Watsa no stranger to betting on perceived value

[CanadianMunger]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/watsa-no-stranger-to-betting-on-perceived-value/article2310993/

[racemize]

I'm pretty stunned by this--it makes me somewhat nervous as a FFH shareholder, but I can also see it working out.  I'm hoping for the best!

[KFRCanuk]

GO Prem GO!

I wonder what his unfiltered thoughts are of the company before joining the board, 1 year after he joins the board and 2 years after that. I guess I'll never know.

[shalab]

May be RIMM will become the wholly owned subsidiary of FRFHF 

[Parsad]

I know that this comment I'm going to make is going to create a mess of this thread, but could it be that Prem and his team see some sort of synergy between RIMM and LVLT?  What services or products/services could RIMM sell that would directly benefit them and LVLT?  If you control the highway and you control the trucks (perhaps a better analogy would be shipping containers), that is a pretty big monopoly in distribution!  Would love to hear ideas and comments.  Cheers!

[Parsad]

I think he's just protecting their interest in the company.  Also, because Prem is chancellor for the University of Waterloo, if there is anything he can do to help the company, he would probably want to.  The high-tech industry in Waterloo pretty much exists because of RIMM, and they have such a huge impact on the area and university.  Cheers! 

[StubbleJumper]

Throwing good money after bad.

First FFH made a significant investment in a tech company that is out of touch with consumers, and had its market share being eaten away by competitors (BTW, this will get worse IMO as MS puts out increasingly credible products and as people become increasingly comfortable with Android).  Now Prem is going to burn a whole bunch of his time on the RIMM board instead of doing what he should be doing, which is running an insurance group.  And trust me, RIMM will be a sewer for time over the next few years as they try to stave off something that strikes me a inevitable.

One of the few things that gives FFH any value is Prem and his investment prowess (they sure as hell can't underwrite).  And now it looks like we have less of him.

Nice.

SJ

[nwoodman]

One of the few things that gives FFH any value is Prem and his investment prowess (they sure as hell can't underwrite).  And now it looks like we have less of him.

It's a good point.  If Prem is true to his word then they will max out at around $250m in terms of this position.  However what price should FFH put on his time? 

[Cardboard]

Hi Sanjeev,

I doubt that there is any link between their RIMM investment and LVLT. Ma Bell and others are still in between the two, so there is no synergy that I can think of. However, the trend of higher use for the two companies is still firmly in place. Data transportation is going up exponentially and with more apps, social networking and other new found uses, smartphones are used more and more.

Regarding RIMM, I have a really hard time understanding the attraction. The competitive landscape for that business is getting worse by the day. Even Apple seems slow getting their first 4G phone out while Samsung and others are miles ahead. Maybe that RIMM will be able to carve out a niche within the business market, but that is a big maybe.

Cardboard

[ERICOPOLY]

Look if it doesn't work out then he will be spending less time on his Blackberry.  So some time recouped there.