巴菲特致股东的信（1984年）④布法罗晚报

Buffalo Evening News

Profits at the News in 1984 were considerably greater than we expected. As at See’s, excellent progress was made in controlling costs. Excluding hours worked in the newsroom, total hours worked decreased by about 2.8%. With this productivity improvement, overall costs increased only 4.9%. This performance by Stan Lipsey and his management team was one of the best in the industry.

布法罗晚报

1984 年该报的利润远超我们的预期，与 See's 一样在控制成本方面颇具成效。不包括在新闻编辑室的工作时间，总工作时间减少了约 2.8%。随着生产力的提高，总成本仅增加了 4.9%。Stan Lipsey 与其经营团队的表现堪称业界之最。

However, we now face an acceleration in costs. In mid-1984 we entered into new multi-year union contracts that provided for a large “catch-up” wage increase. This catch-up is entirely appropriate: the cooperative spirit of our unions during the unprofitable 1977-1982 period was an important factor in our success in remaining cost competitive with The Courier-Express. Had we not kept costs down, the outcome of that struggle might well have been different.

然而，我们现在面临着成本的加速增长。在年中我们与工会签订一项数年的工作合约，使得工资大幅调涨，基于过去 1977-1982 年该报亏损时，工会员工同公司命运共进退合作的态度，是使我们在保持成本竞争力方面战胜 Courier-Express 的关键因素，如果当时我们不降低成本，现在的结局可能完全相反。

Because our new union contracts took effect at varying dates, little of the catch-up increase was reflected in our 1984 costs. But the increase will be almost totally effective in 1985 and, therefore, our unit labor costs will rise this year at a rate considerably greater than that of the industry. We expect to mitigate this increase by continued small gains in productivity, but we cannot avoid significantly higher wage costs this year. Newsprint price trends also are less favorable now than they were in 1984. Primarily because of these two factors, we expect at least a minor contraction in margins at the News.

由于这项薪资调整系分阶段进行，所以对 1984 年的影响有限，明年此时便会全数反应，届时单位劳动力成本将以远高于行业的速度增长。我们希望可以努力提高生产力作为缓解，但 1985 年单位劳动成本将不可避免的大幅增加，并且新闻纸的价格预估也将增加，由于这两项不利因素，明年毛利将略微下滑。

Working in our favor at the News are two factors of major economic importance:

(1) Our circulation is concentrated to an unusual degree in the area of maximum utility to our advertisers. “Regional” newspapers with wide-ranging circulation, on the other hand, have a significant portion of their circulation in areas that are of negligible utility to most advertisers. A subscriber several hundred miles away is not much of a prospect for the puppy you are offering to sell via a classified ad - nor for the grocer with stores only in the metropolitan area. “Wasted” circulation - as the advertisers call it - hurts profitability: expenses of a newspaper are determined largely by gross circulation while advertising revenues (usually 70% - 80% of total revenues) are responsive only to useful circulation;

(2) Our penetration of the Buffalo retail market is exceptional; advertisers can reach almost all of their potential customers using only the News.

在新闻界有两个重要的经济因素对我们有利：

(1)本报发行区域非常集中在广告效用极高的 Buffalo 地区，相对于更大的区域性报纸，其很大一分部分发行量对广告主的效用基本可以忽略不计，一个几百英里远的订户对于仅在市区开设商店的广告主来说一点效用也没有。正如广告商所说，「浪费」的发行量损害了盈利能力：对于一家报社来说，收入主要取决于总发行量，而通常占总营收 70-80%的广告收入却要依靠实际有效的发行量。

(2)我们对 Buffalo 地区零售市场的渗透非常出色，广告主只要凭着这份报纸，几乎能触达所有潜在的客户。

Last year I told you about this unusual reader acceptance: among the 100 largest newspapers in the country, we were then number one, daily, and number three, Sunday, in penetration. The most recent figures show us number one in penetration on weekdays and number two on Sunday. (Even so, the number of households in Buffalo has declined, so our current weekday circulation is down slightly; on Sundays it is unchanged.)

去年我曾告诉各位该报优异的读者接受度：在全美最大 100 家报纸中，我们渗透率在日报排名第一、而周日版则排第三。最新的资料显示日报渗透率仍维持第一、而周日版则跃居第二位。不过，Buffalo 地区家庭数量下降了，所以我们日报的订户数有所减少，但周末版没有变化。

I told you also that one of the major reasons for this unusual acceptance by readers was the unusual quantity of news that we delivered to them: a greater percentage of our paper is devoted to news than is the case at any other dominant paper in our size range. In 1984 our “news hole” ratio was 50.9%, (versus 50.4% in 1983), a level far above the typical 35% - 40%. We will continue to maintain this ratio in the 50% area. Also, though we last year reduced total hours worked in other departments, we maintained the level of employment in the newsroom and, again, will continue to do so. Newsroom costs advanced 9.1% in 1984, a rise far exceeding our overall cost increase of 4.9%.

我还告诉过你，读者如此不寻常地接受的主要原因之一是，我们向他们传递的新闻内容不寻常：在相同规模的报纸中，我们提供的新闻量是最多的，1984 年的新闻版块占比是 50.9%，比 1983 年 50.4%略有提升，比主流的报纸 35-40%高出许多，而我们也会继续维持比率在 50%以上。另外去年我们虽然减少其他部门的工作时数，但编辑部门时数却维持不变，未来还会继续如此。虽然编辑部门的开支增长 9.1%，远超过总成本 4.9%增长。

Our news hole policy costs us significant extra money for newsprint. As a result, our news costs (newsprint for the news hole plus payroll and expenses of the newsroom) as a percentage of revenue run higher than those of most dominant papers of our size. There is adequate room, however, for our paper or any other dominant paper to sustain these costs: the difference between “high” and “low” news costs at papers of comparable size runs perhaps three percentage points while pre-tax profit margins are often ten times that amount.

我们的新闻政策耗费了我们大量额外的新闻纸费用。因此我们的新闻成本(新闻纸成本加上新闻编辑部门的工资和日常开支)占总收入的百分比高于类似规模的大多数报纸。即便如此，我们的报纸或其他占主导地位的报纸都有足够的利润空间来维持这些成本：在同等规模的报纸上，新闻成本高低之间的差异可能达到 3%，但税前利润率往往是这一数字的十倍。

The economics of a dominant newspaper are excellent, among the very best in the business world. Owners, naturally, would like to believe that their wonderful profitability is achieved only because they unfailingly turn out a wonderful product. That comfortable theory wilts before an uncomfortable fact. While first-class newspapers make excellent profits, the profits of third-rate papers are as good or better - as long as either class of paper is dominant within its community. Of course, product quality may have been crucial to the paper in achieving dominance. We believe this was the case at the News, in very large part because of people such as Alfred Kirchhofer who preceded us.

一家占主导地位的报纸的经济效益极为出色，在整个商业界都名列前茅。老板通常相信他们出色的盈利能力是源于努力地推出最好的产品，但是这种令人舒服的理论却被无法令人舒服的事实打破，当一流的报纸维持高获利时，三流报纸所赚得的钱却一点也不逊色，有时甚至更多，只要该报纸能在当地占据主导地位，当然产品的品质对于一家报纸提高市场占有率极为关键，而我们相信在布法罗晚报也是如此，而且有 Alfred Kirchhofer 这样的前辈领导也是重要原因。

Once dominant, the newspaper itself, not the marketplace, determines just how good or how bad the paper will be. Good or bad, it will prosper. That is not true of most businesses: inferior quality generally produces inferior economics. But even a poor newspaper is a bargain to most citizens simply because of its “bulletin board” value. Other things being equal, a poor product will not achieve quite the level of readership achieved by a first-class product. A poor product, however, will still remain essential to most citizens, and what commands their attention will command the attention of advertisers.

一旦主宰当地市场，报纸本身而非市场将会决定这份报纸是好还是坏，不管好坏，都将大发横财。但在一般行业却不是这样，劣质品质的产品它的生意一定很差。但即使是一份内容差劲的报纸对一般民众来说也是便宜货，因为它仍具有布告栏的价值。在其他条件相同的情况下，差劲报纸不会触达顶流报纸所能触达的读者层次。然而，对大多数普通人来说，劣质产品仍是有需求的，而吸引他们的产品也将吸引相应广告商的注意力。

Since high standards are not imposed by the marketplace, management must impose its own. Our commitment to an above-average expenditure for news represents an important quantitative standard. We have confidence that Stan Lipsey and Murray Light will continue to apply the far-more important qualitative standards. Charlie and I believe that newspapers are very special institutions in society. We are proud of the News, and intend an even greater pride to be justified in the years ahead.

因为市场对于报纸品质的要求水准并不高，因此管理层必须自己提高自己的标准。我们的报纸对高于行业水平的新闻版面的承诺代表了一个重要的量化标准。我们也相信 Stan Lipsey 和 Murray Light 将继续应用其他更重要的质量标准。查理与我相信报业是社会上非常特殊的机构，我们相当引以为傲，也期待将来更上一层楼。