Greg

Why do so many of you think that you know what Berkshire should do better than Warren and Charlie (and Ajit and Greg and Todd and Ted) know?

Yes. (But a lot of stocks did a lot better than Berkshire since 2000.)

My response is the same as it was to What's Wrong, Warren? 2000

The United States is one of the few countries where you have to pay the full federal income taxes even if you do leave.

And most of the rest gets eaten up by inflation. Better to spend than save. Have fun!

Great joke. Like a surrealistic painting.

Nobody likes to look up all the time. It makes the back of the neck stiff.

If you want a dividend in any amount you can create it and have a tax advantage. If, for example, you want a 3% dividend you can sell 3% of your stock each year. You will have a tax advantage over Berkshire paying the dividend unless your cost basis is 0. If you do not create a dividend because you think the stock will be worth more in the future, by a value exceeding the dividend, then you have answered the question and voted for Berkshire not paying a dividend.

http://buffettfaq.com/?utm_content=buffer915ec&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer is a great website.

If you look objectively at Gabelli's compensation I think you would conclude that he is underpaid. Either that or he sold the stock too cheap when he went public. Either way Gabelli got the short end of the deal. This is very different from Sardar Biglari.

The guy who thought up that way of calculating credit card interest deserves a $50,000,000 bonus (or maybe a public hanging).

At last year's CAW annual meeting there were more votes withheld from Cooley than for him (1,460,853 votes for, 1,491,385 votes withheld). Sardar got 1,522,740 votes for, 1,429,498 votes withheld. Unusual for directors proposed by the company. I don't know if the tally for next week's annual meeting had anything to do with their resignations. See below from last year's 8-K report on voting. 22-Jul-2013 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders, Other Events Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders At the annual meeting of the shareholders of CCA Industries, Inc. held on July 18, 2013, the following directors were elected by the Common Stock shareholders: Sardar Biglari - 1,522,740 votes for, 1,429,498 votes withheld Philip L. Cooley - 1,460,853 votes for, 1,491,385 votes withheld Drew Edell - 2,510,006 votes for, 442,232 votes withheld The following directors were elected by the Common Stock Class A shareholders: David Edell - 967,702 votes for, 0 votes withheld Stanley Kreitman - 967,702 votes for, 0 votes withheld Robert Lage - 967,702 votes for, 0 votes withheld Jonathan Rothschild - 967,702 votes for, 0 votes withheld

I use Morningstar's 10-K Wizard. You can see all the proxy statements filed. You can sort by geographical area, state or city of the company's main office but not by where the meeting is being held.

“I’ve got a commitment to stay involved with Berkshire as a lifelong thing,” “We always have to think about what might happen and make sure Berkshire is not just great now, but forever.” -Bill Gates, 2009 I think that's what Bill Gates will do, but not be CEO.

If Biglari were fired, with no change in his compensation agreement, what would the stock price be? What would Biglari Holdings Inc. then be worth? (Assume he would get what the current contract says he is entitled to up to the date of his dismissal.) This is somewhat of a rhetorical question; I think most analysts would agree on the range of values.

Look at the fund's most recently published portfolio and think about what performance you would expect from that portfolio and from whatever portfolio that it may be switched into in the future.

From the back of OID: "The publisher, its affiliates and/or related parties may have a position in companies &/or monies invested with the managers discussed herein. The publisher has numerous conflicts of interest and is actively seeking to establish additional ones as opportunities arise to do so."

I think that Buffett would like to have his successor not be much older that 45 when she takes over in order to give her a long (at least 20 year) run. Also, I think he would like to put an element of apparent surprise in his selection.

I'll be there.

Jain will be 60, Sokol 55. I think they want someone about 45 to give her a 20 year run. Also, I think that Buffett likes to put an element of surprise into things like this.

10% would be OK if the starting value were the fair value of BH, not the book value which grossly understates fair value. All Sardar has to do to get his $10 million/year is to monetize assets that are currently carried on the books below fair value. He can do this year after year even if he never adds a penny of value to the company, even if he destroys value.

I strongly oppose the new compensation plan. BH had a stated equity at July 7, 2010 of about $242 million. The market cap today is about $475 million. Maybe the company could be sold for $550 million. Under the proposed new compensation plan a big chunk of the $300 million difference between current book value and current fair market value would belong to Sardar when and how he chooses to harvest it. I think that the amended compensation plan should be defeated and the company should be sold without Sadar getting any of the difference between current book value and current fair market value. That way he will be making money with us, not off us. Then Sardar can do something with a different company and those of us who want to invest with him can, knowing more now than we did then.

Parsad, What I had in mind when I posted my message was that BH could sell the only restaurant business for stock of the acquirer. That way Biglari gets both his big payday and keeps control of BH.

Very roughly the book value of BH's restaurant business is about $300 million. If BH receives and accepts an unsolicited offer for $500 million for the restaurant business, would Biglari get almost $50 million (after his 5% hurdle) just because BH had assets worth more than book value? Would this be fair to the current BH owners?