gfp

buying a little more http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/93859/000092189511000440/xslF345X03/form407428007_03032011.xml

Last time I checked, none of those companies are for sale in their entirety.

A dividend will not change the fact that the Gates Foundation is required to sell Berkshire stock to comply with federal excise tax rules limiting excess business holdings by private foundations. It's the same law that forced the sale of Pabst Blue Ribbon (that foundation was out of compliance for years).

He cracked me up on the Genworth conference call last year. some info on that here: http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-eisman-genworth-conference-call-recording-2010-10 As you probably know, he was a very public critic of the financing practices surrounding the for-profit education sector. He likely made a decent return on his short of the equities in that sector. He was a colleague / mentor of both Meredith Whitney and Alice Schroeder at Oppenheimer.

It's because they delayed the release of their Q4 results.

http://www.fibrek.com/static/en/PDF/infoFinanciere/investorsPresentation.pdf

I'll take "E.On's UK power grid for $6B". I guess that's either #3 or #5

the dataroma.com site also helps you track the changes in position size. It's a good site.

Chanos is also interesting, I thought.

A long list, but Buffett and Bury are great. Mp3 audio files, very long http://www.fcic.gov/resource/interviews

I think GoodReader, which I use for pdf files primarily, can support just about any file type you can come up with. I have several conference call audio files in there.

It is illegal to melt pre-1965 "junk" silver (dimes, nickels, quarters) also, but that doesn't stop it from being highly liquid and tradable at it's silver melt value. I don't hold silver that way, but it seems popular.

It's less than .4% of their assets under management. I don't know what portion of their over 3.5 Trillion in AUM is in equities, but that's not a big position considering BRK.B is one of the largest companies in the S&P 500.

I make sure to print from a pdf (or .doc if you are reading microsoft's financials, as they insist..) - then it comes out nice. Most companies make a pdf available, for the rest you would need to use a service like morningstar document research. Since the ipad came out, I barely ever print a large filing. Some of the new tablets with pdf reading capabilities should be great for investment analysts.

And some VERY Buffett-like views on Philanthropy at the end. From a 29 year old that doesn't know he's about to be fired. Really great stuff.

Thanks for this article! He had a very Buffett-like description of Frito-Lay's franchise value.. This is the best Steve Jobs article I have ever seen.

http://www.munichre.com/en/ir/publications/notifications/default.aspx

Another very cost effective way to get started is to use Interactive Brokers' advisor platform for separate accounts. You can start with a 'friends and family' account if you have fewer than 15 clients in most states, I believe. The advisor platform is the same as you grow. They can take fees for you under most any fee scheme you can come up with. And since it's IB - you can trade most equities worldwide. They don't have as easy a time with distressed bonds or very thinly traded OTC stuff though. Here's an article that describes IB's offering. (note: I do not agree with the title) http://leighdrogen.com/the-hedge-fund-structure-is-dead/

From this article, it sounds like Flood Insurance is privatized in Australia. And not widely held by homeowners due to its high cost. http://tinyurl.com/4s54dbv

Sounds like he is not a shareholder. How big is the private company in question?

Or maybe not... I could have guessed wrong in the above post. I really could have been just a one time Graham type cigar butt trade. (whatever produced this specific gain appears to have been sold by year end, indicating it probably wasn't Blue Chip)

Sanborn was earlier - early 60's. While Buffett didn't ever disclose the idea specifically, the timing would suggest that the simple industry idea was that Trading Stamp companies had insurance like float. The "time had come" probably refers to the settling of Blue Chip's lawsuits with the Department of Justice and competitor S&H Green stamps. This resulted in large blocks of Blue Chip stock being distributed to grocers, which Buffett and Munger accumulated. So my guess, based on the classification as a "General - private owner" in his letter, and the timing and magnitude is that he was referring to Blue Chip.

Much, much faster here in New Orleans

I just received an email from netflix two minutes ago stating that they are raising the prices. For my plan, 3 blu-ray discs at a time + unlimited streaming, the price is going from 20.99 / month to 23.99 / month. This is their response to the content negotiations. We'll see what the effect on membership churn is.. (the email also details a new 7.99 / month plan that only includes online streaming, no dvds) all prices are usd

Soybeans: http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=soybeans&months=300 Corn: http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=corn&months=300