巴菲特致股东的信（2016年）⑧投资业务

Investments

投资业务

Below we list our fifteen common stock investments that at yearend had the largest market value. We exclude our Kraft Heinz holding because Berkshire is part of a control group and therefore must account for this investment on the “equity” method. The 325,442,152 shares Berkshire owns of Kraft Heinz are carried on our balance sheet at a GAAP figure of $15.3 billion and had a yearend market value of $28.4 billion. Our cost basis for the shares is $9.8 billion.

下表我们列出了年末市值最大的15 只普通股投资。由于我们是卡夫亨氏(KraftHeinz)控股股东之一，所以采用"权益法"进行核算并未列入。目前，伯克希尔持有卡夫亨氏公司325,442,152 股股票，在我们资产负债表上按GAAP 会计准则以153 亿美元入账，年末市值为284 亿美元，而我们的成本为98 亿美元。

Some of the stocks in the table are the responsibility of either Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, who work with me in managing Berkshire’s investments. Each, independently, manages more than $10 billion; I usually learn about decisions they have made by looking at monthly trade sheets. Included in the $21 billion that the two manage is about $7.6 billion of pension trust assets of certain Berkshire subsidiaries. As noted, pension investments are not included in the preceding tabulation of Berkshire holdings.

表中的一些股票是由ToddCombs 或TedWeschler 投资的，他们与我一起管理伯克希尔的投资。同时，他们各自独立管理着超过100 亿美元的资产。我通常通过查看每个月的股票交易单来了解他们所做的投资决策。两人管理的210 亿美元资产中，包括伯克希尔子公司约76 亿美元的养老金资产。如前所述，养老金投资不包括在上面伯克希尔的持股列表中。

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Excluded from the table – but important – is our ownership of $5 billion of preferred stock issued by Bank of America. This stock, which pays us $300 million per year, also carries with it a valuable warrant allowing Berkshire to purchase 700 million common shares of Bank of America for $5 billion at any time before September 2, 2021. At yearend, that privilege would have delivered us a profit of $10.5 billion. If it wishes, Berkshire can use its preferred shares to satisfy the $5 billion cost of exercising the warrant.

我们持有的美国银行50 亿美元优先股并不包括在上表中，但这笔投资非常重大，每年这些优先股支付3 亿美元的股息，并附有一份优厚的认股权证，伯克希尔有权在2021 年9 月2 日之前的任何时点，以50 亿美元够买美国银行7 亿股普通股。到去年年末，这一特权将为我们带来105 亿美元的利润。如果愿意，伯克希尔可以使用优先股来支付行权时所需的50 亿美元资金。

If the dividend rate on Bank of America common stock – now 30 cents annually – should rise above 44 cents before 2021, we would anticipate making a cashless exchange of our preferred into common. If the common dividend remains below 44 cents, it is highly probable that we will exercise the warrant immediately before it expires.

如果美国银行普通股的分红率在2021 年前上升至44% (现在每年为30%)，我们预计将提前把优先股转化为普通股，并且不用支付任何现金。如果普通股分红率保持在44%以下，我们很可能持有优先股直到权证到期之前才会行权。

Many of our investees, including Bank of America, have been repurchasing shares, some quite aggressively. We very much like this behavior because we believe the repurchased shares have in most cases been underpriced. (Undervaluation, after all, is why we own these positions.) When a company grows and outstanding shares shrink, good things happen for shareholders.

我们投资的许多公司(包括美国银行在内)一直在回购股票，其中一些公司回购规模相当惊人。我们非常喜欢股票回购，因为我们相信这些回顾股票的公司大多数情况下都被低估了。毕竟，低估也是我们持有这些股票的原因之一。当一个公司规模不断扩大，但是公司流通股数量不断减少，股东将会非常受益。

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It’s important for you to understand that 95% of the $86 billion of “cash and equivalents” (which in my mind includes U.S. Treasury Bills) shown on our balance sheet are held by entities in the United States and, consequently, is not subject to any repatriation tax. Moreover, repatriation of the remaining funds would trigger only minor taxes because much of that money has been earned in countries that themselves impose meaningful corporate taxes. Those payments become an offset to U.S. tax when money is brought home.

你必须明白，我们资产负债表上列示的860 亿美元的"现金及等价物"(包括美国国债)，其中95%是伯克希尔美国子公司持有的。因此，不需要缴纳任何汇回税。此外，其余资金返还美国时也只需要缴纳较小的税费，因为这些资金大部分都是在那些独立征税的国家赚取的，当这些海外资金转回美国时，已经缴纳税可以抵消美国政府征收的税费。

These explanations are important because many cash-rich American companies hold a large portion of their funds in jurisdictions imposing very low taxes. Such companies hope – and may well be proved right – that the tax levied for bringing these funds to America will soon be materially reduced. In the meantime, these companies are limited as to how they can use that cash. In other words, off-shore cash is simply not worth as much as cash held at home.

这些解释之所以重要是因为，许多现金充裕的美国企业将很大部分现金都滞留在税收非常低的司法管辖权。这些公司希望(而且很可能被证明是正确的)美国政府很快大幅下调对回流资金征收的税费。与此同时，这些公司在运用这些资金方面受到诸多限制。也就是说，离岸资金不如国内资金有价值。

Berkshire has a partial offset to the favorable geographical location of its cash, which is that much of it is held in our insurance subsidiaries. Though we have many alternatives for investing this cash, we do not have the unlimited choices that we would enjoy if the cash were held by the parent company, Berkshire. We do have an ability annually to distribute large amounts of cash from our insurers to the parent – though here, too, there are limits. Overall, cash held at our insurers is a very valuable asset, but one slightly less valuable to us than is cash held at the parent level.

伯克希尔大量现金在美国的地理优势被部分抵消，因为大部分现金被保险子公司持有，尽管这些现金有许多投资选择，但是选择却有诸多限制。如果这些现金是由伯克希尔母公司持有，我们的投资选择将不受限制。尽管我们有能力每年从保险子公司向母公司分配大量现金，但这也有许多限制。总的来说，我们保险子公司持有的现金是一项非常有价值的资产，但对我们来说，这些现金资产如果是母公司持有将更具价值。

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Sometimes the comments of shareholders or media imply that we will own certain stocks “forever.” It is true that we own some stocks that I have no intention of selling for as far as the eye can see (and we’re talking 20/20 vision). But we have made no commitment that Berkshire will hold any of its marketable securities forever.

有时，股东或媒体的言论暗示，伯克希尔将永远持有某些股票资产。的确我们拥有的一些股票，只要我还健在就无意出售。但是，我们并没有做出任何形式的承诺，伯克希尔将会永远持有其任何有价证券。

Confusion about this point may have resulted from a too-casual reading of Economic Principle 11 on pages 110 - 111, which has been included in our annual reports since 1983. That principle covers controlled businesses, not marketable securities. This year I’ve added a final sentence to #11 to ensure that our owners understand that we regard any marketable security as available for sale, however unlikely such a sale now seems.

对于这一点的困惑可能是因为他没有认真解读《股东手册》第11 条经济原则。自1983 年以来，这一经济原则一直包含在我们的年报中。这一原则适用的我们控股的企业，而不是有价证券。今年，我在第11 条经济原则最后补充了一句话，以确保我们所有股东都能明白，我们认为任何有价证券都有可能被出售，无论这种出售现在看起来是多么的不可能。

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Before we leave this investment section, a few educational words about dividends and taxes: Berkshire, like most corporations, nets considerably more from a dollar of dividends than it reaps from a dollar of capital gains. That will probably surprise those of our shareholders who are accustomed to thinking of capital gains as the route to tax-favored returns.

在我们结束投资部分之前，我想对股息税率说几句略带教育性的话。伯克希尔和大多数公司一样，从一美元的股息中获得的回报远高于一美元的资本利得。对于那些习惯性将资本利得看做获得税收优惠待遇的股东来说，这可能有些意外。

But here’s the corporate math. Every $1 of capital gains that a corporation realizes carries with it 35 cents of federal income tax (and often state income tax as well). The tax on dividends received from domestic corporations, however, is consistently lower, though rates vary depending on the status of the recipient.

但是，我们可以做有关一些企业回报的简单计算。公司每实现每一美元资本利得，需要缴纳35%的联邦所得税(通常还有州所得税)，但是，从国内公司征收的股息税则要低得多，尽管具体税率取决于企业性质。

For a non-insurance company – which describes Berkshire Hathaway, the parent – the federal tax rate is effectively 101⁄2 cents per $1 of dividends received. Furthermore, a non-insurance company that owns more than 20% of an investee owes taxes of only 7 cents per $1 of dividends. That rate applies, for example, to the substantial dividends we receive from our 27% ownership of Kraft Heinz, all of it held by the parent company. (The rationale for the low corporate taxes on dividends is that the dividend-paying investee has already paid its own corporate tax on the earnings being distributed.)

对一家非保险公司来说(伯克希尔母公司是一家非保险公司)，收到股息的联邦税率为10.5%。此外，如果一家非保险公司持有被投资公司超过20%的股份，那么股息的联邦税率仅为7%。比如，伯克希尔持有卡夫亨氏27%的股份，母公司收到的大量股息适用的税率就是7%。(对股息征收较低的公司税的原因在于，支付股息的被投资公司已经为分配的收益缴纳了自己的公司税。)

Berkshire’s insurance subsidiaries pay a tax rate on dividends that is somewhat higher than that applying to non-insurance companies, though the rate is still well below the 35% hitting capital gains. Property/casualty companies owe about 14% in taxes on most dividends they receive. Their tax rate falls, though, to about 11% if they own more than 20% of a U.S.-based investee.

伯克希尔保险子公司支付的股息税率要高于非保险公司，虽然该税率要远低于35%的资本利得税。财产意外险公司收到的大部分股息需要缴纳14%的税款。然而，如果保险公司持有美国被投资公司20%以上的股份，那么税率会下降到11%。

And that’s our tax lesson for today.

这就是我们今天需要学习的税务课。