jeffmori7

Ok so does this mean that Buffett won't exercise his warrants with both GE and GS, but just be paid in stock the net profit? Does it make any difference except the size of the position? Was it Buffett idea or GE and/or GS? I had assumed that one reason Buffett had to keep a lot of cash this year was to exercise those warrants, costing him about 10 billions$, but it seems he is still looking for other opportunities to use this cash. Am I wrong?

I would think that both pharma Glaxo and Sanofi are Buffett holdings too, but maybe I am wrong on those ones.

The easiest way (for me at least) is to watch/read the WEB interviews. People ask him why he bought Intel or GM and he will mention that they were not his purchases. This used to happen all the time with Lou's portfolio, BAC was a Lou position that people always asked Buffett about. AFAIK these are the current holdings that WEB's picks. Anyone see any errors: WFC KO IBM PG WMT PSX MCO WPO COST MDLZ(kraft spin off) KRFT GCI GE USB PSX(cop spin off) COP JNJ You just omited American Express, his fourth holding :)

But in the same time, I think it's always dangerous to only rely on some "magical" technological gains to solve a potential problem. Actually, what I want to say is that we hear a lot of people who don't want to admit something could become a potential problem (like limited naturel resources availability or healthcare cost) by saying that anyway, technological advancement will take care of that. Sure, and I'm a scientist and I believe in science and technology, but it is often use as an excuse by most people to not tackle a problematic right away. Betting without knowledge on technology is good way to procrastinate!

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/

So, who's who?

Wow..you guys are disciplined! I'm at 0% cash, as usual, still buying some BAC and AIG... I have still a little portfolio in 5 digit, I am building it with more cash each year, so it seems to me that I can't never buy enough of what I like...I have to learn patience.

Not yet, but I was planning to watch it..does it worth it?

Horrible year for me, +3%..thanks FTP...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/12/16/feinstein-will-introduce-assault-weapons-ban-in-senate/

Guys, just one question for you, do you know if there are statistics showing if it is really useful to bear a gun at anytime for "self-defense"? There is a lot of people killed by guns each year, but if there was no gun, then you would't even need to defend yourself as often with a gun, but that is not my point here... In different situations where there is a crazy shooter like this, has the right to bear a gun really helped someone? I would tend to think that the "benefit" is completely destroyed by the drawbacks arising from the large presence of firearms in the society. Personally, I think I would banned all firearms except those for hunting, and you shouldn't be allowed to keep them loaded at any other time.

Kiltacular, I thought about posting it here first, but I decided to got Parsad way and start a new thread about the article only :)

Potential reason to increase buyback threshold: they've learned that they don't have to actually buy back significant amounts for the threshold to act as a buoy on the stock; if higher threshold results in higher stock price, it makes acquisitions paid for in stock cheaper. Potential reason to increase buyback threshold: an enormous pile of cash sleeping in Omaha!

An interesting valuation of Berkshire : http://seekingalpha.com/article/1058551-omaha-hold-em-going-all-in-on-berkshire-hathaway?source=yahoo

And if you remove Antartica, that would literally be warmer!

Still adding: http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Berkshire-Hathaway-still-adding-to-DaVita-stake-4103618.php

Thanks Jay. What I had in mind when I asked the question was kind of, doesn't worth tout ,let's say a thousand job to get 1% on the margins? Not being specific at all about CP, but in general, I think you're right, but is there a point where the last tiny little percentage are not worth fighting for, or at least not at the expense of slashing an awful lot of employees? Will we benefit globally from that, probably, yes,if those people can be reaffected somewhere else. If it's not the case,not so sure. And by the way, the subject title was meant To draw attention more than anything.

Thanks for you point of view guys. Always appreciated to learn from everyone with quality answers.

One thing is for sure, Berkshire will probably be the one to benefit the most from an investment in BAC on a absolute dollar basis, far more than Ericopoly!

I'm quite mitigated about the activist investors like Ackman. Is it really a good thing to see a business like Canadian Pacific cut 4500 jobs, a quarter of its workforce, just for the benefit of the shareholders? I'm not sure that sucking all the juice to get the last penny of profit is the way to go and I know that in our capitalist world profit is everything and all the shareholders are asking is too improve the margins, but at what price? Does it really worth it? I understand long term we should aim at increasing productivity, but if the people who are not required anymore can not find a suitable job elsewhere, does the society really benefit? I'm throwing all this after hearing about the news, but I don't know this particular CP case, more a general thought on the subject. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/canadian-pacific-cuts-deep-as-hunter-harrison-makes-his-mark/article5969733/

Great post Myth, you sum it very well. Personally, I wouldn't hate you, but I'm not American, so my vote doesn't count!

Thanks Plan, fantastic read!

As I don't have a lot of time now, of all the recent interview Buffett has been doing, probably telling more or less the same story everywhere, which one do you recommend?

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2012/11/27/buffet-increases-share-of-davita-stock.html Now a nearly 13% stake. Is Berkshire doing a BNSF with Davita? Building a large position on the open market before a buyout someday? http://www.dataroma.com/m/ins/ins.php?t=y&am=0&sym=DVA&L=1

http://www.dataroma.com/m/holdings.php?m=oaklx It has now been corrected! Still, two large buy, AIG and BAC.