“We all know people who’ve flunked, and they try and memorize and they try and spout back. It just doesn’t work. The brain doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to array facts on the theory structures answering the question ‘Why?’ If you don’t do that, you just cannot handle the world.”
– Charlie Munger
Companies
Northrop Gets Defense Lifeline in $80 Billion Bomber Contest
“Smallest suitor wins biggest warplane contract this decade.“
Tesla’s self-driving car is already getting smarter
“When one car learns something, all learn”
The Poundland principle: Boss of cut-price chain discusses why budget shopping is here to stay and how he plans to bring it to the internet
“Suppliers, he says, became reluctant to sell goods to 99p Stores, and credit insurers – which provide protection to suppliers against unpaid bills – were refusing to offer cover.”
Related:
Forget the 99p Store, woman opens up shop where most of her stock is just 25 PENCE
“Most of what we sell is stuff that’s coming up to its sell-by date, but that’s not the same as its expiry date.”
Bill Ackman Takes Over Valeant’s Defense
“And so you can think coldly and dispassionately about companies that look scandalous. You can say: This scandal looks bad, and may lead to fines, but even after the fines and the clean-up, there is a good business here. The net present value of the business, minus the net present value of the fines, is still greater than the market price. There is no such thing as a toxic asset; assets are toxic or attractive based on their price.”
Related
Charlie Munger Isn’t Done Bashing Valeant
“Munger’s stance has extra significance, because some of the drugmaker’s largest shareholders follow the style of investing that he and Buffett, 85, popularized.”
Markets
Truck Stocks Plunge as Factory Slowdown Seen Curbing Cargo
“They’re all going down because of what UPS said about their recent truck volume and disappointing preliminary revenue of Roadrunner.”
Brits are using higher wages to pay off credit card debt
“British households are using higher wages to pay off their credit card debts, rather than relying on the plastic for their shopping, in the latest sign that the economy is performing well.”
Knowledge Point’ black cab driver training school to close
“We’re going to be brushed aside. Demand has gone down since Uber arrived. Usually we have 350 students enrolling a year, last year it was 200.”
Investing
An Interview With Mario Gabelli: Masters in Business
“Bloomberg View columnist Barry Ritholtz interviews Mario J. Gabelli, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GAMCO Investors, Inc., the firm he founded in 1977. They discuss the art of investing.”
Long reads
Luke Skywalker, Sith Lord
“One evening, while geeking out with my daughters I decided to share a theory I had with them about Star Wars — specifically Return of the Jedi: Luke Skywalker turned to the Dark Side at the end of the trilogy.”
Graph of the week
Four Charts That Show Why MTN’s Nigerian Fine Matters So Much
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