巴菲特：我为什么没买下《华盛顿邮报》

    随着格雷厄姆家族（Graham）依依不舍地退出《华盛顿邮报》（Washington Post），报纸新主人杰夫•贝佐斯对它将来的计划三缄其口，倒是一位曾经选择不买的投资者吐露了一些新细节。

    上周，现年83岁的沃伦•巴菲特在华盛顿大都会俱乐部（Metropolitan Club）的问答环节谈到了他长期以来对《华盛顿邮报》的感情，同时表示，今年早些时候该报挂牌出售时，他曾经“短暂”考虑过是不是买。但后来他的结论是不能买。

    没错，他领导的公司伯克希尔-哈撒韦（Berkshire Hathaway）曾是华盛顿邮报公司（Washington Post Co）最大的股东，也是其他报纸的所有人，买下《邮报》似乎顺理成章。但巴菲特表示，如果他为伯克希尔买下这家报纸，就会给下届CEO（不管是谁，接任日期尚不可知）留下一个包袱：一家他或她可能并不想要的大都市报纸。

    如果自己买，他说，那就会给他的三个子女（苏茜、霍华德和彼得）留下同样的难题。

    因此，巴菲特放弃了这项交易，虽然《邮报》承载着他很多美好的回忆：青少年时代的他是一位出色的《邮报》递送员（当时，他的父亲霍华德是来自内布拉斯加的一位非常保守的共和党议员），他与华盛顿邮报公司（Washington Post Co.）的两任CEO（已故的凯瑟琳•格雷厄姆和她的儿子唐）都是多年的好朋友。

    亚马逊CEO贝佐斯于10月1日入主邮报，迄今对于他将在《邮报》采取怎样的策略只字未提。《邮报》的一名发言人这样告诉《财富》（Fortune）杂志：“当前，我们没有任何消息跟大家分享。”

    本文作者卡罗尔•卢米斯是沃伦•巴菲特的多年好友，也是巴菲特公司伯克希尔-哈撒韦的股东。上周，她与巴菲特一起在大都会俱乐部的舞台上聊了她撰写的关于巴菲特的书《跳着踢踏舞去上班》（Tap Dancing To Work）。（财富中文网） 

    As the Graham family exits emotionally from the Washington Post newspaper, and new owner Jeff Bezos stays mum about his plans, some fresh details about who did not buy the paper have emerged.

    Participating in a Q&A last week at Washington's Metropolitan Club, Warren Buffett, 83, spoke of his long-term affection for the paper and said he had "briefly" considered buying it when it went on sale earlier this year. But he then decided the purchase wouldn't work.

    True, the company he heads, Berkshire Hathaway, was the largest shareholder of Washington Post Co; an owner of other newspapers: and a sort of natural buyer for the Post. But Buffett said that for him to have bought it for Berkshire would have saddled the next CEO (whoever that might be, taking office at an unknown date) with a metro newspaper that he or she possibly wouldn't want.

    And to buy it personally, he added, would have at his death burdened his three children -- Susie, Howard, and Peter Buffett -- with the same kind of complex considerations.

    So Buffett passed on the deal, despite his fond memories of having been a mega-deliverer of the Post when he was a teenager (at which time his father, Howard, was serving as a very conservative Republican Congressman from Nebraska) and his long-term close friendship with two CEOs of the Washington Post Co. (WPO), the late Katharine Graham and her son Don.

    Amazon (AMZN) CEO Bezos, meanwhile, took over on October 1 and has so far spilled no secrets as to what strategy he plans for the Post. Said a Post spokesman to Fortune: "We don't have anything to share at this time."

    The writer of this article, Carol Loomis, is a long-time friend of Warren Buffett's and a stockholder in his company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA). Talking about her Buffett book, Tap Dancing to Work, she joined him on stage at last week's Metropolitan Club event.