巴菲特致股东的信（1995年）③Helzberg钻石连锁店

Helzberg's Diamond Shops

A few years back, management consultants popularized a technique called "management by walking around" (MBWA). At Berkshire, we've instituted ABWA (acquisitions by walking around).

Helzberg钻石连锁店

几年前，管理顾问专家流行一种走动式管理(MBWA)，在伯克希尔我们创造了走动式收购(ABWA)。

In May 1994, a week or so after the Annual Meeting, I was crossing the street at 58th and Fifth Avenue in New York, when a woman called out my name. I listened as she told me she'd been to, and had enjoyed, the Annual Meeting. A few seconds later, a man who'd heard the woman stop me did so as well. He turned out to be Barnett Helzberg, Jr., who owned four shares of Berkshire and had also been at our meeting.

1994 年 5 月，在年会过后一周左右，正当我在纽约第五大道与 58 街交叉口准备过马路时，突然有一位女士叫我的名字，她说很喜欢参加伯克希尔的股东会。这时旁边一位先生也把我拦住，没想到他竟是小巴内特·赫兹伯格(Barnett Helzberg Jr.)，他持有伯克希尔四股股份，也曾参加过我们的股东会。

In our few minutes of conversation, Barnett said he had a business we might be interested in. When people say that, it usually turns out they have a lemonade stand - with potential, of course, to quickly grow into the next Microsoft. So I simply asked Barnett to send me particulars. That, I thought to myself. will be the end of that.

在我们短暂的交谈之中，Barnett 表示他拥有一家我们可能会有兴趣的公司，一般当人们这样说的时候，基本都是指一些茶水摊，并吹嘘有潜力变成第二个微软，所以我只是简单地请 Barnett 将他的资料发给我，当时我想此时将就此结束。

Not long after, Barnett sent me the financial statements of Helzberg's Diamond Shops. The company had been started by his grandfather in 1915 from a single store in Kansas City and had developed by the time we met into a group with 134 stores in 23 states. Sales had grown from $10 million in 1974 to $53 million in 1984 and $282 million in 1994. We weren't talking lemonade stands.

过了不久，Barnett 果然把 Helzberg 钻石店的财务报表发送给我，这家公司是在 1915 年由其祖父创立，当初只不过是在堪萨斯市的一家店，然而直到我们碰面时，该公司已发展成在全美 23 个州拥有 134 家分店的集团，营业额也从 1974 年的 1,000 万美元成长到 1984 年的 5,300 万美元，乃至于 1994 年的 2.82 亿美元，这显然不是一间茶水摊。

Barnett, then 60, loved the business but also wanted to feel free of it. In 1988, as a step in that direction, he had brought in Jeff Comment, formerly President of Wanamaker's, to help him run things. The hiring of Jeff turned out to be a homerun, but Barnett still found that he couldn't shake a feeling of ultimate responsibility. Additionally, he owned a valuable asset that was subject to the vagaries of a single, very competitive industry, and he thought it prudent to diversify his family's holdings.

Barnett 现年 60 岁，很热爱这项事业，但也很希望能够减轻负担，在 1988 年他跨出第一步，找到沃纳梅克百货公司(Wanamaker 美国最早的百货业之一)前任 CEO 杰夫·柯蒙特(Jeff Comment)来协助他经营事业，这个决定事后证明相当正确，但 Barnett 还是觉得他的压力相当沉重，而且，他虽然拥有价值不菲的事业，但却面临业务单一且业内竞争相当激烈，因此他认为有必要要分散家族持股的风险。

Berkshire was made to order for him. It took us awhile to get together on price, but there was never any question in my mind that, first, Helzberg's was the kind of business that we wanted to own and, second, Jeff was our kind of manager. In fact, we would not have bought the business if Jeff had not been there to run it. Buying a retailer without good management is like buying the Eiffel Tower without an elevator.

伯克希尔简直就是为他量身定制的，我们花了一段时间才在价格上达成协议，从头到尾我都没有太多的疑问，首先，Helzberg 是那种我们想要拥有的事业，第二，Jeff 正是我们喜欢的经理人类型，事实上，要是这项事业不是由 Jeff 所经营的话，我们可能就不会考虑买下它，买下一家没有优良管理的零售业，就好象是买下一座没有电梯的艾菲尔铁塔。

We completed the Helzberg purchase in 1995 by means of a tax-free exchange of stock, the only kind of transaction that interested Barnett. Though he was certainly under no obligation to do so, Barnett shared a meaningful part of his proceeds from the sale with a large number of his associates. When someone behaves that generously, you know you are going to be treated right as a buyer.

在 1995 年，我们以免税的股权交换方式完成对 Helzberg 的并购，这也是 Barnett 唯一愿意接受的方式，虽然他没有义务，但是他还是与其众多的员工一起分享了他的部分出售收益。就这点而言，你可以确信对员工如此慷慨的人，相信也会公平合理地对待新加入的买主。

The average Helzberg's store has annual sales of about $2 million, far more than competitors operating similarly-sized stores achieve. This superior per-store productivity is the key to Helzberg's excellent profits. If the company continues its first-rate performance - and we believe it will - it could grow rather quickly to several times its present size.

Helzberg 单店年平均营业额大约是 200 万美元，这个数字远比其它相同规模的竞争对手多得多，这个超高的单店销售额正是 Helzberg 拥有高盈利的关键因素，如果这家公司能够继续保持这种一流的表现(我们相信绝对没问题)，则在不久的将来它将可以发展为数倍于现在的规模。

Helzberg's, it should be added, is an entirely different sort of operation from Borsheim's, our Omaha jewelry business, and the two companies will operate independently of each other. Borsheim's had an excellent year in 1995, with sales up 11.7%. Susan Jacques, its 36-year-old CEO, had an even better year, giving birth to her second son at the start of the Christmas season. Susan has proved to be a terrific leader in the two years since her promotion.

有一点必须强调的是，Helzberg 经营的形态与我们在奥马哈的珠宝事业波仙珠宝店完全不同，两家公司仍然会维持各自独立的营运，波仙珠宝 1995 年的业绩相当理想，营收较去年又增加了 11.7%，36 岁的 CEO 苏珊·雅克斯(Susan Jacques)的表现更是优异，去年圣诞节前夕她产下第二个儿子，在接任二年后，Susan 证明自己是位相当杰出的领导者。

Helzberg's Diamond Shops A few years back, management consultants popularized a technique called "management by walking around" (MBWA). At Berkshire, we've instituted ABWA (acquisitions by walking around).

Helzberg's Diamond Shops

A few years back, management consultants popularized a technique called "management by walking around" (MBWA). At Berkshire, we've instituted ABWA (acquisitions by walking around).