2019年经济学人 首次公开发行股票(1)

 

On May 10th Uber, the world's biggest ride-hailing firm, listed on the New York Stock Exchange—and promptly¹ tanked.

5月10日，世界最大的打车服务公司优步在纽约证券交易所上市，并迅速跳水。

As The Economist² went to press it was trading at $41.29, 8% below its listing price.

在本期《经济学人》出版时，该公司股价为41.29美元，比上市价格低8%。

On the first day of trading investors³ lost about $650m. Some have called it the worst initial public offering (IPO) ever.

在交易首日，投资者损失约6.5亿美元。一些人称它是有史以来最糟糕的首次公开发行股票（IPO）。

But it could give a boost to fresh thinking on how fast-growing startups should go public.

但这可能会促使人们重新思考快速增长的初创企业应该如何上市。

And even as Uber's first shares were trading, one such innovation got the go-ahead from

即便是在优步第一批股票交易的时候，其中一项这种创新获得了

the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), America's main financial regulator.

美国主要金融监管机构，证券交易委员会（SEC）的批准。

The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) is based in San Francisco and backed by Silicon⁴ Valley luminaries⁵

长期证券交易所（LTSE）总部位于旧金山，并得到了硅谷名流的支持

including Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel.

包括马克·安德森、雷德·霍夫曼以及彼得·蒂尔。

They are animated⁶ by the weaknesses of conventional exchanges when it comes to startups.

当说起初创企业，传统交易所的弱点令他们兴奋不已。

Things such as quarterly results, short-sellers and high-frequency trading distract from building businesses for the long term,

季度业绩、卖空者和高频交易等因素会分散建立长期业务的注意力，

says Eric Ries, the LTSE's boss and the author of "The Lean Startup".

LTSE的CEO兼《精益创业》的作者埃里克·莱斯说到。

Such distractions⁷ are not all unwelcome. Public markets can bring discipline to badly governed startups.

这样的干扰并非都不受欢迎。公开市场可以规范管理不善的初创企业。

Short-sellers help keep companies honest.

卖空者帮助公司保持诚信。

It would probably not have taken them long to sniff⁸ out the fraud at Theranos, for instance, had the blood-testing firm been public.

例如，如果血液检测公司Theranos上市，他们可能不用花很长时间就能嗅出这家公司的欺诈行为。

Nevertheless, the LTSE's backers are onto something. Startups have been staying private as long as possible

尽管如此，LTSE的支持者还是发现了一些问题。初创公司一直尽可能保持私有

and granting shares conferring greater voting rights to their founders⁹ when they do finally go public.

并在公司最终上市时，授予他们的创始人更大投票权的股份。

In turn big private investors, including sovereign-wealth and hedge funds,

反过来，大型私人投资者，包括主权财富和对冲基金，

have pumped billions into "unicorns¹⁰" (private firms valued at more than $1bn),

将数十亿资金注入“独角兽公司”（估值十亿以上的民营企业），

capturing most of the value they create and leaving little for investors in public markets.

获取他们创造的大部分价值，而留给公开市场中投资者的资金所剩无几。

1 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

5 luminaries   

n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式）

参考例句：

• In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 亚14:6那日、必没有光．三光必退缩。 来自互联网
• Includes household filament light bulbs & luminaries. 包括家用的白炙灯泡和光源。 来自互联网

6 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

7 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

9 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

10 unicorns   

n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记

参考例句：

• Unicorns are legendary beasts. 独角兽是传说里的野兽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Assemble50 Elder Druids, 30 Silver Unicorns and10 Green Dragons do defend it. 募集50个德鲁伊长老，30只银色独角兽和10条绿龙用于防御。 来自互联网