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1999年股东大会 · 巴菲特:找到一个伟大的行业,不等于投资它就可以赚钱

46 段 · 3 位说话人 · 原片 5:09
M1
M10:00

早上好,Buffett 先生,Munger 先生。

Good morning, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger.

我叫 Jack Sutton,来自纽约 Brooklyn。

My name is Jack Sutton from Brooklyn, New York.

谢谢你们举办今天这场会议。

Thank you for hosting today's meeting.

说到通信类股票,因为 cellular communications 和 internet 的增长,有些股票看起来有望实现远高于平均水平的营收和盈利增长。

With reference to communication stocks, because of the growth of cellular communications and the internet, certain stocks hold the prospect of substantially above-average revenue and earnings growth.

比如说 AT&T 和 Nokia,它们的利润率和普通股股本回报率都相当不错,从财务角度看,似乎符合 Berkshire 的标准。

AT&T and Nokia, as an example, earn respectable margins and return on common equity, and would seem to fit Berkshire's criteria from a financial perspective.

Berkshire 有没有研究过通信领域的股票?你们未来会不会考虑在这个领域做投资?

Has Berkshire reviewed stocks in the area of communications, and would you consider an investment in this area at some time in the future?
F1
F10:44

对,通信领域确实发生了很多了不起的事情。

Yeah, there's certainly no question amazing things have happened in communications.

你提到 AT&T 这点很有意思,因为 AT&T 在过去十五年的股本回报率,怎么说呢,一直都非常非常差。

It's interesting that you mentioned AT&T because AT&T's return on equity over the last 15 years has been, you know, has been very, very poor.

当然,他们一次又一次提到特殊费用,然后说,这个别算。

Now, they've had special charges time after time and said, don't count this.

但如果你把 AT&T 过去十五年的整体股本回报率算一算,就会发现它一点都不好。

But the overall return on equity, if you calculate it for AT&T for the last 15 years, it's not been good at all.

他们以前算是这个领域的领导者,但到目前为止,已经发生的这些变化其实伤害了他们,至少跟竞争对手相比是这样。

They were the, you know, they were the leader in the field, but so far what has happened is, has hurt them, at least relative to their competition.
M1
M11:19

对。

Yes.
F1
F11:21

伤害远远大于帮助。

Far more than it's helped them.

我们董事会里有一位同事,Walter Scott,就坐在前排这儿,如果我没看错的话——我有点看不清他——他对这个懂得比我多得多。

We have a fellow on our board, Walter Scott, who's right here in the front row, if I can— can't quite see him, but who knows a lot more about this.

以前他常想给我解释这些正在发生的变化。

He used to try to explain to me these changes that were taking place.

我们周六一起坐车去看 football 比赛的时候,Walter 会很耐心地给我讲,就像在给一个六年级学生讲一样,告诉我通信领域将会发生什么。

We'd ride down to football games on Saturday, and Walter would patiently explain to me, like he was talking to a 6th grader, what was going to happen in communications.

问题是,车里坐着的其实是个四年级学生,也就是我。

And the problem was that he had a 4th grader in the car with him, namely me.

所以我一直没弄明白,但 Walter 明白。

So I never got it, but Walter did.

他在 MFS 和 Level 3 上做得非常好。我想,对于那些真正懂这个、而且进得还算早的人来说,这里面很可能确实能赚到很多钱。

He's done very well in MFS and Level 3, and I think for people who understand it and are reasonably early, you know, there could very well be substantial money to be made.

在我们 Omaha 这个地方,已经有很多人在这方面赚了大钱——我不是其中之一。而且我也不觉得自己在这个游戏里有什么洞见是比别人更高明的,很可能很多时候甚至还不如其他参与者。

There's been an awful lot of money made in this town of Omaha by people— I'm not one of them, and I have no insights that I bring to that game that I think are in any way superior, and probably in many cases not even equal to those of other participants.

能赚钱,和能看出一个行业很棒,这两者差别非常大。

There's a lot of difference between making money and spotting a wonderful industry.

你知道,在这个世纪上半叶,美国,乃至全世界,最重要的两个行业,大概就是汽车业和航空业。

You know, the 2 most important industries in the first half of this century in the United States, in the world, probably were the auto industry and the airplane industry.

我是说,这两个大发现,基本上都出现在这个世纪的第一个十年里。

I mean, here you have these 2 discoveries, both in the first decade, essentially in the first decade of the century.

如果你在一九零五年前后就能预见到汽车会怎样改变这个世界——更不用说这个国家——或者能预见到飞机会带来什么变化——

And if you'd foreseen in 1905 or thereabouts what the auto would do to the world, let alone— or this country, or what the airplane would do—

靠着汽车业这股浪潮发财的人,其实没几个。

Few people got rich by riding the back of that auto industry.

而在那段时间里,靠参与航空业发财的人,可能还要更少。

And probably even fewer got rich by, by, by participating in the airline industry over that time.

我的意思是,每天都有几百万人坐飞机到处飞,但靠运送这些乘客真正赚到钱的人非常有限;而这个行业里损失掉的资本、发生的破产,简直太多了,这一直是个很糟糕的生意。

I mean, millions of people are flying around every day, but the number of people who have made money carrying them around is very limited, and the capital that has been lost in that business, the bankruptcies, it's been a terrible business.

但它又是个非常了不起的行业。

It's been a marvelous industry.

所以,你不能简单地把一个行业的增长前景,等同于你参与其中之后自己净资产的增长前景。

So you do not want to necessarily equate the prospects of growth for an industry with the prospects for growth in your own net worth by participating in it.
M2
M23:33

Charlie 呢?

Charlie?

有位将军过来视察,他问其中一个人,他说,Jones中尉,你是干什么的?

Some general came in to visit, and he said to one of them, he says, Lieutenant Jones, what do you do?

那个人说,我什么都不干。

He says, I don't do anything.

他转向第二个人,说,你是干什么的?

He turned to the second one, he says, what do you do?

那个人说,我是协助Jones中尉的。

And he says, I help Lieutenant Jones.

这就是我的贡献。

That's been my contribution.
F1
F14:05

接下来这场会议里,你们都可以叫我Jones中尉。

You can address me as Lieutenant Jones for the rest of the meeting.
M1
M14:10

对。

Yeah.
F1
F14:10

还有,有些人感谢我们举办了这场会议。

And so, some people have thanked us for providing this meeting.

我想感谢你们,因为这场会的质量——我觉得我们有全国最好的股东大会,而这场会议的质量,绝对和股东的质量成正比。

I want to thank you because the quality of the—I think we have the best shareholders meeting in the country, and the quality of the meeting is absolutely in direct proportion to the quality of the shareholders.

没有你们这样的参与,我们就什么都不是,我真的非常感谢你们。

We would have nothing without this participation, and I really thank you.

对你们很多人来说,专程来到这里是件很不容易的事,我为此感谢你们。

It's a big effort to come here for a lot of you, and I thank you for that.

顺便说一下,我们的安排是在中午休息一下。

Our plan, incidentally, will be to take a break at noon.

外面有很多吃的,会卖给你们。

They have a lot of food outside that they will sell you.

然后我们会在三十分钟左右之后回来,或者四十五分钟,这要看外面排队的情况,然后我们下午再继续开会。

And then we'll come back in 30 minutes or thereabouts, or 45 minutes depending on how the lines are out there, and then we'll reconvene for the afternoon.

还有,你们当中现在不在这个主会场的人,如果想过来到主会场一起参加,下午会有足够的座位,呃,给大家,然后Charlie和我会继续到大概三点半。

And those of you who are not in this main hall, if you want to come over and join the main hall, there will be enough seats, uh, for everybody in the afternoon, and then Charlie and I will continue till about 3:30.

呃,请回到一区。

Uh, let's go back to, uh, Zone 1, please.