巴菲特发布2013年致股东信.doc

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: In 2012, Berkshire achieved a total gain for its shareholders of $24.1 billion. We used $1.3 billion of that to repurchase our stock, which left us with an increase in net worth of $22.8 billion for the year. The per-share book value of both our Class A and Class B stock increased by 14.4%. Over the last 48 years (that is, since present management took over), book value has grown from $19 to $114,214, a rate of 19.7% compounded annually.*(* All per-share figures used in this report apply to Berkshire’s A shares. Figures for the B shares are 1/1500th of those shown for A.) A number of good things happened at Berkshire last year, but let’s first get the bad news out of the way. . When the partnership I ran took control of Berkshire in 1965, I could never have dreamed that a year in which we had a gain of $24.1 billion would be subpar, in terms of the comparison we present on the facing page. But subpar it was. For the ninth time in 48 years, Berkshire’s percentage increase in book value was less than the SP’s percentage gain (a calculation that includes dividends as well as price appreciation). In eight of those nine years, it should be noted, the SP had a gain of 15% or more. We do better when the wind is in our face. To date, we’ve never had a five-year period of underperformance, having managed 43 times to surpass the SP over such a stretch. (The record is on page 103.) But the SP has now had gains in each of the last four years, outpacing us over that period. If the market continues to advance in 2013, our streak of five-year wins will end. One thing of which you can be certain: Whatever Berkshire’s results, my partner Charlie Munger, the company’s Vice Chairman, and I will not change yardsticks. It’s our job to increase intrinsic business value – for which we use book value as a significantly understated proxy – at a faster rate than the market gains of the SP. If we do so, Berkshire’s share