这场经典的赛事，甚至还用慢动作播放精彩的第四节，我们以今年封面的颜色表 .14
们特别要感谢美国航空现任总裁-Stephen Wolf，是他让这家落难的航空公司得以付
出这笔钱，同时美国航空的表现也归因于航空业景气复苏，当然该公司还是有成本结
构的问题有待解决。
In any event, the prices of USAir's publicly-traded securities tell
us that our preferred stock is now probably worth its par value of $358
million, give or take a little. In addition, we have over the years
collected an aggregate of $240.5 million in dividends (including $30
million received in 1997).
不过不论如何，目前美国航空普通股的市价显示我们所持有特别股的价值应该回复到
3.58亿美元的面额左右，另外不要忘了，这几年来我们还陆陆续续从该公司收到2.4
亿美元的股息(包含1997年的3,000万美元在内)。
Early in 1996, before any accrued dividends had been paid, I tried
once more to unload our holdings - this time for about $335 million.
You're lucky: I again failed in my attempt to snatch defeat from the
jaws of victory.
在稍早1996年初，我们还尚未收到积欠的股息之前，我再度尝试以3.35亿美元把
这笔投资卖掉，所幸这次的举动又没有成功，使得我们得以从胜利之神口中逃过失败
的命运。
In another context, a friend once asked me: "If you're so rich, why
aren't you smart?" After reviewing my sorry performance with USAir, you
may conclude he had a point.
在另外一个场合，有一位朋友问我：「你很有钱，可是为什么还这么笨? 」在进一步
检讨本人在美国航空这个案子上的表现后，你可能会觉得他说得很有道理。
Financings
财务融资
We wrote four checks to Salomon Brothers last year and in each case
were delighted with the work for which we were paying. I've already
described one transaction: the FlightSafety purchase in which Salomon was
the initiating investment banker. In a second deal, the firm placed a
small debt offering for our finance subsidiary.
去年我们总共付了四次钱给所罗门兄弟公司，而很高兴每一张支票都代表着该公司为
我们提供了不错的服务，先前我已经说明过其中的一项交易-那就是买进国际飞安公
司的交易，所罗门担任这项交易的投资银行顾问，第二个案子是所罗门帮我们旗下的
财务子公司安排了一项融资案。
Additionally, we made two good-sized offerings through Salomon, both
with interesting aspects. The first was our sale in May of 517,500
shares of Class B Common, which generated net proceeds of $565 million.
As I have told you before, we made this sale in response to the
threatened creation of unit trusts that would have marketed themselves as
Berkshire look-alikes. In the process, they would have used our past,
and definitely nonrepeatable, record to entice naive small investors and
would have charged these innocents high fees and commissions.
此外，透过所罗门我们完成另外两件案子，两者也都有相当有趣的特点，一件是在五
月我们发行了517,500股的B级股，总共募得5.65亿美元的资金，关于这件案子，
先前我就已经做过相关的说明，主要是因应坊间有些模仿Berkshire的基金，避免他
们以Berkshire过去傲人的绩效记录对外吸引一些不知情的小额投资人，在收取高昂
的手续费与佣金之后，却无法提供给投资人一个令人满意的投资结果。
I think it would have been quite easy for such trusts to have sold
many billions of dollars worth of units, and I also believe that early
marketing successes by these trusts would have led to the formation of
others. (In the securities business, whatever can be sold will be sold.)
The trusts would have meanwhile indiscriminately poured the proceeds of
their offerings into a supply of Berkshire shares that is fixed and
limited. The likely result: a speculative bubble in our stock. For at
least a time, the price jump would have been self-validating, in that it
would have pulled new waves of naive and impressionable investors into
the trusts and set off still more buying of Berkshire shares.
我相信这些仿Berkshire基金可以很容易募得大笔的资金，而我也认为在这些基金成
功募集到资金之后，一定还会有更多的基金跟进打着我们的旗号对外吸收资金，在证
券业，没有什么是卖不掉的东西，而这些基金无可避免的会将所募得的资金大举投入
到Berkshire现有少数的股票投资组合，最后的结果很可能是Berkshire本身以及其
概念股股价暴涨而泡沫化，然后股价的上涨很可能又会吸引新一波的无知且敏感的投
资人蜂拥投入这些基金，造成进一步的恶性循环。
Some Berkshire shareholders choosing to exit might have found that
outcome ideal, since they could have profited at the expense of the
buyers entering with false hopes. Continuing shareholders, however,
would have suffered once reality set in, for at that point Berkshire
would have been burdened with both hundreds of thousands of unhappy,
indirect owners (trustholders, that is) and a stained reputation.
有些Berkshire的股东可能会发现这是一个大好的机会，因为可以利用新加入者不当
的预期而想要趁机出脱持股赚取额外的利益，但在此同时选择继续留下来的股东却必
须承担后来的苦果，因为等到回归现实后，我们会发现Berkshire会有一群成千上万
高档套牢的间接股东(亦即基金投资人)，以及受到毁损的企业清誉。
Our issuance of the B shares not only arrested the sale of the
trusts, but provided a low-cost way for people to invest in Berkshire if
they still wished to after hearing the warnings we issued. To blunt the
enthusiasm that brokers normally have for pushing new issues - because
that's where the money is - we arranged for our offering to carry a
commission of only 1.5%, the lowest payoff that we have ever seen in a
common stock underwriting. Additionally, we made the amount of the
offering open-ended, thereby repelling the typical IPO buyer who looks
for a short-term price spurt arising from a combination of hype and
scarcity.
B级普通股的发行正可以抑止这些仿Berkshire基金的销售，同时提供小额投资人投
资Berkshire的低成本管道，如果在他们听过我之前所提出的警告后仍执意要投资的
话，而为了降低经纪人一般喜欢推销新股发行的习惯(因为这是真正有赚头的所在)，
我们刻意将承销佣金降到1.5%，这是所有发行新股承销佣金最低的比率，此外我们
对发行新股的数量不设上限，以避免一些专门投资初次上市股票抢帽子的投机客，利
用新股数量稀少而刻意炒作赚取短期股价飙涨的差价。
Overall, we tried to make sure that the B stock would be purchased
only by investors with a long-term perspective. Those efforts were
generally successful: Trading volume in the B shares immediately
following the offering - a rough index of "flipping" - was far below the
norm for a new issue. In the end we added about 40,000 shareholders,
most of whom we believe both understand what they own and share our time
horizons.
总而言之，我们希望买进B级普通股的投资人是真正希望长期投资的，事实证明我们
的做法相当成功，在公开发行后的B级普通股成交量(亦即代表换手的情形)远低于一
般初次上市的股票，结果总计我们因此新增了40,000名的股东，我相信他们大部分
都了解他们到底在投资什么，同时与我们拥有相同的经营理念。
Salomon could not have performed better in the handling of this
unusual transaction. Its investment bankers understood perfectly what we
were trying to achieve and tailored every aspect of the offering to meet
these objectives. The firm would have made far more money - perhaps ten
times as much - if our offering had been standard in its make-up. But
the investment bankers involved made no attempt to tweak the specifics in
that direction. Instead they came up with ideas that were counter to
Salomon's financial interest but that made it much more certain
Berkshire's goals would be reached. Terry Fitzgerald captained this
effort, and we thank him for the job that he did.
在这次不常见的交易中，所罗门的表现好得不能再好了，身为我们的投资银行，他们
充分了解我们想要达成的目标，从而量身订做，提供符合我们需要的服务，事实上若
是按照一般的标准模式，所罗门应该可以赚进更多钱，有可能比现在多十倍以上，不
过他们并没有刻意引导我们这样子去做，相反地有时他们还是提出一些对自己本身利
益冲突，但却有助于Berkshire达成目的的一些建议，感谢Terry这次为我们操刀所
做的努力与贡献。
Given that background, it won't surprise you to learn that we again
went to Terry when we decided late in the year to sell an issue of
Berkshire notes that can be exchanged for a portion of the Salomon shares
that we hold. In this instance, once again, Salomon did an absolutely
first-class job, selling $500 million principal amount of five-year notes
for $447.1 million. Each $1,000 note is exchangeable into 17.65 shares
and is callable in three years at accreted value. Counting the original
issue discount and a 1% coupon, the securities will provide a yield of 3%
to maturity for holders who do not exchange them for Salomon stock. But
it seems quite likely that the notes will be exchanged before their
maturity. If that happens, our interest cost will be about 1.1% for the
period prior to exchange.
基于这样的背景，大家不难想象当Berkshire决定发行以所持有的所罗门股份做为转
换标的的可转换票券时，我们又再度找上Terry，再一次所罗门的表现一流，卖出以
五年为期、总面额五亿美元的票券，共取得4.471亿美元的资金，每张面额1,000
美元的票券可以转换成17.65股的所罗门股份，同时有权在三年后要求以帐面价值卖
回，总计原先票面折价加上1%的票面利息，此证券可以给予到期不选择转换成所罗
门股份的投资人3%的报酬率，不过我想投资人在到期前选择不转换的机率微乎其
微，若果真如此，在转换前我们实际负担的利率成本大约在1.1%左右。
In recent years, it has been written that Charlie and I are unhappy
about all investment-banking fees. That's dead wrong. We have paid a
great many fees over the last 30 years - beginning with the check we
wrote to Charlie Heider upon our purchase of National Indemnity in 1967 -
and we are delighted to make payments that are commensurate with
performance. In the case of the 1996 transactions at Salomon Brothers,
we more than got our money's worth.
近年来，媒体不断报导查理跟我对于支付投资银行所有的费用都很感冒，这样的报导
完全不对，事实上做过去三十年来，从1967年我们请Charlie Heider协助我们买
下国家赔偿保险公司开始，我们就很乐于签支票给他们，只要他们所提供的服务与表
现值得的话，而以1996年所罗门这次的案子来说，我们就觉得物超所值。
Miscellaneous
其它事项
Though it was a close decision, Charlie and I have decided to enter
the 20th Century. Accordingly, we are going to put future quarterly and
annual reports of Berkshire on the Internet, where they can be accessed
via http://www.berkshirehathaway.com. We will always "post" these
reports on a Saturday so that anyone interested will have ample time to
digest the information before trading begins. Our publishing schedule
for the next 12 months is May 17, 1997, August 16, 1997, November 15,
1997, and March 14, 1998. We will also post any press releases that we
issue.
虽然这个决定有点赶，查理跟我本人已决定正式跨入二十世纪，我们决定从现在开始
将在公司网络上公布每季与每年最新的Berkshire年报，大家可以透过以下这个网址
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com.找到相关的讯息，我们会固定选在星期六把
报告摆上去，主要的目的是希望大家能够有充足的时间在股市开盘做出进出的决定，
预计未来一年内公布报告的时间为1997年5月17日、8月16日、11月15日以
及1998年3月14日，同时网站上也会有我们对外发布的其它公开讯息。
At some point, we may stop mailing our quarterly reports and simply
post these on the Internet. This move would eliminate significant costs.
Also, we have a large number of "street name" holders and have found
that the distribution of our quarterlies to them is highly erratic: Some
holders receive their mailings weeks later than others.
在此同时，我们也将停止过去邮寄每季季报的习惯，而直接将它们公布在公司网站
上，此举不但可以大幅减少邮寄的成本，同时也因为我们有一些股东的股份是登记在
别人的名下，这使得季报最后送到真正股东手上的时间很不一定，有的股东收到报告
的时间整整比其它股东晚了好几个礼拜。
The drawback to Internet-only distribution is that many of our
shareholders lack computers. Most of these holders, however, could
easily obtain printouts at work or through friends. Please let me know
if you prefer that we continue mailing quarterlies. We want your input -
starting with whether you even read these reports - and at a minimum will
make no change in 1997. Also, we will definitely keep delivering the
annual report in its present form in addition to publishing it on the
Internet.
当然透过网络公布也有一个很大的缺点，那就是许多我们的股东从来不使用计算机，当
然大家还是可以透过同事或朋友的帮助把它们给打印下来，如果大家觉得还是用寄得
比较好的话可以向我反应，我们很想听听大家的意见，至少在1997年还是会持续原
来的做法，另外必须强调的是，每年的年报除了在网络上公布之外，依然还是会用邮
寄的方式送到各位的手上。
* * * * * * * * * * * *
About 97.2% of all eligible shares participated in Berkshire's 1996
shareholder-designated contributions program. Contributions made were
$13.3 million, and 3,910 charities were recipients. A full description
of the shareholder-designated contributions program appears on pages 48-
49.
大约有97.2%的有效股权参与1996年的股东指定捐赠计划，总计约1,330万
美元捐出的款项分配给3,910家慈善机构，详细的名单参阅附录。
Every year a few shareholders miss out on the program because they
don't have their shares registered in their own names on the prescribed
record date or because they fail to get the designation form back to us
within the 60-day period allowed. This is distressing to Charlie and me.
But if replies are received late, we have to reject them because we
can't make exceptions for some shareholders while refusing to make them
for others.
每年都有一小部份的股东由于没有将股份登记在本人的名下，或是没能在60天
的期限内，将指定捐赠的表格送回给我们，而没办法参加我们的指定捐赠计画，
对此查理跟我感到相当头痛，不过我们必须忍痛将这些指定捐赠剔除，因为我们不
可能在拒绝其它不符合规定股东的同时，还破例让这些人参与。
To participate in future programs, you must own Class A shares that
are registered in the name of the actual owner, not the nominee name of a
broker, bank or depository. Shares not so registered on August 31, 1997,
will be ineligible for the 1997 program. When you get the form, return
it promptly so that it does not get put aside or forgotten.
想要参加这项计画者，请必须拥有A级普通股，同时确定您的股份是登记在自
己而非股票经纪人或保管银行的名下，同时必须在1997年8月31日之前完成
登记，才有权利参与1997年的捐赠计画，当你收到表格后，请立即填写后寄回，
以免被丢在一旁给忘记了。
The Annual Meeting
股东年会
Our capitalist's version of Woodstock -the Berkshire Annual Meetingwill
be held on Monday, May 5. Charlie and I thoroughly enjoy this
event, and we hope that you come. We will start at 9:30 a.m., break for
about 15 minutes at noon (food will be available - but at a price, of
course), and then continue talking to hard-core attendees until at least
3:30. Last year we had representatives from all 50 states, as well as
Australia, Greece, Israel, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and
the United Kingdom. The annual meeting is a time for owners to get their
business-related questions answered, and therefore Charlie and I will
stay on stage until we start getting punchy. (When that happens, I hope
you notice a change.)
资本家版的伍斯达克音乐会-Berkshire股东年会将在五月五日星期一举行，查理跟我
实在是很喜欢这场盛会，所以我们很希望大家都能来，会议预计从早上9点半正式开
始，中午休息15分钟(现场备有餐点，不过必须付费)，然后会继续与许多死忠的股
东谈到下午三点半，去年全美50州都有股东代表出席，另外还有来自海外地区，如
澳洲、希腊、以色列、葡萄牙、新加坡、瑞典、瑞士以及英国等国家，股东年会是公
司股东可以得到有关公司经营所有问题解答的场合，所以查理跟我一定会竭尽所能地
回答各位提出的问题，直到我们头昏脑胀为止(如果查理跟我有异状时，希望各位能及
时发现)。
Last year we had attendance of 5,000 and strained the capacity of
the Holiday Convention Centre, even though we spread out over three
rooms. This year, our new Class B shares have caused a doubling of our
stockholder count, and we are therefore moving the meeting to the
Aksarben Coliseum, which holds about 10,000 and also has a huge parking
lot. The doors will open for the meeting at 7:00 a.m., and at 8:30 we
will - upon popular demand - show a new Berkshire movie produced by Marc
Hamburg, our CFO. (In this company, no one gets by with doing only a
single job.)
去年总共有5,000名股东与会，虽然我们预先另外准备了三间小会议室，不过还是把
当时的会场- Holiday会议中心给挤爆了，今年由于发行B级普通股的关系使得我们
的股东人数又增加了整整一倍，因此我们决定把开会的场地移到可以容纳10,000人
同时备有宽广停车场的阿肯萨本体育馆，大门会在当天早上七点开放，同时在八点
半，我们会播放由财务长Marc Hamburg制作的全新Berkshire电影短片供大家欣
赏(在Berkshire所有人都必须身兼数职)。
Overcoming our legendary repugnance for activities even faintly
commercial, we will also have an abundant array of Berkshire products for
sale in the halls outside the meeting room. Last year we broke all
records, selling 1,270 pounds of See's candy, 1,143 pairs of Dexter
shoes, $29,000 of World Books and related publications, and 700 sets of
knives manufactured by our Quikut subsidiary. Additionally, many
shareholders made inquiries about GEICO auto policies. If you would like
