Very Interesting (about who owns FR)

Turco14 · 11-22-2016, 09:49 PM

Very interesting to find out that Warren Buffet is overall CEO of Forrest River...didn't he have his hand in the housing bubble??

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**bikendan** · 11-23-2016, 03:00 AM

Peter Liegl is the CEO of Forest River Inc.

Buffet the is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, of which FR is one of its many subsidiaries.

schrederman · 11-23-2016, 01:20 PM

Since I own some BRKA stock... I guess I'm part owner. Think I got a discount? Um... no.

asquared · 11-23-2016, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikendan

Peter Liegl is the CEO of Forest River Inc.

Buffet the is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, of which FR is one of its many subsidiaries.

This is correct and pretty common knowledge around here.

Mr Havercamp · 11-23-2016, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schrederman

Since I own some BRKA stock... I guess I'm part owner. Think I got a discount? Um... no.

Me too, and also some THO.

Holding companies suck regardless, its directly related to Quality Control in the RV Industry or lack thereof. Profits are all the holding company cares about and whatever way they're generated doesn't matter. Does anyone think for a second Warren Buffet gives a rats rear end if your tires blow or your wall delaminates? He doesn't! He also doens't care when the Geico customer who never had a claim for 15 years scrapes a stop sign and his rates double. As long as the numbers keep coming in black and the investors are happy its all good.

FTCA, another holding company, did a fine job with Coleman popups running it into the ground after Fleetwood bled it dry. Now Columbia NW builds the cheaply constructed Somerset Coleman clones which are overpriced junk. Even the Fleetwood and FTCA ones were rock solid and still command top dollar on the used market. Coleman made most everything in house, No Lippert junk. I knew guys that worked at Coleman and drive by the vacant plant often, a sad sight.

Others do a start up with the right idea, DSRV comes to mind among others. They blow a lot of smoke for a few years, build up the brand, and then get gobbled up by the holding company. After that happens things go down hill in short order from a QC perspective, because its profits at any cost mentality from that point forward.

schrederman · 11-23-2016, 02:58 PM

It appears that this could be boiling down to a Big 3 like the auto industry did. Thor buying Jayco, and now Winnebago charging into the towable market by buying Sunnybrook, and now Grand design. Pretty amazing. I thought the Winnebago stuff I looked at was OK... but never could find the one I wanted so I ended up with Jayco.

CNYCamper · 11-23-2016, 03:15 PM

I WISH I owned some Berkshire Hathaway stock. At $238,000 per share its a little rich for my retired blood.

Mr Havercamp · 11-23-2016, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CNYCamper

I WISH I owned some Berkshire Hathaway stock. At $238,000 per share its a little rich for my retired blood.

LOL....
you probably do if you have a 401K. Look into what stocks some of the funds in your plan are holding. It's not like I have a dozen certificates under the mattress because if I did I wouldn't be typing this.

offduty11 · 11-24-2016, 02:41 PM

I thought Buffet was CEO of Thor rv's.

gordonsick · 11-24-2016, 02:59 PM

Our Forest River Berkshire 34QS motorhome has a proud notation by the door that FR was a sub of Berkshire Hathaway.

For me, the fact that FR is a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary was a plus for me, because Warren Buffet makes his investments for the long run. He doesn't buy companies to drive them into the ground. If FR management started making silly decisions that damaged the brand and the value of my RV, Warren would step in and fix the management problem.

BTW, Buffet was certainly not a cause of the 2007-08 mortgage meltdown. But, when the investment bank Goldman Sachs needed some credibility (and a lot of fingers were pointing at them) and some cash, he bought a bunch of 10% preferred shares from them. That investment gave them the same kind of credibility that FR gets from his ownership.

I'm sure that all of you retirees who are looking for steady investment income will know that 10% is an awfully high rate of return these days.

oletimer · 11-24-2016, 03:06 PM

The quality control needs overhaul at least in the rv industry.
we bought our first NeW trailer this summer, its still at the dealers. P poor quality control. ligget frames the drum was not turned enough for the dust cap to go on so a hammer fixed it.. smashed it on, Cold water in the shower hose was kinked behind the wall and only trickled out.. couch had sharp edges on mechanism and cut the cushions before our one and only trip so far. brnd new switch for rear stabilizers was bad. Airconditioner will not cool the trailer in 80 degree temps..thats only one trailer, did they actually check anything before pulling it out thru the door.. The person who smashed the dust cap knew they did it.. the person stuffing the hose kinking it knew it.. person putting shower drain pan knows its not lever or above the drain... and none of this was checked prior to shipment..Guess Id be a tyrant if I was the boss with people looking for work.. or maybe the middle man is making too much.. on a 48,000 dollar trailer..

lbrjet · 11-24-2016, 03:13 PM

You make a good point Gordon, but it sure seems like quality of trailers has gone way down since I bought my mine back in 2010. At least that is the impression I get by reading posts on this forum. May, or may not be related to company ownership, no way to know. I believe FR was bought back in 2005.

2010 F250 5.4L 3.73
2011 Flagstaff 831FKBSS
Equal-i-zer 4pt 12K

tomrob1161 · 11-24-2016, 04:13 PM

And now Winnebago just bought Cross Roads to add to the Sunnybrook and Grand Design.

What next?

Mr Havercamp · 11-24-2016, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomrob1161

And now Winnebago just bought Cross Roads to add to the Sunnybrook and Grand Design.

What next?

Where did you find that info? Crossroads is a Thor Industries brand.

tomrob1161 · 11-24-2016, 05:25 PM

I maybe wrong about Crossroads. I had heard earlier this month that Winnebago had bought them and then read in the December Trailer Life that Winnebago had bought Grand Design. There may have been some confusion about the two brands.

sfsgm · 11-24-2016, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turco14

Very interesting to find out that Warren Buffet is overall CEO of Forrest River...didn't he have his hand in the housing bubble??

Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

As others have pointed out, he owns Berkshire Hathaway. And as one pointed out, he wouldn't give a rat's ass about what you think or the quality of his product. He also "owns" GEICO. Their company was into me for $80k in legal support work and all they could do was keep telling me to send the invoices again, or the insurance adjuster had moved on. I had to play "hardball" with them to finally get paid.

sfsgm · 11-24-2016, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gordonsick

Our Forest River Berkshire 34QS motorhome has a proud notation by the door that FR was a sub of Berkshire Hathaway.

For me, the fact that FR is a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary was a plus for me, because Warren Buffet makes his investments for the long run. He doesn't buy companies to drive them into the ground. If FR management started making silly decisions that damaged the brand and the value of my RV, Warren would step in and fix the management problem.

BTW, Buffet was certainly not a cause of the 2007-08 mortgage meltdown. But, when the investment bank Goldman Sachs needed some credibility (and a lot of fingers were pointing at them) and some cash, he bought a bunch of 10% preferred shares from them. That investment gave them the same kind of credibility that FR gets from his ownership.

I'm sure that all of you retirees who are looking for steady investment income will know that 10% is an awfully high rate of return these days.

Yes, investment for growth but not dividends. Buffet buys companies that dispensed dividends to its stockholders and then the dividends stop, thus depriving the US Treasury of billions of dollars in revenue. So if you're looking for dividend income, Berkshire Hathaway is NOT the company to invest in.

lgray · 11-24-2016, 06:36 PM

Peter Liegl was CEO of just another sinking RV manufacture during the Great Recession. His leadership was rocked with much internal scandal and many questions of his personal ethics and allegations of misconduct.It had become so bad, he had announced his planned retirement and named his successor.He was all but out the door, when Warren/Berkshire rode in as a white knight and bought FR, he quickly rescinded his retirement and fired his planned successor, civil suit soon followed.

Granite17 · 11-24-2016, 06:46 PM

Warren Buffet has to be one of the most respected business leaders in the world!
He is very involved with the businesses he
buys and operates . His business model
always promotes a quality operation over
profit draining.
Forest River sets that model of trying to
manufacture a quality product at a "fair"
price and take care of the customer when
at all possible and within reason.
It is unfortunate your experience has been
so negative.

SEAYALL · 11-24-2016, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turco14

Very interesting to find out that Warren Buffet is overall CEO of Forrest River...didn't he have his hand in the housing bubble??

Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

I don't know, but I do know this, the first company to tackle build quality will be the grand winner, build fewer, build them right . I have had amazing custom service from FR. But let's get it right the first time.

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