Fairfax 2020

[Bryggen]

Oh great! Buying more dogshit!

Btw it's real, just got an email from a buddy of mine that works there. The guys are prepping their resumes to leave after they get vested by this deal.

Not sure it would be a bad deal depending on what they pay for BB. I think they can sell this as a whole or in parts for much more in just few years. Leaving it grow without the pressure of the market should benefit. I think there is potential in the cybersecurity space and that BB has value overall.

As for your tip, I am always very careful when I hear those i.e. '' a friend says...''

[Viking]

I agree, private ownership would be better for Blackberry as it executes on its transformation. And Fairfax certainly should understand the company right now.

Just wondering where Fairfax will get the $ from? They will need a big chunk of money. Another partnership with OMERS?

And interesting that they feel this would be the best use of shareholders capital - versus buying Fairfax shares at a steep discount or growing insurance subs in hard market or buying something else.

Perhaps something is driving the decision to make the purchase now.

[rb]

Really? They've been doing their "transformation"for close to 10 years now. When is it going to transform? 2040?

They're basically ramping up to incinerate a whole lot more capital.

[rb]

Oh great! Buying more dogshit!

Btw it's real, just got an email from a buddy of mine that works there. The guys are prepping their resumes to leave after they get vested by this deal.

Not sure it would be a bad deal depending on what they pay for BB. I think they can sell this as a whole or in parts for much more in just few years. Leaving it grow without the pressure of the market should benefit. I think there is potential in the cybersecurity space and that BB has value overall.

As for your tip, I am always very careful when I hear those i.e. '' a friend says...''

Well it's pretty clear what they're gonna pay isn't it? A control premium to the current stock price. Were you a Blackberry investor? If so, why not? It's obviously a great deal.

[Xerxes]

I think unlike Torstar, Stelco or Resolute (why?why?), BB had merits in the right hand. Folks, might bundle all of FFH mistakes into one bucket, but I don't think BB belongs there in the pile of stupid ideas. They should keep it and partner with someone for the privatization.

I don't know if folks noticed, I recall seeing on the news feed somewhere in the Teachers' 13F that they had invested in BB common shares in Q4 or Q1. I ll try to find the source.

What BB should do first is to raise capital at very low rate, to pay off the convert and stop paying that high rate to FFH. that would save it money and allow FFH to get its principal back for better use.

[Xerxes]

And interesting that they feel this would be the best use of shareholders capital - versus buying Fairfax shares at a steep discount or growing insurance subs in hard market or buying something else.

Perhaps something is driving the decision to make the purchase now.

I think these are different buckets.
Capital allocated to growing sub-insurance will not compete with the portfolio resources being used to buy portion BB or anything else (if this is even true).
Prem has been clear that he is not buying back his shares, so there is no conflict there as he is not doing it and in any case if he were, that would compete with resources allocated to grow sub-insurance.

[Viking]

I think unlike Torstar, Stelco or Resolute (why?why?), BB had merits in the right hand. Folks, might bundle all of FFH mistakes into one bucket, but I don't think BB belongs there in the pile of stupid ideas. They should keep it and partner with someone for the privatization.

I don't know if folks noticed, I recall seeing on the news feed somewhere in the Teachers' 13F that they had invested in BB common shares in Q4 or Q1. I ll try to find the source.

What BB should do first is to raise capital at very low rate, to pay off the convert and stop paying that high rate to FFH. that would save it money and allow FFH to get its principal back for better use.

With all due respect, i think the Blackberry purchase was a disaster. After Fairfax’s first purchase they had 6 months to learn how challenged the business was amd how poorly managed it was; it was pretty obvious (all you had to do was listen to the quarterly calls to understand the management team was not up to the challenge.).

PS: i actually bought RIM shares back when Fairfax initiated their position. It took me 3 conference calls to figure out the RIM management team was in way over their head (the company was no longer a start up and the industry was morphing fast with strong competitors). I took a small hit when i sold my position. But investing in RIM became one of my best investment decisions ever because it taught me about the cell phone industry. 18 months later Apple got wickedly cheap (the narrative then was Samsung was going to take over the world) and i was able to take my learnings from my time in Blackberry and buy a truckload of Apple over a 4 month period (the stock just kept going lower), which ended up being by largest gain ever :-) Learn...

[petec]

And interesting that they feel this would be the best use of shareholders capital - versus buying Fairfax shares at a steep discount or growing insurance subs in hard market or buying something else.

Perhaps something is driving the decision to make the purchase now.

I think these are different buckets.
Capital allocated to growing sub-insurance will not compete with the portfolio resources being used to buy portion BB or anything else (if this is even true).
Prem has been clear that he is not buying back his shares, so there is no conflict there as he is not doing it and in any case if he were, that would compete with resources allocated to grow sub-insurance.

You’re right it is different buckets. But Prem is buying back his own stock, slowly.

[Xerxes]

And interesting that they feel this would be the best use of shareholders capital - versus buying Fairfax shares at a steep discount or growing insurance subs in hard market or buying something else.

Perhaps something is driving the decision to make the purchase now.

I think these are different buckets.
Capital allocated to growing sub-insurance will not compete with the portfolio resources being used to buy portion BB or anything else (if this is even true).
Prem has been clear that he is not buying back his shares, so there is no conflict there as he is not doing it and in any case if he were, that would compete with resources allocated to grow sub-insurance.

You’re right it is different buckets. But Prem is buying back his own stock, slowly.

Not until he has paid back the debt he recently raised on the right hand side of his balance sheet, which he said that it will remain at cash/near cash. That was meant to only to fortify the business. He will not use those dollars to buyback shares. He could do that, then he would have contradicted a clear statement he made in Q1.

But very slowly to your point.

[petec]

And interesting that they feel this would be the best use of shareholders capital - versus buying Fairfax shares at a steep discount or growing insurance subs in hard market or buying something else.

Perhaps something is driving the decision to make the purchase now.

I think these are different buckets.
Capital allocated to growing sub-insurance will not compete with the portfolio resources being used to buy portion BB or anything else (if this is even true).
Prem has been clear that he is not buying back his shares, so there is no conflict there as he is not doing it and in any case if he were, that would compete with resources allocated to grow sub-insurance.

You’re right it is different buckets. But Prem is buying back his own stock, slowly.

Not until he has paid back the debt he recently raised on the right hand side of his balance sheet, which he said that it will remain at cash/near cash. That was meant to only to fortify the business. He will not use those dollars to buyback shares. He could do that, then he would have contradicted a clear statement he made in Q1.

But very slowly to your point.

Well, he bought back 140k shares in April IIRC. That’s what, half a percent of the company in one month?