SFValue

Kind of last minute but before I try to book it elsewhere was wondering if anybody has (or knows of) an opening for a room for BRK weekend. best regards,

I did actually. Plus if you read VIC, you can see a few interesting ideas being posted there lately. All ideas that only the smallest hedge funds can touch. And that have a much better risk/return then almost any 1bn$+ market cap out there. Which is what it is all about with valueinvesting in the end right? Finding the most asymetrical risk return scenarios where you dont have to be some kind of predicting genius to make a decent return. I think I read a buffett quote a while back where he wished he was a small time investor again. Because the opportunities out there in the small cap space are so abundant. Especially when the market is depressed. So why handicap yourself by looking at really large investors? Unless they invest in something really small. Personally I like to look at concentrated hedgefunds and smaller hedgefunds with really good track records. And see what their highest conviction ideas are. If they invest in a smaller company then they normally do, then it probably means that is a really good idea. Why else would they devote time to it if they can only invest a small amount. They would only do that if they believe there is significant amount of upside with a managable amount of risk. woudl you list some of the funds you like to track?

Interesting to contrast (as of now) market's reaction to FFH vs AIG release compared to investors comments on the same.

his current take on monoline insurance? (MBI, AGO, AMBC, etc...)

very informative http://www.marketfolly.com/2013/06/michael-prices-presentation-from-london.html

David Gottesman Said to Be Seller of Berkshire Class A (BRK/A) Stock; Could Save $300M on Tax Bill http://www.streetinsider.com/Insider+Trades/David+Gottesman+Said+to+Be+Seller+or+Berkshire+Class+A+%28BRKA%29+Stock%3B+Could+Save+%24300M+on+Tax+Bill/7942616.html

How can these be called hedges? If the market moves higher, they lose? This sounds more like a net short position or we hope for the market to go down. the market moved higher than their holdings.

it is complicated (judge approval etc) regarding the parts and the whole, did not Buffett once said sell a little bit of you have and that is market price? just for argument's sake. I really don't know but find it fascinating and looking forward to what happens here.

That's how I read it too, although in auctions timming and deadlines do have an effect on participants. base case was appraised value of 190 mill, who knows, since this is not a cash flow based investment it could be all over the place. More interest is net positive and sellers is definitely aligned with shareholders.

ATLANTA, April 4, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Premier Exhibitions, Inc. (Nasdaq:PRXI - News), a leading presenter of museum-quality touring exhibitions around the world, announced that due to the level of interest in its auction of the Titanic artifact collection and the late entry of additional potential bidders, the Company has extended the deadline for the submission of bids to 5 p.m. on Monday, April 9, 2012. As stated previously, the Company will announce additional information on April 11, 2012 so people have been trading on insider info this past few days?.....

I guess Countrywide???

short bac / long MBI seems directional to me, please explain.

he mentioned he was getting redemptions from investors so he was redeeming all their funds pro-rata. Sounds reasonable to me.

"You will note on our yearend balance sheet (part of the audit you will receive) securities sold short totaling some $340,000. Most of this occurred in conjunction with a work-out entered into late in the year. In this case, we had very little competition for a period of time and were able to create a 10% or better profit (gross, not annualized) for a few months tie-up of money. The short sales eliminated the general market risk." So it looks like Buffett would short as a hedge to protect his portfolio against general market behavior just like the Fairfax team and maybe the answer is just that given his current position and the kind of balance sheet that BRK has (virtually bulletproof if you ask me), he just doesn't see the need but that doesn't mean that put in a different situation he wouldn't short. This is just an example of us taking his word verbatim, me included, and not thinking about the context that he doesn't expand on. sounds to me the WEB was eliminating market risk for a specific work-out, maybe shorting the stock of an acquirer on a stock deal? I remember the story of WEB asking around (columbia?) for somebody to lend him shares to short, but have never heard any specifics about this, anybody more familiar with this story? thanks,

700 mill warrants @ 7.14 + 6% prefered....not bad for a stamp of approval