巴菲特致股东的信（2006年）⑨伯克希尔董事会的一些变动

Some Changes on Berkshire’s Board

伯克希尔董事会的一些变动

The composition of our board will change in two ways this spring. One change will involve the Chace family, which has been connected to Berkshire and its predecessor companies for more than a century. In 1929, the first Malcolm G. Chace played an important role in merging four New England textile operations into Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. That company merged with Hathaway Manufacturing in 1955 to form Berkshire Hathaway, and Malcolm G. Chace, Jr. became its chairman.

自今年春季开始，伯克希尔董事会的组成，将在两个方面产生变动，首先是与 Chace 家族有关。Chace 家族和伯克希尔及其前身，有超过一个世纪的渊源。1929 年时，在将四家新英格兰地区的纺织厂，合并成伯克希尔精纺联合公司的行动中，第一代的 Malcolm G.Chace 扮演了重要角色。该公司在 1955 年时，与哈撒韦制造公司合并成伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司，而 Malcolm G.Chace,Jr.随即成为董事长。

Early in 1965, Malcolm arranged for Buffett Partnership Ltd. to buy a key block of Berkshire shares and welcomed us as the new controlling shareholder of the company. Malcolm continued as non-executive chairman until 1969. He was both a wonderful gentleman and helpful partner.

1965 年初，在小 Malcolm 的安排下，巴菲特有限合伙公司买进了伯克希尔的一笔关键股权，并对我们取得经营权表示欢迎。小 Malcolm 并继续担任伯克希尔的名誉董事长，于 1969 年才卸任。他是一位德高望重、也乐于助人的好伙伴。

That description also fits his son, Malcolm “Kim” Chace, who succeeded his father on Berkshire’s board in 1992. But last year Kim, now actively and successfully running a community bank that he founded in 1996, suggested that we find a younger person to replace him on our board. We have done so, and Kim will step down as a director at the annual meeting. I owe much to the Chaces and wish to thank Kim for his many years of service to Berkshire.

同样的形容词，也适用于他的儿子 Malcolm Kim Chace 身上，他在 1992 年接替父亲成为伯克希尔董事。Kim 于 1996 年自行创业，目前正积极、而且成功地经营一家社区银行，因此在去年他建议，可以寻找一位年轻人来代替他。由于我们找到了适合人选，因此 Kim 将在今年的股东会时卸任董事。我希望对 Chace 家族、以及Kim 多年来对伯克希尔的贡献，表达我最由衷的感谢。

In selecting a new director, we were guided by our long-standing criteria, which are that board members be owner-oriented, business-savvy, interested and truly independent. I say “truly” because many directors who are now deemed independent by various authorities and observers are far from that, relying heavily as they do on directors’ fees to maintain their standard of living. These payments, which come in many forms, often range between $150,000 and $250,000 annually, compensation that may approach or even exceed all other income of the “independent” director. And – surprise, surprise – director compensation has soared in recent years, pushed up by recommendations from corporate America’s favorite consultant, Ratchet, Ratchet and Bingo. (The name may be phony, but the action it conveys is not.)

在挑选新董事上，我们是沿用多年来的标准：董事会成员要以所有者利益为导向，精通商业，兴致昂然、且真正独立。我所谓"真正"的独立，是指完全不依靠董事的酬劳、来维持其生活水平者，这与目前很多权威机构和观察人士，在独立董事的认定上，有相当的出入。他们严重依赖董事薪酬来维持个人生活水平，这类报酬各种各样，通常每年在 15-25 万美元之间，甚至接近或者超过所谓"独立"董事的其它收入。而且(似乎也见怪不怪)，董事酬劳在近年来更持续暴涨，这归功于美国企业界最乐于聘请的薪酬顾问公司：高一点、再高一点、成交！(Ratchet,Ratchet and Bingo 是虚拟表述，形容薪酬谈判过程：高一点，再高一点，成交！)(棘轮是一种不可逆的机械机构。棘轮效应用于形容高管薪酬，一旦形成之后，便有不可逆性，即易于向上调整，而难于向下调整，某些公司高管薪酬得到了公开，便对其他公司高管形成不可逆的锚定影响。)

Charlie and I believe our four criteria are essential if directors are to do their job – which, by law, is to faithfully represent owners. Yet these criteria are usually ignored. Instead, consultants and CEOs seeking board candidates will often say, “We’re looking for a woman,” or “a Hispanic,” or “someone from abroad,” or what have you. It sometimes sounds as if the mission is to stock Noah’s ark. Over the years I’ve been queried many times about potential directors and have yet to hear anyone ask, “Does he think like an intelligent owner?”

查理和我都相信，如果董事们要尽职尽责，前面所提的四个标准必不可少，是依法要忠实地代表所有股东。但是，这些标准通常都被大家所忽视。取而代之的，那些为董事会寻觅人选的顾问公司和 CEO 们，通常的说法只是："我们想要的是一名女性"、或"西班牙裔"、或"来自海外的人"或诸如此类的话。这样的任务，有时就让人感觉像是把诺亚方舟塞满而已。在征询我某人是否适合成为董事的许多问题中，从来没有任何人问过我："请问他是否站在明智股东的立场来思考？"

The questions I instead get would sound ridiculous to someone seeking candidates for, say, a football team, or an arbitration panel or a military command. In those cases, the selectors would look for people who had the specific talents and attitudes that were required for a specialized job. At Berkshire, we are in the specialized activity of running a business well, and therefore we seek business judgment.

相反，我被询问的一些问题，对于那些正在寻找候选人的人来说，听起来会非常可笑，比如说：足球队、陪审团、军事指挥部等。在这种情况下，选拔者希望寻找到那些，具备专业工作所需的特定才能和态度的人。对伯克希尔来说，我们主要的活动在于好好地经营企业，因此，商业上的判断力，是我们所企求的。

That’s exactly what we’ve found in Susan Decker, CFO of Yahoo!, who will join our board at the annual meeting. We are lucky to have her: She scores very high on our four criteria and additionally, at 44, is young – an attribute, as you may have noticed, that your Chairman has long lacked. We will seek more young directors in the future, but never by slighting the four qualities that we insist upon.

这正是我在雅虎CFO，Susan Decker 身上所看到的特质。她将在今年的股东大会上正式加入董事会。我们很幸运，她不但在我们的四个标准上，获得非常高的分数，而且，44 岁的她相当年轻，你可能注意到，这正是你们的董事长目前十分欠缺的。未来我们将继续努力引进新的血液，但长久坚持的四个标准特质，我们是绝不会忽视的。