrangements. For many years now I have felt that as a controlling shareholder involved in the management of the company, my compensation should be closely linked to all shareholders. So from 2000 onwards, my compensation will be a fixed salary of $600,000 with no bonuses. This compensation will not increase annually, and if 1999/2000 is repeated, could decrease!! However, to make sure that my family survives, Fairfax will examine instituting a dividend – yes, a modest dividend – in 2001 at an annual rate of $1 or $2 per share. Going forward, the only difference between me and you, our shareholders, will be my salary of $600,000 – which based on recent performance, many of you may think is too high! While the payment of a modest dividend results in double taxation to most of you and is not as economically efficient as retaining all our profits and compounding at high rates of return (as we have done for the past 15 years), this was the only way I could think of to bring my compensation in line with your interests. While I may have generated some sympathy from you, I should add that I continue to travel well – in fact a little better recently because we sold our Lear Jet for US$2.5 million (cost US$1.8 million) and purchased a Gulfstream II for US$6.2 million."

Berkshire board member, former KO President, and close friend of Buffett http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/02/24/buffett-on-keough-everybody-loved-him/ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-24/donald-keough-coca-cola-president-behind-new-coke-dies-at-88

Berkshire did recently offer preferred equity financing for Coty's offer for Avon - so he isn't completely averse to cosmetics if someone else is running it. I don't remember the terms and the deal didn't go anywhere, but perhaps it was very lucrative financing and nothing more. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/in-backing-cotys-bid-for-avon-buffett-takes-unusual-step/?_r=0

Here is an article with more detail on how Buffett is using Ted and Todd (and others) to do a lot of the heavy lifting - these guys are really looking perfect for the job so far. Ted, especially, seems to have Warren's complete confidence and is invaluable to BRK. http://www.sltrib.com/home/2211912-155/buffett-delegating-even-more-to-his

my apologies if this has already been posted/discussed, but I saw this blurb from Insurance Insider in my inbox a few moments ago and found it interesting. I have not received the entire article yet - but it sounds like Prem pulled a Warren on this negotiation - "Watsa forestalls Brit process with snap take-it-or-leave-it bid Fairfax Financial founder Prem Watsa prevented a potential bidding war for Brit Insurance by offering a $1.88bn binding all-cash offer just 10 days after entering into serious negotiations, and threatened to walk away if the proposal was not accepted in short order. Sources said that the ingredients were in place for a semi-formal auction process, with at least two other parties in discussions with Brit, including an Asian strategic interest. It is understood that one of the other parties involved was Japanese big three member Mitsui Sumitomo - the business that came closest to consummating a deal with Brit before its IPO last spring."

here's a note from Insurance Insider this morning on the relationship - http://www.insuranceinsider.com/assets/_files/html/alerts/1_1253471_p.html?utm_source=Insider-Publishing&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=Untitled&utm_campaign=Brit+secures+autonomy+with+%241.9bn+Fairfax+sale%3a+Insider+Analysis&utm_cid=16968 Happy Mardi Gras

As with Fairholme, you aren't required to include securities in your 13F that don't trade on a major exchange apparently.

At the moment, most of the segments are here: http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4032604090001/buffett-my-aunt-gave-me-20k-to-get-started/?#sp=show-clips No transcript that I have seen, but this article covers most of it: http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2015/02/04/still-feisty-after-all-these-years/?intcmp=bigtopmarketfeaturesside

berkowitz is holding a conference call right now. You should listen to it. (there is no new news)

Where does he say it is a net-net? Not being a subscriber to his paid newsletter, there is nothing of substance at the link you provided. Not too long ago it could be said that the company had "net cash" or a "net cash position." But a net-net is much more rare, especially in large US companies.

Seriously? I need to start charging my friend/family when they call me with their computer/network problems.... :) My wifi router is about 3 years old and I think I needed to unplug it and plug it back in once or twice in that time, but other than that no problems. It sounds like this person you know should just buy a new router and fire his tech guy. It's several houses that are attached by breezeway / hallway thingies. With multiple guest structures, etc... I think the stucco wire mesh creates some type of faraday cage that makes the wi-fi system fairly complicated. But old people can't fix that type of stuff. They CAN throw tantrums when the wi-fi doesn't work at their home but works perfectly at an $8/night hostel...

"If I had a few million that I had to spend, but couldn't buy a house/car/boat/rv/lawyer how could I possibly spend the money?" International luxury travel can add up - especially if you are flying private. The most conspicuous consumers I know spend a lot on travel, a lot on renovations of properties, a lot on "pet projects" - exotic tree farm with a 'writing cabin' in the middle anyone?... And a lot on gifts of high-end items to others, including family. Having a family full of private school tuitions and private university tuitions can add up as well. I know someone who spends tens of thousands a year just to have someone on call to fix the wi-fi in their home when it goes out (which is constantly)... It's ridiculous.

They could have purchased Tim Hortons shares in Canada and they wouldn't have to report them on the 13F at all. It is also possible they invested in 3G partnerships directly and received interests in the common that way - but that is not common for Buffett.

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere on the board, but on the same day as the Charter Brokerage acquisition announcement Berkshire sent out a press release confirming the closing of their investment in QSR, Restaurant Brands International (the BKW-THI merger). What was previously unreported about the deal is that Berkshire will hold 4.18% of the common shares (and 14.37% of the votes because of the preferred shares) following the deal. Since the penny warrants were only for 1.75% of the common, this means Berkshire purchased a meaningful stake (over $400 million USD) in either BKW or THI before the merger (or has investments in the 3G partnership itself). 2.43% of the combined company was accumulated by Berkshire and 1.75% was given for almost free. http://berkshirehathaway.com/news/DEC1214-2.pdf

The deal is worth your $62.12 number and you can buy BHI in the market for 55.45. That is the spread. Forget about the 78.62 number.

It's the second bolt-on at Lubrizol in a week. They are going to combine today's two companies with the PSX sub they swapped for. Here is last week's LZ bolt-on - probably a couple hundred million but not disclosed: http://newscenter.lubrizol.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=250972&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1992404