Only a handful of financial companies worldwide are in better shape now than before this crisis started. Fairfax Financial is one of them. CEO Prem Watsa managed to make $2 billion and thumb his nose at his opponents at the same time.
By betting against companies such as MBIA, Prem Watsa stroke gold. At the end of 2005, the company had $559 million in cash and investments, but more than twice as much long-term debt--about $1.4 billion. The numbers are now reversed: There's more cash and investments ($1.2 billion) than debt ($1.05 billion). The share price, which for so long traded far below book value, hit a nine-year high in October. As of Nov. 5, it was up 22% on the year, the eighth-best performance among the 280 financial services companies in the Bloomberg world U.S. financial index.
Read the Complete Story for the incredible story
By betting against companies such as MBIA, Prem Watsa stroke gold. At the end of 2005, the company had $559 million in cash and investments, but more than twice as much long-term debt--about $1.4 billion. The numbers are now reversed: There's more cash and investments ($1.2 billion) than debt ($1.05 billion). The share price, which for so long traded far below book value, hit a nine-year high in October. As of Nov. 5, it was up 22% on the year, the eighth-best performance among the 280 financial services companies in the Bloomberg world U.S. financial index.
Read the Complete Story for the incredible story
