2021年经济学人 微软--我为"收购狂"(1)

Business

商业板块

Microsoft

微软

Method in the madness

收购狂的章法

Why the world’s biggest software firm looks increasingly acquisitive

为什么世界上最大的软件公司看起来愈发贪得无厌

Take our cash, or at least our shares. That appears to be Microsoft’s mantra these days. After failing to acquire the American operations of TikTok, a short-video app, last year, the software giant was recently rumoured¹ to be in takeover talks with Pinterest, a virtual pin-board, and Discord², an online-chat service. And on April 12th the firm announced that it would acquire Nuance³, a speech-recognition specialist, for nearly $20bn in cash—its second-biggest acquisition ever.

要么收下现金，要么至少收下股份。这句话似乎成为微软如今的口头禅。在去年未能收购短视频应用程序TikTok的美国业务后，最近有传言称，这家软件巨头正在与线上图片社交网站Pinterest和在线聊天服务软件Discord洽谈收购的事情。4月12日，微软宣布将以近200亿美元的现金收购语音识别巨头Nuance，这也是微软自成立以来的第二大收购案。

Even before this latest flurry Microsoft had acquired a reputation for coveting⁴ tech firms that looked as alien to its core business of selling office software as TikTok’s dance videos are to Word and Excel. Five years ago, in its biggest purchase, it paid $26bn for LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network. In 2018 it picked up GitHub, a development platform for open-source programs, for $7.5bn.“Is Satya Nadella getting bored?” wondered the Information, a website covering the tech industry. Having successfully turned Microsoft around, observers murmured, its boss might be in the grip of merger⁵ madness. In fact, there might be a method to it.

甚至在这场最新的风波之前，微软就因觊觎科技公司而声名鹊起，这些科技公司看起来与其办公软件销售的核心业务格格不入，就如同TikTok的舞蹈视频之于Word和Excel一样，八竿子都打不着。五年前，微软在最大的一笔收购案中斥资260亿美元收购了职业社交网络领英（LinkedIn）。2018年，微软以75亿美元收购了开源程序开发平台GitHub。关注科技行业的网站The Information灵魂发问：“萨蒂娅·纳德拉是太无聊了吗？”观察人士喃喃自语，微软成功扭亏为盈后，它的老板可能成了收购狂人。事实上，收购狂潮之中可能大有章法。

For starters, Microsoft’s merger activities are unexceptional by big-tech standards, says Mark Moerdler of Bernstein, a broker⁶. The industry is rife⁷ with takeover rumours⁸; most are probably true. Large firms talk regularly to each other about potential deals. It is safe to say that Microsoft has term sheets for many potential targets on file. It still invests far more in expanding its existing businesses than on buying new ones. Excluding the Nuance deal, the company has spent only $33bn on big acquisitions in the past four years, compared with $64bn on research and development. It has oodles of cash in the bank ($132bn at the end of last year) and a valuable currency (its share price is up by more than 600% since Mr Nadella took over in 2014). Unlike rivals such as Alphabet and Facebook, both of which face antitrust cases and have steered⁹ clear of big deals lately, Microsoft is no longer on trustbusters’ radar¹⁰.

首先，经纪公司伯恩斯坦的马克·默德勒表示，按照大型科技公司的标准，微软的并购活动稀松平常。科技行业充斥着收购的谣言；但其中大多数可能都是真的。大公司之间会定期沟通潜在交易。可以肯定地说，微软对许多潜在目标都设定了收购条款清单。但微软在扩大现有业务方面的投资仍然远远超过收购新业务。刨除Nuance的收购交易，该公司过去四年在大型收购上的支出仅为330亿美元，而在研发上的支出为640亿美元。微软在银行有大笔存款（去年底为1320亿美元），还坐拥宝贵通货（自纳德拉2014年接任以来，其股价已上涨逾600%）。与Alphabet和Facebook等竞争对手不同，微软不再受到反垄断机构的关注，而Alphabet和Facebook都面临着反垄断诉讼，最近也避开了大额交易。

1 rumoured   

adj.谣传的；传说的；风

参考例句：

• It has been so rumoured here. 此间已有传闻。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• It began to be rumoured that the jury would be out a long while. 有人传说陪审团要退场很久。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

2 discord   

n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐

参考例句：

• These two answers are in discord.这两个答案不一样。
• The discord of his music was hard on the ear.他演奏的不和谐音很刺耳。

3 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

4 coveting   

v.贪求，觊觎( covet的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We begin by coveting what we see every day. 垂涎的开始是我们每天看见的东西。 来自互联网
• We coveting what we see every day. 之所以如此，是因为我们垂涎每日所见的一些东西。 来自互联网

5 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

6 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

7 rife   

adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的

参考例句：

• Disease is rife in the area.疾病在这一区很流行。
• Corruption was rife before the election.选举之前腐败盛行。

8 rumours   

n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传

参考例句：

• The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
• Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。

9 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。