回复@紫芯番薯_hai: 我在《巴菲特传》中看到了这句话，查了下此书的英文原版，找到了原文：

In 1970, with the dissolution of Buffett Partnership, Buffett personally became the owner of 29 percent of Berkshire’s stock. He installed himself as chairman and, for the first time, composed the letter to shareholders in Berkshire’s annual report.

Writing to the investors, Buffett used the same yardstick as he had in private with Ken Chace: the return on equity capital—that is, the percentage profit on each dollar invested. Buffett was extremely consistent abut such things. He did not have one yardstick in Kiewit Plaza, another in New Bedford, and another for the public.

1970 年，随着巴菲特合伙公司的解散，巴菲特个人成为伯克希尔 29% 股票的所有者。他自封为董事长，并首次在伯克希尔年度报告中撰写致股东的信。

在写给投资者的信中，巴菲特使用了与他私下与肯·蔡斯 (Ken Chace) 相同的衡量标准：股本回报率——即投资每一美元的利润百分比。巴菲特对这些事情非常一致。他在 Kiewit Plaza 没有一个标准，在新贝德福德没有另一个标准，对公众也没有另一个标准。

查了下，这里的 the return on equity capital，基本上也就是ROE：

ROE = (Net profit after tax - Preference dividend) x 100 / Equity share capital paid up

Return on equity capital = (Net profit after tax - Preference dividend) / Equity share capital

查看图片//@紫芯番薯_hai:回复@forcode:正确的来说应该是roic而不是roe，roe不是可扩张的数字，roic才是可以用赚来的现金继续投资获得的回报。roe低高回报只有一条路就是可以不断分红缩减投资规模，把e都分掉。