巴菲特致股东的信（1984年）⑨杂项

Miscellaneous

This is the spot where each year I run my small “business wanted” ad. In 1984 John Loomis, one of our particularly knowledgeable and alert shareholders, came up with a company that met all of our tests. We immediately pursued this idea, and only a chance complication prevented a deal. Since our ad is pulling, we will repeat it in precisely last year’s form:

杂项

每年我都在这里发布我的“商业通缉令”小广告，去年 John Loomis(我们一位知识渊博且机敏的股东)找到一家完全符合我们标准的公司，我们马上采取行动，可惜最后因为一项偶然且复杂的问题而功亏一篑。以下是跟去年一模一样的广告：

We prefer: (1) large purchases (at least $5 million of after-tax earnings), (2) demonstrated consistent earning power (future projections are of little interest to us, nor are “turn-around” situations), (3) businesses earning good returns on equity while employing little or no debt, (4) management in place (we can’t supply it), (5) simple businesses (if there’s lots of technology, we won’t understand it), (6) an offering price (we don’t want to waste our time or that of the seller by talking, even preliminarily, about a transaction when price is unknown).

我们对具以下条件的公司有兴趣：
(1)、具有一定的规模，税后净利润至少达到 500 万美元。
(2)、表现出持续稳定的盈利能力，我们对美好前景或困境反转的公司没有兴趣。
(3)、企业在很少或没有负债的情况下，取得了良好的股本回报率 ROE。
(4)、公司具备强大的管理团队，我们不参与管理。
(5)、简单的容易理解的商业模式，我们对复杂的高科技一无所知。
(6)、合理的价格，在价格不确定前，我们不希望浪费双方太多时间。

We will not engage in unfriendly takeovers. We can promise complete confidentiality and a very fast answer - customarily within five minutes - as to whether we’re interested. We prefer to buy for cash, but will consider issuance of stock when we receive as much in intrinsic business value as we give. We invite potential sellers to check us out by contacting people with whom we have done business in the past. For the right business - and the right people - we can provide a good home.

我们不会进行恶意并购。我们承诺完全保密，并尽快答复是否感兴趣(通常不超过五分钟)，我们倾向现金交易，但若公司内在价值跟我们付出的一致时也会考虑发行股份。我们欢迎潜在卖家通过联系过去与我们有业务往来的人来了解我们，对于合适的企业和合适的人，我们会提供一个好的归宿。

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A record 97.2% of all eligible shares participated in Berkshire’s 1984 shareholder-designated contributions program. Total contributions made through this program were $3,179,000, and 1,519 charities were recipients. Our proxy material for the annual meeting will allow you to cast an advisory vote expressing your views about this program - whether you think we should continue it and, if so, at what per-share level. (You may be interested to learn that we were unable to find a precedent for an advisory vote in which management seeks the opinions of shareholders about owner-related corporate policies. Managers who put their trust in capitalism seem in no hurry to put their trust in capitalists.)

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股东指定捐赠今年破记录的有 97.2%的有效股权参与 1984 年的股东指定捐赠计划，总计约 3,179,000 美元捐出的款项分配给 1,519 家慈善机构，股东会的资料包含一个可以让你表达对这项计划的意见，例如是否继续、每一股应捐赠多少等等。你可能会有兴趣知道事实上在此之前从未有一家公司是以股东的立场来决定公司捐款的去向，经理人在信任资本主义的同时，好象不太相信资本家。

We urge new shareholders to read the description of our shareholder-designated contributions program that appears on pages 60 and 61. If you wish to participate in future programs, we strongly urge that you immediately make sure that your shares are registered in the name of the actual owner, not in “street” name or nominee name. Shares not so registered on September 30, 1985 will be ineligible for the 1985 program.

我们建议新股东赶快阅读相关信息，若你也想参加的话，我们强烈建议你赶快把股份从经纪人那儿改登记于自己的名下。未在 1985 年 9 月 30 日前登记的股份将没有资格参加1985 年的捐赠计划。

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Our annual meeting will be on May 21, 1985 in Omaha, and I hope that you attend. Many annual meetings are a waste of time, both for shareholders and for management. Sometimes that is true because management is reluctant to open up on matters of business substance. More often a nonproductive session is the fault of shareholder participants who are more concerned about their own moment on stage than they are about the affairs of the corporation. What should be a forum for business discussion becomes a forum for theatrics, spleen-venting and advocacy of issues. (The deal is irresistible: for the price of one share you get to tell a captive audience your ideas as to how the world should be run.) Under such circumstances, the quality of the meeting often deteriorates from year to year as the antics of those interested in themselves discourage attendance by those interested in the business.

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年度股东大会伯克希尔的股东年会预计于 1985 年 5 月 21 日在奥马哈举行，我希望各位届时都能参加。许多年会对于股东和管理层来说都是浪费时间，有时是因为管理层不愿公开深入讨论公司的实质问题，有时通常是因为一些股东只顾自己出风头而不是真正关心公司的事务，本来应该是经营业务的讨论会最后往往变成了演戏、发泄、宣传问题的闹场。这是件再划算不过的主意，只要买进一股，你就可以将你对世界应该如何运作的想法高谈阔论的告诉被俘虏的观众，最后往往是劣币驱逐良币，使得真正关心公司的股东避而远之，剩下一堆爱现的小丑。

Berkshire’s meetings are a different story. The number of shareholders attending grows a bit each year and we have yet to experience a silly question or an ego-inspired commentary. Instead, we get a wide variety of thoughtful questions about the business. Because the annual meeting is the time and place for these, Charlie and I are happy to answer them all, no matter how long it takes. (We cannot, however, respond to written or phoned questions at other times of the year; one-person-at-a time reporting is a poor use of management time in a company with 3000 shareholders.) The only business matters that are off limits at the annual meeting are those about which candor might cost our company real money. Our activities in securities would be the main example.

伯克希尔的股东年会是另一码事，虽然与会的股东一年比一年多，但至今我们却很少遇到什么蠢问题或是以自我为中心的言论。相反的，大家提出的都是一些有见地的商业问题，正因为大家开会的目的便在于此，因此不管要花多少时间我跟查理都很乐意为大家解答这类的问题。然而很抱歉，我们无法在其它的时候用书面或电话回答问题，因为以一家拥有 3000 名股东的公司，若一一回答的话实在是太没有效率了。而我们惟一无法回答的商业问题是那些坦率回答可能会让我们公司付出实际代价的事情，比如我们在股票市场上的进出。

We always have bragged a bit on these pages about the quality of our shareholder-partners. Come to the annual meeting and you will see why. Out-of-towners should schedule a stop at Nebraska Furniture Mart. If you make some purchases, you’ll save far more than enough to pay for your trip, and you’ll enjoy the experience.

最后我通常要花一点时间来吹嘘我们子公司的管理层有多好。欢迎来参加年会，你就晓得为什么了，外地来的可以考虑到内布拉斯加家具店逛逛，若你决定买些东西，你会发现你所省下的钱足够支付你这趟的旅费，相信你一定会觉得不虚此行的。

Warren E. Buffett
Chairman of the Board
February 25, 1985

沃伦.巴菲特
董事会主席
1985年2月25日

Subsequent Event: On March 18, a week after copy for this report went to the typographer but shortly before production, we agreed to purchase three million shares of Capital Cities Communications, Inc. at $172.50 per share. Our purchase is contingent upon the acquisition of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. by Capital Cities, and will close when that transaction closes. At the earliest, that will be very late in 1985. Our admiration for the management of Capital Cities, led by Tom Murphy and Dan Burke, has been expressed several times in previous annual reports. Quite simply, they are tops in both ability and integrity. We will have more to say about this investment in next year’s report.

后续事项：3 月 18 日，在报告付梓的一周之后，我们协议以每股 172.5 美金买进 300 万股大都会广播公司的股份Capital Cities Communications, Inc.，前提条件是大都会必须要能够成功并购 ABC 美国广播公司 AmericanBroadcasting Companies, Inc.，否则合约无效，但这最早也要到 1985 年底完成。在过去几年中我们多次表达对由 Tom Murphy 和 Dan Burke 领导的大都会管理层表示钦佩，原因很简单，因为他们不管在个人能力还是人格魅力方面，皆是一流之选，明年的年报我将会详加说明这项投资案的始末。

Warren E. Buffett Chairman of the BoardFebruary 25, 1985

Warren E. Buffett
Chairman of the Board
February 25, 1985