巴菲特致股东的信（1973年）③银行业经营④并购多元零售公司⑤蓝筹印花邮票⑥太阳报业

Banking Operations

The Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. of Rockford again had a record year in 1973. Average deposits were approximately $130 million, of which approximately 60% were time deposits.

银行业经营

位于罗克福德的伊利诺伊州银行与信托公司又取得了创纪录的一年。平均存款接近1亿3千万美元，其中60%为定期存款。

Interest rates were increased substantially in the important consumer savings area when regulatory maximums were raised at mid-year.

自年中起政策允许的上限提升了之后，消费者储蓄利率有了大幅上升。

Despite this mix heavily weighted toward interest bearing deposits, our operating earnings after taxes (including a new Illinois state income tax) were again over 2.1% of average deposits.

尽管这一政策主要针对计息存款，但我们的税后（包括一项新的伊利诺伊州的收入所得税）利润还是高出了普通存款的2.1%。

We continue to be the largest bank in Rockford. We continue to maintain unusual liquidity. We continue to meet the increasing loan demands of our customers. And we continue to maintain our unusual profitability. This is a direct tribute to the abilities of Gene Abegg, Chairman, who has been running the Bank since it opened its doors in 1931, and Bob Kline, our President.

我们现在仍然是罗克福德最大的银行，仍旧保持了超常的流动性，仍然能够满足客户不断增长的贷款需求，并且仍旧维持了很高的盈利。这要直接归功于董事会主席Gene Abegg和总裁Bob Kline的领导才干，前者从1931年银行成立起就一直管理着它的业务。

Merger With Diversified Retailing Company, Inc.

Your Directors have approved the merger of Diversified Retailing Company, Inc. into Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on terms involving issuance of 195,000 shares of Berkshire stock for the 1,000,000 shares of Diversified stock outstanding. Because Diversified and its subsidiaries own 109,551 shares of Berkshire, the net increase in the number of shares of Berkshire outstanding after giving effect to this transaction will not exceed 85,449. Various regulatory approvals must be obtained before this merger can be completed, and proxy material will be submitted to you later this year so that you may vote upon it.

并购多元化零售公司

董事们已经同意了将多元化零售公司并入伯克希尔公司，条件是将其100万股流通股转换成195,000股伯克希尔的股票。鉴于多元化零售公司及其子公司已持有109,551股伯克希尔的股份，因此这笔交易带来的伯克希尔流通股份净增长不会超过85,449股。要完成这笔交易，还必须要获得各种各样的许可证明，委托资料在晚些时候会递交董事会投票决定。

Diversified Retailing Company, Inc., though subsidiaries, operates a chain of popular-priced women’s apparel stores and also conducts a reinsurance business. In the opinion of management, its most important asset is 16% of the stock of Blue Chip Stamps.

多元化零售公司经营着一家平价女士衣物连锁店，同时还经营着再保险业务。但在管理层看来，这家公司最重要的资产是占其股份16%的蓝筹印花邮票。

Blue Chip Stamps

Our holdings of stock in Blue Chip Stamps at year-end amounted to approximately 19% of that company’s outstanding shares. Since year-end, we have increased our holdings so that they now represent approximately 22.5%: implementation of the proposed merger with Diversified Retailing Company, Inc. would increase this figure to about 38.5%.

蓝筹印花

去年年底我们所持有的蓝筹印花的股份已经占到了其总发行股份的19%。然后，我们又增购了一些股份使其达到22.5%：而想要真正收购多元化零售公司这一数字必须要达到38.5%。

Our equity in earnings of Blue Chip Stamps became significant for the first time in 1973, and posed an accounting question as to just what period’s earnings should be recognized by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. as applicable to the financial statements covered by this annual report.

我们对蓝筹印花权益在1973年第一次显得如此重要，也就带来了一个会计上的问题：那就是哪一段时间的利润收入才应被记录到我们今年的财务报告中去呢。

Blue Chip’s fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to February 28, or two months after the fiscal year-end of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Or, viewed alternatively, their year ends ten months prior to Berkshire Hathaway’s. An acceptable accounting choice for us, and one which, if made, would not have required an auditor’s disclaimer as to scope, was to recognize in our 1973 income an equity of $632,000 in Blue Chip’s earnings for their year ended March 3, 1973 with regard to the fewer shares of Blue Chip we owned during this earlier period. But such an approach seemed at odds with reality, and would have meant a ten month lag each year in the future. Therefore, we chose to reflect as 1973 income our equity of $1,008,000 in Blue Chip’s earnings based upon unaudited interim earnings through November as publicly reported by Blue Chip Stamps and with regard to our shareholdings during 1973. Because we made this choice of unaudited but current figures, as opposed to the alternative of audited but far from current figures, Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. were unable to express an opinion on our 1973 earnings attributable to Blue Chip Stamps.

蓝筹印花的会计年度截止于最接近2月28号的星期六，是伯克希尔会计年度结束之后两个月。或者说，他们的会计年度比我们的提早十个月结束。对于我们来说，一个可以接受的办法就是，鉴于我们之前拥有的蓝筹印花较少的股份，在我们1973年的收入中囊括进蓝筹印花632,000美元的权益收入（他们1973年的会计年截止于3月3号）。但是这种做法似乎与现实情况不符，并且意味着以后每年计算时都会有十个月的差池。因此，我们的选择是在蓝筹印花公布的截止到11月份的未经审计的中期收入的基础上，将1,008,000美元的蓝筹印花权益包括在我们1973年的收入中。由于我们采用了这种虽未经审计但却是当前的数据，而不是那种审计过却早已过时的数据，Peat,Marwick,Mitchell&Co.会计公司无法对我们1973年盈利中来自蓝筹印花的部分作出判断。

The annual report of Blue Chip Stamps, which will contain financial statements for the year ending March 2, 1974 audited by Price, Waterhouse and Company, will be available in early May. Any shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. who desires an annual report of Blue Chip Stamps may obtain it at that time by writing Mr. Robert H. Bird, Secretary, Blue Chip Stamps, 5801 South Eastern Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90040.

蓝筹印花的年度报告，包括由普华永道审计的截止于1974年3月2号的财务报表，在五月初就会公布。Berkshire Hathaway Inc.任何有兴趣的股东，都可以到时写信给加利福尼亚州洛杉矶东南大街5801号蓝筹印花公司秘书Mr.Robert H.Bird,邮编90040，获得一份报告。

Blue Chip’s trading stamp business has declined drastically over the past year or so, but it has important sources of earning power in its See’s Candy Shops subsidiary as well as Wesco Financial Corporation, a 54% owned subsidiary engaged in the savings and loan business. We expect Blue Chip Stamps to achieve satisfactory earnings in future years related to capital employed, although certainly at a much lower level than would have been achieved if the trading stamp business had been maintained at anything close to former levels.

蓝筹印花公司的证券投资业务自去年来有了大幅下滑，但是其子公司喜事糖果公司以及Wesco金融公司还有相当强大的盈利能力，后者是一家经营储蓄和贷款业务的企业。我们希望蓝筹印花未来几年的会有不错的盈利收入，当然如果证券投资业务不下滑的话利润收入肯定会更高。

Your Chairman is on the Board of Directors of Blue Chip Stamps, as well as Wesco Financial Corporation, and is Chairman of the Board of See’s Candy Shops Incorporated. Operating management of all three entities is in the hands of first-class, able, experienced executives.

你们的董事长现在也同时管理着蓝筹印花，Wesco金融公司以及喜事糖果公司的董事会，三家企业的管理人员都是一流并且经验丰富的。

Sun Newspapers, Inc.

In the 1969 annual report we commented on the purchase of Sun Newspapers Inc., a group of weekly papers published in the metropolitan Omaha area. Since that time we have not commented on their operations in the text of our annual reports, nor have we consolidated their financial results since the operation, because of the small investment involved, has been “financially insignificant.”

太阳报业

在1969年的年度报告中，我们提到了对太阳报业的收购，这是一家在奥马哈市区发行的周报企业。以后的年度报告中，我们一直没有提到它的运营情况，也没有采取措施加强其盈利能力，因为这家公司规模较小，财务状况也就“不那么理想”。

During 1973 it was made quite apparent that such insignificance did not extend to publishing quality. On May 7th Sun Newspapers was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for local investigative reporting (the first time in history that a weekly had won in this category) for its special section of March 30,1972 relating to Boys Town. We reported the extraordinary contrast between decreasing services and mounting wealth that had taken place since Father Flanagan’s death in 1948.

但在1973年这种“不理想”的状态并没有影响到出版物的质量。5月7号太阳报业凭借它1972年5月30号一篇关于当地Boys Town（孤儿乐园）的专题调查报道获得了普利策奖。这是历史上第一次一家周报在这一领域获此荣誉。这篇文章报道了自从1948年Flanagan神父去世后不断积累的财富和不断恶化的服务质量之间的矛盾。

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, the reporting job also won the Public Service Award of Sigma Delta Chi, the national society of professional journalists, as well as seven other national awards.

除了普利策奖之外，该报纸还赢得了Sigma Delta Chi（全国性的专业记者协会）的Public Service Award，以及其它的七个全国性的荣誉。

Our congratulations go to Paul Williams, Editor, and Stan Lipsey, Publisher, as well as the entire editorial staff of Sun Newspapers for their achievement, which vividly illustrated that size need not be equated with significance in publishing.

我们要祝贺编辑Paul Williams，出版商Stan Lipsey，还有太阳报业的全体工作人员，他们的成就让我们明白出版的水平并不一定和报纸的规模划等号。

Warren E. Buffett
Chairman of the Board
March 29, 1974

沃伦·巴菲特
董事会主席
1974年3月29日

Banking Operations The Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. of Rockford again had a record year in 1973. Average deposits were approximately $130 million, of which approximately 60% were time deposits.