巴菲特致股东的信（2019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：

Berkshire earned $81.4 billion in 2019 according to generally accepted accounting principles (commonly called “GAAP”). The components of that figure are $24 billion of operating earnings, $3.7 billion of realized capital gains and a $53.7 billion gain from an increase in the amount of net unrealized capital gains that exist in the stocks we hold. Each of those components of earnings is stated on an after-tax basis.

按照通用会计准则（俗称"GAAP"），伯克希尔 (Berkshire) 2019年的收益为814亿美元。这一数字的构成如下：240亿美元经营收益、37亿美元已实现资本利得，以及537亿美元来自我们所持股票未实现资本利得净额的增长。以上每一项收益均为税后数字。

That $53.7 billion gain requires comment. It resulted from a new GAAP rule, imposed in 2018, that requires a company holding equity securities to include in earnings the net change in the unrealized gains and losses of those securities. As we stated in last year’s letter, neither Charlie Munger, my partner in managing Berkshire, nor I agree with that rule.

这537亿美元的收益需要做些说明。它源自2018年实施的一项新GAAP规则，要求持有权益类证券的公司将这些证券未实现损益的净变动计入当期收益。正如我们在去年的信中所说，我的管理伯克希尔的合伙人查理·芒格 (Charlie Munger) 和我都不认同这条规则。

The adoption of the rule by the accounting profession, in fact, was a monumental shift in its own thinking. Before 2018, GAAP insisted – with an exception for companies whose business was to trade securities – that unrealized gains within a portfolio of stocks were never to be included in earnings and unrealized losses were to be included only if they were deemed “other than temporary.” Now, Berkshire must enshrine in each quarter’s bottom line – a key item of news for many investors, analysts and commentators – every up and down movement of the stocks it owns, however capricious those fluctuations may be.

事实上，会计行业采纳这条规则，标志着其自身理念的一次巨大转变。2018年之前，GAAP坚持认为——以证券交易为业的公司除外——股票投资组合中未实现的收益永远不应计入利润，而未实现的损失也只有在被判定为"非暂时性"的情况下才需要计入。而现在，伯克希尔必须将其持有的每一只股票的每一次上下波动——不管这些波动有多么反复无常——都记入每个季度的盈亏底线。对很多投资者、分析师和评论家来说，这可是个关键信息。

Berkshire’s 2018 and 2019 years glaringly illustrate the argument we have with the new rule. In 2018, a down year for the stock market, our net unrealized gains decreased by $20.6 billion, and we therefore reported GAAP earnings of only $4 billion. In 2019, rising stock prices increased net unrealized gains by the aforementioned $53.7 billion, pushing GAAP earnings to the $81.4 billion reported at the beginning of this letter. Those market gyrations led to a crazy 1,900% increase in GAAP earnings!

伯克希尔2018年和2019年的数据，清楚地说明了我们与这条新规则之间的分歧。2018年股市下跌，我们未实现的资本利得净额减少了206亿美元，因此我们报告的GAAP收益仅为40亿美元。2019年股价上涨，未实现资本利得净额增加了前面提到的537亿美元，使GAAP收益达到本信开头所报告的814亿美元。股市的这番起伏导致我们的GAAP收益疯狂地暴增了1,900%！

Meanwhile, in what we might call the real world, as opposed to accounting-land, Berkshire’s equity holdings averaged about $200 billion during the two years, and the intrinsic value of the stocks we own grew steadily and substantially throughout the period.

与此同时，在我们可以称之为现实世界——而非会计世界——的地方，这两年间伯克希尔的股票持仓市值平均约为2,000亿美元，而我们所持股票的内在价值在整个期间稳步且大幅地增长。

Charlie and I urge you to focus on operating earnings – which were little changed in 2019 – and to ignore both quarterly and annual gains or losses from investments, whether these are realized or unrealized.

查理和我建议大家关注经营收益——2019年这一数字几乎没有变化——同时忽略季度和年度的投资损益，不论是已实现的还是未实现的。

Our advising that in no way diminishes the importance of these investments to Berkshire. Over time, Charlie and I expect our equity holdings – as a group – to deliver major gains, albeit in an unpredictable and highly irregular manner. To see why we are optimistic, move on to the next discussion.

我们的建议绝不是要淡化这些投资对伯克希尔的重要性。长期来看，查理和我预期我们的股票持仓——作为一个整体——将带来巨大的收益，尽管其表现方式将是不可预测且极不规律的。想知道我们为何如此乐观？请看下面的讨论。