M10:00
我叫 Fred Ilfeld Jr.，来自 California 的 Sacramento。我想问一下，你能不能详细讲讲，为什么要把两位家族成员加入董事会，这背后的逻辑是什么？
My name is Fred Ilfeld Jr. from Sacramento, California, and I wanted to ask if you could elaborate upon the logic of adding 2 family members to the board of directors.
嗯，首先这么做对家庭和睦特别有好处。
Well, it's terrific for family harmony, just to start with.
这个——对，我在年报里也谈到过这个。
The— as I've talked about in the annual report, yeah.
这个——如果我今晚去世了，你知道，我的股票会转给我太太，她是董事会成员。她会一直持有这些股票，直到她去世，到时候这些股票会转到一个 foundation。
The— if I die tonight, you know, my stock goes to my wife, who is a member of the board of directors, and she will own that stock until her death, when it will go to a foundation.
所以，我们希望尽可能建立一种长期的、稳定的、接近永久的所有权结构——当然，这也要受规划安排、税法之类因素的限制。
So, there is a desire to have a— as long a term and permanent ownership structure as can really be done in terms of planning and the tax laws and so on.
我的意思是，他们——我，我——我们邀请过像 Helzbergs 这样的人加入 Berkshire，因为我们觉得，对他们来说，这是一个特别——呃——有利的经营方式，而且他们也能清楚知道自己加入之后的未来会是什么样。
I mean, they— I, I— we have invited people like, like Helzbergs to join in with Berkshire into what we think is a particularly, uh, advantageous way for them to conduct a business and to know the future that they're joining.
而且，了解自己加入之后的未来，其中一部分就是要知道——要知道这个所有权结构是稳定的。
And, and part of knowing the future that they're joining involves knowing that the— knowing that the ownership is stable.
而且在 Berkshire，这种稳定会持续非常长的时间，可能已经接近这个世界上任何人能够提前规划的最长时间了。
And it will be stable for a very long period of time in Berkshire, probably about as long as you can— anybody can plan for in this world.
在我去世之后，家族不会参与企业的经营管理，但会参与企业的所有权。
After my death, the family would not be involved in the management of the business, but they'd be involved in the ownership of the business.
而且，你会看到一种非常大、非常集中的持股，会一直延续到那个 foundation 里；而那个 foundation 会非常在意，确保最好的管理架构到位。
And you would have a very large concentrated ownership position going well on into the foundation that would care very much about having the best management structure in place.
所以，实际上，为了随着时间提前做好这方面的准备，我认为，让那些将来不会参与管理、但会在所有权上扮演关键角色的家族成员，越来越熟悉这家公司以及背后的经营理念，是非常明智的。
And to, in effect, prepare for that over time, I think it's very advisable that family members who will not be involved in management, but who will have a key ownership role to play, become more and more familiar with the business and the philosophy behind it.
我记得我在——应该是一九九三年的年报里，也谈过一些这个问题，因为我觉得你们理解这一点很重要。
I discussed that some in the— I guess it was the 1993 annual report, because I think it's important that you understand.
而且，对任何想把企业卖给我们的人来说，如果你从一九一五年开始建立一家企业，你对它投入了巨大的感情，你也非常在乎那些被你培养出来的人，但你人生里还有别的想做的事。
And anybody that wants to sell us the business, if you've built a business since 1915, and you care enormously about it, and you care about the people that you've developed, but you've got something else you want to do in life.
这可不是像在报纸上登个广告卖车那么简单。
It's more, you know, than advertising your car in the paper to sell it.
我的意思是，这对你来说是一笔重要的、非常重要的交易；重要的不只是你能拿到多少钱，还在于，那几千个一路跟着你的人，你最终是把他们交到谁手里。
I mean, it is an important, a very important transaction to you, not just in terms of how much money you receive, but in terms of who you deliver thousands of people that have joined you, who you deliver them to.
而我认为，我们有一种结构，已经差不多是你能做到的最好状态了。
And I think we have a structure that is about as good as you can do.
当然，没有什么东西是永远不变的，但我们的结构大概已经是你能做到的最好状态了。也就是说，人们在和我们做交易的时候，能清楚知道自己要进入的是什么；而且，他们也可以相信，在交易达成时存在的那些条件，在未来很长一段时间里都会持续下去。
Nothing is forever, but we have a structure that's about as good as you can do in terms of people knowing what they're getting into when they, when they make a deal with us and, and, and being able to count on the conditions that prevail at the time of the deal continuing for a long period in the future.
很多人——前几天有个人跟我说起一家企业，他当时被收购方百般拉拢，可你知道，交易完成第二天，对方就进来把最上面的六个高管给开掉了。
Many people— I had a fellow tell me the other day about a business where he'd been wooed by the acquirer, and, you know, the day after the deal, they came in and fired the top half dozen people.
他们其实一直都有个秘密计划。
They'd had a secret plan all along.
嗯，我觉得这种事你未必经常碰到，但你确实会碰到另一种情况：就是那个收购别人的公司，后来自己又被别人收购了，或者来了新的管理层，或者来了新的管理顾问，然后说，嗯，这个业务现在已经不符合我们的战略规划了，那就把这个事业部卖掉吧。
Well, I don't think you run into much of that, but what you do run into is the company that's the acquiring company itself either being acquired, or some new management coming along, or some new management consultant coming along and saying, well, this doesn't fit our strategic plan anymore, so let's dump this division.
而加入 Berkshire 的人，我觉得，基本可以比较放心，不会发生这种事。
And people that join in with Berkshire can be relatively, I think, comfortable about nothing like that happening.
Charlie，你想补充几句吗？
Charlie, you want to elaborate on that?
不想。
No.
我本来还希望 Charlie 今天早上能有一次濒临发言的体验。
I was hoping Charlie would have a near-life experience this morning.
继续鼓励他吧。
Keep encouraging him.
二区。
Zone 2.