Technology listings---Partying like it’s 1999

Initial public offerings?are back in Silicon Valley?amid the pandemic, after a fashion

經(jīng)濟學(xué)人8月刊

The first has to do with the financial markets themselves. Venture capitalists?who had been pouring billions into unlisted firms began to cool on frothy?startups before the pandemic, after a few unicorn listings disappointed (Lyft and Uber) or collapsed (WeWork). At the same time, rock-bottom?interest rates are pushing public capital to seek returns. As a result, stockmarket investors are ready to accept high valuations, says Lauren Cummings of Morgan Stanley, an investment bank and a leading underwriter?of IPOs. “There is insatiable?demand by public investors,” agrees Brian Feinstein of Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture-capital (VC) firm.

Venture capitalists：風(fēng)險投資，國內(nèi)經(jīng)常簡稱風(fēng)投/VC? ?

rock-bottom?n，最低點；adj，最低的，底層的

?Frothy /?fr?θi/? ?1.( of liquids 液體 ) 有泡沫的；起泡沫的??frothy coffee 泡沫咖啡?2.華而不實的；夸夸其談的；花架子的??frothy romantic novels 輕浮淺薄的浪漫小說?3.(衣服或布料 ) 輕薄精巧的

Underwriter?1，承保人，保險商（尤指船只）2. 核保人（對投保項目進行風(fēng)險評估并決定保險費率）

Insatiable??adj./?n?se???bl/ 不知足的；無法滿足的?? an insatiable appetite/curiosity/thirst 永不滿足的食欲╱好奇心╱渴望

Startups are keen to slake it before it dissipates.?Many firms are therefore?dusting off listing plans that were put on hold in the wake of the?ride-hailing duds and the WeWork snafu. Their case is bolstered?because and this is the second reason for startups’ listing-lust?the pandemic has been a boon?for many tech firms.

?be?keen to 熱衷于，渴望? ? ? ? ? ??put on hold：延期、推遲

Slake??v. /sle?k/??1.~ your thirst to drink so that you no longer feel thirsty 緩和（口渴）；解（渴）

2.?to satisfy a desire 滿足（欲望）

Dissipate??v. /?d?s?pe?t/??1.?（使）消散，消失；驅(qū)散??Eventually, his anger dissipated. 他的憤怒終于平息了。 2.揮霍，浪費，消磨（時間、金錢等）

dust off ：掃去灰塵，重新使用。這里指企業(yè)重新開始IPO

in the wake of?緊緊跟隨；隨著…而來；作為…的結(jié)果；仿效?·There have been demonstrations on the streets in the wake of the recent bomb attack. ?在近來的炸彈襲擊之后，大街上隨即出現(xiàn)了示威游行。

Hailing v. （大量物體）像雹子般落下（或擊打）；跟……打招呼；示意（出租車）停下；把……譽為；（熱烈）歡迎（hail 的現(xiàn)在分詞）??ride-hailing 打車服務(wù)

Dud??n. 衣服；[軍] 啞彈；無用物?adj. 無用的

Snafu??n. /sn??fu?/（一切均未按計劃發(fā)生的）混亂局面?? It was another bureaucratic/?bj??r??kr?t?k/ snafu. 又讓官僚主義搞成了一團糟。

Bolster /?b??lst?(r)/ ?n，墊枕（長而厚）v，~ sth (up) 改善；加強???to bolster sb's confidence/courage/morale 增加某人的信心╱勇氣╱士氣

lust /l?st/??1.~ (for sb) 強烈的性欲；色欲；淫欲??Their affair was driven by pure lust. 他們私通純粹是受淫欲的驅(qū)使。2.~ (for sth) ?強烈欲望；享受欲??She has a real lust for life (= she really enjoys life) . 她真懂得享受生活。

lust after/for sb/sth?( often disapproving ) ?對…有極強的欲望（尤指性欲）

Boon??n. /bu?n/ ?~ (to/for sb) 非常有用的東西；益處

The five big platforms Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft have thrived as self-isolating consumers spend more time and money online, and firms splash out?on cloud-computing services to enable remote working. On August 19th Apple briefly touched?a market capitalisation of $2trn, the first American company to do so. Not-so-big tech, too, has benefited, including many companies that have recently gone public.

splash out：隨意花錢

The pandemic has highlighted and sped up a fundamental shift towards digital businesses, says Sarah Cannon of Index Ventures, a VC firm. The trend will last for decades, she predicts. Markets?concur. The tech-heavy Renaissance IPO Index,?which includes most listers of the past two years, is up by more than 40% since January (see chart 2). Zoom, whose videoconferencing app has become ubiquitous amid lockdowns, has seen its share price rise?fourfold?since floating in April 2019; it is worth $78bn. CrowdStrike, a cyber-security firm which listed in June last year, has quadrupled?in value since March.

Concur??v. /k?n?k??(r)/ ?~ (with sb) (in sth)~ (with sth) ( formal ) to agree 同意；贊同 ? Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 歷史學(xué)家在這個觀點上已取得一致意見。

Renaissance IPO Index：富時IPO指數(shù)?和標普500一樣是股票指數(shù)

ubiquitous adj. /ju??b?kw?t?s/ ?似乎無所不在的；十分普遍的?? the ubiquitous bicycles of university towns 大學(xué)城里處處可見的自行車

Quadruple??/'kw?dr?p(?)l; kw?'dru?p(?)l/ adj. 四倍的；四重的vt. 使……成四倍vi. 成為四倍?n. 四倍；四元組

One thing the latest boom has done is highlight how unhappy startups and VC firms have grown with the current process of going public. It is cumbersome, with reams of paperwork, and can take more than a year. It is also pricey and seen as too cosy for Wall Street. Investment banks’ fees alone eat up between 4% and 7% of a typical IPO’s proceeds, not counting lawyers and other advisers. Startups and VC firms point to big first-day pops as evidence that offerings are underpriced to give banks’ big investors a quick return. After all, those customers are regulars that must be kept sweet, whereas most startups only go public once.

Cumbersome??adj. /?k?mb?s?m/ ?

1.大而笨重的；難以攜帶的??cumbersome machinery 笨重的機器

2.緩慢復(fù)雜的??cumbersome legal procedures 繁瑣的法律程序

3.?(詞語) ?冗長的；累贅的；復(fù)雜的??The organization changed its cumbersome title to something easier to remember. 這家機構(gòu)把它那復(fù)雜累贅的名稱改得好記一些了。

ream /ri?m/ ?n，1. 大量的文字（或?qū)懽鳎?She wrote reams in the exam. 她在考試中寫得很多。 2.(術(shù)語) 500 sheets of paper 令??v，不公平地對待；欺騙??We got reamed on that deal. 那筆交易我們上當受騙了。 ream sb←→?out 訓(xùn)斥；斥責

Disaffection with the IPO process, combined with a renewed desire to go public, has led some firms to consider alternatives. One is a “direct listing” of the sort Palantir is pursuing, and which Spotify, a music-streaming service, and Slack, a corporate-messaging firm, have used to good effect. Asana, which sells web-based project-management software, may be another unicorn to take the direct route. Direct listings use an electronic auction by the stock exchange to get startups a fairer price for their shares than investment bankers might. But they do not allow firms to raise new money. As a result, they are an option only for cash-rich firms.

of the sort：諸如此類···

譯文

The first has to do with the financial markets themselves.?Venture capitalists?who had been pouring billions into unlisted firms began to cool on?frothy?startups before the pandemic, after a few unicorn listings disappointed (Lyft and Uber) or collapsed (WeWork). At the same time,?rock-bottom?interest rates are pushing public capital to seek returns. As a result, stockmarket investors are ready to accept high valuations, says Lauren Cummings of Morgan Stanley, an investment bank and a leading?underwriter?of IPOs. “There is?insatiable?demand by public investors,” agrees Brian Feinstein of Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture-capital (VC) firm.

第一個原因是與金融市場相關(guān)。疫情來臨之前，風(fēng)投給泡沫滿滿的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)不要命的撒錢熱情，在一些獨角獸企業(yè)失敗的上市中開始退卻。包括Lyft和優(yōu)步Uber的上市未達到預(yù)期，以及Wework的失敗收場。同時，低至谷底的銀行利率推動公眾資本尋求回報。投資銀行、IPO的主要承銷商摩根·斯坦利的lauren·Cummings表示，由于以上原因，股票市場的投資者已經(jīng)準備好接受高估值。風(fēng)投企業(yè)Bessemer的Brian·Feinstein同意的說道“公眾資本確實有點欲壑難填的感覺?！?/span>

Startups?are keen to slake?it before it?dissipates.?Many firms are therefore?dusting off?listing plans that were?put on hold in the wake of?the?ride-hailing duds?and the WeWork?snafu. Their case is?bolstered?because and this is the second reason for startups’?listing-lust?the pandemic has been a?boon?for many tech firms.

趁在公眾欲望消散之前，初創(chuàng)企業(yè)非?？释麧M足他們。因此很多公司紛紛拾起因為uber的慘淡和wework的失敗而擱置的上市計劃?，F(xiàn)在的環(huán)境好多了，這也是初創(chuàng)企業(yè)強烈上市欲望的原因--疫情對很多科技公司來說是簡直是天賜良機。

The five big platforms Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft have thrived as self-isolating consumers spend more time and money online, and firms?splash out?on cloud-computing services to enable remote working. On August 19th Apple briefly?touched?a market capitalisation of $2trn, the first American company to do so. Not-so-big tech, too, has benefited, including many companies that have recently gone public.

互聯(lián)網(wǎng)五大巨頭--谷歌字母表、亞馬遜、蘋果、臉書、和微軟蒸蒸日上，因為隔離中的消費者在線上花更多的時間、更多的錢；公司為了確保遠程工作在云計算上面如流水砸錢。8月19日，蘋果公司市值短暫的達到了2萬億美元，成為第一家突破的美國企業(yè)。其他不怎么大的企業(yè)也從中受益，包括很多最近上市的企業(yè)。

The pandemic has highlighted and sped up a fundamental shift towards digital businesses, says Sarah Cannon of Index Ventures, a VC firm. The trend will last for decades, she predicts. Markets?concur. The tech-heavy?Renaissance IPO Index,?which includes most listers of the past two years, is up by more than 40% since January (see chart 2). Zoom, whose videoconferencing app has become?ubiquitous?amid lockdowns, has seen its share price rise?fourfold?since floating in April 2019; it is worth $78bn. CrowdStrike, a cyber-security firm which listed in June last year, has?quadrupled?in value since March.

風(fēng)投企業(yè)Index Ventures的Sarah·Cannon表示疫情突出并加速了電子商務(wù)的根本轉(zhuǎn)移。并預(yù)測這種趨勢將會持續(xù)多年。市場印證了她的觀點，科技比重大的富時IPO指數(shù)，它包括著近兩年大部分上市的企業(yè)，從1月開始到現(xiàn)在漲幅超過40%。Zoom，一家視頻會議app在封禁期間變得無所不在。它的市值自2019年4月發(fā)行之后，增長至是以前的4倍，達到780億美元。2019年6月上市的網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全公司CrowdStrike，市值也翻了兩翻。

One thing the latest boom has done is highlight how unhappy startups and VC firms have grown with the current process of going public. It is?cumbersome, with?reams of paperwork, and can take more than a year. It is also pricey and seen as too cosy for Wall Street. Investment banks’ fees alone eat up between 4% and 7% of a typical IPO’s proceeds, not counting lawyers and other advisers. Startups and VC firms point to big first-day pops as evidence that offerings are underpriced to give banks’ big investors a quick return. After all, those customers are regulars that must be kept sweet, whereas most startups only go public once.

近期上市潮凸顯了初創(chuàng)企業(yè)和風(fēng)投公司對現(xiàn)今上市流程日益增長的不滿。太繁瑣了，大量的文字工作，流程可以長達一年。而且非常貴，感覺華爾街躺著賺錢。單單投行費用就能吃掉一般IPO融資的4%-7%，還不包括律師及其他咨詢費用。初創(chuàng)企業(yè)和風(fēng)投公司指出上市首日股價大漲表明發(fā)行價格被低估，用于投行給其投資大戶帶來快速回報。畢竟，?？托枰懞?，而IPO基本是一次性買賣。

Disaffection with the IPO process, combined with a renewed desire to go public, has led some firms to consider alternatives. One is a “direct listing”?of the sort?Palantir is pursuing, and which Spotify, a music-streaming service, and Slack, a corporate-messaging firm, have used to good effect. Asana, which sells web-based project-management software, may be another unicorn to take the direct route. Direct listings use an electronic auction by the stock exchange to get startups a fairer price for their shares than investment bankers might. But they do not allow firms to raise new money. As a result, they are an option only for cash-rich firms.

對上市流程的不滿，以及重燃對上市的渴望，一些企業(yè)開始考慮其他手段上市。其中一個是“直接上市”，諸如Palantir這類公司所追求。線上音樂服務(wù)商spotify和企業(yè)通信公司Slack取得了不錯的效果。賣掉網(wǎng)頁項目管理軟件的Asana有可能也會走這條路。直接上市通過股票交易市場的電子競價讓企業(yè)獲得通過投行上市相對公平的價格。但它不允許企業(yè)募集新資金。所以他們只是現(xiàn)金流充裕公司的備選。

未完待續(xù)····