Applause for Our Board's Host, Mr. Parsad!

[Guest ValueCarl]

Besides struggling to manage the operations of the board's back office requirements, I have just noticed that, he has removed what was formerly Steak N Shake off of the premier subject threads which were to be considered the gold standard for Value Investors role modeling men like Buffett and Wastsa and their teams.

 

It takes a very large man with much wisdom to admit that he was wrong and move on!

 

There is much I can learn from Mr. Parsad in this regard. Of course, in the case of this investment manager, he did clean house and didn't have to subject himself nor his partners to losses in order to learn this lesson!

 

Hats off to Sanjeev!  :)   

[shalab]

Sanjeev has maintained the highest level of integrity throughout the time I have known him. It is not only the Sardar incident but there have been other cases too.

 

In hindsight, Sardar had many issues. His taste for expensive car(s) is quite unlike Munger/Buffett. He used the highly admired WEB as a sales tool and I would say used it skillfully. He then had Cooley who looked like an older, wiser person to supervise the young Turk. Cooley and the BOD has been asleep on the wheel throughout this entire episode. Biglari's method of high payments to himself and nothing for everyone else is going to fail sooner or later. It is only a matter of time.

 

Kudos to Sanjeev for setting a very high bar for integrity. I look forward to having Sanjeev as the head of a publicly traded company setting the right example like Watsa and Buffett/Munger.

 

cheers!

 

 

 

[dcollon]

I completely agree with everything you all have said.  This board that Sanjeev has created is fantastic and a great area to share ideas and learn life lessons.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't find something of value from the posters on this board.  So thank you to not only Sanjeev, but the others as well. 

 

As a side note, I had a chance to speak with Mr. Watsa at the Berkshire meeting and he is well aware of what Sanjeev and the rest of us are creating at "the corner of berkshire and fairfax".  The discussion didn't last long, but I conveyed to him how thankful many of us are to have people like he and Mr. Buffett to help us learn. 

 

Mr. Buffett, Mr. Munger and Mr. Watsa as well as many others are the kind of people we want to recognize.  So I applaud Sanjeev for all his efforts on this board and his willingness to change when the change was needed.

[Partner24]

I look forward to having Sanjeev as the head of a publicly traded company setting the right example like Watsa and Buffett/Munger.

 

Shalab, I wish that too. Please take that with a pinch of salt since I use only my memory here, but I wrote that to him here a few weeks ago. He basicaly said that it was not on his plan to do that (maybe a chairman, but not a CEO).

 

I had a sale course back in January. The teacher was a veteran salesman.

 

One of the many things he said is that a sale begins when the person tells you "no".

 

So Sanjeev, I'm still looking forward for you to be a top manager of a public company. You can do it! With the attitude and talent you have, I'm confident that would benefit greatly from permanent capital given by long term value investors   ;D

 

Cheers!

 

[goldfinger]

The more I discover Sanjeev, the more I respect him. You are a gentleman sir and you attract quality in your path!

[Myth465]

I would definitely invest in such a company.

I have learned so much here and would also like to offer my thanks. Finding the board was one of the best values I have located.

 

[DynamicPerception]

kudos Mr. Parsad!

[bookie71]

I say ditto to all the above

[rranjan]

Big Applause for Sanjeev. Ability to overcome the consistency bias (which most of us have) is not so common specially when you make a public comment. No if and buts , Sanjeev expressed himself quickly and clearly after Big Liar decided to show his true colors.

 

I agree that a sale begins with a No  ;D ... Made me laugh

[link01]

sanjeev def made the right decision removing the former sns from the company of those two other august names, berkshire & fairfax. it just doesnt belong there in the end. so much potential wasted, done in by the twin vices of greed & hubris.

 

[beerbaron]

Indeed Good Job Parsad.

 

Sorry it did not turn out as well, must suck to be heavily invested and liquidate. He was fluent in value investing music and a lot of people danced on it.

 

BeerBaron

[roundball100]

... better to remove it, than to rename the forum "Corner of Berkshire and Fairfax and BH".  Some others might be ahead of BH.

[arbitragr]

Although I follow the board, I know nothing about Biglari/Steak n Shake ... as I don't follow it.

Anyone know what actually happened? is it just an issue of integrity??

Saw the stock price ... it's tanked recently ... or was that b/c of greece??

[Parsad]

Indeed Good Job Parsad.

 

Sorry it did not turn out as well, must suck to be heavily invested and liquidate. He was fluent in value investing music and a lot of people danced on it.

 

It actually worked out very well for us...we made about two and a half times our money in less than two years.  The unfortunate aspect is BH's own loss in reputation, as well as the loss of a quality group of shareholders that would have stayed with them for the long-term, if they just followed the dictum of their role models when it came to compensation and humility.  Cheers!     

 

[Packer16]

Sanjeev,

 

I appreciate the time and effort you have put in to make this board a great forum of ideas.  As other have stated, why don't you look into setting up a holding company/shell where you can purchase stakes in micro-cap companies and push for change and if appropriate find others who can turn them around.  You have started to do this with ITEX but could expand it to include other firms.  If the holding company is not practical now, I am sure there are others (me included) that would be interested in making co-investments in the small company space where you can provide the expertise in return for a fee.  Your fund may do some of this, but my interest would be in smaller companies where if a deal happens it could be a game changer and the investment becomes a semi-active investment.  This is a space where I think there are alot of opportunities and guys like Sadar have gotten too big in size and ego to play in and the co-investment idea provides a level of service between full service (a fund) and independently investing on our own.  Thx.

 

Packer

[Zorrofan]

Sanj,

 

I am in no way as eloquent as Packer, but I agree with everything Packer said. I am sure if you set up a holding company (or even better used a company such as ITEX) many of us would be interested in participating. While many had high hopes for Sardar we may have missed what is right under our noses - you.

Please know that your hard work and integrity have not gone unappreciated....

 

cheers

Zorro

[Parsad]

I appreciate all the support guys.  We will at some point get involved in a public company.  At the moment, we are growing the capital in the funds.  As I've said in our letters, we will shut the funds down early and they will be open to existing partners only...most likely around $15-20M we will shut down.  We plan on keeping the capital base small so that we can maintain a high level of performance for a long period of time.  As I've said, I'm not in this for the money...I'm in this to put up the numbers over time...if I can...so far, so good!  We are fortunate as we have fantastic partners.  They really understand our mandate and what we are trying to do.

 

At that point, and maybe earlier depending on what projects we are working on, we will move into the public company space.  And I promise to hold up all the same values that Buffett or Prem have always projected and lived up to...that I will guarantee!  Things with ITEX are progressing nicely.  We plan on applying similar strategies in the future.  But you won't see me doing the day to day operations of a business.  I'm not interested in being the CEO.  I like what I do and no one tells me what to do each day...I live a very happy life!  I can't see why I would ever want to change that.  We already have people in place to run any businesses we ever get involved with...with plenty of CEO, CFO experience...I will focus solely on capital allocation and long-term objectives.  That also helps remove a bit of the conflict of interest in day to day duties between a private fund and public company, as we will continue to run the funds for a long, long time.  Cheers! 

[collegeinvestor]

Out of curiosity why are you stopping at 15-20 million instead of like 40 million? i am just wondering is that much harder to invest if you have a fund that is 50 million versus 25 million? Thanks again.

[collegeinvestor]

Eventually your investments will grow. Do you plan to pay out dividends a la Walter Schloss?

[Parsad]

Out of curiosity why are you stopping at 15-20 million instead of like 40 million? i am just wondering is that much harder to invest if you have a fund that is 50 million versus 25 million? Thanks again.

 

The difference between $20M and $40M is a double.  That means an extra four years of compounding at 18% or 5 years at 15%.  The number for the most part is somewhat arbitrary...it may be a little earlier, or it may be a little later.  It will depend more on the opportunity and if it's the right fit.

 

Eventually your investments will grow. Do you plan to pay out dividends a la Walter Schloss?

 

Yes, more than likely as we get larger and larger over time, but probably not for many years.  Cheers!

[bookie71]

Oh, I'm sure he'll get a lot of investors, it just won't be me.

[Guest ValueCarl]

Hmm, bookie, was that really necessary?

 

I wouldn't want to turn this into a Sanjeev Parsad commercial, as I know that would be the last thing he would want personally; however, I have had the good pleasure of experiencing him compound our assets very nicely-his numbers are all there for inquiring minds-during some most tumultuous, quite frankly, historically volatile times in the history of the financial markets.

 

Without a doubt, he has mastered Mr. Buffett's two rules of money:

 

1) Don't lose money

 

2) Don't forget rule # 1

 

More than likely, we may continue experiencing "interesting times" in our financial markets with volatility remaining at high levels going forward!

 

For what it's worth, I believe Mr. Parsad has some PENT UP COMPOUNDING stored up in his portfolio, that will catapult his base numbers posted retrospectively, SIGNIFICANTLY, in the not too distant future.

 

Good fortune building to all because that's what the BUSINESS of MONEY is all about! Parsad's got the gift and a damn good accountant partnering with him in the back ground.  imo 

 

 

 

 

[bookie71]

Sorry, I thought we were talking about Begari.

[Guest ValueCarl]

Ditto. I wasn't entirely sure who you meant!  ;)

[shalab]

Mr Biglari may get many people to invest in him - many inadvertently through various index funds/ETFs. However, his reputation is harmed for good which will make it harder for him to become a billionaire or take a controlling stake in another company.

 

In retrospect

      - the guy is not prudent with money, has taste for lavish cars/mansion

      - wants ot make money off the shareholders not with them

      - used the buffett emulation as a marketing tool

      - attract talented managers to wok for him since he is the only beneficiary of the new pay package

      - not have a sycophantic BOD around him

 

He can still do well monetarily by milking SNS and investing money in undervalued companies. He seems pretty good in spotting such opportunities.

 

Anyway, I made money off of SNS and was thinking of being a longer term holder for tax reasons if Biglari is able to compound even at reasonable rates. I wouldnt want to buy BH at these prices.