《優(yōu)步的崛起與迷失》

How Uber Got Lost

Mr. Kalanick?deserves credit?for creating a?world-changing?company, one that?scaled?vertiginously from a?modest?black car service in San Francisco to a global brand in hundreds of cities. Those who invested first?saw?staggering returns. One frequent customer, Oren Michels,?cut Mr. Kalanick a check?for $5,000 early on. By the end of 2017, the stake had multiplied?in?value some?3,300 times, worth more than $15 million.

卡蘭尼克創(chuàng)造了一家改變世界的公司，這值得稱贊。這家公司令人目眩神迷，從舊金山一家不起眼的高級轎車服務公司發(fā)展成為在數(shù)百個城市擁有業(yè)務的全球品牌。最先投資的人獲得了驚人的回報。在早期，一位名叫奧倫·米歇爾(Oren Michels)的?？徒o卡蘭尼克開了一張5000美元的支票。到2017年底，這些股份的價值已經(jīng)增長了3300倍，價值超過1500萬美元。

As a private start-up, Uber?represented pure possibility?— at its peak, a $69 billion?wrecking ball?threatening entities as vast as the taxi industry,?mass transit?networks and automotive giants, all at the same time. It was a start-up that not only booked Beyoncé to play a staff party — it paid her with $6 million?in?restricted stock that quickly surged?in?value.

作為一家私營初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，優(yōu)步呈現(xiàn)了絕對的潛能——在鼎盛時期，它像是一個價值690億美元的落錘，同時威脅著出租車行業(yè)、公共交通網(wǎng)絡和汽車巨頭等龐大的實體。這家初創(chuàng)公司不僅邀請碧昂絲(Beyoncé)來員工派對演出，還以600萬美元限制性股票的形式支付報酬給她，股票價值也很快暴漲。

Sb. deserves credit for sth. 因為什么值得稱贊

Credit 贊揚 表揚 贊賞 ?Claim credit for sth.

world-changing? 改變世界的

scale V.?? scale up/down/back擴大縮減規(guī)模

scale new heights攀登 再創(chuàng)輝煌 更上一層樓

modest，unassuming 不出風頭的 understated 不惹眼的

實現(xiàn) 出現(xiàn) 發(fā)生 產(chǎn)生 經(jīng)歷 see，witness ?e.g. We saw sth.

cut Mr. Kalanick a check for $5,000 開多少金額的支票

e.g. Please cut a check for Mr Babit.

the stake 股份 have a 10% stake/interest in the business

start-up 初創(chuàng)的

Uber represented pure possibility， 動詞處理隱詞法

represented代表要轉(zhuǎn)換為更地道的中文譯法 呈現(xiàn)，展現(xiàn)

possibility 可能 潛能 機會 機遇

wrecking ball ?（懸掛于吊車供拆除建筑物用的）破碎球，落錘

不了解的事物可以查看電子詞典的配圖

as vast as

fruits as diverse as 1 2 3 4 喜歡很多水果，比如 1蘋果 2桃子3杏

?play a staff party?? 舉辦員工聚會，年會

$6 million in restricted stock 介詞用in

The public Uber displays little of this braggadocio, and competitors and critics are?moving in. Labor?activists?are?pushing back against?the lack of worker protections for drivers, and legislation could?push up?the driver minimum wage in cities like New York. The?hype?around Uber’s?autonomous?cars has?died down, and until they arrive — if they ever do — the company will have a hard time reducing the costs it?incurs?paying drivers.

上市后的優(yōu)步很少表現(xiàn)出這種浮夸，而競爭對手和批評人士也在步步進逼。勞工維權(quán)人士正在反對司機缺乏工人保護，立法可能會提高紐約等城市司機的最低工資。對優(yōu)步無人駕駛汽車的熱炒已經(jīng)冷卻，在這種車成為現(xiàn)實之前——假設(shè)真的能實現(xiàn)——公司需要費很大力氣降低付錢給司機帶來的成本。
In August, Uber posted its largest-ever quarterly loss, about $5.2 billion, as its revenue growth?hit a record low. In cities around the world, Uber faces?well-financed?competitors offering a substantially similar product. And its food delivery business — a bright spot that executives?point to for?growth prospects — is in danger of becoming another?cash-suck. Uber and most of its basically indistinguishable competitors (it names 10 of them in a recent filing) are subsidizing customers’ meals in a bid for market share,?with profitability a secondary concern.
今年8月，優(yōu)步營收增長創(chuàng)下歷史新低，季度虧損約52億美元，是該公司創(chuàng)立以來最大的季度虧損。在世界各地的城市，優(yōu)步面臨著資金充足的競爭對手，它們提供的產(chǎn)品基本類似。而其送餐業(yè)務——公司高管以此為增長前景的一個亮點——可能會成為又一個燒錢的無底洞。優(yōu)步及其大多數(shù)基本上沒什么區(qū)別的競爭對手（在最近的一份文件中，優(yōu)步列出了10家競爭對手）都在貼錢給訂餐的顧客，以爭奪市場份額，盈利能力是次要的。

公司上市g(shù)o public??? 環(huán)?；?go green? ??數(shù)字化 go digital

publicly traded company上市公司 ?替換 publicly owned

國防白皮書談到的 海洋維權(quán) maritime rights protection? 海洋權(quán)益保護

push back against 反對 lack of worker protections for drivers

push up 推高價格（房價 豬肉價） push for sth. 努力推動爭取實現(xiàn)某事

hype n.&v.大肆宣傳，熱炒
marketing/media hype?夸張的促銷╱媒體廣告 ?

autonomous cars, driverless 無人駕駛

Post，record，book，register （財務）過賬，記錄，實現(xiàn)多少利潤

Underfinanced和well-financed 差錢的和不差錢的

a bright spot that executives point to for growth prospects

指望送餐帶來增長前景亮點

point to sth for sth. 指望某事帶來什么

cash-suck 燒錢無底洞 cash cow 搖錢樹

subsidize vt. 資助 ?subsidizing customers’ meals（價格戰(zhàn)中發(fā)優(yōu)惠券）

賣空(Sell?Short)? short stock? 跌價時拋出的股票 short這里及物

Investors are?internalizing?these challenges. Interest in?shorting?Uber stock has only grown since the I.P.O., according to share borrowing data from IHS Markit, with pessimists betting some $2 billion that the price of shares will continue to fall.
這些挑戰(zhàn)投資者都看在眼里。自優(yōu)步上市以來，做空其股票的興趣只增不減，根據(jù)IHS Markit的股票借貸數(shù)據(jù)，悲觀人士押了20億美元賭它的股票繼續(xù)下跌。
In?combing through?documents, interviewing opponents and talking to more than 200 current and former employees while?researching my book,?what came up again and again was this sense of a public-private?divide?— that Mr. Kalanick had built a start-up that thrived on venture investment, blitzkrieg expansion tactics, but that the playbook made little sense for a publicly traded entity.
在為本書做研究期間，我梳理文檔，采訪競爭對手，與200多名現(xiàn)任和前任員工交談，這種上市與私人公司的區(qū)別一次又一次地浮現(xiàn)出來——卡蘭尼克建立了一個初創(chuàng)公司，靠著風險投資、閃電戰(zhàn)擴張策略發(fā)展起來，但是這套攻略對上市的實體毫無意義。

????

In combing through documents 梳理

researching my book/paper 研究著作、論文 research這里及物

public-private partnership （PPP） 公私伙伴關(guān)系 ?公私合營

urban rural divide 城市農(nóng)村差異 ?The?North/South divide?南北差異

wealth divide 財富分配 貧富差距??

digital divide 數(shù)字鴻溝 ?

〔指因使用因特網(wǎng)和電子郵件的條件不同而造成的機遇不平等〕

thrived on venture investment 依靠什么(風投)發(fā)展/起家，

thrived ON TOURISM靠旅游業(yè)發(fā)展經(jīng)濟

playbook 手冊， 做法，方法 approach