gfp

"Jain, who also worked for three years at IBM in the mid-1970s as a salesman, established the Jain Foundation in 2005. The Seattle, Wash.-based nonprofit organization aims to cure limb-girdle muscular dystrophies caused by dysferlin protein deficiency, a condition that Jain's son has." https://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/iit-kharagpur-alumnus-ajit-jain-donates-berkshire-stocks-to-institute/article_bfb2f2ce-6825-11e7-a18a-53a5898cd4eb.html

It's been communicated pretty clearly. Howard Buffett as Non-executive Chairman (consider this a done deal). Greg Abel as CEO, possibly with Ajit running insurance, Ajit available if something happens before Greg gets the job (Ajit doesn't want the CEO job, but would take it if he needed to). Bill Gates as lead independent director. Greg Abel as the next CEO of Berkshire, at least the non-insurance businesses is basically a done deal. (by the way, obviously less good than Buffett in many many ways - but what a rockstar group (Howard excepted))

Bloomberg piece on Pilot Flying J -> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-12/truck-stop-king-looks-to-corner-crude-hauling-in-chaotic-permian

Another good interview with Warren - funny in that he mentions a top executive for one of the big investment banks called during the summer of '08 offering to sell him 'many many billions of dollars worth' of stock in Freddie Mac... https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/12/warren-buffett-on-why-the-next-financial-crisis-is-unavoidable-greed.html

He always says he loves the management and assets. So that leaves valuation. But, then again, Warren tends to keep his critical thoughts to himself - at least for a while. If I had to guess, I would guess valuation. Or maybe he wants to be below 5% for some other reason and will stand pat here.

Warren continues to sell down his PSX shares. Now below 5%. Had 34.73 million shares at last filing, down to 22.186 million shares now. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312518270047/d622062dsc13ga.htm

Buffett did another video interview for the financial crisis anniversary, this time with Andrew Ross Sorkin as part of a CNBC doc coming out on the 'week that shook the world' -> https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/10/warren-buffett-2008-financial-crisis-showed-we-are-all-dominoes.html

Interesting to see Berkshire melting up towards an all time high with a major hurricane heading towards North Carolina. Maybe we should start a Hurricane Florence thread...

WSJ video interview posted today - https://www.wsj.com/articles/warren-buffett-recounts-his-role-in-2008-financial-crisis-1536314400

I've also been buying recently. It has been nice that Fairfax has zigged when Berkshire has zagged for a while now. http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/kaavio.Webhost/charts/big.chart?nosettings=1&symb=frfhf&uf=0&type=2&size=2&sid=46408&style=320&freq=1&entitlementtoken=0c33378313484ba9b46b8e24ded87dd6&time=8&rand=757942313&compidx=aaaaa%3A0&comp=brk.b&ma=0&maval=9&lf=1&lf2=0&lf3=0&height=335&width=579&mocktick=1

off topic, but Kiewitt Plaza is for sale for around $20 million. Berkshire has a very long term lease, but I wonder if they end up purchasing the building. On a side note, Omaha real estate appears not too pricey

Privately negotiated trades for large blocks eventually get reported to the NYSE and included in the reported volume: "The NYSE has a general reporting rule specifying that transactions must be reported promptly. In particular, NYSE Rule 131 specifies that trades must be reported within an hour after the close of business on the day the trade was made."

Hadn't noticed that Warren also did the Smith & Wollensky's segment with Liz Claman at FoxBusiness - http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5828934109001/?#sp=show-clips and http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5828949631001/?#sp=show-clips Topics covered include Tesla/Elon Musk "funding secured", ending the meetings with universities, his health, how he's feeling, etc

I don't think I see a 1 million share trade on BRK B but I do see just under 284k shares traded at the close. There is a large order match at the close that you can participate in by entering MOC - "Market on Close" orders. Index funds and other institutional traders are big users of the closing bell order cross, which is why they publish order imbalances for the closing cross in the last hour and a couple minutes or so before the close. (I should add, it's never going to be all Berkshire unless its a block trade that you see printed out of nowhere - it is safe to assume Berkshire is only purchasing 10%-20% of the daily volume and I would bet it is closer to 10%. They would probably be purchasing both classes of shares)

I hear ya Mike. I used to never get sick. Now I have a high school student who wants to hug all the time. I think I feel my glands swelling up just talking about it! Our classes started Monday Aug 20, by Monday Aug 27 I was fighting a cold. They brought back germs from all over the world!

Good interviews on both CNBC and Bloomberg, although Bloomberg seemed to have lost their feed in the middle. Current value of 255 million Apple shares, of which Berkshire apparently has even more than 255: over $58 Billion. Seems the Gen Re New England shares are the Ted or Todd position, since he mentioned about 6 million shares was one of the other fellows in the office. Didn't seem like he was about to bid for Campbells through KHC. Apparently we were wrong about the need for a 13G filing on Apple, as he is clearly over 5% and has added more. Perhaps the other disclosures are enough, since the number of shares is out there on different filings with the SEC. He's certainly not selling any... He seemed his same old self, not declining or more tired. I thought that was encouraging after hearing of him ending the student visits and other responsibilities. I'm just glad all those students with whatever Flu and Cold symptoms they have aren't flocking in to get the old man sick.

Thanks for the links. It does seem that the interviews took place in May at the Annual Meeting, or at least that is what she mentioned in her intro.

If Apple keeps at its recent behavior there will be a decent impact on book and that income statement pass through. Hit 222 today.

They don't have to tell the public they are buying. It will be disclosed as either treasury shares or reduced share count once cancelled - in the regular quarterly and annual filings. They won't 'build a position' of a certain size - they will periodically cancel the treasury shares they accumulate, reducing shares outstanding

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/expert-view/more-than-money-berkshires-todd-combs-coming-on-paytm-board-is-the-best-outcome-vijay-shekhar-sharma/articleshow/65578696.cms Interview in the Economic Times, mentions that Todd Combs will join Paytm board. Warren not involved at all, but did know enough about it to tell Masa at Sun Valley. Tiny investment of course, but over time it does help to raise the profile internationally.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-eyes-india-mobile-payments-firm-1535372330 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-27/warren-buffett-is-said-to-agree-on-backing-india-s-paytm https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/27/technology/paytm-warren-buffett/index.html Berkshire taking a stake in an Indian mobile payments company - Todd Combs deal

Etsy is not even close to an exclusively female customer base. I have purchased around 10 items from Etsy in the past year. Address numbers, antique signs, several antique rugs from overseas, leather "poufs" from morocco, black walnut picture frames, paintings, prints etc... There is also a fair bit of semi custom furniture sold on Etsy to both sexes. (I should add that Men also buy products at Victoria's Secret, primarily as gifts - although it has been years since I have bought anything at that particular retailer)

Not all men, of course. Just the men on value investing message boards like this one

I asked my wife at lunch today why, in her opinion, there weren't very many women on this message board. She said that most women she knows are too busy to spend hours every day shooting the shit and trolling around online discussion forums.

Yeah I wondered if a consumer durable was correct, but the kid already had a car (a shittier one) and still mostly rides his bike everywhere (New Orleans is very small and flat) so it certainly felt discretionary. My wife certainly thought it was discretionary, as in - 'you spoil that kid'... Lest folks think I'm not into value, it was a 2009 Honda Fit for $3700, so I think I paid a sensible price.