jbwent63

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!

There are so many things the press either gets wrong or is too lazy to figure out. Just another example of spending a little time, understanding how the rules work, and reporting proper information. It's unfortunate that the sale had to be telegraphed, and the value dropped so much as a result, but the gain is still huge and a big win for BHE.

+1

My guess, and its only a guess, is that the $2,861 includes the $2,284 plus the equity income from KraftHeinz, Pilot, Berkadia etc, but also note that the amount is Insurance and Other. There may be some investment income earned in the Other units (MSR for example), which are immaterial and therefore not disclosed. It would be helpful if there was a reconciliation somewhere in the report for sure.

When all the regulatory filings come out, it will be interesting to see if an independant valuator provided an opinion on the transaction from the minority shareholders' perspective. That's a report I would like to read. Yes, its opportunistic, but is it really? If the stock is languishing in the $11 range, and has been for some time, isnt a >$14 offer a win for the minority shareholders? There's thousands of other options to invest your money, and those of us who own FFH hope you decide to stay as indirect owners of ATCO.

My understanding is that the 20% threshold is just a guideline at which one would consider equity accounting. Given the size of AXP, and BRK's lack of influence over it (not involved in day-to-day decisions, board members etc.) I would not think that the equity method would apply at this level of ownership.

Yes yes yes.

Hopefully gfp will post the quarterly report from NICO that might provide some of these answers for stocks that are not required to be reported to the SEC on form13-F.

Hopefully we get some comments or questions about this specifically. Would be interesting to hear Ajit's take on your comment above relating to hard market/premium growth.