巴菲特致股东的信（1998年）
⑨投资业务

Investments

         Below we present our common stock investments. Those with a market value of more than $750 million are itemized.

投资业务

下表是伯克希尔市价超过 7.5 亿美元以上的股票投资。

         During the year, we slightly increased our holdings in American Express, one of our three largest commitments, and left the other two unchanged. However, we trimmed or substantially cut many of our smaller positions. Here, I need to make a confession (ugh): The portfolio actions I took in 1998 actually decreased our gain for the year. In particular, my decision to sell McDonald's was a very big mistake. Overall, you would have been better off last year if I had regularly snuck off to the movies during market hours.

今年我们稍微提高了在美国运通的持股，至于其余另外两项重大的股票投资则维持不变，不过在此同时我们也大幅出脱其余一些较小的投资部位，在这里我也必须承认，嗯！我在 1998 年做的一些举动事实上导致我们的利得不增反减，尤其是过早决定卖出麦当劳使得我们损失惨重，也就是说如果去年我在股票交易时间一动也不动的话，大家可能会更好过一点。

         At yearend, we held more than $15 billion in cash equivalents (including high-grade securities due in less than one year). Cash never makes us happy. But it's better to have the money burning a hole in Berkshire's pocket than resting comfortably in someone else's. Charlie and I will continue our search for large equity investments or, better yet, a really major business acquisition that would absorb our liquid assets. Currently, however, we see nothing on the horizon.

到年底，我们手上持有超过 150 亿美元的类现金(包含一年内到期的优质债券)，抱着这么多现金耐心等待机会让我们感到相当不自在，但我们宁愿让这 150 亿美元烂在我们口袋，也不要让他们轻轻松松落入他人手里。当然查理跟我还是会继续去寻找合适的大型股票投资，当然要是能来一个真正的企业并购案会更好，以消化我们手上过剩的流动资金，不过到目前为止，我们还没有发现任何潜在的目标。

         Once we knew that the General Re merger would definitely take place, we asked the company to dispose of the equities that it held. (As mentioned earlier, we do not manage the Cologne Re portfolio, which includes many equities.) General Re subsequently eliminated its positions in about 250 common stocks, incurring $935 million of taxes in the process. This "clean sweep" approach reflects a basic principle that Charlie and I employ in business and investing: We don't back into decisions.

当整个合并案正式完成之后，我们立刻要求该公司卖出手头上所有的股票投资(就像之前提到过的，不包含科隆再保险的投资组合)，通用再保险随即将手上超过 250 种以上的证券清仓，为此还缴了 9.35 亿美元的税，这个干净利落的清仓动作充分反应查理跟我在经营与投资上的基本原则，我们不替过去决策背书。

         Last year I deviated from my standard practice of not disclosing our investments (other than those we are legally required to report) and told you about three unconventional investments we had made. There were several reasons behind that disclosure. First, questions about our silver position that we had received from regulatory authorities led us to believe that they wished us to publicly acknowledge this investment. Second, our holdings of zero-coupon bonds were so large that we wanted our owners to know of this investment's potential impact on Berkshire's net worth. Third, we simply wanted to alert you to the fact that we sometimes do make unconventional commitments.

去年我打破从来不主动公开投资组合的惯例(除非法令有特别要求)，告诉大家我们最近参与的三项非常规投资，之所以会这样做主要有几个原因，第一，关于白银投资，监管机构提出的一些问题，让我们感觉他们希望我们能够公开承认这项投资的存在；第二，零息债券的投资仓位够大，我们希望股东知晓该投资对公司账面价值的潜在影响；第三，我们只是要让大家知道，三不五时我们还是会做出一些与以往大不相同的投资动作。

         Normally, however, as discussed in the Owner's Manual on page 61, we see no advantage in talking about specific investment actions. Therefore -- unless we again take a position that is particularly large -- we will not post you as to what we are doing in respect to any specific holding of an unconventional sort. We can report, however, that we have eliminated certain of the positions discussed last year and added certain others. 

不过就像是我们在股东手册一再提到的，我们认为主动披露特定的投资动作不会给公司带来任何的好处，因此，除非我们再度在某些特别的项目有非常大笔投资，我们将不会再向各位报告我们在某些非常规投资的有关事项。当然，我们还是会定期向大家报告去年我们清仓的或是新增的某些投资部位。

         Our never-comment-even-if-untrue policy in regard to investments may disappoint "piggybackers" but will benefit owners: Your Berkshire shares would be worth less if we discussed what we are doing. Incidentally, we should warn you that media speculation about our investment moves continues in most cases to be incorrect. People who rely on such commentary do so at their own peril.

我们这种对投资“即使不实也不评论”的做法，既让一些有意搭顺风车的人无法得逞，也能达到保护股东利益的目的，因为如果我们不断地公开讨论所有的投资细节，将会严重损及各位所持有的伯克希尔股份的价值，同时我也要提醒大家通常媒体报导有关我们的投资动向往往都是错误的，相信他们话的人请自担风险。

上一页 下一页

〔译文源于芒格书院整理的巴菲特致股东的信〕

© Copyright 2023 Meitiandudian. All Rights Reserved.