Time’s up
时间到
Warren Buffett should step aside for his chosen successor
巴菲特应该让位给自己选中的接班人
Berkshire Hathaway needs a leader who will take a fresh look at performance and governance
伯克希尔·哈撒韦需要一位以新角度审视公司业绩和治理模式的掌舵人
At 90, warren buffett continues to lead Berkshire Hathaway, wearing the three hats of chief executive, chairman and chief investment officer. For years, the question of whom the feted investor would anoint as his successor to run the giant conglomerate has been the subject of boardroom gossip. The world now knows the answer, though only because of a slip of the tongue by Mr Buffett’s 97-year-old right-hand man, Charlie Munger, at the annual shareholders’ meeting on May 1st. That forced Mr Buffett to confirm that his heir apparent as chief executive is Greg Abel, 58, a trusted lieutenant who runs Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses.
九十岁的巴菲特依然掌管着伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司，身兼首席执行官、董事长和首席投资官三职。多年来，董事会里私下揣测不休的一大主题就是这位股神会选中谁来接手这庞大的企业集团。现在全世界都知道答案了，尽管只是因为巴菲特97岁的搭档查理·芒格（Charlie Munger）在5月1日的年度股东大会上说漏了嘴。这逼得巴菲特承认将接任首席执行官的是58岁的格雷格·阿贝尔（Greg Abel），这位很受他信任的副手目前负责伯克希尔的非保险业务。
- 拓展学习：熟词僻义 | lead 是一种什么金属？
- wear the three hats of 身兼三职
- fete 盛宴欢迎、热情招待、表彰
- anoint （常指在宗教仪式中）涂油（或水）于（人体）；选定、指定
- conglomerate 联合大公司、企业集团
- gossip 流言飞语、闲言碎语；说长道短、闲聊；喜欢传播流言飞语的人、爱说长道短（或说三道四）的人
- a slip of the tongue 口误、失言
- lieutenant 助理；（尤指）副职（参见：小词详解 | lieutenant）
The cack-handed way in which the succession plan became public fits a bigger pattern. Berkshire is a huge public company, with a stockmarket value of $645bn and an army of devoted retail investors. It is, though, structured and run in much the way it was when Mr Buffett took it over in the 1960s. He has never hidden his reluctance to retire. He once joked that he’ll step down five years after he dies. However, Berkshire needs to make changes if it is to keep up with the times—and that includes having a new person at the top.
继任人计划以这种笨拙的方式公之于众，符合这家公司的一个整体模式。伯克希尔是一家巨型上市公司，股票市值达6450亿美元，有一大批忠实的散户投资者。但它的结构和运作方式大体上还是上世纪60年代巴菲特接管时的样子。巴菲特也从不掩饰不愿退休的态度，他曾开玩笑说会在自己离世五年后卸任。然而，伯克希尔若要跟上时代的步伐就必须做出改变，包括更换最高负责人。
- cack-handed 笨手笨脚的、笨拙的
That is not to denigrate Mr Buffett or his achievements. In his 56 years in charge, Berkshire’s total returns have been double those of the S&P 500 index. He can claim to be the greatest value-investor who ever lived. He has instilled an admirable trust-based culture at Berkshire. The dozens of fawning books he has inspired constitute their own genre of business publishing.
这并不是贬低巴菲特或是他的成就。在执掌伯克希尔的56年里，他取得的总回报是标普500指数的两倍。他可以说是史上最伟大的价值投资者。他给伯克希尔注入了一种值得赞美的基于信任的文化。几十本颂扬巴菲特的书作在商业出版界已然自成一派。
- denigrate 诋毁、诽谤、贬低
- fawn 恭维、讨好、巴结
- genre 主要用来表示文学、艺术、电影或音乐等艺术的“体裁、类型、风格”，多指一种特定的已命名的类型，以形式、风格或主题的相似性为特征（参见：小词详解 | genre）
