引言：巴菲特一直在非公开市场收购具有长期价值的公司，这是他写给潜在卖家的一封信，发表于1990年度的股东信上。

这封信站在对方的角度思考，陈述事实。

Some Thoughts on Selling Your Business*

关于对您出售企业的一些想法

*This is an edited version of a letter I sent some years ago to a man who had indicated that he might want to sell his family business. I present it here because it is a message I would like to convey to other prospective sellers. -W.E.B.

这是几年前我写给一位企业家先生的一封信的编辑版本，这位先生表示，他可能想卖掉自己的家族企业。我在这里介绍它，因为这也是我想转达给其他潜在卖家的信息。- 沃伦·巴菲特

（注：从巴菲特传记《滚雪球》的内容看，这封信的原始版本是写给NFM家具商场的路易斯，即B夫人儿子。当时B夫人家族有出售公司的想法，但还没拿定主意卖给谁。尽管有一家德国公司出价9000万美元，但B夫人按整体估值6000万美元卖给了巴菲特。）

Dear _____________:

Here are a few thoughts pursuant to our conversation of the other day.

亲爱的___________：根据我们前几天的谈话，我有一些想法写在这里。

Most business owners spend the better part of their lifetimes building their businesses. By experience built upon endless repetition, they sharpen their skills in merchandising, purchasing, personnel selection, etc. It's a learning process, and mistakes made in one year often contribute to competence and success in succeeding years.

大多数企业家花了大半辈子时间创业。在不断地重复中积累经验，他们磨炼出了在销售、采购、用人等方面的才能。这是一个学习的过程，某一年中所犯的错误往往有助于以后若干年的能力提升和获得成功。

In contrast, owner-managers sell their business only once -- frequently in an emotionally-charged atmosphere with a multitude of pressures coming from different directions. Often, much of the pressure comes from brokers whose compensation is contingent upon consummation of a sale, regardless of its consequences for both buyer and seller. The fact that the decision is so important, both financially and personally, to the owner can make the process more, rather than less, prone to error. And, mistakes made in the once-in-a-lifetime sale of a business are not reversible.

相比之下，企业家出售他们的企业通常只有一回，这时往往带有情绪，还承担着各种压力。通常，大部分压力来自经纪人。不管交易完成后对买卖双方有什么影响，只要完成交易，经纪人就能拿到他们的报酬。事实上，这个决策对企业家来讲太重要了，无论是在经济上还是在个人方面，这会使整个过程更容易出错，而不是更少出错。而且，如果在一辈子就这一回的企业出售中犯下错误，将是无法挽回的。

Price is very important, but often is not the most critical aspect of the sale. You and your family have an extraordinary business -- one of a kind in your field -- and any buyer is going to recognize that. It's also a business that is going to get more valuable as the years go by. So if you decide not to sell now, you are very likely to realize more money later on. With that knowledge you can deal from strength and take the time required to select the buyer you want.

价格非常重要，但往往不是交易中最关键的方面。您和您的家族拥有一家非凡的企业，在你所处的领域中独一无二，任何买家都会意识到这一点。随着时间的推移，这家企业也会变得更有价值。所以，如果你决定现在不卖，你很可能在以后赚更多的钱。明白这一点，你就可以凭实力交易，从容不迫地挑选你中意的买家。

If you should decide to sell, I think Berkshire Hathaway offers some advantages that most other buyers do not. Practically all of these buyers will fall into one of two categories:

如果你决定出售，我认为伯克希尔哈撒韦公司提供了一些其他买家没有的优势。几乎所有其它买家都属于以下两类之一:

(1) A company located elsewhere but operating in your business or in a business somewhat akin to yours. Such a buyer -- no matter what promises are made -- will usually have managers who feel they know how to run your business operations and, sooner or later, will want to apply some hands-on "help." If the acquiring company is much larger, it often will have squads of managers, recruited over the years in part by promises that they will get to run future acquisitions. They will have their own way of doing things and, even though your business record undoubtedly will be far better than theirs, human nature will at some point cause them to believe that their methods of operating are superior. You and your family probably have friends who have sold their businesses to larger companies, and I suspect that their experiences will confirm the tendency of parent companies to take over the running of their subsidiaries, particularly when the parent knows the industry, or thinks it does.

(1) 位于其他地方但经营您的业务或类似业务的公司。无论做出什么样的承诺，这样的买家通常会有这样的管理者：他们觉得自己知道如何经营你的业务，迟早会插手“帮忙”。如果收购方公司规模大得多，通常会有一批管理人员，这些管理人员是多年来招募进来的，某种程度上给过他们承诺，让他们负责未来收购过来的公司运营。他们会有自己的做事方式，尽管你的过往业绩无疑比他们好得多，但人类的天性仍然会使他们相信自己的方法更好。你和你的家族可能有朋友将他们的企业卖给了更大的公司，我怀疑他们的经历将证实母公司接管其子公司的趋势，特别是当母公司了解这个行业，或者认为它了解的时候。

(2) A financial maneuverer, invariably operating with large amounts of borrowed money, who

plans to resell either to the public or to another corporation as soon as the time is favorable. Frequently, this buyer's major contribution will be to change accounting methods so that earnings can be presented in the most favorable light just prior to his bailing out. I'm enclosing a recent article that describes this sort of transaction, which is becoming much more frequent because of a rising stock market and the great supply of funds available for such transactions.

(2) 搞金融的。他们总是靠巨额贷款来收购公司，只要时机有利，他就会把公司转手，要么上市，要么卖给另一家公司。通常，这位买家的主要贡献将是改变会计方法，以便收益可以在他脱手之前以最亮眼的方式呈现。随函附上一篇描述这种交易的文章，由于股市上涨，还有大量基金为这种交易提供资金，这种交易变得越来越频繁。

If the sole motive of the present owners is to cash their chips and put the business behind them -- and plenty of sellers fall in this category -- either type of buyer that I've just described is satisfactory. But if the sellers' business represents the creative work of a lifetime and forms an integral part of their personality and sense of being, buyers of either type have serious flaws.

如果现在企业所有者的唯一动机是变现，把生意抛在脑后（很多卖家都属于这一类），我刚才描述的任何一种买家都是令人满意的。但是，如果卖家的公司是他一生创造的结晶，已经融入了他们的生命，和他们的生活密不可分，那么这两种类型的买家都有严重的缺陷。

Berkshire is another kind of buyer -- a rather unusual one. We buy to keep, but we don't have, and don't expect to have, operating people in our parent organization. All of the businesses we own are run autonomously to an extraordinary degree. In most cases, the managers of important businesses we have owned for many years have not been to Omaha or even met each other. When we buy a business, the sellers go on running it just as they did before the sale; we adapt to their methods rather than vice versa.

伯克希尔是另一种买家——一种相当不寻常的买家。我们为了拥有而买，但是我们母公司没有企业运营人员，而且我们也不希望有。我们拥有的所有公司都以不同寻常的方式自主运营。在大多数情况下，我们拥有多年的重要子公司经理从未去过奥马哈，甚至彼此没见过面。当我们买下一家企业时，卖家会像出售前一样继续经营；我们适应他们的方法，而不是让他们适应我们。

We have no one -- family, recently recruited MBAs, etc. -- to whom we have promised a chance to run businesses we have bought from owner-managers. And we won't have.

我们没有对任何人（比如家族成员，或者新招募的MBA）有承诺将来从企业家那里买一家公司，交给他们去运营。并且我们不打算这样做。

You know of some of our past purchases. I'm enclosing a list of everyone from whom we have ever bought a business, and I invite you to check with them as to our performance versus our promises. You should be particularly interested in checking with the few whose businesses did not do well in order to ascertain how we behaved under difficult conditions.

你知道我们过去的一些收购案例。我附上一份我们曾经向其收购过公司业务的所有人的名单，并邀请您和他们确认下我们是否言行一致信守承诺。其中有几家公司生意不太好，您应该感兴趣，在这种困难情况下，我们的表现如何。

Any buyer will tell you that he needs you personally -- and if he has any brains, he most certainly does need you. But a great many buyers, for the reasons mentioned above, don't match their subsequent actions to their earlier words. We will behave exactly as promised, both because we have so promised, and because we need to in order to achieve the best business results.

任何买家都会告诉你，他需要你做合伙人——如果他有头脑的话，他肯定需要你。但是，由于上面提到的原因，大量的买家后来并没有遵守诺言。我们将严格按照承诺行事，一方面是因为我们信守承诺，另一方面是因为我们需要这样做，为了公司实现最佳业绩。

This need explains why we would want the operating members of your family to retain a 20% interest in the business. We need 80% to consolidate earnings for tax purposes, which is a step important to us. It is equally important to us that the family members who run the business remain as owners. Very simply, we would not want to buy unless we felt key members of present management would stay on as our partners. Contracts cannot guarantee your continued interest; we would simply rely on your word.

这种需求解释了为什么我们希望您家族中负责企业运营的成员保留20%的股份。出于税收方面的考虑，我们需要80%股份来合并收入，这对我们很重要。对我们来说同样重要的是，经营企业的家族成员仍然是所有者。很简单，只有我们觉得目前管理层的关键成员会继续作为我们的合伙人的情况下，我们才会收购。合同不能保证你的持续利益；我们相信你的承诺。

The areas I get involved in are capital allocation and selection and compensation of the top man. Other personnel decisions, operating strategies, etc. are his bailiwick. Some Berkshire managers talk over some of their decisions with me; some don't. It depends upon their personalities and, to an extent, upon their own personal relationship with me.

我参与的领域是资本配置、高层人员的选择和为其支付薪酬。其他人事决策、运营策略等是他人管辖范围。一些伯克希尔的子公司经理和我讨论他们的一些决定；有些不和我讨论。这取决于他们的个性，在某种程度上，也取决于他们与我的个人关系。

If you should decide to do business with Berkshire, we would pay in cash. Your business would not be used as collateral for any loan by Berkshire. There would be no brokers involved.

如果你决定和伯克希尔交易，我们会付现金。伯克希尔不会用你的企业做作任何贷款抵押。整个交易不需要经纪人。

Furthermore, there would be no chance that a deal would be announced and that the buyer would then back off or start suggesting adjustments (with apologies, of course, and with an explanation that banks, lawyers, boards of directors, etc. were to be blamed). And finally, you would know exactly with whom you are dealing. You would not have one executive negotiate the deal only to have someone else in charge a few years later, or have the president regretfully tell you that his board of directors required this change or that (or possibly required sale of your business to finance some new interest of the parent's).

此外，收购交易不会发布公告，买方也不会中途退出，或提出收购调整建议（比如带有歉意，并解释说是因为那些杀千刀的银行、律师、董事会的原因等等）。最后，你会知道和你打交道的是谁。你不会面临谈判交易时是这个高管，几年后却变成另一个高管负责，或者总裁满怀遗憾地告诉你，他的董事会要求这样或那样的改变（或者可能出于母公司为新的感兴趣领域融资的需求，而出售你的企业)。

It's only fair to tell you that you would be no richer after the sale than now. The ownership of your business already makes you wealthy and soundly invested. A sale would change the form of your wealth, but it wouldn't change its amount. If you sell, you will have exchanged a 100%-owned valuable asset that you understand for another valuable asset - cash - that will probably be invested in small pieces (stocks) of other businesses that you understand less well. There is often a sound reason to sell but, if the transaction is a fair one, the reason is not so that the seller can become wealthier.

公平地说，出售企业后你不会比现在更富有。企业所有权已经让你变得富有，并且是很稳健的投资。出售会改变你财富的形式，但不会改变它的数量。如果你出售，你将会把你所理解的，并100%拥有的有价值的资产换成另一种有价值的资产——现金，而现金很可能会用于购买你了解相对较少的其他公司的一小部分——股票。出售企业往往有一个合理的理由，但如果交易是公平的，让卖方变得更富有并不是理由。

I will not pester you; if you have any possible interest in selling, I would appreciate your call. I would be extraordinarily proud to have Berkshire, along with the key members of your family, own _______; I believe we would do very well financially; and I believe you would have just as much fun running the business over the next 20 years as you have had during the past 20.

我不会缠着你；如果你有任何可能的兴趣出售，欢迎来电。让伯克希尔和您家族的主要成员共同拥有______，我将会非常自豪；我相信我们在财务上会做得很好；我相信，在未来的20年里，你会享受到和过去20年一样多的经营企业的乐趣。

Sincerely,

Warren E. Buffett

谨致问候

沃伦·巴菲特

后记：不仅这一封，巴老的历年股东信都是言语诚恳的大白话。有条件的读者，不妨读一下英文版本：伯克希尔哈萨维致股东信官网链接