2021年经济学人 微软史上第二大收购案出炉（在线收听）

Microsoft said it will buy Nuance, a voice-recognition technology company, in a deal worth $20bn. It is the second-largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history. It bought LinkedIn, a professionalsocial network, in 2016.

微软(Microsoft)表示，将斥资200亿美元收购语音识别技术公司Nuance。这是微软史上第二大收购案。2016年，微软收购了专业社交网络LinkedIn。

Kurumatani Nobuaki resigned as the boss of Toshiba, a Japanese conglomerate which has been beset with accounting scandals and a disastrous acquisition. The company said the decision was made for personal reasons and was not linked to a recent takeover bid launched by cvc, a European private-equity firm. The bid reportedly caused a split among senior management. KKR, another private-eq uity group, and Brookfield, an asset manager, are also said to be preparing bids.

日本企业集团东芝公司因会计丑闻和灾难性的收购而陷入困境，其总裁车谷畅昭（Kurumatani Nobuaki）辞职。该公司表示，这一决定是出于个人原因，与欧洲私募股权公司cvc最近发起的收购要约无关。据报道，这次收购在高级管理层中引起了分歧。据说，另一家私募股权集团KKR和资产管理公司布鲁克菲尔德(Brookfield)也在准备竞标。

General Motors said it would temporarily shut down more factories in America, as a global shortage of semiconductors continues to bite. The move follows similar announcements by other major carmakers. Bosses say the shortfall could last several more months.

通用汽车公司表示，由于全球半导体短缺的影响，将暂时关闭更多的美国工厂。其他主要汽车制造商也宣布了类似的举措。老板们说，这种短缺情况可能还会持续几个月。

Coinbase, an exchange for digital currencies, listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. It is the first cryptocurrency firm to go public. It closed its first day of trading down 14% with a market capitalisation of $65bn. The offering coincides with a cryptocurrency surge. The price of Bitcoin rose to a record high of over $64,000, doubling since the start of the year. The price of Ethereum, a smaller cryptocurrency, has also reached a record high.

数字货币交易所Coinbase在纳斯达克证券交易所上市。它是第一家上市的加密货币公司。该公司首日交易收盘下跌14%，市值为650亿美元。此次发行恰逢加密货币热潮。比特币的价格创下了逾6.4万美元的历史新高，是今年年初以来的两倍。规模较小的加密货币以太坊(Ethereum)的价格也创下了历史新高。

Grab, a Singapore-based digital firm,said that it will also list on the Nasdaq but that it will do so through a SPAC. The deal values the company at almost $40bn, making it the biggest SPAC listing to date. Grab started life as a taxi-hailing app but has added many services, such as food deliveries. Investors view it as a thriving “super-app”.

总部位于新加坡的数字公司Grab表示，它也将在纳斯达克上市，但将通过特殊目的收购公司进行。这笔交易对该公司的估值接近400亿美元，使其成为迄今最大的SPAC上市交易案。Grab最初是一款叫车应用，但后来添加了许多服务，比如送餐。投资者将其视为一款前途无限的“超级应用”。

Domino’s, a fast-food company, has teamed up with Nuro, a robotics firm, to trial autonomous pizza delivery. In a neighbourhood in Houston some customers can opt for their food to be delivered by a small self-driving car, called r2. Once it arrives, customers enter a code into a touchscreen, the car door swings open and dinner is served.

快餐公司达美乐已经与机器人公司Nuro合作，尝试自动送披萨。在休斯顿的一个街区，一些顾客可以选择一辆名为r2的小型自动驾驶汽车送餐。外卖送达后，顾客在触摸屏上输入一个代码，车门就会自动打开，送餐完毕。