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https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220430005003/en/Berkshire-Hathaway-Inc.-First-Quarter-2022-Earnings-Release and the 10Q: https://berkshirehathaway.com/qtrly/1stqtr22.pdf (approx. $3.2 Billion repurchase in Q1, essentially no repurchase from quarter end -> 4/20) At today's ~323/share market price and BVPS of $230.3/sh, we are right at 1.4x quarter end BVPS currently. Cash is way down, Berkshire purchased over $51 Billion of equity securities (gross - also sold $9.7B worth of equity securities) in the quarter and started adding to their fixed income holdings, which had shrunk to $16 billion at year-end and are now at ~$21B.

Results out - https://s1.q4cdn.com/579586326/files/doc_financials/2022/PRFFH-2022-Q1-Press-Release.pdf

Well I imagine the prices and volatility will change by the time the options market opens post-earnings tomorrow but who knows

So we have two "cheap" stocks trading near their 52 week lows reporting earnings tomorrow before the bell - BC and ABG. Both are likely to report a good quarter, ABG is likely to raise guidance. Will be interesting to see market reaction.

I always thought those google ads were targeted to the people seeing them. So if you don't like what is being advertised to you, look within, clear your cookies, etc. My ads on this site are from Allbirds, Harbor Freight, the Salvation Army and Restaurant August (a restaurant in New Orleans).

Yeah, the only thing that would convince me to sell rental properties would be a belief that the costs to insure them (flood + hazard) would be likely to become uneconomic in the future. If the insurance has already become uneconomic, it's too late, and the market price that you could sell for is probably already impaired. If you think you see the writing on the wall for future insurance / property tax expenses, it may make sense to sell a few of the worst offenders. Especially the ones where the interest rate resets every 5 years (5+ units).

Berkshire's proxy statement lists an updated share count for March 2, 2022: 614,692 A-shares and 1,287,633,719 b-shares That comes out to a b-share equivalent share count of: 2,209,671,719 2/14/2022 share count was a b-share equivalent of 2,214,212,161 So in the approximately two weeks there, it looks like Berkshire continued share repurchases and spent something like $1.4 Billion. I had in my notes that 12/31/2021 -> 2/14/2022 was something around $555 million worth (estimated dollar value). So: 12/31/2021 -> 3/2/2022, repurchases were about $2 Billion worth, depending on what average price you use. FWIW, current market cap is approximately $741 Billion. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/meet01/2022proxy.pdf There is some other new stuff in there. Susan Decker was elected "lead independent director" (this had been Bill Gates a few years ago) and the language about Howie becoming non-executive chairman after Warren is no longer on the scene is replaced by "a member of the Buffett family." So it could be Susie. Other new information is how much Berkshire stock the new board members own. Susie has quite a few non-foundation shares, likely inherited from her Mother or grandparents, Christopher Davis has quite a few A shares personally, and Wally Weitz has a ton of stock although he put most of it in his foundation. Ajit also has more than $200m worth of Berkshire shares when you include shares in his foundations. Impressive share ownership by the directors.

Well the annual reports are the best information source and they are easy to find. https://www.fairfax.ca/financials/annual-reports/default.aspx Just the annual letters are here: https://www.fairfax.ca/financials/letter-to-shareholders/default.aspx There was also a book they put out called "Fair and Friendly, the first 25 years of Fairfax Financial" that is probably not easy to find.

"Alleghany did not receive any alternative acquisition proposals." https://www.alleghany.com/investor-relations/press-releases/press-release-details/2022/Alleghany-Corporation-Announces-End-of-Go-Shop-Period/default.aspx Hooray for Warren, he got one.

This was his first interview released since his exile - something like 4 years. He apparently retained the rights to his name and website so he doesn't need an employer to attempt his redemption. Warren and Susan Buffett had been friends with Charlie Rose for a very long time (and he did Susan's only televised interview), so it's no surprise that Warren gave him the benefit of the doubt. That said, it does sound like he was an inappropriate colleague at work for decades. Multiple, credible, ass grabs isn't in the category of 'creepy old man makes off-color jokes all the time.'

I think this is spot on. I got a call yesterday from an inside sales rep at HD Pro, which she said had merged with HD Supply and they are going really hard trying to continue growing in the professional market. This lady was expecting me to have 50-100 unit apartment buildings when she called (we don't have anything close to that). I know Lowes has tried to expand in this market as well, although Home Depot has the lead from an earlier start. HD is very well run and will fight hard to get these accounts. There is a large Professional Inside Sales operation at these companies now, not just the "Pro Desk" in the corner of the store.

Correct, they may issue a press release about the expiration of the go-shop tomorrow or Monday. A superior offer can come in any time before the shareholder vote. The deal actually closes towards the end of the year, say October - December, when regulators say everything is OK to proceed.

Preliminary merger proxy is out for the Alleghany deal (still not a done deal, go-shop period ends midnight on the 14th) - for those curious how it came together, search for "Background of the Merger" in the document (or actually it might automatically go right there with this link). Buffett had dinner with Joe Brandon in NYC. Wonder if he was back in Omaha by bedtime. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000775368/000114036122013997/ny20003698x1_prem14a.htm#tBOM

So Berkshire, and it looks like Warren from the filing, bought over 11% of HPQ. Having not looked at HPQ since sometime around the Compaq merger I was surprised to see how profitable they are and, of course, a large share repurchase program + dividend. Obviously the pandemic created a boom for them. Another surprising move from Buffett - he is willing to go above 10% more and more these days. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/47217/000089924322014160/xslF345X03/doc4.xml https://roic.ai/classic/HPQ

A $17 Billion market cap must be in Canadian dollars but I think the rest of your figures are in US Dollars, correct?

Fairfax has been up every day since Berkshire announced the Alleghany deal. MKL has had a strong run as well, although I guess MKL's move started before Berkshire announced Y.

I think Warren and Charlie have enjoyed reading specialist trade magazines for many decades - stuff like American Banker and similar for a bunch of different industries. Fortune, Forbes and Barrons used to be sometimes helpful and can still be occasionally interesting - but you aren't going to learn much from those types of titles. Maybe an interesting interview every once in a while. The internet has helped lots of stuff rise to attention, so if there is a valuable or interesting interview somewhere - chances are people will be talking about it. Even stuff the RH CEO says on a conference call gets passed around instantly these days so it doesn't seem necessary to subscribe to general business magazines. I do still read them when I visit my Mother as she always has Fortune and Forbes in the bathroom. Bloomberg purchased business week and I only got that one for a year or so in connection with a separate subscription to Bloomberg. It wasn't something I missed when it stopped arriving.

Yeah, that's what I've been using for something like 15 years as well. The desktop Java application, "Classic TWS." Works fine on a Mac, handles as many monitors as you want, and totally configurable to look and behave however you want it to.

Try searching “Buffett back in the batting after 6-year deal drought” or some subset of that on google news.

Was it $7 million? https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000276720/000095012310072361/c04363e8vk.htm Sounded on the most recent call that a buyback is not in the cards this year. "I can't have my cake and eat it too just yet." They are negotiating with land owners for potential M&A and they seem to really like to manage their cash carefully despite having visibility to at least $16m of reimbursements coming back in the near term. At least they were willing to finance 100% of the construction costs of the rental homes by rolling their finished lots into the equity portion (and instantly making 200k per home that doesn't show up in the financials). I like that Mark is very honest on the calls. Not overly promotional, not defensive, just answers each question with the truth. And 18 months out you have some really nice commercial developments anchored by a likely "super center with gas" type of grocery tenant.

Alleghany trading up above the deal price with a Barron's article speculating there could be other bidders. Berkshire has been outbid on TransRe before, I suppose history could repeat itself. BTW - I thought I posted here last night but it is deleted. Maybe because the site was down?

Great post as always Bill!

Bloomberg has an article shedding some light on the odd 848.02 deal price: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Warren Buffett is telegraphing his disdain for Wall Street bankers with an oddball price on his latest multibillion-dollar takeover. The $848.02 for every share that Alleghany Corp. stockholders get from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the result of Buffett balking at the banking fee being set aside by the target company -- in this case for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is advising the insurer. Berkshire had offered to pay $850 a share with Buffett cautioning Alleghany that he didn’t want to foot the bill for the banking fees, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. So any fee for a financial adviser would come out of the proceeds for Alleghany’s shareholders. The result is spelled out in a regulatory filing: An announced purchase price that subtracts roughly $27 million for Goldman -- calling attention to Buffett’s stand. The 91-year-old has historically expressed disdain for investment bankers, calling them among the expensive “money-shufflers” who “clamor to be fed” in his annual letter released in 2015. When he was a shareholder and director of Gillette Co., he pushed unsuccessfully in 1996 to slash such fees to Duracell International Inc.’s bankers as part of Gillette’s acquisition of the battery company. Representatives for Goldman and Alleghany declined to comment. Buffett’s assistant didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment. The transaction is Berkshire’s largest since 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While deal prices typically reflect the back-and-forth between buyers and sellers, it gets smoothed over before the deal is struck. Most announcements are priced to avoid clunky numbers after both sides agree on a plan for how advisors are paid. A regulatory filing notes that the price would have been $850 per share but for the roughly $27 million fee paid to Goldman. The Oracle of Omaha, known for his witty business aphorisms, rarely uses an investment bank with his deals, instead relying on Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger’s previous law firm, Munger, Tolles & Olson, to advise on acquisitions. There have been exceptions. Byron Trott, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who helped Buffett strike a deal to buy food distribution business McLane from Walmart Inc., was one of the rare bankers who won grudging respect from Buffett. “He understands Berkshire far better than any investment banker with whom we have talked and – it hurts me to say this – earns his fee,” Buffett said in his letter released in 2004. --------------------------------------------- From the Alleghany merger proxy: "(a) Each Share issued and outstanding immediately before the Effective Time (other than any Shares to be cancelled pursuant to Section 2.1(b) and any Dissenting Shares) will be cancelled and extinguished and be converted into the right to receive $848.02 in cash, representing $850.00 per Share less the financial advisory fee due to the Financial Advisor in connection with the Merger, payable to the holder of such Share, without interest"

What's the right way to think about it? Alleghany has about a $16 Billion bond portfolio, FWIW.

I guess I was wrong on "the phone rang" part - Barrons has a source close to the deal reporting that Berkshire initiated the transaction. https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-deal-for-insurer-alleghany-is-great-for-berkshire-not-so-good-for-alleghany-51647877030