原文信息：
- 标题：The Collector: Investor Who Piled Up $100 Million in the ’60s Piles Up Firms Today
- 作者：Jonathan R. Laing (Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
- 发表时间：1977-03-31
- 整理：Terrellchen，Ponge
- 校译：Terrellchen
The Collector: Investor Who Piled Up $100 Million in the ’60s Piles Up Firms Today </br
收藏家：在60年代积累了1亿美元的投资者如今又积累了多家公司
Warren Buffett Considers His New Life More Fun;
沃伦・巴菲特认为他的新生活更有趣；
The Country-Club Caper
乡村俱乐部的冒险
From Stamps to Newspapers
从印花到报纸
OMAHA, Neb – The soaring stock market of the 1960s created many a star among professional portfolio managers, but few shone as brightly as Warren Buffett.
内布拉斯加州奥马哈讯 ——20 世纪 60 年代飙升的股市，催生了众多专业投资组合经理中的 “明星”，但鲜有像沃伦・巴菲特这样耀眼的人物。
Operating quietly from his home town of Omaha, Mr. Buffett parlayed a 100 million in just 13 years. Then, displaying a brilliant sense of timing, he closed down the fund and distributed the gains among more than 100 partners in 1969, just before the market suffered the first of its periodic tumbles of the 1970s.
巴菲特在故乡奥马哈低调运作，仅用 13 年就将一只 10 万美元的投资合伙基金增值到 1 亿美元。随后，他展现出精准的时机判断能力：1969 年，就在股市即将遭遇 20 世纪 70 年代首次周期性暴跌前，他关闭了这只基金，并将收益分给了 100 多位合伙人。
These days the 46-year-old Mr. Buffett is again attracting attention, but for a different reason. Pyramiding the 1 billion. Most recently, a company controlled by Mr. Buffett acquired the Buffalo Evening News, the largest newspaper in upstate New York, for $33 million
如今 46 岁的巴菲特再次引发关注，原因却与以往不同。他用从基金中赚到的 2500 万美元作为本金，不断加码收购，掌控了一家综合企业集团 —— 业务涵盖金融机构、保险公司、报社、糖果店等，总资产超 10 亿美元。就在最近，巴菲特控股的一家公司以 3300 万美元收购了《布法罗晚报》，这是纽约州北部发行量最大的报纸。
Indeed, a major cause of Mr. Buffett’s visibility lately has been his growing prominence in the newspaper field.
事实上，巴菲特近来受关注的一个重要原因，正是他在报业领域的影响力日益提升。
“A Tremendous Relief”
“
如释重负”
“I’m having a lot of fun because I’m only going into businesses that I find interesting and where I like the people running them, and their products,” Mr. Buffett says. “It’s a tremendous relief being out of money management. I’m not constantly thinking about business anymore. During the partnership my ego was on the line, and I was trying to lead the league in hitting every year.”
“我现在玩得很开心，因为我只涉足自己感兴趣的企业 —— 既要喜欢运营公司的人，也要喜欢他们的产品。” 巴菲特说，“退出资金管理行业真是松了口气，不用再时刻惦记着业务。运营合伙基金时，我的自尊心全靠业绩支撑，每年都得拼尽全力‘保持领先’。”
Mr. Buffett, a bespectacled man of medium height and medium build whose hairline is receding, is a curious mixture of the sophisticated and bumpkin. He dresses conservatively and drinks nothing harder than Pepsi-Cola. His talk is larded with sports imagery and Main Street colloquialisms, yet he frequently quotes Bertrand Russell. An editor at the Washington Post, where Mr. Buffett has considerable influence these days, says:
巴菲特戴着眼镜，中等身高、中等身材，发际线略有后移。但他身上有种奇特的混合气质：既懂世故，又带着几分质朴。他衣着保守，最烈的饮品不过是百事可乐。说话时总爱用体育比喻和大众口语，却又常常引用伯特兰・罗素的名言。如今在巴菲特影响力颇大的《华盛顿邮报》，一位编辑评价道：
“There’s a lot more to Warren than just his business ability and ‘aw shucks’ manner. He understands the First Amendment along with profit-and-loss statements.”
“沃伦的价值远不止商业能力和那副‘不张扬的质朴劲儿’。他既懂损益表，也懂《第一修正案》（美国宪法保障言论自由的条款）。”
The keystone of the Buffett empire is Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a once-rundown New England textile concern that the Buffett partnership bought control of in the mid-1960s after the company’s stock sunk below its liquidating value. Since then, Mr. Buffett, who is Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman and controls 33% of its stock, has revived the company by using its excess cash to diversify into the auto and casualty insurance field and acquire Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. of Rockford, Ill., a highly profitable regional bank. In 1976, Berkshire Hathaway had operating earnings of 139 million.
巴菲特商业帝国的核心是伯克希尔・哈撒韦公司。这家新英格兰地区的纺织企业曾一度破败，20 世纪 60 年代中期，其股价跌破清算价值 ，巴菲特的合伙基金趁机收购了其控制权。如今巴菲特担任伯克希尔董事长，持有 33% 的股份。他利用公司的闲置资金推动业务多元化，进军汽车和财产意外保险领域，并收购了伊利诺伊州罗克福德市的伊利诺伊国民银行信托公司 —— 这是一家盈利能力极强的地区性银行，正是这些举措让伯克希尔重获生机。1976 年，伯克希尔・哈撒韦营收 1.39 亿美元，运营利润达 1610 万美元。
Stamps and Candy</br
印花与糖果
Mr. Buffett also controls some 61% of the stock of Blue Chip Stamps, a Western trading-stamp concern that posted 1976 earnings of 88 million. Blue Chip, in turn, owns 99% of See’s Candy Shops Inc., a West Coast chocolate maker and retailer; 80% of Wesco Financial Corp. of Pasadena, Calif., a savings-and-loan association; and now the Buffalo Evening News. Finally, Mr. Buffett has a controlling interest in Diversified Retailing Co., operator of a discount women’s-apparel chain of about 80 stores.
巴菲特还持有蓝筹印花公司约 61% 的股份。这家西部地区的印花公司 1976 年营收 8800 万美元，利润 1170 万美元。而蓝筹印花公司又持有多家企业股权：99% 的喜诗糖果公司（西海岸的巧克力生产与零售商）、80% 的加州帕萨迪纳市韦斯科金融公司（一家储蓄与贷款协会），以及刚刚提到的《布法罗晚报》。此外，巴菲特还控股多元零售公司，该公司运营着约 80 家门店的女性折扣服装连锁店。
But his influence extends beyond the companies he controls: These companies, in turn, have large stockholdings, totaling $100 million, in a number of others. Among the holdings are a 10% interest in Washington Post Co. – owner of the Post, Newsweek magazine, the Trenton (N.J.) Times and five television and radio stations – 25% of Pinkerton’s Inc., the security concern, and a 15% slice of Government Employees Insurance Co.
但他的影响力不止于自己控股的公司：这些公司还持有其他企业的大量股份，总价值达 1 亿美元。其中包括：《华盛顿邮报》公司 10% 的股份（该公司拥有《华盛顿邮报》、《新闻周刊》、新泽西州《特伦顿时报》以及 5 家电视台和广播电台）、安保公司平克顿 25% 的股份，以及政府雇员保险公司 15% 的股份。
These holdings also include substantial investment positions in Affiliated Publications Inc., publisher of the Boston Globe; Munsingwear Inc., the clothing manufacturer; and two advertising concerns; Ogilvy & Mather and Interpublic Group, the holding company for McCann-Erickson.
这些持股还包括：《波士顿环球报》出版商联合出版公司、服装制造商蒙辛格公司的大额投资，以及两家广告公司 —— 奥美广告和英特帕布利克集团（麦肯广告的控股公司）。
Mr. Buffett’s management style is low-key. He rarely makes changes in management personnel and he takes little part in day-to-day operating decisions, preferring to concentrate on acquisitions and the management of his companies’ assets.
“I Like Guys Who Forget”
“
我喜欢‘忘事’的管理者”
“I usually don’t need to get involved because I’m careful to buy well-run companies from owners who built the enterprises and stay on to run them,” he says. “I like guys who forget that they sold the business to me and run the show like proprietors. When I marry the daughter, she continues to live with her parents.”
“我通常不用插手公司运营，因为我会精心挑选那些运营良好的公司 —— 原老板亲自创立了企业，并且愿意留下来继续管理。” 他说，“我就喜欢这样的人：忘了公司已经卖给我，还像老板一样全身心投入经营。这就好比‘娶了人家的女儿，却让她继续和父母生活’—— 不干预原团队的运营。”
Mr. Buffett’s office reflects his unassuming attitude. Shoehorned into two rooms of a new office building overlooking Omaha are Mr. Buffett; J. Verne McKenzie, secretary-treasurer of Berkshire Hathaway; William Scott, a former investor in and assistant manager of the Buffett partnership, and two secretaries. Mr. Scott works only a five-hour day managing the $140 million municipal-bond portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway’s insurance and bank subsidiaries.
巴菲特的办公室也透着他的谦逊。在一栋能俯瞰奥马哈市的新办公楼里，两间不大的办公室挤着四个人：巴菲特、伯克希尔公司秘书兼财务主管 J・弗恩・麦肯齐、曾是巴菲特合伙基金投资者兼助理经理的威廉・斯科特，以及两位秘书。斯科特每天只工作 5 小时，却要管理伯克希尔旗下保险和银行子公司规模达 1.4 亿美元的市政债券组合。
“Most companies would have at least half a dozen full-time people running a bond fund of that size,” Mr. Buffett observes, “but Bill illustrates the fact that money management doesn’t take a lot of feverish effort. He spends most of his day playing handball and rehearsing his polka band. I like to call him the world’s richest polka player next to Lawrence Welk.”
“大多数公司管理这么大规模的债券基金，至少需要六名全职人员。” 巴菲特说，“但比尔证明了，资金管理不用拼‘疯狂努力’。他一天中大部分时间都在打手球、排练波尔卡乐队。我总说他是‘仅次于劳伦斯・韦尔克（译注：美国著名波尔卡乐队指挥，以通俗音乐风格广受民众喜爱）的全球最富有波尔卡乐手’。”
Wall Street sources close to Mr. Buffett say that his stock investments in the past few years have been largely dictated by his concern over inflation. David Gottesman, senior partner of the New York investment concern First Manhattan Corp., says:
与巴菲特关系密切的华尔街人士表示，过去几年他的股票投资主要受通胀担忧影响。纽约投资公司第一曼哈顿集团高级合伙人戴维・戈特斯曼说：
“Warren has been largely restricting himself to companies which he feels offer some protection against inflation in that they have a unique product, low capital needs and the ability to generate cash. For example, Warren likens owning a monopoly or market-dominant newspaper to owning an unregulated toll bridge. You have relative freedom to increase rates when and as much as you want.”
“沃伦主要专注于那些能对抗通胀的公司 —— 这类公司要么有独特产品，要么资本需求低，要么能稳定产生现金流。比如他常说，持有垄断性或市场主导地位的报纸，就像拥有一座不受监管的收费桥：你完全可以自主决定何时涨价、涨多少。”
Such considerations prompted Mr. Buffett last summer to persuade fellow trustees of Grinnell College in Iowa to spend $13 million to buy the NBC television affiliate in Dayton, Ohio, for the school’s endowment fund. “It seemed to me,” he says, “that the station’s profits would keep pace with the college’s costs better than traditional investments. After all, the advertising budgets from which broadcasters derive most of their revenues tend to reflect current dollars and rise with the gross national product.”
正是基于这样的考量，去年夏天巴菲特说服艾奥瓦州格林内尔学院的其他校董，动用 1300 万美元校产基金收购了俄亥俄州代顿市的全国广播公司（NBC）附属电视台。“在我看来，” 他说，“这家电视台的利润增长，会比传统投资更能跟上学院的开支增长。毕竟，广播公司的主要收入来自广告预算，而广告预算会随当前美元价值和国民生产总值同步增长。”
Mr. Buffett has taken some lumps. Several years ago, for example, Berkshire Hathaway lost half of a $6 million investment in Vornado Inc., a discount retailing concern based in New Jersey. “The stock looked undervalued when I bought it, but I proved to be incredibly wrong about the discount department-store business,” Mr Buffett says. “It turned out that the industry was over-stored, and Vornado and the rest of the discounters were getting killed by competition from K mart stores.”
巴菲特也有过亏损经历。比如几年前，伯克希尔・哈撒韦对新泽西州折扣零售公司沃纳多的 600 万美元投资，亏损了一半。“我买入时觉得这只股票被低估了，但后来发现，我对折扣百货行业的判断大错特错。” 巴菲特说，“事实证明，这个行业门店过剩，沃纳多和其他折扣零售商都被凯马特超市的竞争逼得走投无路。”
Also, Mr Buffett’s forays into the trading-stamp business have been less than signal successes. He took a substantial loss on a stock investment in Sperry & Hutchinson Co., in 1974, and his Blue Chip Stamps stockholding, acquired mainly in 1969 and 1970, has been a lackluster performer.
His First Newspapers</br
首次涉足报业
Mr. Buffett made his first newspaper acquisition in 1969 when Berkshire Hathaway bought the Sun Newspapers, neighborhood weeklies in Omaha. Two years later, Blue Chip tried to buy the Cincinnati Enquirer but was outbid. Since then, in addition to the Washington Post and Buffalo Evening News transactions, Buffett companies have made profitable investments in Booth Newspapers Inc. of Michigan (the position was later acquired by S. I. Newhouse, who has taken the company private), Texas-based Harte-Hanks Newspapers Inc., which runs 25 dailies and 46 other papers around the country.
巴菲特首次收购报纸是伯克希尔・哈撒韦在 1969 年买下的 —— 奥马哈当地的社区周报《太阳报》。两年后，蓝筹印花公司试图收购《辛辛那提询问报》，却因报价不及对手而失败。从那以后，除了投资《华盛顿邮报》和《布法罗晚报》，巴菲特旗下公司还对多家报业公司进行了盈利性投资，包括密歇根州的布斯报业公司（后来该股份被 S・I・纽豪斯收购，他将公司私有化）、得克萨斯州的哈特 - 汉克斯报业公司（该公司在全美运营 25 家日报和 46 家其他类型报纸）。
Mr. Buffett describes his Harte-Hanks interest as well under 1%
巴菲特表示，他在哈特 - 汉克斯报业公司的持股比例远低于 1%。
His interest in newspapers is more than just financial. Mr. Buffett says “Let’s face it,” he says, “newspapers are a hell of a lot more interesting a business than, say, making couplers for rail cars. While I don’t get involved in the editorial operations of the papers I own, I really enjoy being part of institutions that help shape society.”
他对报业的兴趣不止于财务回报。巴菲特说：“说实话，报业可比造火车连接器之类的生意有意思多了。虽然我不会干预旗下报纸的编辑业务，但能成为‘塑造社会的机构’的一份子，我真的很开心。”
Despite his protestations to the contrary, Mr. Buffett has sometimes been more than a mere absentee owner. Five years ago he played a crucial role in an expose of the inordinate wealth of Omaha’s fabled Boys Town, an expose that earned the Sun Newspapers a Pulitzer Prize. Mr. Buffett recalls:
尽管巴菲特称自己 “不干预运营”，但有时他绝非 “甩手掌柜”。五年前，他在揭露奥马哈著名慈善机构 “男孩镇” 巨额财富的报道中发挥了关键作用 —— 这篇报道还为《太阳报》赢得了普利策奖。巴菲特回忆道：
“I knew of an IRS regulation that required charitable foundations to publicly disclose their assets for the first time, so I told our editor to get a copy of the Boys Town filing. I’d heard a lot of rumors during my fund days about Boys Town’s large stockholdings, but even I was staggered when we found out that the home, which was constantly pleading poverty and caring for less than 700 kids, had accumulated assets of more than $209 million.”
“我当时知道美国国税局有项新规，要求慈善基金会首次公开披露资产情况，所以我让报社编辑去拿‘男孩镇’的申报文件。运营基金那几年，我就听过很多关于‘男孩镇’持有大量股票的传言，但真看到文件时还是很震惊：这个总哭穷、只收养了不到 700 个孩子的机构，居然积累了超过 2.09 亿美元的资产。”
Role at the Post</br
在《华盛顿邮报》的角色
According to insiders, Mr Buffett has become increasingly influential at the Washington Post Co., which is headed and controlled by 59-year-old Katharine Graham. Mr. Buffett has been a director of the company since 1974 (a year after he bought his 10% nonvoting interest), and more recently he was named chairman of its finance committee. He has come to function as an unpaid executive, traveling to Washington at least once a month, often staying at Mrs. Graham’s Georgetown home.
据内部人士透露，巴菲特在《华盛顿邮报》公司的影响力日益增强。该公司由 59 岁的凯瑟琳・格雷厄姆领导并控股。自 1974 年起（即他购入 10% 无投票权股权的次年），巴菲特就担任该公司董事；最近他还被任命为财务委员会主席，相当于 “无薪高管”—— 每月至少去一次华盛顿，常住在格雷厄姆夫人位于乔治敦的家中。
“Buffett has become Kay’s financial guru and also acts as mentor for her son Donald, who is being groomed to take over eventually,” says a former Post executive. “He started out by helping improve Post Co.’s image on Wall Street and revamping its pension plan. Now she consults him on every important decision.”
“巴菲特成了凯（凯瑟琳的昵称）的财务智囊，还兼任她儿子唐纳德的导师 —— 唐纳德正被培养为未来的接班人。” 一位前《华盛顿邮报》高管说，“一开始他只是帮公司改善在华尔街的形象、调整养老金计划，现在凯每做重要决策都会咨询他。”
“Of course I talk to him about potential acquisitions and other important matters,” Mrs. Graham says. “I’d be silly not to, considering his superlative business acumen and analytical ability.”
A Wall Street source close to Mr. Buffett says that his newspaper investments don’t arise out of any desire to be a newspaper mogul. “Warren likes lively, interesting people, and he loves mixing in the circle of politicians and other luminaries that Kay Graham has introduced him to,” the source says. “He plays tennis with Ben Bradlee (the Post’s executive editor). He gets to sit in the VIP area at the political conventions and the presidential debates. He really revels in the whole scene.”
一位与巴菲特关系密切的华尔街人士表示，他投资报业并非想当 “报业大亨”。“沃伦喜欢活泼有趣的人，也很享受凯・格雷厄姆带他进入的圈子 —— 和政客、名流打交道。” 这位人士说，“他会和本・布拉德利（《华盛顿邮报》执行主编）打网球，能在政党大会和总统辩论中坐在 VIP 区，他是真的沉醉在这种氛围里。”
Part of Mr. Buffett’s fascination with newspapers arises from his intense interest in public affairs. Although his father, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives, was a conservative Republican, Mr. Buffett considers himself a Democrat and has given financial support to a number of liberal Democratic politicians.
An Early Interest</br
早年的金融兴趣
Mr. Buffett recalls being intrigued with the world of finance even as a youth. He soaked up much market lore from his father, who ran a small brokerage house in Omaha before winning his House seat when Warren was 12. After graduating from high school in Washington, Mr. Buffett sailed through college in three years. He was at the University of Nebraska that he chanced upon “The Intelligent Investor,” a book by Benjamin Graham that Mr. Buffett says was at the root of his investment success. In the book, Mr. Graham, no relation to Katharine Graham, preached a defensive, statistical approach to stock investment, based on companies’ “intrinsic value” – what a private owner would be willing to pay for a business based on its net worth or, better yet, on only its cash and other current assets after deducting all liabilities.
巴菲特回忆，自己年轻时就对金融世界充满好奇。12 岁那年，父亲当选众议院议员前，在奥马哈经营一家小型经纪公司，巴菲特从父亲那里学到了很多市场知识。从华盛顿的高中毕业后，他仅用三年就读完了大学。在内布拉斯加大学读书时，他偶然读到了本杰明・格雷厄姆的《聪明的投资者》—— 巴菲特称这本书是他投资成功的 “根源”。值得一提的是，这位格雷厄姆与凯瑟琳・格雷厄姆并无亲属关系。他在书中倡导 “防御性、数据驱动” 的股票投资方法，核心是基于公司的 “内在价值”—— 即产业收购类私人买家愿意为一家企业支付的价格，这个价格可基于公司净值计算，更优的方式是基于 “扣除所有负债后的现金及其他流动资产” 计算。
Upon graduation from college in 1950, Mr. Buffett enrolled in Columbia University’s graduate school of business, where Mr. Graham was teaching a course on finance. The two men became friends, and in 1954 Mr. Buffett, after three years as a stockbroker in Omaha, went to work for Graham-Newman Corp., a New York investment fund headed by Mr. Graham.
1950 年大学毕业后，巴菲特考入哥伦比亚大学商学院，而格雷厄姆恰好在此教授金融课程。两人后来成了朋友。1954 年，巴菲特在奥马哈做了三年股票经纪人后，加入了格雷厄姆领导的纽约投资基金 —— 格雷厄姆 - 纽曼公司。
Two years later Mr. Buffett and his wife, Susan, whom he had married in Omaha in 1952, returned to Omaha; Mr. Graham had retired from Graham-Newman. Mr. Buffett started his investment partnership shortly thereafter with four relatives and three friends. The lion’s share of the trading profits came from investments in stocks that were undervalued according to Mr. Graham’s criteria.
两年后，由于格雷厄姆从格雷厄姆 - 纽曼公司退休，巴菲特和 1952 年在奥马哈结婚的妻子苏珊一起回到了故乡。不久后，他和四位亲属、三位朋友共同成立了自己的投资合伙基金 。该基金的绝大部分交易利润，都来自那些符合格雷厄姆 “低估标准” 的股票投资。
One of the partnership’s most outstanding successes was an investment in American Express Co. that more than tripled in value in two years, yielding the fund a $20 million trading gain. Mr. Buffett bought the stock in late 1963 following the shares’ collapse in the wake of the company’s involvement in a salad-oil scandal. Many bank trust departments and other institutions were selling the stock because they thought the scandal would shake public confidence in the company’s traveler’s checks.
该合伙基金最亮眼的成功案例之一，是对美国运通公司的投资 —— 两年内股价涨了两倍多，为基金带来 2000 万美元的交易收益。1963 年底，美国运通因卷入 “色拉油丑闻” 导致股价暴跌，巴菲特趁机买入其股票。当时很多银行信托部门和其他机构都在抛售这只股票，他们认为丑闻会动摇公众对美国运通旅行支票的信心。
Convinced by Talks</br
调研后的判断
But Mr. Buffett’s talks with a number of banks, restaurants, travel agencies and others convinced him otherwise. He found that use of American Express traveler’s checks hadn’t dropped; what’s more, the company was fast developing a dominant share of the travel and entertainment credit-card market.
In 1969 Mr. Buffett sensed a change in the investment climate, so he folded the fund. The bargain issues were all but gone, casualties of the long bull market and the conglomerate acquisition boom. Anyway, Mr. Buffett was tired of the pressure to perform.
1969 年，巴菲特察觉到投资环境发生变化，于是关闭了这只基金。当时，“便宜的好股票” 几乎消失了 —— 它们成了长期牛市和企业集团收购热潮的牺牲品。更何况，巴菲特也厌倦了 “必须持续创造业绩” 的压力。
These days Mr. and Mrs. Buffett divide their time between their home in Omaha – a rambling house with an attached basketball court – and a ranch house in Laguna Beach, Calif. With two of their three children away and the third at Stanford University, Mrs. Buffett has been able to pursue a singing career in several Omaha nightclubs.
如今，巴菲特夫妇在两处住所间往返居住：一处是奥马哈的家 —— 一栋带篮球场的宽敞住宅，另一处是加利福尼亚州拉古纳海滩的牧场别墅。他们的三个孩子中，两个已经搬出去独立生活，最小的在斯坦福大学读书，苏珊也得以在奥马哈的几家夜总会追寻自己的歌唱事业。
Mr. and Mrs. Buffett have been involved in a number of civil-rights efforts. They were among the first gentiles to join an all-Jewish country club in Omaha in an attempt to force all gentile clubs to admit Jews. “It was silly that many Jewish families that had been in Omaha for years and are important to the city were barred from some of our clubs,” Mr. Buffett says. “Besides, the food was better at the Jewish club.”