petey2720

The thread about Tract Britt got me thinking about Berkshire and its sprawling list of smaller subsidiaries. I think its great that Buffett has someone like Tracy around that he can trust to deal with the problems at the smaller companies such as Larson Juhl. Its equally smart to have her be the chairman at several subsidiaries as well and have the operating managers report to her instead of Buffett. I think, maybe, its time Buffettt take it a step further and start consolidating the subs. I don't mean to say the companies themselves consolidate but here's an example of what I was thinking: What if VF Corp buys Coach. Then Berkshire buys VF Corp. Then fold Fruit of the Loom, Brooks and Justin brands under the umbrella of VF Corp. Have the Chairman of VF Corp run the whole thing and report to Tracy. Like I said, it was just a crazy thought I had this morning. (By the way, in the spirit of full disclosure, I picked up some Coach shares today)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-21/buffett-leans-on-29-year-old-cool-to-oversee-problems.html

Cardboard, sorry for the slow response. The answer is I don't know if Canadian investors are allowed. I have not seen the offering docs. Looks like Sanjeev has seen the docs, and can maybe answer this for us?

Hi Guys - So far nobody has mentioned that Mohnish achieved between 46-50% return for 2013 after fees for his investors among his various funds. Well done!!! Secondly, last year was the first time he earned a performance fee since 2007. That means that any new money into his funds after 2007 got a free ride (admittedly a bumpy one) for 6 years. The high water mark kept increasing by 6% every year. He did not even attempt or consider changing the compensation structure during this time. I guess my point is that with Mohnish, I would not worry about the compensation structure at this new insurance company. I think he has earned our trust. Also, by my reading of the letter, this new insurance company in not just for the Pabrai Fund investors. I think he is looking for like minded investors and the minimum is $1.0m by February 28th and $2.0m between Feb 28th and the end of April. One more thing, I don't think that Mohnish is going to be directly involved in the underwriting, but will be taking over the investment management of the float. I think there is a good underwriting team in place and he is smart enough to leave that alone.

Bought TWGP today as a merger arbitrage trade

Pretty good thread. Best part of the thread is this from Myth: "I look at things slightly different. Think like an owner but a passive one. Add up the market cap, minus cash, plus debt (in some cases for me). Thats your Enterprise value. Then take a stab at your normalized free cash flow. Then look at the yield and decide whats a fair price for that. If there is growth you pay a bit more, if its shrinking alot less. If you are certain of the cash flow more, uncertain less."

Maybe its time someone add a thread called: "What are you selling today?"

Bad idea all the way around. Market top indicator. If you recall, Mohnish used to use BRK as a substitute for cash and that didn't work out for him. Besides the obvious downside, the upside by investing in BRK at this point is not enough when it may create a hassle within your family.

I agree. Congrats on JIN!!!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/29/newser-frugal-man-secret-fortune/3783315/

Who cares about the font. The gross vs net numbers are between him and his investors. Can we talk about the bigger issue: He has been investing other peoples money for 13 years and has taken only one permanent loss of capital on Nokia. How is that possible??? Congrats to him and his investors!!!!

Bought CRUS today

My favorite part of the article: Investment Strategy = Long & Loud

Chicago, IL

Happy belated birthday. Thank you for all of your continued efforts. This is a great board!!!

Thank you for that.........it was pretty cool.

Sanjeev, first of all nice friekin trade. Congrats!!!! I struggle with this same issue as well. I am an all or none kind of guy. However, I am starting to consider the advice of Straddle from the previous page wherein he advises to sell half the position, lock-in a significant gain and reduce your risk in half while still enjoying some upside. Certainly is worth considering going forward.

I guess I was just a tad early.......

I like the idea. I think you're better off being in the fund with the lease amount of assets.

I stopped reading the first article posted on this thread after it said that Buffett first met Lou Simpson in 1996 when Berkshire was completing its purchase of Geico. If the person writing the article knows anything about Buffett, Berkshire and Lou Simpson, they would know that Buffett first met Lou Simpson in 1979 when they sent Simpson to interview with Buffett for the investment job at Geico.

I'm sure this was discussed in a prior thread, but I'm gonna bring it up again anyway. Why did Mohnish sell WFC? I don't get it. I was at the meeting this year and I'm prettty sure he said his cost basis was around $10.00 per share. He sold sometime in the first quarter between $27 - $34. For a guy who answers every question at his meeting with Buffett says this or Munger says that, I am just surprised he doesn't take a page out of their book. The dividend is $0.88 which translates to an 8.80% yield on the original investment of about $14m.....meaning $1.2m in dividends annually......and the dividend will only rise from here and at some point Wells will begin to repurchase their own shares. Maybe I'm missing something and someone can explain. By the way, please note that I am a big fan of Mohnish's and have been going to his meeting for years.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7424700n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox I thought this was pretty interesting, and had no idea there was such a monopoly on this. Check it out!!

Hi Shalab- The main issue with this type of investing is that you will probably not be able to replace the income the current tenant is paying to get to that 8% return (cap rate). Therefore, you must really dig into the lease of the current tenant to clarify whether it is corporately guaranteed or franchisee guaranteed. You must review the financials of the guarantor of the lease to determine its strength as well as review how many of the same units/properties are guaranteed by the same entity that guarantees your lease. Then after all that you need to look at the location of the property including: traffic counts, area anchor tenants, other anchors such as schools and hospitals and office buildings, easy access to the property as well as whether or not the subject property is good real estate. Don't invest just to earn the 8% return, make sure its good real estate. Hope this helps.

Anyone plan on attending in Chicago this weekend?

Read it last week and thought of posting as well. Great profile, love Michael Lewis.