The Ledger, every show

“If the Tribune scenario were presented to me today, I can't believe that I wouldn't do it again, because my assumptions were realistic.”

“Wide open competition is ultimately destructive, because there's always someone who's willing to do it for cheaper than you are. Or do it in a manner that you're just not willing to do.”

“One of my most successful deals was the deal we lost fifty million on. But before we did it, We did a risk analysis, concluded that if it didn't work, we were going to lose fifty million dollars, and that's what we lost. And so, from my perspective, that was a…”

“In the seventies, when we did our first major grave dancing from 73 to 77, we were operating on a very simple premise, and that was that if you could buy stuff at 30% of replacement cost, and you designed the buying so that you had time, Staying power. That, h…”

“In oh eight, oh nine, we didn't deal with a mark to market. We dealt with pretend and extend. So I think that the overall real estate market is probably still inflated.”

“And certainly, when the yields that people are willing to buy stuff for today reminds me of the story about shorting a stock at a dollar. Well, the stock may be a lousy company, but the odds are you can make a dollar or you can lose unlimited amounts of money.…”

“I think that the question of being an investor in the emerging markets comes down to a very simple question. Are you getting paid for the risk of the volatility? And at times, frankly, the answer is yes. But I'd say generally, our experience suggests that you'…”

“I think the other thing is the focus on earnings, EBITDA, and not the focus on cash. Cash is king. You can have great numbers and great stories, but if you can't produce the cash, it doesn't matter.”

“It was a deal where we assumed that the newspaper business was shrinking. We did an underwriting, whereas instead of underwriting revenue going up, we underwrote revenue going down. We assumed the level of suppression. And that number was six percent a year. W…”

“The lower rank players never have a good outcome.”

“I had an experience in, I think it was 1992, where, ah, according to Forbes magazine, I had a net worth of a billion dollars, and it was a Wednesday, and I was worried about how to make payroll on Friday. So I learned that, yeah, I had a lot of assets, but to …”

“We've only had one serious recruitment away from here in 50 years. That lots of people quit and start their own shop and do other things, and I'm very supportive of people pursuing their objectives. But we only had one person recruited away, and within about s…”

“Historically, where we don't do well revolves around a scenario where the seller takes the money, but doesn't really think about the fact that he sold. And if you therefore need to remind him, that's usually a challenge to the viability of the investment.”

“Jay was incredibly successful investor. Certainly the Warren Buffett of his time.”

“So the door to my office has been closed less than five times in 30 years.”

“About six years ago, we took over a company called Commonwealth REIT, and we acquired about, with that process, a company with about seven billion of assets. And over the last five and a half years, we've sold a 142 out of a 146 properties. We have not bought …”

“In 1953, a guy named Hugh Hefner put out a magazine called Playboy, and I discovered it on the magazine rack, and it was 50 cents, and I bought it. And I read it on the way home on the train, and I mean, it was pictures of naked ladies, but more important, it …”