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1997年股东大会 · 巴菲特点评电视行业,为什么它不是一个好生意

58 段 · 2 位说话人 · 原片 5:11
M1
M10:00

Buffett 先生,我是来自 Omaha 的 Rick Fulton。

Mr. Buffett, I'm Rick Fulton from Omaha.

真的。

Really.

最近我和我太太去 Washington, D.C. 出差,我想跟 Graham 太太——我知道她今天也在这里——说一句,早上起来能读到像 Washington Post 这样一份好报纸,真的是一种享受。

Recently, I was in Washington, D.C. with my wife on a business trip, and I wanted to tell Mrs. Graham— I know she's here— what a pleasure it is to get up in the morning to a good newspaper like the Washington Post.

另外,我还有个关于 Cap Cities,还有现在的 Disney 的问题。

Also, I have a question about Cap Cities and now Disney.

还有,现在 ABC 归 Disney 所有了,Murphy 先生是不是还是很忙?

And is Mr. Murphy keeping busy now that ABC's owned by Disney.

还有,你每周都会在报纸上看到 Nielsen ratings。现在看起来,最近看 ABC 的人好像少了,这会影响 Disney 的 bottom line 吗?

Also, every week you read in the paper the Nielsen ratings, and does it matter that ABC now, it seems that less people recently are watching, does it matter to Disney's bottom line?
M2
M20:40

谢谢。

Thank you.

对,关于 Murphy 先生的第一个问题,如果我们能把 Murphy 先生请来,我们一定会请。

Yeah, well, the first question about Mr. Murphy is that if we could hire Mr. Murphy, we would.

我是说,这个世界上没有谁比 Tom Murphy 更会管理了,而且就做人来说,也没有谁比他更好了。

I mean, there is no one in this, in this world that is a better manager than Tom Murphy, or a better human being as far as that's concerned.

所以他——我觉得他现在还是非常忙。

So he— I think he's keeping pretty busy.

他一直在负责 NYU Hospital 的事务。

He has been responsible for NYU Hospital.

他自己不会这么说,不过这些年来他一直是那里的 chairman。

He wouldn't say that, but he's been the chairman of it for some years.

那是一家一年大概八亿美元规模的机构。

And that's an $800 million a year or thereabouts organization.

Charlie 管着一家医院,所以他知道这件事能让你有多忙。

Charlie runs a hospital, so he knows how busy it can keep you.

不过我会这么说,我真希望能找到一家企业,好把 Murph 吸引回来让他来管理,因为像他这么出色的人,真的找不到更好的了。

And he— but I would say this, that— I would love to find a business that I could entice Murph to come back and run because they don't get any better than he is.

Charlie,你想就 Murph 再补充点什么吗?

And Charlie, you want to add anything on Murph?

嗯,我想补充,因为你说得完全对。

Well, I'd like to because you're absolutely right.

那问题的另一部分是什么来着?

And what was the other part of the question?
M1
M11:48

先生,最近 ABC 的 Nielsen ratings 下滑,跟它的 bottom line 有没有关系?

Sir, does, does the recent decline in ABC's Nielsen ratings have anything to do with the bottom line?

我刚刚还盼着你提这个呢。

I was hoping you'd bring that up.
M2
M21:58

对,对,是有影响的。

Yeah, yeah, it makes a difference.

这个,ratings 在很多情况下都会转化成——不过,总体来说,不管是清晨时段表现好,白天时段表现好,还是深夜时段表现好,诸如此类——我是说,ratings 是会转化成钱的。

Uh, ratings translate in many cases into— but, uh, overall news, if they're good in early morning, if they're good in, in, in daytime, if they're good at late evening, whatever— I mean, ratings translate into money.

这种转化未必是立刻发生的,特别是如果你有一档特别火的节目,你可能早就用太便宜的价格把广告卖完了。

They may not translate immediately, particularly if you have some big hit show, you may have sold it out too cheap.

但从长期来看,你的产品能拿到什么价格,是和 ratings 相关的。

But over time, the prices you receive for your product relate to ratings.

而且再从更长一点的时间来看,你为这个产品付出的价格也和 ratings 有关,不过这里面存在一个时间周期上的差异,所以——

And over time, but over a longer period of time, the price that you pay for the product also relates to the ratings, but there's a difference in the time cycle so that—.
M1
M12:42

对。

Right.
M2
M22:42

所以,ratings 处在什么水平,确实会影响任何一家电视网的 bottom line。

That it makes a difference to any network's bottom line what their ratings level is.

Disney 也很清楚这一点。

And Disney is conscious of that.

而且他们是非常能干的经营者。

And they are very able operators.

我预期你会在几年之内看到——不过这不是马上就能做到的。

And I predict you'll see in a couple of years— but you can't do it immediately.

节目编排的调整没法按周立刻见效,因为人有自己的收视习惯。

Schedule fixes don't work on a week-to-week basis because people have habits.
M1
M13:07

对。

Right.
M2
M23:09

任何改变都会有一个滞后期。

There's a time lag involved in any change.

而且你看过去二十年里,各家电视网时不时都会有爬到上面的时候,也会有掉到底下的时候。

And you've seen over the last 20 years, you've seen various networks on top or on the bottom from time to time.

所以它是会来回变化的。

So it moves around.

而且变化幅度还相当大。

It moves around a fair amount.

Charlie?

Charlie?

对,我觉得电视网这个生意,从本质上说就是个挺难做的生意。

Yeah, I think the TV network business is intrinsically a pretty tough business.

至于 ESPN,当时他们可能做过预测,而且电视网这块很可能实际表现还比预期更差一点。

And ESPN, then, they might have forecast, and they probably did a little worse on the network.

这种事是会发生的。

These things happen.

顺便说一句,一九八五年 Cap Cities 收购 ABC 的时候,情况就是这样。

That was incidentally the situation when Cap Cities bought ABC in 1985.

我们谈成了这笔交易,我记得是在八六年头一两天完成交割的。

We made the deal, I'm thinking it closed, I think it closed the first day or two of '86.

这个我也可能记错了,不过电视网业务确实下滑了,收视率明显下降了,尤其是白天档。

I may be wrong on that, but the network diminished, the ratings diminished significantly, and particularly in daytime.

我们一直都觉得白天档几乎是——

We'd always thought daytime was almost—
M1
M14:03

没错。

It was.
M2
M24:04

几乎可以确定会带来很高利润,而且以前也的确是这样。

Certainty to produce big earnings, and, and it had.

当然,黄金时段是大家最关注的,但我们收购之后,白天档也明显下滑了。

Even, uh, primetime is what people pay the most attention to, but daytime, uh, slipped significantly after we bought it.

这跟那些电影没有任何关系——我是说,跟你们刚才看到的那部、我一开始出现在里面的电影,没有关系。

It has no relationship to those movies— I mean, that movie you saw earlier when I started appearing on it.

我可不想让任何人把这两件事联系起来,不过时间上确实正好撞在一起了。

I don't want anybody to make that connection, but it did happen to be at the same time.

不过我们后来真正捞到的意外之喜,还是 ESPN。

The, uh, the, uh, the kicker we got, again, was ESPN.

Cap Cities 决定收购 ABC 的时候,ESPN 还在亏钱,我们当时也从来没真把它看成一个有那么大潜力的东西。

ESPN was losing money when, when Cap Cities made the deal to buy ABC, and we never really regarded it as that being that— having that big a potential.

结果你也知道,它后来变得非常巨大。

And, you know, it has been huge.

它给我们带来的收益,远远好过我们当初的任何预期。

It's been— it was enormously better for us than we ever anticipated.

当时掌管 ABC 的 Leonard Goldenson 跟我们说过,它会有这么好。

Leonard Goldenson, who ran ABC, told us it was going to be that good.

但当然了,我们那时候自以为太聪明了,根本没把他的话当回事。

But of course, we were too smart to pay any attention to him.

我觉得 Disney 对 ESPN 后来做得这么好,恐怕也有点惊喜。

And I think Disney has been pleasantly surprised by, by how well ESPN has done too.

它真的是个超级强者。

It's a powerhouse.

请十区提问。

Zone 10, please.