jbwent63

If wildfires are started by arsonists, does that give the insurers an "out" to avoid claims? Subrogation would be difficult (assuming the firebug isn't a billionaire).

As to your first question, the calculation is book value, unadjusted. If you want tangible book value you would subtract those items. One could argue that the intangibles, recorded at historical cost, are significantly undervalued on that basis. NCI is an accounting valuation (on historical basis) of the portion of consolidated entities that Fairfax doesn't own. It should not be included in the equity calculation for the purposes of calculating the book value of common shares outstanding as it is the equity of the other shareholders. Hope that helps!

Is there an expectation that the video recordings will be made available after the meeting? I unfortunately could not attend nor have I been able to pay attention during the day. My feed for India didnt come on line until just after the management presentation (boo!). TIA

Got my passes in the mail today. Thanks to whomever noted that you could print the proxy off the EDGAR website and send it in. I haven't received my annual reports yet, but I have my passes for the meeting. I am in Canada.

Looks like some will be used to payoff yen denominated bonds coming due in April, 2023.

All the companies have very good investor relations sections on their websites in English with lots of interesting information. Happy digging!

Isn't Susan Decker considered the lead independent director? On another topic, how many shares of OXY do you think Omaha scooped up today?

LEGO Group would be an interesting, large addition especially given the recent acquisition of Jazwares (via Alleghany). It is owned (75%) by the founding Kristiansen family with the remainder in a trust. The current Chairman is fourth generation and the company has had a nice turnaround from a decade ago or so (the company I work for bought a small business from LEGO in the early 2000's). Not sure even the 75% would be for sale, but BRK would be a logical place for it to land should the family wish to divest.

Now if Blackberry would do the same!

Thank you, once again.

GFP, thanks for this. If you could also send along the year end list of owned common stocks for NICO that would be fantastic. Are you going to Omaha this year? I'd like to buy you a beer for your troubles.

Apologies that I cannot remember the user's name, but someone was posting the detailed listings of NICO's investments which listed all the stocks that company and its subs owned, including the foreign ones (Japanese, German, Australian etc.). I hope that person will do so again when the NICO filings are available for 12-31-22 with many thanks.

I didn't see an answer to this, so here goes. New England Asset Management was to my knowledge running some of GenRe's investments prior to its purchase by Berkshire. It appears that Warren has allowed them to continue to hold some of GenRe's equity investment allocation (most likely at Warren's direction due to changes made over the years in the GenRe equity held within NEAM). Not related to Alleghany at all.

I agree, it's always the first part of the letter I go to in order to see if there is something new not shown in the 13-F reports (like a new foreign stock). After thinking about it, I wondered if there was a large position in a non-US traded equity that would have made the list but that he didn't want to disclose as he is still building a position. It is the only reason I can think of not to do it. Those of us who try to identify which share positions are owned by pension funds not Berkshire itself that are included in the 13-F took that listing as a way to confirm or discover those shareholdings. It's also how I found out about the shares held by NEAM that are Berkshire's (GenRe more likely).

I noticed the volume on OXY is quite high today, about double the normal and the price is in the $58's which is at or below BRK's last purchases of shares. Anyone think they are in there scooping up more shares? We will know in a few days as he has to file given the current ownership level.

As predicted, a Reuters report from earlier this afternoon: On Apple, Buffett's company bought another 20.8 million shares, or $3.2 billion, bringing his stake to 5.8% in Apple, which Buffett considers more as a consumer products company, according to the filing. (Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler) Nope....looking forward to either more 13G's (where you can see shares owned by pension funds, not on Berkshire's books) and then the 13-F...

I've reviewed the 13G filed this afternoon by BRK on its ownership of Apple. It appears this filing includes both the NEAM and Alleghany ownership, for a total of 915,560,382, which is unchanged in total. It will be interesting to see if the media is able to figure this out, or will they report additional shares (20,424,207 at NEAM/GenRe and 333,856 at Alleghany and its subsidiaries).

13-F for year end is out. Only significant transactions reported is the sale of all the shares of HRB and INSW. All other moves pretty small. Value of reported portfolio up to $3.69 billion USD from $3.54 billion USD in prior quarter.

I guess I was wondering if it might remain separate much like the NEAM portfolio has (a part of GenRe at purchase). We shall see, perhaps.

I'm wondering if any of the stocks held by Allegheny at the last reporting date will be included in Berkshires 12-31-22 13-F report, or does everyone think they would have all been liquidated prior to the transaction?

FFH might have the ability to avoid this 2% double taxation by having a US subsidiary buy back the shares (there is already some cross ownership with shares held in a sub). I'm not a tax lawyer but since the shares are issued by a Canadian Corporation, having a US sub buy them back may also avoid the US buyback tax as well...???

30 day Bankers Acceptance note issued by TD Bank yielding 3.55%. Holding cash, waiting for the big down draft.....patience is difficult but might pay off big.

I agree this is a good acquisition of both assets and human capital. Do we think Brandon will eventually replace Ajit in the "envelope" or as one of the two co-CEO's (with Abel)? Will also be interesting to see how the investments of Allegheny are changed once they are under BH control. Will they be able to move to more equity vs fixed income (allowed by regulators)? Any synergies with the operating companies in Allegheny Capital?

I was under the impression they were speaking about the investment portfolio, not the entirety of BRK. Given the size, it will be difficult to have the equity portion of BRK's investments to much better than the index, but with the operating companies, they should, as a whole, do much better, especially in down markets. It is for this reason that I believe BRK is a great defensive stock to hold in these times. Now if they get the opportunity to put, say $80-$100 billion to work in beaten down stocks of great companies, then there is a chance they can do better. Patience is WEB and CM's strongest asset in this regard.

I agree with other posters, See's was the most impactful from a strategic perspective, if not the largest financially. Thanks, Charlie!