1996年股东大会 · 巴菲特1950年代起的的合伙人在股东大会上提问 — 文稿

M10:00

Norton，你把那边的话筒递给他吧？

Norton, why don't you give him the microphone there?

M20:08

谢谢你，Warren，让我插个队先问。

Thank you, Warren, for including me out of order.

M10:12

你能来这儿真好。

It's good to have you here.

Norton 代表的是一个一九五六年就进来的家族。

Norton represents a family that came in 1956.

对，当年加入了我们的 partnership，而且从那以后一直跟我们在一起。

Yeah, that joined up with the partnership and been with us ever since.

M20:32

这是个非常非常幸运的缘分。

A very, very fortunate connection.

M10:36

是双向的，Norton，双向都是。

Both ways, Norton, both ways.

小心点，Norton，我们可不想你出去的时候被大家围住。

Careful, Norton, we don't want you mobbed on the way out.

M20:44

不过我想说，这一切都开始于我父亲在一九四零年发现了 Ben Graham，这要归功于一位金融学教授，他当时也在 University of Oklahoma。

But I might say that it all began with my father discovering, thanks to a professor of finance who was also at the University of Oklahoma, Ben Graham, back in 1940.

后来，等到 Ben Graham 快要退休的时候，我们就想找他的 protégé，很显然，那个人就是 Warren。

And then later, when Ben Graham was about to retire, we were trying to find his protégé, and clearly that was Warren.

所以他是属于那个悠久传统的一部分。

And so he belongs to that long tradition.

不过我想问的问题是，你提到 Berkshire 旗下那些非常强大的公司，像 Coca-Cola 和 Gillette 这样的，实际上都是真正的国际化公司。但你们会不会考虑，或者以前有没有想过考虑，那些被低估的外国公司？还是说出于某种原因，你们没有把这类公司纳入你们的考察范围？

But the question I wanted to ask was, you've mentioned the very strong companies that Berkshire has that are really international companies like Coca-Cola and Gillette, but are you considering or have you ever thought of considering foreign companies that are undervalued, or have you for some reason not included that in your universe of companies to consider?

M11:34

我们看过注册地在其他国家的公司，而且我们现在也还在看注册地在其他国家的公司。

We've looked at companies domiciled in other countries and we continue to look at companies domiciled in other countries.

你知道，Coca-Cola 注册在 Atlanta，这对美国、对 Atlanta 来说当然都很好，我们也挺高兴。

We wouldn't, you know, we're happy for the U.S. and for Atlanta that Coca-Cola is domiciled in Atlanta.

但如果它碰巧注册在 England，我们就会放弃它吗？

But would we pass on it if it happened to be domiciled in England?

不会，就算它注册在 England，我们也一样会很喜欢。

No, we'd love it if it were domiciled in England too.

我们觉得，重要的是这个生意本身，不是它的注册地。当然——第一，从整体上说，我们对本土公司、也就是注册在这边的公司更熟悉一些，虽然它们赚的钱可能是来自全球各地。

And we feel that the important thing is the business, not the domicile, although it's— A, we're more familiar in a general way with domestic companies that are domiciled here, although they may make their money internationally.

而且在理解税收、政治、股东治理这些细微差别方面，我们会觉得稍微安心一点，不过真的只是稍微一点。毕竟这些东西是我们天天都在读、都在想的；而对于那些我们接触经验少一些的地方，就没那么熟。

And we feel a tiny bit more comfortable, but just a tiny bit, in terms of understanding the nuances of taxes and politics and shareholder governance and all of that in something where we've been reading and thinking about it daily than someplace where we've had a little less experience.

但如果能找到一家非常棒的企业，不管它注册在全球大概三十个国家里的哪一个，我们都会非常乐意。

But we would love to find a wonderful business that is domiciled in any one of 30 or so countries around the world.

我们会看一些。

We look some.

只是没有像看本土公司那么下功夫。

We don't look as hard as we look at a domestic company.

我们对它们没那么熟，不过我读过分布在世界各地的公司的几百份年报，我们也持有过一些，就几家。

We're not as familiar with them, but I have read hundreds of annual reports of companies spread around the world, and we've owned a few, just a couple.

它们通常规模没那么大，所以很多时候，想投进去我们那种体量的资金会更成问题，不过其中也有一些是大的。

They're usually not as big, so just getting the kind of money in many cases is more of a problem, but some of them are big.

而且我们的想法也没多到可以奢侈到把任何可能性都忽略掉。

And we do not have such a surplus of ideas that we can afford to ignore any possibilities.

如果我们能找到一家市值大概至少在五十亿美元以上、又具备我们看重的那类特质、而且价格也合适、各方面都对路的公司，我们就会买，我们会买。

And if we can find something with a market cap probably of at least $5 billion or greater that strikes us as having our kind of qualities and the price is right and everything, we will, we will buy.

一区？

Zone 1?