巴菲特致股东的信（2006年）①概述

To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.:

致伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司所有股东：

Our gain in net worth during 2006 was $16.9 billion, which increased the per-share book value of both our Class A and Class B stock by 18.4%. Over the last 42 years (that is, since present management took over) book value has grown from $19 to $70,281, a rate of 21.4% compounded annually.*

公司 2006 年的账面价值增加 169 亿美元，A/B 股每股的账面价值增加 18.4%(标普 24.1%)，自现任管理层接手的 42 年以来，每股账面价值由当初的 19 美元成长到目前的 70281 美元，年复合成长率约为 21.4%。*

*All per-share figures used in this report apply to Berkshire’s A shares. Figures for the B shares are 1/30th of those shown for the A.

*本报告中使用的所有数据均适用于伯克希尔的A股，B股的经济权益等于A股的1/30。

We believe that $16.9 billion is a record for a one-year gain in net worth – more than has ever been booked by any American business, leaving aside boosts that have occurred because of mergers (e.g., AOL’s purchase of Time Warner). Of course, Exxon Mobil and other companies earn far more than Berkshire, but their earnings largely go to dividends and/or repurchases, rather than to building net worth.

不考虑企业合并带来的增长(例如美国在线并购时代华纳)，我们相信，单年 169 亿美元的账面价值增长额，超过了任何美国企业的历史纪录。当然，埃克森美孚石油公司及其它的企业的收益规模远超伯克希尔，但其收益主要用于股利发放或股票回购，而不是用来累积账面价值。

All that said, a confession about our 2006 gain is in order. Our most important business, insurance, benefited from a large dose of luck: Mother Nature, bless her heart, went on vacation. After hammering us with hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 – storms that caused us to lose a bundle on super-cat insurance – she just vanished. Last year, the red ink from this activity turned black – very black.

尽管如此，我们 2006 年的业绩，应该要坦承一个事实：我们最重要的保险业务的亮丽表现，主要是相当的幸运使然：由于上天有好生之德，使得一切平安。在历经 2004、2005 年飓风的重创(巨灾保险的高额理赔金，使我们损失惨重)后，终于让我们松了一口气。去年，我们的巨灾保险事业已由亏转盈，并且大有斩获。

In addition, the great majority of our 73 businesses did outstandingly well in 2006. Let me focus for a moment on one of our largest operations, GEICO. What management accomplished there was simply extraordinary.

除此之外，伯克希尔旗下的 73 个业务单位，在 2006 年绝大多数也都有突出的表现。让我们重点谈谈伯克希尔旗下最大的业务之一 GEICO，其管理层的成就，可以说是非凡的。

As I’ve told you before, Tony Nicely, GEICO’s CEO, went to work at the company 45 years ago, two months after turning 18. He became CEO in 1992, and from then on the company’s growth exploded. In addition, Tony has delivered staggering productivity gains in recent years. Between yearend 2003 and yearend 2006, the number of GEICO policies increased from 5.7 million to 8.1 million, a jump of 42%. Yet during that same period, the company’s employees (measured on a fulltime-equivalent basis) fell 3.5%. So productivity grew 47%. And GEICO didn’t start fat.

正如过去所述，GEICO 保险的 CEO 托尼·莱斯利 45 年前加入公司，当时他只有 18 岁零二个月，自 1992 年走马上任以来，公司的成长突飞猛进。而近年来，托尼更在运营效率的提升上精益求精，由 2003 年底至 2006 年底，GEICO 的保单数量从 570 万份增长至 810 万份，成长了 42%。但此同时，公司的全职员工却减少了 3.5%。因此，运营效率不但提升了 47%，而 GEICO 并没有组织臃肿的问题。

That remarkable gain has allowed GEICO to maintain its all-important position as a low-cost producer, even though it has dramatically increased advertising expenditures. Last year GEICO spent $631 million on ads, up from $238 million in 2003 (and up from $31 million in 1995, when Berkshire took control). Today, GEICO spends far more on ads than any of its competitors, even those much larger. We will continue to raise the bar.

GEICO 创造出的惊人成长，即便在广告支出激增的情况下，仍保持其作为低成本保险公司绝对领先的地位。去年，GEICO 的广告支出为 6.31 亿美元，高于 2003 年的 2.38 亿美元，也高于 1995 年收购时的 3100 万。目前，GEICO 的广告支出远远超过任何竞争对手，即使规模远大于 GEICO 者，而我们将持续提高竞争的门槛。

Last year I told you that if you had a new son or grandson to be sure to name him Tony. But Don Keough, a Berkshire director, recently had a better idea. After reviewing GEICO’s performance in 2006, he wrote me, “Forget births. Tell the shareholders to immediately change the names of their present children to Tony or Antoinette.” Don signed his letter “Tony.”

各位还记得去年我说过，如果你有儿子或孙子出生，一定要帮他取名"托尼"。但伯克希尔的董事唐·基奥(DonKeough)最近有更好的想法：在回顾了 2006 年 GEICO 的表现后，他写信给我说："甭提出生了，告诉股东们赶快把小孩的名字，都改成托尼或安东尼吧"！而他在信后面已经署名为"托尼"了。

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Charlie Munger – my partner and Berkshire’s vice chairman – and I run what has turned out to be a big business, one with 217,000 employees and annual revenues approaching $100 billion. We certainly didn’t plan it that way. Charlie began as a lawyer, and I thought of myself as a security analyst. Sitting in those seats, we both grew skeptical about the ability of big entities of any type to function well. Size seems to make many organizations slow-thinking, resistant to change and smug. In Churchill’s words: “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” Here’s a telling fact: Of the ten non-oil companies having the largest market capitalization in 1965 – titans such as General Motors, Sears, DuPont and Eastman Kodak – only one made the 2006 list.

我的搭档也是伯克希尔的副董事长查理·芒格，和我共同管理着一个庞大的事业体，它拥有 21.7 万名员工，年营收直逼 1000 亿美元。当然这并非我们原先的规划，芒格一开始是以律师身份起家，而我则将自己视为证券分析师。在那个年代，我们对于任何形态的大型机构能否有效运营，一直表示怀疑。规模似乎使许多组织思维迟缓，抵制变革，甚至自以为是。丘吉尔曾说过："我们改变了世界，而世界也改变了我们"。一个明显的事实是：1965 年市值排名前十的非石油公司，如通用汽车、西尔斯、杜邦、与柯达等巨头，在 2006 年只有一家上榜。

In fairness, we’ve seen plenty of successes as well, some truly outstanding. There are many giant-company managers whom I greatly admire; Ken Chenault of American Express, Jeff Immelt of G.E. and Dick Kovacevich of Wells Fargo come quickly to mind. But I don’t think I could do the management job they do. And I know I wouldn’t enjoy many of the duties that come with their positions – meetings, speeches, foreign travel, the charity circuit and governmental relations. For me, Ronald Reagan had it right: “It’s probably true that hard work never killed anyone – but why take the chance?”

公平而言，还是有许多大企业的经理人表现非凡，像我马上就能想到一些让人推崇备至的 CEO，如美国运通的 Ken Chenault、通用电气的 Jeff Immelt、富国银行的 Dick Kovacevich，但我认为我无法胜任他们的管理工作，我也不认为自己能欣然接受这些随着地位而来的许多职责，诸如会议、演说、出差、慈善巡回、政府公关等。我很认同美国前总统里根曾说的话："努力工作也许累不死人，但何苦冒这个险呢？"

So I’ve taken the easy route, just sitting back and working through great managers who run their own shows. My only tasks are to cheer them on, sculpt and harden our corporate culture, and make major capital-allocation decisions. Our managers have returned this trust by working hard and effectively.

因此，我决定让人生过得轻松点，完全放手让集团中的优秀经理人来表现，而我的任务就是为他们加油、塑造及加强企业文化、并做出重大的资本配置决策。而伯克希尔的所有经理人，也以努力和有效的工作，来回报我对他们的信任。

For their performance over the last 42 years – and particularly for 2006 – Charlie and I thank them.

对于过去 42 年来的绩效，尤其是 2006 年的优异成果，芒格和我感谢他们的努力。