巴菲特致股东的信（1988年）⑪其它事项

Miscellaneous

We hope to buy more businesses that are similar to the ones we have, and we can use some help. If you have a business that fits the following criteria, call me or, preferably, write.

其它事项

我们希望能够买进更多像我们现在拥有一样的企业，当然我们可以通过大家的协助，如果你拥有符合以下条件的企业，记得打电话或者是写信告诉我。

Here’s what we’re looking for:

(1) large purchases (at least $10 million of after-tax earnings),

(2) demonstrated consistent earning power (future projections are of little interest to us, nor are “turnaround” 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).

我们想要找：

(1)巨额交易(每年税后收益至少有一千万美元)；

(2)持续稳定获利能力(我们对有远景或具转机的公司没兴趣)；

(3)高股东回报率(并且甚少举债)；

(4)管理到位(我们无法提供)；

(5)简单的企业(若牵涉到太多高科技，我们弄不懂)；

(6)合理的价格(在价格不确定前，我们不希望浪费自己与对方太多时间)。

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 issuing stock when we receive as much in intrinsic business value as we give.

我们不会进行敌意并购，并承诺完全保密并尽快答复是否感兴趣(通常不超过五分钟)，我们倾向采现金交易，除非我们所换得的内在价值跟我们付出的一样多，否则不考虑发行股份。

Our favorite form of purchase is one fitting the Blumkin-Friedman-Heldman mold. In cases like these, the company’s owner-managers wish to generate significant amounts of cash, sometimes for themselves, but often for their families or inactive shareholders. However, these managers also wish to remain significant owners who continue to run their companies just as they have in the past. We think we offer a particularly good fit for owners with these objectives and invite potential sellers to check us out by contacting people with whom we have done business in the past.

我们最喜欢的交易对象之一是像 Blumkin/Friedman/Heldman 家族那样，公司经营者希望能马上有一大笔现金，不管是给自己、家人或是其它股东，最好这些经营者如往常一样能够继续留在公司，我想我们可以提供具有以上想法的经营者，一个满意的方式，我们也欢迎可能的卖方与那些过去与我们合作过的对象打听。

Charlie and I frequently get approached about acquisitions that don’t come close to meeting our tests: We’ve found that if you advertise an interest in buying collies, a lot of people will call hoping to sell you their cocker spaniels. Our interest in new ventures, turnarounds, or auction-like sales can best be expressed by another Goldwynism: “Please include me out.”

另一方面我们也持续接到一些不符合我们条件的询问，包括新事业、转机股、拍卖案以及最常见的中介案。我们发现如果你登广告要买牧羊犬，结果却有一大堆人打电话来要卖你可卡犬，在此重申我们对这些交易，只有戈德温的另一句话可以形容：请把我排除在外。

Besides being interested in the purchase of businesses as described above, we are also interested in the negotiated purchase of large, but not controlling, blocks of stock comparable to those we hold in Cap Cities and Salomon. We have a special interest in purchasing convertible preferreds as a long-term investment, as we did at Salomon.

除了以上买下整家公司的并购案外，我们也会考虑买进一大部分不具控制权的股份，就像我们在大都会与所罗门这两个例子一样，尤其是我们对于像这次购买所罗门一样的可转换优先股当作长期投资特别有兴趣。

* * *

We received some good news a few weeks ago: Standard & Poor’s raised our credit rating to AAA, which is the highest rating it bestows. Only 15 other U.S. industrial or property-casualty companies are rated AAA, down from 28 in 1980.

* * *

几个礼拜以前，我们接到了一个好消息，标准普尔评级机构将我们的债信等级调高到 AAA 的最高标准，相较于 1980 年的 28 家，目前全美只有 15 家公司可以拥有此殊荣。

Corporate bondholders have taken their lumps in the past few years from “event risk.” This term refers to the overnight degradation of credit that accompanies a heavily-leveraged purchase or recapitalization of a business whose financial policies, up to then, had been conservative. In a world of takeovers inhabited by few owner-managers, most corporations present such a risk. Berkshire does not. Charlie and I promise bondholders the same respect we afford shareholders.

过去几年企业债的持有人在事件风险上跌了一大跤，意思是说一家原本财务操作保守的公司，因为进行高杠杆并购或是重整再造，使得公司在一夜之间被大幅调降信用评级。并购的世界之中，除了少数经营权与所有权一致的公司之外，大部分的公司都会面临这样的风险，但伯克希尔绝对不会，查理跟我保证给债券持有人与股东一样的承诺。

* * *

About 97.4% of all eligible shares participated in Berkshire’s 1988 shareholder-designated contributions program. Contributions made through the program were $5 million, and 2,319 charities were recipients. If we achieve reasonable business results, we plan to increase the per-share contributions in 1989.

* * *

大约有 97.4%的有效股权参与 1988 年的股东指定捐赠计划，总计约 500 万美元捐出的款项分配给 2,319 家慈善机构，若经营情况许可，我们计划在 1989 年扩大这项捐赠计划。

We urge new shareholders to read the description of our shareholder-designated contributions program that appears on pages 48-49. If you wish to participate in future programs, we strongly urge that you immediately make sure your shares are registered in the name of the actual owner, not in the nominee name of a broker, bank or depository. Shares not so registered on September 30, 1989 will be ineligible for the 1989 program.

我们敦促新加入的股东，仔细阅读年报上有关股东捐赠计划的详细内容，如果在未来年度内，你想要参加这类的计划，我们强烈建议你将股份登记在自己而不是受托人的名下，必须在 1989 年 9 月 30 日之前完成登记，才有权利参与 1989 年的计划。

* * *

Berkshire’s annual meeting will be held in Omaha on Monday, April 24, 1989, and I hope you will come. The meeting provides the forum for you to ask any owner-related questions you may have, and we will keep answering until all (except those dealing with portfolio activities or other proprietary information) have been dealt with.

* * *

今年的股东年会将在 1989 年 4 月 24 日周一在奥马哈举行，我们希望大家都能来参加，这个会议提供一个场所让你能够提出任何与股东有关的问题，我们会一直回答到所有股东都满意为止(除了那些想要知道投资组合明牌或是内线消息的人)。

After the meeting we will have several buses available to take you to visit Mrs. B at The Nebraska Furniture Mart and Ike Friedman at Borsheim’s. Be prepared for bargains.

会后我们将安排几台巴士载着有兴趣的股东到内布拉斯加家具店和波仙珠宝店，大家准备大捡便宜货吧！

Out-of-towners may prefer to arrive early and visit Mrs. B during the Sunday store hours of noon to five. (These Sunday hours seem ridiculously short to Mrs. B, who feels they scarcely allow her time to warm up; she much prefers the days on which the store remains open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.) Borsheims, however, is not open on Sunday.

外地来的股东可以会选择提早一点来，B 夫人的店周日会从中午开到下午五点，只有五个小时可能不够 B 夫人暖身，她可能希望还是能够像平日一样从早上 10 点到晚上 9 点，另外波仙珠宝周日并不开门营业。

Ask Mrs. B the secret of her astonishingly low carpet prices. She will confide to you - as she does to everyone - how she does it: “I can sell so cheap ‘cause I work for this dummy who doesn’t know anything about carpet.”

记得问 B 夫人地毯价格为什么会如此便宜的秘密，她一定会向跟所有人一样地偷偷跟你讲她是如何办到的(我之所以能够卖的这么便宜是因为，我的老板对于地毯根本就一无所知！)。

Warren E. Buffett
Chairman of the Board
February 28, 1989

沃伦.巴菲特
董事会主席
1989年2月28日

Miscellaneous We hope to buy more businesses that are similar to the ones we have, and we can use some help. If you have a business that fits the following criteria, call me or, preferably, write.