点评：此问题涉及2019年Tech Data收购，它是世界第二大的电脑营销公司，公司经销电子元器件，电脑操作系统，软件，网络设备和电脑外设产品。
竞购过程如下：
阿波罗全球管理公司最初以每股130美元收购的报价（估值为47.7亿美元），随后Tech Data与阿波罗全球管理签署了“竞购条款期”（go-shop），在2019年12月9日前Tech Data可以主动寻找更多竞标者。
11月19日，Tech Data的财务顾问美国银行询问了伯克希尔投资经理Todd Combs，第二天巴菲特就给出每股140美元收购价，比阿波罗全球管理公司最初价格高了10美元。两天后，伯克希尔副董事长Greg Abel前往美国佛罗里达州与Tech Data管理层见面，隔天（23日）伯克希尔正式提出对后者有利的收购要约，11月24日上周Tech Data董事会批准了伯克希尔的报价，
11月27日阿波罗全球管理将收购报价提高到每股145美元，最终赢得竞价。
11月29日Tech Data股票盘中涨超12%，收涨12.32%，分别创145.25美元和144.89美元的上市以来盘中和收盘最高，市值接近45亿美元。
当时伯克希尔当时持有超 过1280亿美元现金，对于50多亿美元的收购并没有任何资金压力，Tech Data在2019财年营收370亿美元，每股收益是(GAAP)$8.89、$11.38(Non-GAAP)，对应的市盈率分别为15.7和12.3，巴菲特回答提问时说只报价一次，绝不参加竞价游戏，这就是他的原则。从历史收购和投资来看，基本上市盈率都控制在不超过15倍市盈率，包括改变投资哲学的喜诗糖果和苹果，这些都是值得普通投资者学习的。
提问者：您好，巴菲特先生，我叫托莫·德格。我来自德国杜塞尔多夫。这是我第一次来到奥马哈，所以感谢您今天邀请我们来到这里。所以我的问题是针对您，巴菲特先生和阿贝尔先生。据报道，2019 年，你们竞购了 IT 分销业务、技术数据，并表示您了解其作为中间人的角色。我想知道您是否可以详细说明您在评估 IT 分销业务（如技术数据）及其竞争地位时所考虑的标准。谢谢。
沃伦·巴菲特：我们在分销业务方面有一些经验，我们在一定程度上了解它们的潜力和局限性。格雷格，你参与其中的程度比我高。我的意思是，那是一个有人出价并且有购买条款的案例，我认为管理层可能更希望我们购买它。当我们提出更好的出价时，原始出价方提高了他们的出价，我们从来没有两次提出相同的报价，所以。格雷格，告诉。
格雷格·阿贝尔：是的，所以，绝对如此。2019 年，我们将技术数据视为一个独特的机会。当我们看到其他出价和分销业务的潜在价值时，我们这样做了。沃伦和我谈了谈，其他人得出结论，我们应该和管理层谈谈。我们和团队谈了谈。他们对伯克希尔成为他们的长期所有者非常感兴趣，我们仍然认为这个机会很有价值。我们对分销业务有很好的了解。我们有 TTI。它与 Tech Data 并不完全相同，因为它们非常具体，知道客户是谁、它们为谁提供服务、向谁供货以及从谁那里购买。因为在分销方面，重要的是要从想要其产品的人那里获得这种投入。你知道，另一方面，对产品的需求也是必要的。他们有一个出色的模型。
例如，如果你考虑 TTI，沃伦多次谈到保罗和这家公司的创始人。但这是一家独特的公司，因为我们在该业务上的收入约为 100 亿美元。他们销售的平均零件价格略高于 9 美分。每年有 950 亿个零件经过他们的仓库。但这是一个模型，如果你在等式的两边都有合适的人选，并且你明白这一点，那么，那里有一个独特的机会。而这正是我们在 Tech Data 中看到的。正如沃伦强调的那样，我们进行了竞标。不幸的是，最初的竞标者超过了我们，我们继续前进。但我们对此评价很高。
沃伦·巴菲特：在过去的三、四、五年里，我们可能总共见过至少五次这样的情况。这不是一个你可以梦想的行业，因为它是一个不错的行业。但是，例如，许多制造商只是不想占用他们的资本。如果你有超过一百万个库存单位，他们会去库存单位，就像卖软糖或类似的东西一样。而你确实这么做了。你在某种程度上发挥了作用，但你没有。你真的没有。实际上，这不是你的产品。我的意思是，你只是一个很好的系统，让设备生产商可以把它送到最终用户手中，而不需要占用大量资金。他们不想从事这样的行业。我们理解，但这并没有什么魔力。在 TTI，你有一个了不起的人在管理事情，当你让一个了不起的人管理某件事时，在某种程度上，这意味着选择更好的人。几年前，格雷格和我参加了保罗·安德鲁斯的葬礼，当时有 300 多人参加，没有一个人说了特别好听的话，而是对死者说了些什么。我的意思是，每个人都这样。保罗·安德鲁斯是真正的麦考伊，他是一个了不起的人。他在伯克希尔公司表现得非常好。我的意思是，他想为伯克希尔公司做的比伯克希尔公司为他做的更多。我的意思是，这很简单。
正如我所说，你会遇到这样的人，你会遇到为我们竭尽全力的人，然后有人会竭尽全力。但这就是这个世界的规律，我们遇到过不少为我们竭尽全力的人。分销业务并不是一项出色的业务，但它确实是一项业务，而且如果它足够大，我们就会考虑并购买更多业务，而 TTI 一直在自行进行一些较小的收购。我甚至没有。我甚至在阅读季度报告之前都没有听说过这些收购。
所以我们。我们想要发展。我们想要在我们运营的每个领域发展我们的业务，而且我们有无限的资本来做到这一点。因此，如果小规模收购与我们已有的东西相符，我们愿意进行小规模收购。但我们并不从事小规模收购的业务，如果我们这样做，我们会这样做。我们只是没有人手，而且无论如何也不会产生任何影响。在伯克希尔，我们可能会或本来会很乐意与提问者达成交易。但如果我们不这样做，你知道，这并没有太大区别。我们想做这件事。如果我们做了，我们会做得很好。我们会把事情做好。他们会做出正确的决定。如果他们做不到，你知道，我们最终会找到其他方法来处理这笔钱。我们总是可以通过购买我们的股票为股东多买一点 TTI 的股份。
Questioner: Hello, Mr Buffett, my name is Tomo Drge. I’m from Dusseldorf, Germany. This is my first time out here in Omaha, so thank you for having us here. Today. So my question is directed to you, Mr Buffett and Mr Abel. In 2019, you reportedly made a bid for the IT distribution business, tech data, and commented that you understand its role as a middleman. I wonder if you could kindly elaborate on the criteria you look at when evaluating IT distribution businesses like tech data and their competitive position. Thank you.
Warren Buffett: Well, we had some experience with distribution businesses, and we know their potential to a degree and their limitations. And, Greg, you were involved in that more than I was. I mean, that was a case where there had been a bid made and there was a go shop provision, and I think the management probably would have preferred that we buy it. And when we went in with a better bid, the original party raised their bid, and we never make the same offer twice, so. Greg, tell.
Greg Abel: Yeah, so, absolutely. In 2019, we saw tech data as a unique opportunity. When we saw the other bid and the underlying value of that distribution business, we did. Warren and I were talking, others made the conclusion we should talk to management. We talked to the team. They were very interested in Berkshire being their long term owner, and we still saw good value in the opportunity. And we had a good understanding of distribution businesses. We have TTI. It’s not exactly identical to Tech Data in that they’re very specific to the, who their customers are and who they serve and supply and who they purchase from. Because on the distribution side, it’s important to have that input coming in from folks who want their product. And, you know, it’s needed on the other side that there’s demand for it. And they had an excellent model.
If you think of TTI, for example, that Warren talked about Paul many times and the person who founded this business. But it’s a unique business in that our revenues on that business is approximately $10 billion. The average part they sell is a little over nine cents. Ninety five billion parts go through their warehouse every, every year. But it’s a model that if you have the right people on both sides of the equation and you understand that, well, there’s, there’s a unique opportunity there. And, and that is something we saw in Tech Data. And as Warren highlighted, we made our bid. Unfortunately, it was then topped by the original bidder and we moved on. But we thought very highly of it.
Warren Buffett: We’ve probably seen at least five of them in aggregate, over the last three or four, five years. It’s not a business that you can dream about because it’s a decent business. But, for example, many of the items that the manufacturers just, they don’t want to tie up their capital. If you have, you know, a million plus skus, they go stock keeping units, it’s like selling jelly beans or something like that. And you do. You’re serving a purpose to a degree, but you don’t. You don’t really. It isn’t your product, in effect. I mean, you’re just a good system for the producer of the equipment to get it to the end user without tying up a lot of capital. Being in a business they don’t want to be in. We understand, but there’s no magic to it. With TTI, you had a marvelous man running things, and when you get a marvelous person running something, to some extent, that’s selects for better people underneath. Greg and I went to Paul Andrews funeral a few years ago, and there were 300 people or so there, and there wasn’t one person that had to say something particularly nice, but stretched a little bit about the deceased. I mean, everybody. Paul Andrews was the real McCoy, and he was an amazing man. He behaved wonderfully with Berkshire. I mean, he wanted to do more for Berkshire than Berkshire would do for him. I mean, it was very simple.
And you run into those people, as I say, you run into people that bend over backwards for us and then some bend over forwards. But that’s just the way it is in this world, and we’ve had quite a few that have been overbackwards for us. The distribution business is not a wonderful business, but it is a business, and it’s a business that, if it’s big enough, it’s one we would look at and we would buy additional, and TTI makes some smaller acquisitions on its own all the time. I don’t even. I don’t even hear about them until I read the quarterly reports.
And so we. We want to build up. We want to build our businesses in every area that we operate, and we’ve got unlimited capital to do it. So we’re willing to have small acquisitions take place if they fit in with something we already have. But we’re not in the business of going out after small acquisitions, and if we did, we would. We just don’t have the people for it, and it wouldn’t move the needle anyway. At Berkshire, we may or we would have been happy doing the deal with the questioner asked about. But if we don’t do it, you know, it just doesn’t make that much difference. We want to do it. If we do it, we’ll do it well. We’ll do it right. They’ll make the right decision. If they don’t, you know, we will find something else to do with the money in the end. And we can always buy a little more of TTI for you, the shareholders, by just buying in our stock, too.
Greg Abel: Exactly.
Warren Buffett: Yeah. Okay. Let’s see. We need Becky next, don’t we? Yeah, Becky