巴菲特提拔兩名潛在繼承人

Warren Buffett promoted two of his top lieutenants to vice-chairman roles at Berkshire Hathaway on Wednesday, apparently endorsing the market’s view that one of them would eventually succeed him at the top of the sprawling conglomerate.

沃倫巴菲特(Warren Buffett)週三將兩名高級助手提拔爲伯克希爾哈撒韋公司(Berkshire Hathaway)的副董事長，顯然證實了市場觀點，即他們中的一位最終將接替他成爲這個龐大企業集團的掌門人。

Greg Abel, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Ajit Jain, the Omaha-based group’s reinsurance chief, were added to Berkshire’s board of directors.

伯克希爾哈撒韋能源(Berkshire Hathaway Energy)首席執行官格雷格阿貝爾(Greg Abel)，以及總部位於奧馬哈的該集團旗下再保險業務主管阿吉特賈殷(Ajit Jain)，加入了伯克希爾董事會。

Mr Abel was named vice-chairman of non-insurance business operations while Mr Jain was elevated to vice-chairman of Berkshire’s insurance group.

阿貝爾被任命爲非保險業務副董事長，而賈殷被提拔爲伯克希爾保險集團的副董事長。

Mr Buffett, 87, the so-called Oracle of Omaha, will continue as chairman and chief executive of the $500bn company that he has led over the past 50-plus years. Charlie Munger, the 94-year-old vice-chairman of the company, will remain in his current role.

現年87歲的巴菲特有“奧馬哈先知”(Oracle of Omaha)之稱，他將繼續擔任這家他已經執掌了50多年的5000億美元公司的董事長兼首席執行官。該公司94歲的副董事長查理芒格(Charlie Munger)將繼續擔任現職。

Shares in Berkshire, which owns the insurer Geico, apparel maker Fruit of the Loom, and the chemicals group Lubrizol, closed above $300,000 apiece for the first time last month and are up more than 25 per cent over the past year. After the announcement on Wednesday, they were up roughly 0.8 per cent at $306,819.

伯克希爾股價上月首次收盤突破30萬美元，過去一年漲幅超過25%，該公司旗下擁有保險公司Geico、服裝生產商Fruit of the Loom以及化工集團路博潤(Lubrizol)。週三消息宣佈後，其股價上漲了約0.8%，至306819美元。

In an interview on CNBC, Mr Buffett said the decision was “part of a movement towards succession over time”. However he noted that there was “nothing magic” about the timing of the announcement.

巴菲特在接受CNBC採訪時表示，這個決定是“逐漸完成交接班的過程的一部分”。不過他指出宣佈的時機“沒什麼玄機”。