巴菲特致股东的信（2015年）⑪年度股东大会

The Annual Meeting

年度股东大会

Charlie and I have finally decided to enter the 21st Century. Our annual meeting this year will be webcast worldwide in its entirety. To view the meeting, simply go to https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream at 9 a.m. Central Daylight Time on Saturday, April 30th. The Yahoo! webcast will begin with a half hour of interviews with managers, directors and shareholders. Then, at 9:30, Charlie and I will commence answering questions.

我和查理终于决定进入21 世纪了。我们今年的年会将在全世界进行网络直播。如果想观看我们这次年会，只需在美国中部时间4 月30 日周六上午9:00 登录以下网址：https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream。前半小时，网络直播将播放对经理人、董事和股东的采访，查理和我将在9:30 开始回答大家的问题。

This new arrangement will serve two purposes. First, it may level off or modestly decrease attendance at the meeting. Last year’s record of more than 40,000 attendees strained our capacity. In addition to quickly filling the CenturyLink Center’s main arena, we packed its overflow rooms and then spilled into two large meeting rooms at the adjoining Omaha Hilton. All major hotels were sold out notwithstanding Airbnb’s stepped-up presence. Airbnb was especially helpful for those visitors on limited budgets.

这项新的安排主要有两个目的。首先，它可能会适当分流一些参会人流。去年的记录是有超过40000 人参与我们的年会，这已经超过了我们的承接能力。不仅是CenturyLinkCenter 的主会场人满为患，毗邻的奥马哈希尔顿酒店两个大型的会议室也很快挤满了人。尽管Airbnb 业务量大幅增加，但所有的大酒店都被抢订一空。预算有限的人们可以通过Airbnb 订房。

Our second reason for initiating a webcast is more important. Charlie is 92, and I am 85. If we were partners with you in a small business, and were charged with running the place, you would want to look in occasionally to make sure we hadn’t drifted off into la-la land. Shareholders, in contrast, should not need to come to Omaha to monitor how we look and sound. (In making your evaluation, be kind: Allow for the fact that we didn’t look that impressive when we were at our best.)

第二个让我们开始尝试网络直播的原因更为重要。查理92 岁了，我也85 岁了。如果我们是你在一家小企业的合伙人，负责管理这家企业，你大概会偶尔过来看看，确保我们没有梦游到虚幻之地。相比之下，股东们也不用跑到奥马哈来监督我们的表现。(还请你们在评论的时候宽容一些：请接受我们哪怕在最好的状态下也没有太大吸引力的事实。)

Viewers can also observe our life-prolonging diet. During the meeting, Charlie and I will each consume enough Coke, See’s fudge and See’s peanut brittle to satisfy the weekly caloric needs of an NFL lineman. Long ago we discovered a fundamental truth: There’s nothing like eating carrots and broccoli when you’re really hungry – and want to stay that way.

观众还可以借此观察到我们如此长寿的饮食习惯。会议期间，查理和我每人都要喝足可乐、吃掉好多喜诗软糖和花生糖，足够一个NFL 前锋一周的热量需求。很久以前，我们就发现了一个基本的事实：你要真的饿了，没什么比得上胡萝卜和花椰菜的，而且你还想一直这么保持下去。

Shareholders planning to attend the meeting should come at 7 a.m. when the doors open at CenturyLink Center and start shopping. Carrie Sova will again be in charge of the festivities. She had her second child late last month, but that did not slow her down. Carrie is unflappable, ingenious and expert at bringing out the best in those who work with her. She is aided by hundreds of Berkshire employees from around the country and by our entire home office crew as well, all of them pitching in to make the weekend fun and informative for our owners.

当天CenturyLink 中心早上7 点开门，计划参加会议的股东们就可以开始购物。Carrie Sova 将再次主持今年的年会。上个月底她刚刚生了第二个孩子，但这并没有让她停下。她沉着镇定、机智又非常专业，可以为大家呈现出最好的内容。她得到了来自全国各地数百名伯克希尔员工们，以及我们办公室所有的工作人员的帮助，他们将共同为各位老板带来一个有趣充实的周末。

Last year we increased the number of hours available for shopping at the CenturyLink. Sales skyrocketed – so, naturally, we will stay with the new schedule. On Friday, April 29th you can shop between noon and 5 p.m., and on Saturday exhibits and stores will be open from 7 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

去年我们延长了CenturyLink 的购物时间，让我们的销量直线上涨，所以我们今年还会延续新的时间表。4月29 日(周五)，您可以从中午一直逛到下午5 点，周六您可以从早晨7 点一直逛到下午4 点半。

On Saturday morning, we will have our fifth International Newspaper Tossing Challenge. Our target will again be a Clayton Home porch, located precisely 35 feet from the throwing line. When I was a teenager – in my one brief flirtation with honest labor – I delivered about 500,000 papers. So I think I’m pretty good at this game. Challenge me! Humiliate me! Knock me down a peg! The papers will run 36 to 42 pages, and you must fold them yourself (no rubber bands allowed).

周六早晨，我们将进行第五届国际报纸投递挑战赛。目标仍是克莱顿之家的门廊，投掷线据目标大概35 英尺左右。当我十几岁时，我曾经短暂做过送报纸的工作，投递了大概50 万份报纸，所以我觉得自己很擅长这个游戏。向我挑战吧！让我难堪吧！打倒我吧！报纸大概有36-42 页，你必须自己折叠它们(不许用橡皮筋)。

The competition begins at 7:15, when contestants will make preliminary tosses. The eight throws judged most accurate – four made by contestants 12 or under, and four made by the older set – will compete against me at 7:45. The young challengers will each receive a prize. But the older ones will have to beat me to take anything home.

比赛将在早晨7:15 开始，参赛者将进行初赛，最准确的8 名投掷手在7:45 与我展开最终对决。有4 名从12 岁以下选手参赛者中选出，4 名是往届选手。年轻的新选手只要晋级就会获得奖励，而老选手必须要打败我才能赢到奖品。

And be sure to check out the Clayton home itself. It can be purchased for $78,900, fully installed on land you provide. In past years, we’ve made many sales on the meeting day. Kevin Clayton will be on hand with his order book.

不要忘了顺便去看看克莱顿之家，您可以花7.8 万买下它，我们可以将它安装到您指定的地点。在过去的几年中，我们在年会上做成了很多买卖，KevinClayton 的手上会随时拿着订货单的。

At 8:30 a.m., a new Berkshire movie will be shown. An hour later, we will start the question-and-answer period, which (including a break for lunch at CenturyLink’s stands) will last until 3:30 p.m. After a short recess, Charlie and I will convene the annual meeting at 3:45 p.m. This business session typically lasts only a half hour or so and can safely be skipped by those craving a little last-minute shopping.

早晨8 点半将会上映一部新的伯克希尔电影。一个小时后会有问答环节(中午在CenturyLink 摊位上会提供午餐)，问答环节将持续到下午3 点半。在短暂的休息后，查理与我将会在3:45 召开年度会议。业务环节大概会持续半小时，为了安全起见那些想要来个"最后一分钟购物"的人可以跳过这个环节。

Your venue for shopping will be the 194,300-square-foot hall that adjoins the meeting and in which products from dozens of Berkshire subsidiaries will be for sale. Say hello to the many Berkshire managers who will be captaining their exhibits. And be sure to view the terrific BNSF railroad layout that salutes all of our subsidiaries. Your children (and you!) will be enchanted with it.

您的购物场地将是一个19.43 万平方英尺的大厅，毗邻会场，伯克希尔旗下的数十家子公司的产品将在这里出售。向那些为自己产品站台的伯克希尔经理们问好吧，他们将担任导购。记得看看BNSF 铁路布局图，它为了向伯克希尔所有子公司致敬而设计，您和您的孩子一定会为它着迷。

We will have a new and very special exhibit in the hall this year: a full-size model of the world’s largest aircraft engine, for which Precision Castparts makes many key components. The real engines weigh about 20,000 pounds and are ten feet in diameter and 22 feet in length. The bisected model at the meeting will give you a good look at many PCC components that help power your flights.

今年我们还有一个非常特别的新展览：世界上最大飞机发动机的全尺寸模型。模型的绝大多数零件都是由PrecisionCastparts 公司制造的。真正的发动机有2 万磅重，直径10 英尺，长22 英尺。我们展览的这个被从中间切开的模型可以让您更好的了解为您的飞机提供动力的PCC 发动机零件。

Brooks, our running-shoe company, will again have a special commemorative shoe to offer at the meeting. After you purchase a pair, wear them on Sunday at our fourth annual “Berkshire 5K,” an 8 a.m. race starting at the CenturyLink. Full details for participating will be included in the Visitor’s Guide that will be sent to you with your meeting credentials. Entrants in the race will find themselves running alongside many of Berkshire’s managers, directors and associates. (Charlie and I, however, will sleep in; the fudge and peanut brittle take their toll.) Participation in the 5K grows every year. Help us set another record.

我们经营的Brooks 跑鞋今年也会出售会议纪念款。买一双之后参加我们周日早晨8 点的第四届"伯克希尔5 公里"活动吧。起跑点设在CenturyLink，您可以在和参会入场券一起寄过去的参会指南中看到更多相关的详细信息。参加这个比赛您就会发现自己在和一堆伯克希尔的经理、管理人员、董事和合作伙伴共同前行。(不过查理和我要多睡会儿，我们吃了太多的软糖和花生脆)。这项活动的参赛者正在逐年增多，也帮我们创下了另一个记录。

A GEICO booth in the shopping area will be staffed by a number of the company’s top counselors from around the country. Stop by for a quote. In most cases, GEICO will be able to give you a shareholder discount (usually 8%). This special offer is permitted by 44 of the 51 jurisdictions in which we operate. (One supplemental point: The discount is not additive if you qualify for another discount, such as that available to certain groups.) Bring the details of your existing insurance and check out our price. We can save many of you real money. Spend the savings on our other products.

购物区的GEICO 展位是由来自我们公司分布在全国各地的顶尖顾问组成的。别忘了在展位下停下看一下报价，多数情况下GEICO 会为你提供股东折扣(通常8%左右)。在我们经营的51 个司法区有44 个允许这个特别折扣。(补充一点：折扣不能和其他折扣同时使用，比如某个享受特别折扣的团体。)带上您现有的保单信息来看看我们的报价，您就会发现真的可以省好多钱。用省下的钱买我们的其他产品吧！

Be sure to visit the Bookworm. It will carry about 35 books and DVDs, among them a couple of new titles. Andy Kilpatrick will introduce (and be glad to sign) the latest edition of his all-encompassing coverage of Berkshire. It’s 1,304 pages and weighs 9.8 pounds. (My blurb for the book: “Ridiculously skimpy.”) Check out Peter Bevelin’s new book as well. Peter has long been a keen observer of Berkshire.

记得去书虫书吧看看。我们将会在那里展出35 本书和一些DVD，其中包括几本新书。AndyKilpatrick 将介绍他关于伯克希尔全方位报道《Of Permanent Value》的最新版本，并且很愿意签名售书。本书有1304 页，重9.8 磅。(我对于这本书的简介是："薄得离谱")。同时看看PeterBevelin 的新书《A Few Lessons from SherlockHolmes》。长期以来Peter 一直都是伯克希尔非常敏锐的观察员。

We will also have a new, 20-page-longer edition of Berkshire’s 50-year commemorative book that at last year’s meeting sold 12,000 copies. Since then, Carrie and I have uncovered additional material that we find fascinating, such as some very personal letters sent by Grover Cleveland to Edward Butler, his friend and the then- publisher of The Buffalo News. Nothing from the original edition has been changed or eliminated, and the price remains $20. Charlie and I will jointly sign 100 copies that will be randomly placed among the 5,000 available for sale at the meeting.

我们也将推出一本20 页的全版伯克希尔50 周年纪念册。我们曾在去年的会展上卖出了12000 本。那之后，Carrie 和我发现了一些新的资料，我们认为它们非常吸引人的，例如一些非常私人的信件，比如GroverCleveland 寄给EdwardButler 的信，EdwardButler 是他的朋友，当时还是《布法罗新闻》的发行人。原版中已有的内容没有任何删除或改动，价格仍是20 美元。查理和我将共同签售100 本，它们将随机地放置在准备好地5000 本当中，在展会上售卖。

My friend, Phil Beuth, has written Limping on Water, an autobiography that chronicles his life at Capital Cities Communications and tells you a lot about its leaders, Tom Murphy and Dan Burke. These two were the best managerial duo – both in what they accomplished and how they did it – that Charlie and I ever witnessed. Much of what you become in life depends on whom you choose to admire and copy. Start with Tom Murphy, and you’ll never need a second exemplar.

我的朋友PhilBeuth 写了一本自传《Limping on Water》，讲述他在大都会的工作生活，讲述了很多关于他的领导Tom Murphy 和DanBurke 的事。不论是从取得的成就还是如何取得的过程来看，这两位都是查理和我见过的最顶尖的管理二人组。你的人生能取得怎样的成就，很大程度上取决于你所选择的崇拜和学习对象。Tom Murphy 就是一个不二人选。

Finally, Jeremy Miller has written Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules, a book that will debut at the annual meeting. Mr. Miller has done a superb job of researching and dissecting the operation of Buffett Partnership Ltd. and of explaining how Berkshire’s culture has evolved from its BPL origin. If you are fascinated by investment theory and practice, you will enjoy this book.

最后，由JeremyMiller 写的《巴菲特致股东的信-基本原则篇》(Warren Buffett's Ground Rules)也将在这次年会上闪亮登场。Miller 先生已经对巴菲特合伙公司做了出色的研究和剖析，并且详细的解释了伯克希尔是如何从最初的BPL 发展至今的。如果你着迷于投资理论与实践，你会喜欢这本书的。

An attachment to the proxy material that is enclosed with this report explains how you can obtain the credential you will need for admission to both the meeting and other events. Airlines have sometimes jacked up prices for the Berkshire weekend. If you are coming from far away, compare the cost of flying to Kansas City vs. Omaha. The drive between the two cities is about 21⁄2 hours, and it may be that Kansas City can save you significant money, particularly if you had planned to rent a car in Omaha. The savings for a couple could run to $1,000 or more. Spend that money with us.

这份报告的附件材料可以告诉您如何获得年会及其他活动的所需凭证。机票有时会在伯克希尔周末前提价。如果您从很远的地方来，您可以比较飞到堪萨斯城和奥马哈的费用，两个城市之间车程为2.5 小时。如果你计划在奥马哈租车的话飞到堪萨斯可能为你节省大笔资金，一对夫妇大概可以节省1000 多美元。把省下的钱花在我们的产品上吧！

At Nebraska Furniture Mart, located on a 77-acre site on 72nd Street between Dodge and Pacific, we will again be having “Berkshire Weekend” discount pricing. Last year in the week encompassing the meeting, the store did a record $44,239,493 of business. If you repeat that figure to a retailer, he is not going to believe you. (An average week for NFM’s Omaha store – the highest-volume home furnishings store in the United States except for our new Dallas store – is about $9 million.)

在位于道奇和太平洋之间的72 街，占地77 英亩的内布拉斯加家具商城，我们将再次举行"伯克希尔周末"折扣价活动。在去年的年会周里，这个家具店创下了约4424 万美元营业额。如果你和任何的零售商说这个数字，他们都不会相信。(内布拉斯加家具商城在奥马哈的店铺每周平均的销售额大概900 万美元，奥马哈的销售情况还是除了我们在达拉斯的新店之外最好的)。

To obtain the Berkshire discount at NFM, you must make your purchases between Tuesday, April 26th and Monday, May 2nd inclusive, and also present your meeting credential. The period’s special pricing will even apply to the products of several prestigious manufacturers that normally have ironclad rules against discounting but which, in the spirit of our shareholder weekend, have made an exception for you. We appreciate their cooperation. During “Berkshire Weekend” NFM will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. From 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, NFM is hosting a picnic to which you are all invited.

要获得NFM 的折扣优惠，您必须在4 月26 日(周二)至5 月2 日(周一)之间进行购买，别忘带着您的参会凭证。几家平常没有折扣活动的著名制造品牌也会参加特价活动，本着股东周末的特别精神为您破例。我们非常感谢他们的配合。在"伯克希尔周末"NFM 将在工作日从上午10 点营业至晚上9 点，周六将从上午10 点营业至晚上9 点半，周日从上午10 点营业至晚上8 点。周六晚5 点半至8 点半，内布拉斯加家具商城将举办野餐活动，我们邀请您也一同参加。

At Borsheims, we will again have two shareholder-only events. The first will be a cocktail reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, April 29th. The second, the main gala, will be held on Sunday, May 1st, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturday, we will remain open until 6 p.m. During last year’s Friday-Sunday stretch, the store wrote a sales ticket every 15 seconds that it was open.

在波仙珠宝店，我们还将举行两场只有股东可以参加的活动。第一场将于4 月29 日(周五)下午6 点到9 点举行鸡尾酒会。第二场大型售卖活动将在5 月1 日(周日)举行早上9 点至下午4 点举行。周六波仙将营业至下午6点。去年的这个周五到周日，我们的商店在营业时间每15 秒就会开出一张销售单。

We will have huge crowds at Borsheims throughout the weekend. For your convenience, therefore, shareholder prices will be available from Monday, April 25th through Saturday, May 7th. During that period, please identify yourself as a shareholder either by presenting your meeting credential or a brokerage statement showing you own our stock.

周末期间波仙珠宝将迎来大量客流。因此，为了您的方便，股东价格优惠期间定于4 月25 日周一到5 月7 日周六。在此期间，请您出示自己的参会凭据，或出示能显示您持有我们股票的经纪声明(brokerage statement)，以便确定您的股东身份。

On Sunday, in the mall outside of Borsheims, Norman Beck, a remarkable magician from Dallas, will bewilder onlookers. On the upper level, we will have Bob Hamman and Sharon Osberg, two of the world’s top bridge experts, available to play bridge with our shareholders on Sunday afternoon. I will join them and hope to have Ajit and Charlie there also.

周日在波仙珠宝外面的商场，来自达拉斯的杰出魔术师NormanBeck 将会进行令人眼花缭乱的魔术表演。在商场上层，我们邀请到了世界顶级桥牌专家BobHamman 和SharonOsberg，股东可在周日下午和他们切磋牌艺。我会加入牌局，并希望能把Ajit 和查理也请过来。

My friend, Ariel Hsing, will be in the mall as well on Sunday, taking on challengers at table tennis. I met Ariel when she was nine and even then I was unable to score a point against her. Now, she’s a junior at Princeton, having already represented the United States in the 2012 Olympics. If you don’t mind embarrassing yourself, test your skills against her, beginning at 1 p.m. Bill Gates and I will lead off and try to soften her up.

我的朋友Ariel Hsing 周日也会来到商场，接受乒乓球的挑战。我第一次见到她时才9 岁，即便那会儿我也一分都赢不了她。她在2012 年就已经代表美国出征过奥运会，现在是普林斯顿大学的大三学生。如果您不介意输球的尴尬的话，可以和她切磋一下球技，活动下午1 点开始。比尔·盖茨和我会率先登场，试着削减她的锐气。

Gorat’s will again be open exclusively for Berkshire shareholders on Sunday, May 1st, serving from 1 p.m. until 10 p.m. To make a reservation at Gorat’s, call 402-551-3733 on April 1st (but not before). As for my other favorite restaurant, Piccolo’s, I’m sad to report it closed.

5 月1 日周日这一天，Gorat's 餐馆将再次为伯克希尔股东独家开放，营业时间为下午1 点到晚上10 点。请于4 月1 日(请勿提前)拨打402-551-3733 预定Gorat's 餐厅座位。而另一家我最喜欢的餐厅Piccolo's，我很遗憾地宣布它关门了。

We will again have the same three financial journalists lead the question-and-answer period at the meeting, asking Charlie and me questions that shareholders have submitted to them by e-mail. The journalists and their e- mail addresses are: Carol Loomis, the preeminent business journalist of her time, who may be e-mailed at loomisbrk@gmail.com; Becky Quick, of CNBC, at BerkshireQuestions@cnbc.com; and Andrew Ross Sorkin, of The New York Times, at arsorkin@nytimes.com.

我们将再次邀请同样的三位财经记者主持大会期间的问答环节，他们会向我和查理提出股东通过电子邮件发送的问题。三名记者和他们的邮件分别是：杰出的商业记者CarolLoomis：loomisbrk@gmail.com；来自CNBC 的BeckyQuick：BerkshireQuestions@cnbc.com；来自《纽约时报》的AndrewRossSorkin：arsorkin@nytimes.com。

From the questions submitted, each journalist will choose the six he or she decides are the most interesting and important. The journalists have told me your question has the best chance of being selected if you keep it concise, avoid sending it in at the last moment, make it Berkshire-related and include no more than two questions in any e-mail you send them. (In your e-mail, let the journalist know if you would like your name mentioned if your question is asked.)

每位记者会从收到的问题中，选出他们认为最有意思最重要的6 个问题。几位记者告诉我，为了增加您的问题被选中的几率，您的问题要简洁，避免在最后一刻才发送出去，要和伯克希尔相关，并且一封邮件里问题数量不要超过两个。(在邮件里说明，如果您的问题被选中您是否希望透露自己的名字)。

An accompanying set of questions will be asked by three analysts who follow Berkshire. This year the insurance specialist will be Cliff Gallant of Nomura Securities. Questions that deal with our non-insurance operations will come from Jonathan Brandt of Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb and Gregg Warren of Morningstar. Our hope is that the analysts and journalists will ask questions that add to our owners’ understanding and knowledge of their investment.

三名关注伯克希尔的分析师会提出另外一组问题。今年的保险业专家是来自野村证券的CliffGallant。与我们非保险业务相关的问题，将会由来自Ruane,Cunniff&Goldfarb 公司的JonathanBrandt 和晨星公司(Morningstar)的GreggWarren 提出。我们希望分析师和记者提出的问题有助于增进股东们对自己投资的了解。

Neither Charlie nor I will get so much as a clue about the questions headed our way. Some will be tough, for sure, and that’s the way we like it. Multi-part questions aren’t allowed; we want to give as many questioners as possible a shot at us.

查理和我对于将要回答的问题并没有什么线索。当然有些问题会很刁钻，这是我们喜欢的方式。一个问句里包含多个问题是不允许的，我们想要让尽可能多的人有机会向我们提问。

All told we expect at least 54 questions, which will allow for six from each analyst and journalist and for 18 from the audience. (Last year we had 64 in total.) The questioners from the audience will be chosen by means of 11 drawings that will take place at 8:15 a.m. on the morning of the annual meeting. Each of the 11 microphones installed in the arena and main overflow room will host, so to speak, a drawing.

我们预计总共会收到至少54 个问题，其中分析师和记者每人可以问6 个问题，听众可以提出18 个问题。(去年我们总共回答了64 个问题)。听众的问题将通过11 次抽签的方式选出来，抽签时间为年度会议当天早上的8:15。在大会场馆和主要分会场一共安置有11 个麦克风，每个麦克风将会进行一次抽签。

While I’m on the subject of our owners’ gaining knowledge, let me remind you that Charlie and I believe all shareholders should simultaneously have access to new information that Berkshire releases and, if possible, should also have adequate time to digest and analyze it before any trading takes place. That’s why we try to issue financial data late on Fridays or early on Saturdays and why our annual meeting is always held on a Saturday. We do not follow the common practice of talking one-on-one with large institutional investors or analysts, treating them instead as we do all other shareholders. There is no one more important to us than the shareholder of limited means who trusts us with a substantial portion of his savings.

在我谈论让股东增加知识的同时，我也要提请大家注意，查理和我相信所有的股东都应该能够同时接收到伯克希尔发布的新信息；而且如果条件允许的话，股东应该在进行交易前用充足的时间消化和分析这些信息。正是出于这个原因，我们尽量在周五晚间或周六早间发布财报数据，年度大会也总是在周六举办。我们并不采用和大型机构投资者或分析师进行一对一的交谈的惯常做法，而是像对待所有其他股东一样对待他们。对我们来说，没有人比收入有限的股东更重要的了，因为他们基于信任把大部分积蓄托付于于我们打理。

* * * * * * * * * * * *

For good reason, I regularly extol the accomplishments of our operating managers. They are truly All-Stars who run their businesses as if they were the only asset owned by their families. I also believe the mindset of our managers to be as shareholder-oriented as can be found in the universe of large publicly-owned companies. Most of our managers have no financial need to work. The joy of hitting business “home runs” means as much to them as their paycheck.

处于充分的理由，我常常夸赞公司的运营经理所取得的成就，他们都是全明星级别的经理人，经营自己的业务就好像这些资产是他们家族拥有的唯一财产一样谨慎。我也相信我们的管理者心态是以股东利益为导向，就像在大型上市公司中管理一样。我们大多数经理人并不需要为钱而工作。对他们来说，打出商业"全垒打"所带来的愉悦跟收到薪水支票同样重要。

Equally important, however, are the 24 men and women who work with me at our corporate office. This group efficiently deals with a multitude of SEC and other regulatory requirements, files a 30,400-page Federal income tax return – that’s up 6,000 pages from the prior year! – oversees the filing of 3,530 state tax returns, responds to countless shareholder and media inquiries, gets out the annual report, prepares for the country’s largest annual meeting, coordinates the Board’s activities, fact-checks this letter – and the list goes on and on.

在我们公司总部办公室工作的24 名男女雇员也同样重要。他们高效地处理SEC 和其它监管要求，提交了30400 页联邦所得税申报表，比前一年多了6000 多页！还要监管3530 份州税申报表，回应无数的股东和媒体问询，发布年度报告，准备美国最大规模的企业年会，协调董事会的活动，对这封信进行事实审核……这份任务列表还可以写很长。

They handle all of these business tasks cheerfully and with unbelievable efficiency, making my life easy and pleasant. Their efforts go beyond activities strictly related to Berkshire: Last year, for example, they dealt with the 40 universities (selected from 200 applicants) who sent students to Omaha for a Q&A day with me. They also handle all kinds of requests that I receive, arrange my travel, and even get me hamburgers and french fries (smothered in Heinz ketchup, of course) for lunch. No CEO has it better; I truly do feel like tap dancing to work every day. In fact, my job becomes more fun every year.

他们愉快高效处理了所有这些业务任务，让我的生活倍感轻松愉悦。他们还努力处理一些并非和伯克希尔严格相关的活动：比如，去年他们接待了40 所大学(从200 所申请大学挑选出来的)派出的学生到奥马哈和我进行一天的问答活动。他们还处理我收到的各种请求，安排我的旅程，甚至午餐时还帮我买汉堡和炸薯条(当然裹满了亨氏番茄酱)。没有哪个CEO 比我更舒服了；我真的感觉每天像跳着踢踏舞去上班。事实上，我的工作一年比一年更有趣。

In 2015, Berkshire’s revenues increased by $16 billion. Look carefully, however, at the two pictures on the facing page. The top one is from last year’s report and shows the entire Berkshire home-office crew at our Christmas lunch. Below that photo is this year’s Christmas photo portraying the same 25 people identically positioned. In 2015, no one joined us, no one left. And the odds are good that you will see a photo of the same 25 next year.

2015年，伯克希尔的营收增加了160亿美元。不过，请仔细看看对面页上的两张照片。上面那张是去年年报里的，记录了我们在圣诞午餐时的全体总部员工。下面这张则是今年的圣诞合影，同样的25个人，站位一模一样。2015年，无人加入，也无人离开。明年，你很有可能还会看到这同一批25人的照片。

Can you imagine another very large company – we employ 361,270 people worldwide – enjoying that kind of employment stability at headquarters? At Berkshire we have hired some wonderful people – and they have stayed with us. Moreover, no one is hired unless he or she is truly needed. That’s why you’ve never read about “restructuring” charges at Berkshire.

你能想象还有哪家超大型公司的总部(我们在全球有361270 名雇员)能有这样的雇员稳定性吗？伯克希尔雇佣了许多优秀的员工，他们一直在陪伴着我们。此外，除非真正需要，否则没有人会被雇佣。这就是你从来没听说过伯克希尔要进行"重组"的原因。

On April 30th, come to Omaha – the cradle of capitalism – and meet my gang. They are the best.

4 月30 日，来资本家的摇篮奥马哈和我的这些小伙伴碰面吧。他们是最棒的。

February 27, 2016 Warren E. Buffett Chairman of the Board

2016年2月27日沃伦·巴菲特董事会主席