华伦·巴菲特：从报童到世界第二富翁

CNN Correspondent： Worth 36 billion？ thats right， billion dollars？ hes the second richest man in the world. So， when Warren Buffet speaks international investors sit up and take notice[注意]. Hes called the oracle of Omaha， Nebraska.

Mr. Buffet was in London this week to promote one of his favorite holdings[财产]， NetJets. Its an aircraft ownership firm that enables rich customers and CEOs to buy part of a jet， and then they purchase[购买] flying hours. Thats cheaper than having to buy and maintain[维修] their own corporate[公司的] plane. NetJets has already had some success in the U.S. with more than 2，000 owners， holding shares in 487 planes. The European part which was launched a few years ago hasnt taken off quite as quickly.

I sat down with Warren Buffet and asked him not only about his expansion[扩张] plans in Europe， but what was the driving force behind the company and whether he was confident about the economic future.

Warren Buffet： Well， what drives it is the fact that it makes so much sense from both the standpoint[立场] of economics and the standpoint of ease of use. If you own a quarter， an eighth of a plane with NetJets， in effect youve got more service available than if you own an entire plane， because you can choose from any one of 11 models， its there in every airport？ theres 5，500 airports in the United States， and in effect your plane is there at anytime you wish.

CNN 通讯记者：身价360亿美元，没错，是以10亿美元为单位。华伦·巴菲特是全世界第二富豪。因此，只要华伦·巴菲特一开口，国际上的投资商都会洗耳恭听。他被称为内布拉斯加州奥玛哈市的先知。

巴菲特先生这个星期在伦敦为他最喜爱的旗下公司之一NetJets 做宣传。这是一家飞机租赁公司，允许有钱的客户和执行总裁们买下部分飞机使用权，然后再购买飞行时间。这比购买并维修自己的企业专机还要便宜。NetJets 在美国已小有成就，拥有超过两千名客户，以及487架飞机。其数年前才起步的欧洲分部进展还不是很快。

我与华伦·巴菲特进行了一番促膝访谈，我除了问到有关欧洲的扩张计划，还问到公司背后的驱动力是什么，以及他对未来的经济状况是否有信心。

华伦·巴菲特：公司的驱动力其实很容易理解，不管是从经济的角度还是从容易使用的角度上出发，如果你拥有NetJets某架飞机的四分之一或者八分之一，事实上，你拥有的服务比起拥有整架飞机还要多，因为你可以在所有机场、在11种机型中进行挑选——全美有5500个机场，而实际上，你的飞机是随传随到的。

华伦·巴菲特小传

Warren Buffetts determination[决心] and creativity[创造力] have made him who he is today： the chairman[董事长] of a company that has more than $2 billion in holdings.

As a child， Buffett was already ambitious[有雄心的]. He was an industrious[刻苦的] paper boy for the Washington Post， and tried to cover more than one route[路线] at once. He also made money by collecting and selling lost golf balls. Buffetts interest in finance was clear extremely early on in his life. He started playing the stock market with one of his sisters when he was eleven. At twelve， he was betting on[赌] horses， and by high school he had started a pinball[弹球] machines business with a friend， which earned him fifty dollars a week. Not only did he own a business by the time he graduated， but he also had bought himself forty acres of Nebraskan farmland with his profits.

After working for his fathers investment banking[投资银行业务] company for three years after finishing business school， Buffett worked as a security analyst[证券分析家] for two years. At the age of twenty-five， Buffett started his own investment company， the Buffett Partnership. One of the smartest moves made by Buffets company at that time was to invest in American Express.

In 1963， a scandal[丑闻] surrounded AmEx， and Wall Street believed the company was near bankruptcy[破产]. But Buffett， always with his wits[才智] about him， noticed when in restaurants and shops that customers were still using the card to buy. He went ahead and bought 5% of the stock， which had risen from 35 to 189 market points within five years. Buffett is now chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.， which makes the long-term investments which Buffett is so adept at[熟练于] choosing.

华伦·巴菲特的决心和创造力使他获得今天的成就：成为一家公司的董事长，其旗下资产超过20亿美元。

孩提时代的巴菲特就已经富有雄心。他曾经是《华盛顿邮报》一名勤劳的报童，他试图同时揽下几条销售路线。他还通过收集和销售破高尔夫球赚钱。巴菲特对金融的兴趣在他非常年轻的时候就已经开始了。11岁时他就跟一个姐姐开始炒股。12岁时他就开始赌马，高中时则和一个朋友开始创办弹球机器生意，该生意为他带来每星期50美元的收入。在他毕业时，他不仅拥有自己的生意，还用赚来的钱在内布拉斯加州为自己购买了40英亩农场。

在商业学校毕业之后，巴菲特在他父亲的投资银行业务公司工作了3年，之后当了两年证券分析家。25岁时，巴菲特创建了自己的投资公司“巴菲特合伙企业”。当时巴菲特的公司做出的最明智的决定是投资美国运通公司。

1963年，美国运通公司丑闻缠身，华尔街认为该公司将要倒闭。但是永远睿智过人的巴菲特发现客户在餐厅和商店中依然会用运通卡刷卡消费。他率先购买了5% 的股票，这些股票在5年的时间里从每股35美元涨至每股189美元。如今巴菲特是伯克希尔· 哈萨威公司的董事长，该公司在巴菲特驾轻就熟的领域进行长期投资。