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Old 11-25-2016, 11:13 PM   #41
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For those who might be interested in the facts on when, why, and how Berkshire Hathaway acquired Forest River, here is an excerpt from Warren Buffett's letter to shareholders, lifted from Page 5 of the 2005 Berkshire Hathaway Stockholders' Report.

As you read it, notice the speed of the transaction. Mr. Buffett received preliminary information on Forest River on June 21; requested more information that day and received it the next morning, then made an offer on the same day; reached an agreement with Pete Liegl on June 28; and closed the deal on August 31.

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• Forest River, our second acquisition, closed on August 31. A couple of months earlier, on June 21, I received a two-page fax telling me – point by point – why Forest River met the acquisition criteria we set forth on page 25 of this report. I had not before heard of the company, a recreational vehicle manufacturer with $1.6 billion of sales, nor of Pete Liegl, its owner and manager. But the fax made sense, and I immediately asked for more figures. These came the next morning, and that afternoon I made Pete an offer. On June 28, we shook hands on a deal.

Pete is a remarkable entrepreneur. Some years back, he sold his business, then far smaller than today, to an LBO operator who promptly began telling him how to run the place. Before long, Pete left, and the business soon sunk into bankruptcy. Pete then repurchased it. You can be sure that I won’t be telling Pete how to manage his operation.

Forest River has 60 plants, 5,400 employees and has consistently gained share in the RV business, while also expanding into other areas such as boats. Pete is 61 – and definitely in an acceleration mode. Read the piece from RV Business that accompanies this report, and you’ll see why Pete and Berkshire are made for each other.

• On November 12, 2005, an article ran in The Wall Street Journal dealing with Berkshire’s unusual acquisition and managerial practices. In it Pete declared, “It was easier to sell my business than to renew my driver’s license.”
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Old 11-26-2016, 01:01 AM   #42
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Bob.. Very interesting. One question... When Warren acquired FR was Palomino in that deal or was that a separate deal? I have a Palomino unit.
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Old 11-26-2016, 01:29 AM   #43
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Bob.. Very interesting. One question... When Warren acquired FR was Palomino in that deal or was that a separate deal? I have a Palomino unit.
Palomino is a part of Forest River, and therefore it is also under the Berkshire Hathaway umbrella.
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Old 11-26-2016, 01:34 AM   #44
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Bob.. Very interesting. One question... When Warren acquired FR was Palomino in that deal or was that a separate deal? I have a Palomino unit.
Palomino was acquired 4 or 5 years later, from Vanguard Industries.
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Old 11-26-2016, 01:42 AM   #45
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Dan is correct that Palomino was acquired later, as were Coachmen, Shasta, Dynamax, and Prime Time. Those divisions all operate as somewhat stand-alone groups with their own websites, but are still part of Forest River and of Berkshire Hathaway.
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Old 11-26-2016, 06:41 AM   #46
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Dan is correct that Palomino was acquired later, as were Coachmen, Shasta, Dynamax, and Prime Time. Those divisions all operate as somewhat stand-alone groups with their own websites, but are still part of Forest River and of Berkshire Hathaway.
I believe Coachmen, Prime Time, Shasta and Dynamax were acquired in 2008 or 2009, during the last Recession.
As you said, these acquisitions pretty much operate as they had, in spite of the acquisition.
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Old 11-27-2016, 07:02 PM   #47
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Angry Quality Control

I believe the one post that states that overall the quality control in the industry is bad! I can only hope this rectifies itself, as more competition would do! FR might just be TOO big!!
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Old 11-28-2016, 06:07 AM   #48
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I believe the one post that states that overall the quality control in the industry is bad! I can only hope this rectifies itself, as more competition would do! FR might just be TOO big!!
Happens in a lot of industries. Not everything is easy to scale up. I worked for a company where we made better profits and had better control at a $15 million a year volume. We got bought out, new owners took over and tried to drive the company to $30 million over a several year period. They failed miserably on everything but the volume.Quality went down, profits were down, people left the company in disgust. They ended up selling it to some of the old management team, who scaled it back and brought it back to profitability. Unfortunately the company name had taken a pretty severe hit, they are still trying to recover from that. It is a very fine line.

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Old 02-08-2017, 07:47 PM   #49
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We bought ours March, 2016 Silverback 29IK. The leveling system malfunctioned three times in one day - and that was just the beginning of our nightmare. We have a list of about 30 things wrong with the camper - No Quality Control - We sent the letter into the company and the dealership.
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Old 02-12-2017, 04:41 PM   #50
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Originally Posted by wahoonc View Post
Happens in a lot of industries. Not everything is easy to scale up. I worked for a company where we made better profits and had better control at a $15 million a year volume. We got bought out, new owners took over and tried to drive the company to $30 million over a several year period. They failed miserably on everything but the volume.Quality went down, profits were down, people left the company in disgust. They ended up selling it to some of the old management team, who scaled it back and brought it back to profitability. Unfortunately the company name had taken a pretty severe hit, they are still trying to recover from that. It is a very fine line.

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Sounds like Traeger grills since they outsourced to China!
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Old 06-19-2017, 10:12 AM   #51
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I feel good that Mr. Buffit owns Forest River. I have read that he doesn't interfere with the runing of the company? He has stated that Forest River is a well run company.
FYI, when the asked what are his investments for his wife, he stated 90% stocks and 10% cash.
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Old 06-19-2017, 01:53 PM   #52
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I feel good that Mr. Buffit owns Forest River. I have read that he doesn't interfere with the runing of the company? He has stated that Forest River is a well run company.
FYI, when the asked what are his investments for his wife, he stated 90% stocks and 10% cash.
Buffett could care less about the Forest River quality. Shrewd businessman but like others he is only interested with profits.
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Old 06-29-2017, 02:31 AM   #53
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I knew these TT were overpriced, this proves it!
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Old 06-29-2017, 09:43 AM   #54
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I feel good that Mr. Buffit owns Forest River. I have read that he doesn't interfere with the runing of the company? He has stated that Forest River is a well run company.
FYI, when the asked what are his investments for his wife, he stated 90% stocks and 10% cash.
I thought Berkshire Hathaway divested itself of Forest River. Perhaps not.
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