gfp

The publicly traded 22 strike warrants Icahn pushed for aren’t doing too badly either. Much like the BAC deal, there were at least some similar if not identical securities trading publicly. how is IEP not catching any bid considering its top holdings and an active HBO doc? Must be crazy overvalued? I never quite wrapped my head around the strange distribution but knowing Carl it’s somehow genius for him.

Thanks for directing my attention to EBAY - not a company I had looked at in many years and I was surprised at both the market cap and the pace of share repurchases. I bid 54 premarket at it ran higher without filling anything

Thanks Viking. Looking forward to reading it this evening! It is going to be hard to top last year's letter's 27 exclamation points in 33 pages so I will take the 'under.'

Or maybe it is tonight after the close? I feel like Fairfax emails it out on a Friday night

Thanks. Second lazy question - when are we expecting the Fairfax annual shareholder's letter to be released? (and is there a drinking game involving the number of exclamation points used by Prem?)

Anyone know offhand what percentage of Exco Resources Fairfax owns? Estimate of value?

I think you will find that modern electrical work is one of the easiest skills to master. I actually kind of enjoy electrical work because it is so easy to do yourself. I got started by wiring a few complete houses (open wall) alongside my electrician so I learned his methods and pet peeves, etc. Fishing wires in closed walls isn't nearly as fun but it sounds like you have access from below.

We have used a product called Waterlox, which is a penetrating wiping varnish - it is like many thin "in the wood" solvent based finishes as opposed to "on the wood" film finishes like thicker poly. Waterlox is basically mineral spirits, oil (probably modified tung and linseed) and resin (like urethane). I'm not sure they even sell solvent based finishes in California. These types of countertops tend to hold up fine on a kitchen island that doesn't contain a sink, where we edge join the slabs together to make large island countertops. The wiping varnish (Waterlox) type products make quick refinishes between tenants fairly easy. We use a non-glossy satin for the final coat. Another problem we run into down here is that a big slab of wood (even one made up of many smaller pieces glued up) doesn't like being sealed only on one side - and it is uncommon to pre-seal all of the cuts and underside of the butcher block countertops before installation. You can have a situation where a warm, steamy dishwasher and unconditioned under-sink cabinet area conflicts with the dry air-conditioned area on top and the big slabs want to cup - this is more of an issue on bigger slabs, like a peninsula, where two countertop slabs are glued up to obtain depth for the overhang over the half-wall and barstool area. We have never tried building up a film on top of the wood like traditional thick polyurethane. We use one called "Behlen Rockhard" in satin on other stuff but I can't remember if that would leave rings where drinks are set down. Still can't put anything hot on it. I know granite can be ugly, but there are quite a few better looking granites available plus any of the manmade quartz countertops - they can all handle hot pans right out of the oven and the acid from citrus, vinegar, etc... Carrera marble is cheap and beautiful but even with the best sealers it will etch from citrus and eventually take stains - better in a honed finish but will still etch and scratch, marble is very soft. My apologies for the long reply

The main problem with wood countertops is water around the kitchen sink. I have units with solid butcher block countertops and they are very easy to self-install and inexpensive. But after a few years the areas around the sinks are all messed up. If you use an over mount stainless steel sink with a fairly large apron that drains toward the sink that could help. I wouldn't recommend wood countertops with an under-mount sink. Ikea used to sell a cheap porcelain farmhouse style sink called domsjo that sat on top of the wood countertops and that did ok preventing water damage but the sink and cabinet are difficult to replace when a tenant damages the porcelain sink. Also that look is now dated. You guys will figure it out - have fun!

This is a good question to call Interactive Brokers and ask. Or if you are not in a hurry, open a ticket and wait a couple days for the ticket to end up at the appropriate person.

That's great. I've built and rebuilt hundreds of all wood windows over the years. Make sure to use real "sash cord" and not some random similar rope. Hopefully the original weights are still in the pockets. Sometimes they end up one floor below in the wall LOL

Much cuter. Nice project

Congratulations on the project Eric. As someone who has done all of those renovation tasks many times I will recommend that you don't do it all yourself but if you have plenty of time, tools and want to learn go for it! If the neighborhood really is rough, make sure you secure the property really well while you are renovating it. (other advice, don't use wood or marble countertops on an airbnb - use something durable) It's this one?

Most of the folks at Berkshire are pretty responsive and helpful if you don't bug them too much and you don't ask about nonpublic information. I usually email with Mr. Hamburg after the annual report but don't bother him the rest of the year. People at Berkshire home office are busy!

Don't forget $9 Billion of avg. annual float growth

I don't know why it wasn't included but asked Marc Hamburg and will report back if I get an answer. As for the equity method question, I beleive it has to do with commitments to remain passive shareholders in the agreement between DaVita and Berkshire/Ted. For the same reason, I would not expect American Express to become an equity method investment this year. **edit: I believe at least 17.5 million of Berkshire's DaVita shares are held in pension funds **edit: CFO confirms the above, about half of the DVA position is in pension funds

And the last one, wouldn't fit in first post: 20087.2021.P.AN.PO.O.M.4259202.pdf

Had a couple requests for the 2021 annual NAIC filings from National Indemnity now that they are released. Posting them here since I can't put attachments on private messages. 20087.2021.P.AN.PI.O.M.4259200.pdf20087.2021.P.AN.PK.O.M.4259201.pdf

What's wrong with Chris? Seems at least as good as Meryl Whitmer.

You can buy a nice western railroad at 1x market price and pay no premium and feel better about it but it will cost you over $150 Billion. (11x Book Value) Or there is a comparable railroad held on Berkshire's books at $46 Billion (BNSF member equity) that can and does dividend out 100% of the free cash flow tax free. Berkshire's tax basis in Apple doesn't really matter when discussing book value since the taxes Berkshire hasn't paid are fully subtracted from book. So is $147 Billion in useless float and a bunch of other liabilities that will never be paid. What do you think the insurance companies are carried at on Berkshire's books? Right around accounting net worth. This isn't a company loaded with bogus goodwill. They haven't even purchased a big company recently, only written one down by $10B and further reduced accounting net worth by repurchasing $53 Billion worth of shares at a premium to book. I get it that some people think Berkshire is fully valued at 1.4x trailing book but the 'Berkshire is a fund and should trade at "NAV"' argument is not correct. How would you value this $147 Billion liability? edit: happy mardi gras morning!!!!! take it to the streets!

So your bet is SPY outperforms BRK going forward. Got it, Thanks

So not a single "ticker" or "name" to share with us amateurs?

RiskAdjReturn, curious what "tickers" you like better and own in size currently?

Working on something today I downloaded a few of National Indemnity's recent filings with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and thought I would upload them here for anyone curious for a more recent "look under the hood" of the Berkshire subsidiary that actually owns many of the other Berkshire subsidiaries. Hopefully they are attached here as PDF files. Only the nerdiest would probably be interested in these - fair warning... (file ending ..892 is the most recent quarter, Q3. The other filings are annual filings from 2020) file ending ...812 shows many of the actual sales dates and prices of shares sold in 2020, the airlines, wells fargo, costco, apple, oxy dividend shares, etc. Also shows the acquisitions of the japanese trading company shares with specifics. One undisclosed item I found is that Berkshire (likely Ted or Todd) purchased $646 million worth of Airbus shares in France on 7/30/2021. Most undisclosed investments are hidden inside "Harney Investment Trust" - the vehicle Berkshire has used to hide investments from public view since 1998. Another data point is that Berkshire OXY warrants currently have a strike price of 59.624 (originally it was 62.50 but Icahn had them do a dilutive deal that adjusted Berkshire's strike per the terms) 20087.2020.P.AN.PM.O.A.4100394.pdf 20087.2020.P.AN.PF.O.J.4176868.pdf 20087.2021.P.Q3.P.O.3.4228892.pdf 20087.2020.P.AN.PI.O.M.4067812.pdf

And if you are sold on his HollyFrontier thesis, they held a sale today. (and an earnings announcment)