巴菲特致股东的信（2022年）⑤58年—

58 Years – and a Few Figures

58年——和几个数字

In 1965, Berkshire was a one-trick pony, the owner of a venerable – but doomed – New England textile operation. With that business on a death march, Berkshire needed an immediate fresh start. Looking back, I was slow to recognize the severity of its problems.

1965年，伯克希尔还只是一匹只会一招的马，拥有一家令人尊敬但注定走向末路的新英格兰纺织企业。这项业务正走在死亡的行军路上，伯克希尔急需一个新的开始。回头来看，我当时迟迟没有意识到问题的严重性。

And then came a stroke of good luck: National Indemnity became available in 1967, and we shifted our resources toward insurance and other non-textile operations.

然后来了一记好运：1967年，国民保险公司 (National Indemnity) 出现了收购机会，我们便将资源转向了保险和其他非纺织业务。

Thus began our journey to 2023, a bumpy road involving a combination of continuous savings by our owners (that is, by their retaining earnings), the power of compounding, our avoidance of major mistakes and – most important of all – the American Tailwind. America would have done fine without Berkshire. The reverse is not true.

就这样开始了我们通往2023年的旅程。这是一条颠簸的路，一路上汇聚了几重因素：我们股东持续的储蓄（也就是利润的留存再投资），复利的力量，对重大失误的规避——以及最重要的——美国顺风。没有伯克希尔，美国照样行；反过来可不成。

Berkshire now enjoys major ownership in an unmatched collection of huge and diversified businesses. Let’s first look at the 5,000 or so publicly-held companies that trade daily on NASDAQ, the NYSE and related venues. Within this group is housed the members of the S&P 500 Index, an elite collection of large and well-known American companies.

伯克希尔如今拥有一个无与伦比的庞大多元化企业集合。让我们先来看看每天在纳斯达克 (NASDAQ)、纽约证券交易所 (NYSE) 及相关市场交易的约5,000家上市公司。标普500指数 (S&P 500) 的成分股就在这个群体之中，那是美国大型知名企业的精英俱乐部。

In aggregate, the 500 earned $1.8 trillion in 2021. I don’t yet have the final results for 2022. Using, therefore, the 2021 figures, only 128 of the 500 (including Berkshire itself) earned $3 billion or more. Indeed, 23 lost money.

这500家公司在2021年合计赚了1.8万亿美元。我还没拿到2022年的最终数据。因此，用2021年的数字来看，500强中只有128家（包括伯克希尔自己）的利润达到或超过30亿美元。事实上，有23家还在亏钱。

At yearend 2022, Berkshire was the largest owner of eight of these giants: American Express, Bank of America, Chevron, Coca-Cola, HP Inc., Moody’s, Occidental Petroleum and Paramount Global.

截至2022年底，伯克希尔是其中八家巨头的最大股东：美国运通 (American Express)、美国银行 (Bank of America)、雪佛龙 (Chevron)、可口可乐 (Coca-Cola)、惠普 (HP Inc.)、穆迪 (Moody's)、西方石油 (Occidental Petroleum) 和派拉蒙全球 (Paramount Global)。

In addition to those eight investees, Berkshire owns 100% of BNSF and 92% of BH Energy, each with earnings that exceed the $3 billion mark noted above ($5.9 billion at BNSF and $4.3 billion at BHE). Were these companies publicly-owned, they would replace two present members of the 500. All told, our ten controlled and non-controlled behemoths leave Berkshire more broadly aligned with the country’s economic future than is the case at any other U.S. company. (This calculation leaves aside “fiduciary” operations such as pension funds and investment companies.) In addition, Berkshire’s insurance operation, though conducted through many individually-managed subsidiaries, has a value comparable to BNSF or BHE.

除了这八家被投资公司之外，伯克希尔还100%持有BNSF铁路 (Burlington Northern Santa Fe)、92%持有伯克希尔·哈撒韦能源 (BHE)，两家公司的利润均超过上面提到的30亿美元门槛（BNSF为59亿美元，BHE为43亿美元）。如果这两家是上市公司，它们将替换掉现有标普500中的两个成员。总而言之，我们十家控股和非控股巨头使伯克希尔与美国经济的未来绑定的广度，超过了美国任何其他公司。（这一计算不包括养老基金和投资公司等"受托"业务。）此外，伯克希尔的保险业务虽然通过多家独立管理的子公司经营，但其价值与BNSF或BHE相当。

As for the future, Berkshire will always hold a boatload of cash and U.S. Treasury bills along with a wide array of businesses. We will also avoid behavior that could result in any uncomfortable cash needs at inconvenient times, including financial panics and unprecedented insurance losses. Our CEO will always be the Chief Risk Officer – a task it is irresponsible to delegate. Additionally, our future CEOs will have a significant part of their net worth in Berkshire shares, bought with their own money. And yes, our shareholders will continue to save and prosper by retaining earnings.

至于未来，伯克希尔将始终持有大量现金和美国国债，以及广泛多样的业务。我们还将避免任何可能在不方便的时候——包括金融恐慌和前所未有的保险损失——导致现金吃紧的行为。我们的CEO将永远兼任首席风险官——把这项职责委托给别人是不负责任的。此外，我们未来的CEO都会用自己的钱购买伯克希尔的股票，使之成为个人净资产的重要组成部分。而且没错，我们的股东将继续通过公司留存收益来积累财富、日益兴旺。

At Berkshire, there will be no finish line.

在伯克希尔，没有终点线。