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I've been saying he could pull off a deal for ExxonMobil by the time the deal would close. I think that's a realistic 'stretch' goal. Boeing is possible but unlikely at current valuation (but I would be happy to be proven wrong next month..)

The poor compliance guy I spoke to yesterday (David) sounded like he had been being screamed at by customers all day. He kept expecting me to blow up on him or something. I felt bad for the guy.. He couldn't even tell me where the cut-off of ownership was - all he would say is "something like 3/4 to 1% of shares outstanding." The main issue I'm dealing with I'm at 3% of shares outstanding and that's not close where I can sell a few over two weeks time and have them leave me alone. We'll see how this policy evolves after they've had to do this dance every two weeks in perpetuity for a while. Its not like I'm magically going to transform into an affiliated person next month.

Just a heads up for folks on the forum that use Interactive Brokers for some of their business - they have a new policy where they will lock you out from trading any security you own more than 1% of the outstanding shares of. When you tell them you are not an affiliate of the issuer, a compliance analyst at IB will perform due diligence to verify you are not an affiliated person. Then they will unlock your accounts to trade that security for a period of 2 weeks. Then you have to do it all over again. Every two weeks - unless you transfer the shares out to another broker. Some companies are quite small and 1% of the shares is nothing. These also tend to be the least liquid securities to trade. The kind of securities you need to be unlocked for trading at all times in order to take advantage of momentary liquidity and price changes

Man, it looks like it will be one hell of a year-end mark on the apple position. 254.55 million shares at around 292. Yowza.

A bit of the background on the Tech Data attempt - Berkshire had made a few changes to Apollo's merger agreement that would be more favorable to Tech Data and basically copied the rest of Apollo's lawyers' work. These were the sweeteners, along with the extra $10 per share. Apollo still topped them, of course, newly emboldened that Berkshire was willing to pay $140.. "On November 22, 2019, representatives of Berkshire met with Mr. Hume and a representative of BofA Securities. On November 23, 2019, Berkshire submitted a binding written proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Tech Data common stock for $140.00 per share. Berkshire also provided a proposed form of merger agreement, based on the Original Agreement entered into between Tech Data, Parent and Merger Sub, but containing certain terms more favorable to Tech Data, including (1) fully funding the transaction using cash-on-hand at Berkshire, (2) elimination of certain representations and warranties to be made by Tech Data and (3) elimination of a “no material adverse effect” condition to buyer’s obligation to close the merger." From page 43, "Background of the Merger" https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/790703/000119312519311852/d841970dprem14a.htm#rom841970_32

For those curious about Tracy Britt Cool's next gig (with a TDG connection thrown in), here is the news on that - https://www.standard.co.uk/business/warren-buffett-prot-g-e-strikes-out-with-london-stock-market-listing-a4312141.html

Looks like Bloomstran / Semper Augustus has made it on to the dataroma 13f site, for those that are interested - https://dataroma.com/m/holdings.php?m=SA

technically I suppose Berkshire sold another company today (or Marmon did, more specifically) - Owl Wire & Cable with applied underwriters we've got a certified selling spree... https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/international-wire-group-acquires-owl-wire-and-cable-2019-12-06?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts

Weird that they left Kiewit off that list

beyond repurchases, the only real solution is to make a very large acquisition. Berkshire can afford to make an all-cash acquisition much larger than most media outlets speculate. With access to the stock portfolio and extremely attractive bond rates, Berkshire can afford to buy a very large company. ExxonMobil would not be too large for Berkshire to acquire for cash at this point. People always speculate that appreciated securities could be spun out tax efficiently, but I do not see that happening. Assets inside the insurance subsidiaries will likely stay inside the insurance subsidiaries. Repurchases and acquisitions are the only real solution (apart from additional purchases of marketable securities and OXY-type deals).

A look behind the scenes- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/29/warren-buffetts-latest-attempt-to-put-his-cash-to-work-is-thwarted.html

You can buy hedge funds, leveraged or otherwise, through a self directed IRA. You can also buy real estate and other alternative investments including certain types of precious metals investments through the self directed IRA. The self directed IRA can even take on loans to buy investment real estate as long as the debt in non-recourse beyond the property itself and the IRA balance. You can get creative through the allowed use of private loans within a self directed IRA - meaning that you can lend IRA money privately - but you cannot invest or lend in anything that directly benefits the IRA holder, as in a back door way to spend IRA money for personal consumption/enjoyment. You can, however, take joy in your investment real estate and you are permitted to feel joyful towards your portfolio of private lending..

Bolt on acquisition at Johns Manville - deal to purchase the Insulation systems business of Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Not huge, only 100 employees - https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/business-wire-news-releases-pmn/johns-manville-announces-acquisition-of-itw-insulation-systems

Here is the recent 10-Q https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/71180/000108131619000017/bhe93019form10-q.htm BHE can and does move cash between subsidiaries. The pay no dividends thing is mostly true but BHE actually does do a few hundred million dollars worth of share repurchases from Walter Scott's family each year. Instead of Berkshire Hathaway buying the Scott shares, they have chosen to do it by BHE repurchasing the Scott shares - equivalent to a dividend. I had also wondered how the minority shareholders (Scott family & Greg Abel) were coming up with their share of tax payments but I see that there actually are cash distributions to minority interests occasionally - just not to Berkshire. And of course BHE operates in a tax efficient manner and files a consolidated tax return with Berkshire Hathaway. The distributions and share repurchases are small in comparison to the net capital contributions from Berkshire Hathaway that have funded some of the larger deals. Overall, the balance is a lot more capital in than capital out. They seem to really cultivate their positive reputation with the various regulators. They are not trying to squeeze the last dollar out of any of their customers in the pursuit of a longer term successful platform. As for international, I am sure BHE would be interested in international energy assets they could understand the long term regulatory situation & economics of. Sokol was much more international when it was just called Cal Energy and he did a project in the Philippines that I think I remember kind of burned him in the end. Obviously they own the UK transmission assets and did a decent sized deal for AltaLink in Canada. They will continue to invest as much as they can figure out in Canada for sure. The stake in BYD is also in there. I wouldn't be surprised to see big deals in countries like Brazil, Australia, something in Europe. Sort of depends on what becomes available. I do think they would buy more pipelines if they came on the market for attractive prices. Warren hasn't been a fan of the MLP accounting / valuations and has mostly skipped those. You could see his giggles when someone asked him about Kinder Morgan popping up in the BRK portfolio some time ago and he said it wasn't him and he was surprised to see it too. It left the portfolio shortly after

Certainly seems they have continued to sell down the WFC stake to stay below 10%.

Acquisition at Marmon (another from the Pritzker family) https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/marmon-acquires-majority-interest-in-colson-medical-companies-2019-11-01?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts

thanks Dynamic. Yes, earnings release is this Saturday morning. I'll be in the country for the weekend at an old 1820's plantation with no printer. Hoping to sneak a laptop in... Curious to see if he's still selling down Wells, adding to JPM or any other new surprises. That apple position sure perked up. 255 million shares is no joke - sooner or later you're talkin' real money

Could be from the date of the WFC 10-Q being filed, which would be even later since WFC hasn't actually filed the 10-Q with the SEC yet. The big banks tend to have quite a delay between their 'earnings release' and the filing of the actual 10-Q. Berkshire themselves always puts them out simultaneously, which like so many of their practices probably has at its root a pet peeve of Mr. Buffett. Another pet peeve of Mr. Buffett is how deep into a filing you have to go to find actual financial statements like a balance sheet. Sometimes its hundreds of pages in. Berkshire always puts them up front. Balance sheet on page 2...

Man wabuffo, remember those days?! The old chucks angles board was so active during that time. Old timers debating going on margin, how low will she go, etc.. Here are a couple of my posts from that week. Charlie filed his SEC filing on the transfer to his kids a couple days after I was doing it for friends and clients. We were talking about Warren doing it for his sisters with his Mother's shares the same way.. Seems like forever ago. Just celebrated my 10 year wedding anniversary. Master at work! It is like watching Roger Federer play tennis.

sorry to post this in your thread, but it relates to what we were just talking about - https://www.americanbanker.com/articles/warren-buffett-seeks-fed-leeway-to-boost-stake-in-bank-of-america-past-10 Also - an update for your BAC position size now that Applied Underwriters is sold https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/70858/000120919119053219/xslF345X03/doc4.xml

Looks like Berkshire went over 10% on Wells as of this morning's updated WFC share count. I'm seeing period end (9/30/19) Wells share count at 4.2691 Billion shares and Berkshire with 432.383 million shares. So a few days after Wells files their 10Q we will see if Berkshire was granted or is in the process of being granted permission to let the stake drift above 10% due to repurchase activity. Seemed to be allowed for BAC so I would expect the same for Wells.

Yes, Berkshire would have to file with the SEC if they sold any BAC shares. They haven't. I don't think they will be selling any WFC shares going forward either. I believe what is happening is that they are in discussions with the Fed and will ultimately not be limited to the 10% level going forward as long as they are careful not to exert what looks like other types of influence over a bank. No discussions with the board, arms length commercial relationships, etc.. They have to be seen as totally passive shareholders

In the absence of any real material Berkshire related news in ages, we can at least read about this interesting real estate development in Omaha that Applied Underwriters is leading - https://www.omaha.com/money/applied-underwriters-celebrates-work-on-heartwood-preserve-development-touts-natural/article_d4ef8492-37c8-595f-aa64-151f3d20673a.html Here's hoping for "Berkshire Hathaway acquires ExxonMobil" or similar headline sometime soon..

Its a great family business, not sure why the family would want to sell anytime soon but you never know. I think they are at least to 580 locations now. My wife's family lives in Virginia or I wouldn't even be aware of them. (pilot flying J is over 750 locations now - time marches on)

Duracell looks set to do a small deal for Everready assets (India market only) - https://www.cnbctv18.com/market/eveready-shares-hit-5-lower-circuit-after-reports-of-duracells-plans-to-buy-company-assets-4316751.htm