We've had deals where- >> I think most deals are gonna take
longer than 13 days.
>> Yeah, some deals take longer.
Well, one, we always try to get everything done in 13 days,
I was born on February 13th.
But no, I think, Barry, some deals which aren't gonna come about It's interesting,
we try to get something.
A glad example is, we were buying the paper,
secondhand paper in Buenos Aires, and in going through our due diligence,
we realized that there was an issue about some tax issues.
And they couldn't solve it in time, and the guy said,
I don't wanna do anything now.
But I said, gee, you know, we've done all this work on this,
Could you at least make sure that we have a first right of refusal on your business.
So you have to come to talk to me before you can sell to somebody else.
And that was very effective, because ten years later,
I received a call saying, gee, you know, I'd like to sell.
And I said well, send me the offer.
And of course he had no other offer, so we were able to negotiate that.
It gave him a sign to know.
So we were able to buy that at a fair price, ten years later.
But we got something.
So one of the other principles is even if the deal doesn't work out quickly,
make sure you can try to get something at the end of that time period so
they have some value in the future.
And the second rule- >> And why did he give that to you?
What did you give him in return for the- >> He felt bad.
What we gave him is the guilt feeling.
He felt bad that he wasted a lot of our time.
Also he knew that we are the major buyer of these papers in the world.
He didn't want to make me feel bad.
So I made it feel all this work, and
you had something you could have told us, didn't work out, so what can you give me?
And he didn't value the first right of refusal too much.
Ten years later, he realized the value that we took that day.
The second one is a deal which didn't work out.
When we try not to totally poison the waters.
This is sorta a funny story.
We were buying the paper in British Columbia
called Auto Trader British Columbia.
And in doing our due diligence, we found that there was a discrepancy
in the distribution of the papers.
And anyway there was an issue on this, the deal didn't close.
He felt very bad about this.
It was in November.
And in December for my Christmas present, I received from British Columbia
a salmon in a box which must have rotted for five years.
We opened it up at home for Christmas and our house smelled for like three weeks.
So I thought, gee, we'll never get this deal done.
>> Wait, he sent you a rotten salmon?
>> He sent me a rotten salmon because he was so
angry that we didn't close the deal, which we didn't have to because he was
cheating on the >> We believe he wasn't and
he wasn't properly accounting for distribution, but
what's interesting we didn't get angry at that.
We didn't do anything.
We realized ten years later when we thought he wanted to sell the company,
that maybe it's not John to go do that deal.
So we sent someone else, but
we hadn't ruined the reputation of our whole group with him, and
that other person was able to go and get that deal closed never mentioning my name.
So even if the deal is personally antagonistic,
don't make it group antagonistic, so there's still a way back.
We did that.
>> You made someone mad enough to send you a rotten salmon.
Are you sure it wasn't one of those delicacies like rotten shark,
and you just didn't understand?
>> Some people assume what they're doing and not telling you will not be found out.
And when they found out there's a face issue,
I think I probably hit the face issue too badly.
So he was quite angry about that, but in the end,
you know we got the deal and, and everything was good.
And he was, maybe not the most stable of characters let's put it that way.