2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-Time Warner to Pay $300 Million on Revenu

Media giant Time Warner will pay a three-hundred-million-dollar penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The civil penalty is to settle charges the company overstated revenues earned by its online division AOL. NPR's Jack¹ Spear reports.

The probe involving Time Warner covers a roughly two-year period and involves allegations the company engaged in a variety of accounting² shenanigans. Brian Bushee is an assistant professor of accounting at the Wharton School. He says at the center of the government's case is the charge that company then AOL Time Warner used fraud to make its renevues look better than they actually were.

What AOL would do would be to give, let's say, ten million dollars to another Internet provider like Homestore.com which was mentioned in the complaint. To buy a banner link on Homestore's website. So AOL's paying Homestore to advertise on their webside. Then Homestore will take that same ten million dollars and turn around and buy advertising³ in AOL's website. So in that sense, AOL is giving cash to Homestore, Homestore gives it right back to AOL, but AOL gets to book the revenue for it.

But the problem's that AOL Time Warner went beyond the advertising renevue. The SEC also charged the company with overstating its subscriber⁴ base . Bushee says the company did this to cover up the fact its stock price was on a downward slide.

One of the big things that was going on with Internet service providers at this point is there was a question who's gonna dominate the industry. So if you are showing healthy increases in subscriber bases, it's gonna be more likely that you are gonna emerge as the firm that dominates this industry and puts the other one out of business.

AOL had to acknowledge usually the next quarter its subscriptions⁵ were overstated. The SEC also charged the company with violating a previous cease-and-desist order and in a separate proceeding⁶ charged three of the company's executives with violating securities laws. Legal expert John Kofi says the settlement also includes a half a billion dollar earnings⁷ restatement with a possibility of more to come.

There is some possibility that there'll be further earnings restatements. To this point, Time Warner has already had earnings restatements of something like six hundred and ninety million dollars because of its problems with AOL.

But that is a drop in the bucket compared with nearly two hundred billion dollars in shareholder⁸ value that has been a waste at the giant company since the disastrous⁹ purchase of Time Warner by AOL, again Professor John Kofi.

I think this is the final chapter in what is probably the most disastrous merger¹⁰ in American financial history. And with this resolution today, Time Warner is finally paying an additional three-hundred-million to settle the various earnings management charges that were principly directed against AOL.

With today's settlement, Time Warner did not admit or deny any wrongdoing. In a brief statement, Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons said the company is pleased to have resolved the SEC's investigation¹¹. Jack Spear, NPR news, Washington.

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 subscriber   

n.用户，订户；（慈善机关等的）定期捐款者；预约者；签署者

参考例句：

• The subscriber to a government loan has got higher interest than savings. 公债认购者获得高于储蓄的利息。 来自辞典例句
• Who is the subscriber of that motto? 谁是那条座右铭的签字者？ 来自辞典例句

5 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

7 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

8 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

9 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

10 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。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。