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(though there are members of his family who have earned black belts as purchasers). 對於該家族而言，公司的運作能否一如往常，至關重要，沒有人願意坐視其他珠寶連鎖商趁虛而入，或是因為提出綜效及降低成本等餿主意讓公司營運走下坡(雖然大家可以預知這一點效果都不會有，但還是一定會被要求試看看)，然而我卻明確告知仍由Ed及 Jon負全責，他們也知道我說話算話，畢竟本人還有自知之明，要我負責經營一家珠寶專賣店，鐵定會是一場災難，雖然我的家人買珠寶買到可以獲頒黑帶的榮銜。 In their typically classy way, the Bridges allocated a substantial portion of the proceeds from their sale to the hundreds of co-workers who had helped the company achieve its success. We’re proud to be associated with both the family and the company. 令人敬佩的是，Bridges家族將出售事業的所得，與協助公司成功的數百位員工一起分享，我們很榮幸可以與這樣的家族及公司建立關係。 In July we acquired Justin Industries, the leading maker of Western boots - including the Justin, Tony Lama, Nocona, and Chippewa brands - and the premier producer of brick in Texas and five neighboring states. 同年七月，我們買下西式靴子的領導廠商Justin企業，旗下品牌包含Justin、Tony Lama、Nocona及Chippewa，同時他們也是德州以及鄰近五州磚塊的主要製造商。 Here again, our acquisition involved serendipity. On May 4th, I received a fax from Mark Jones, a stranger to me, proposing that Berkshire join a group to acquire an unnamed company. I faxed him back, explaining that with rare exceptions we don’t invest with others, but would happily pay him a commission if he sent details and we later made a purchase. He replied that the "mystery company" was Justin. I then went to Fort Worth to meet John Roach, chairman of the company and John Justin, who had built the business and was its major shareholder. Soon after, we bought Justin for $570 million in cash. 再一次我們的購併之旅充滿了驚奇，5月4號我收到一位署名Mark Jones的傳真，我根本就不認識這個人，他提議Berkshire可以參與購併一家不知名的公司，我回傳真給他，表示除非是特例，否則我們很少跟別人一起參與投資，不過要是他肯把資料送給我們參考，事後若購併成功，我們願意支付他一筆介紹費，他回覆說這家神祕公司叫做 Justin，於是我便到 Fort Worth與該公司董事長-John Roach及創辦人兼大股東John Justin會面，不久之後，我們順利以5.7億美元的現金買下Justin公司。 John Justin loved Justin Industries but had been forced to retire because of severe health problems (which sadly led to his death in late February). John was a class act - as a citizen, businessman and human being. Fortunately, he had groomed two outstanding managers, Harrold Melton at Acme and Randy Watson at Justin Boot, each of whom runs his company autonomously. John非常熱愛Justin企業，但卻由於健康問題不得不自公司退休，(後來他更不幸在隔年二月去世)，John是位優秀的市民、企業家以及人士，所幸他還網羅了兩位傑出的經理人-Acme磚塊的Harrold以及Justin靴子的Randy，兩人各自獨立經營這兩家事業。 Acme, the larger of the two operations, produces more than one billion bricks per year at its 22 plants, about 11.7% of the industry’s national output. The brick business, however, is necessarily regional, and in its territory Acme enjoys questioned leadership. When Texans are asked to name a brand of brick, 75% respond Acme, compared to 16% for the runner-up. (Before our purchase, I couldn’t have named a brand of brick. Could you have?) This brand recognition is not only due to Acme’s product quality, but also reflects many decades of extraordinary community service by both the company and John Justin. Acme的規模稍大，22座工廠每年生產出超過10億個磚塊，大約佔全美磚塊總產出的 11.7%，磚塊產業有其區域性限制，在其經營的區域，Acme享有獨霸的地位，當德州佬被問到知名磚塊的品牌時，75%的人會想到Acme，遠遠超越第二位的16%，(很遺憾在買下這家公司之前，我竟連一個磚塊品牌都不知道，不知道各位能不能? )這種品牌的認同度不僅僅歸功於Acme的產品品質，更深深地反映出該公司幾十年來深耕地方服務的成果。 I can’t resist pointing out that Berkshire - whose top management has long been mired in the 19th century - is now one of the very few authentic "clicks-and-bricks" businesses around. We went into 2000 with GEICO doing significant business on the Internet, and then we added Acme. You can bet this move by Berkshire is making them sweat in Silicon Vall