原文標(biāo)題：
Business in America
Big tech, big trouble
Slowing growth is exposing the governance flaws of big tech firms‘
美國商業(yè)
大科技，大麻煩
增長放緩暴露了科技巨頭的管理缺陷

Facebook and the conglomerate curse
Beset by bloating and egomania, big tech would benefit from active boards and investors
臉書和大型企業(yè)集團(tuán)的詛咒
大科技公司因擴(kuò)張和極端利己而受困擾，但可以從積極的董事會和投資者身上受益

[Paragraph 1]
IN 1997, IN HIS first letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, wrote that it was still “Day 1” for his firm.

1997年，亞馬遜創(chuàng)始人杰夫·貝佐斯在給股東的第一封信中寫道，對他的公司來說仍然是“第1天”。

Day 2, he later explained, would mean stasis, followed by irrelevance. His rousing call to avoid complacency seems apt today.

他后來解釋說，第2天意味著停滯，第2天之后就會變得無關(guān)緊要。他極力呼吁避免驕傲自滿的情緒，這放在當(dāng)今社會依然適用。

Silicon Valley’s five big tech giants, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, have long been the bedrock of America’s stockmarket and economy, miraculously combining reliable growth and profitability.

硅谷的5大科技巨頭：Alphabet、亞馬遜、蘋果、Meta、微軟。長期以來，他們都是美國股市和經(jīng)濟(jì)的基石，奇跡般地將可靠的增長和盈利能力結(jié)合在一起。

But after a torrid third quarter their market capitalisations have now collectively dropped by 37% so far this year. About $3.7trn of value has evaporated.
但在經(jīng)歷了艱難的第三季度之后，它們的市值從年初到現(xiàn)在已累計(jì)下降了37%。已蒸發(fā)了約37萬億美元的市值。

[Paragraph 2]
The law of large numbers made it inevitable that the tech giants would mature.
大數(shù)定律使科技巨頭必定成熟，因此發(fā)展余地變小。

Sales growth in the last quarter slowed to 9%—barely above inflation.
上一季度的銷售額增長放緩至9%，僅在通貨膨脹率之上一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)。

As they have grown bigger, they have become tied to the economic cycle; a fact which the digital surge during the pandemic only temporarily masked.
隨著科技巨頭規(guī)模的擴(kuò)大，它們與經(jīng)濟(jì)周期緊密相連；而新冠期間數(shù)字業(yè)務(wù)的暴增只是暫時(shí)掩蓋了這一事實(shí)。

Penetration rates for smartphones, digital advertising and streaming are plateauing.
智能手機(jī)、數(shù)字廣告和流媒體的滲透率正趨于平穩(wěn)。

With slowing core businesses, the giants are venturing onto each other’s turf, increasing competition.
隨著核心業(yè)務(wù)的放緩，巨頭們正大膽進(jìn)入彼此的地盤，加劇內(nèi)卷。

[Paragraph 3]
Meanwhile, they are threatened by “conglomeritis”. The symptoms of this disease are bloating and egomania.
與此同時(shí)，他們受“大企業(yè)病”的威脅。這種病的癥狀是擴(kuò)張和極端利己。

Consider the recent orgy of spending on hiring, experimental ventures, vanity projects and building data centres.
細(xì)看他們近期在招聘、實(shí)驗(yàn)性投資、虛榮項(xiàng)目和建設(shè)數(shù)據(jù)中心方面的瘋狂支出。

In March the five firms’ combined annual expenses reached $1trn for the first time, and the value of the physical plant of these supposedly asset-light businesses has reached $600bn, over triple the level of five years ago.
今年3月，這5家公司的年支出總額首次達(dá)到1萬億美元，這些所謂的輕資產(chǎn)企業(yè)的實(shí)體工廠價(jià)值已達(dá)到6000億美元，是五年前的3倍多。

Swollen costs and balance-sheets mean returns on capital have fallen from over 60% five years ago to 26%. Three of the five do not deign to pay dividends.
擴(kuò)張的成本和資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表意味著資本回報(bào)率已從五年前的60%以上降至26%。其中有三家科技巨頭不愿支付股息。

[Paragraph 4]
It is hardly unprecedented for successful companies to lose their focus, or to fail to control costs.
對于成功的公司來說，失去重心或未能控制好成本，這并非史無前例。

In the 1980s RJR Nabisco’s executives splurged on jets and golf before being ousted by private equity’s barbarians.
20世紀(jì)80年代，雷諾煙草的高管們揮霍巨資在飛機(jī)和高爾夫上，后來被私人股本的野蠻人趕下臺。

General Electric sprawled and had to be partially bailed out during the financial crisis of 2008-09.
通用電氣四處擴(kuò)張，但在2008-2009年的金融危機(jī)中也不得不請求部分資金援助。

The best safeguards against such indiscipline are active boards and investors.
防止這種無紀(jì)律行為的最佳保障措施就是積極的董事會和投資者。

When successful managers start to believe that they always know best, it is the board’s job to rein them in.
當(dāng)成功的管理者總認(rèn)為自己是對的的時(shí)候，董事會的職責(zé)就是約束他們。

[Paragraph 5]
But here, the tech firms’ governance rules add a twist.
但此處，科技公司的管理制度增加了難度。

Often they entrust disproportionate power to bosses and founders, some of whom enjoy special voting rights that give them near-absolute control.
通常，公司制度將不成比例的權(quán)力委托給老板和創(chuàng)始人，其中一些人享有特殊的投票權(quán)，也就是這些人幾乎擁有絕對控制權(quán)。

Such bosses often cultivate an image as visionaries, whose daring bets horrify myopic outsiders but end up lucratively transforming the world.
這樣的老板通常會塑造一種有遠(yuǎn)見的形象，他們大膽的賭注式投資會嚇壞目光短淺的局外人，但最終會改變世界。

[Paragraph 6]
At the worst end of the spectrum is Meta, the owner of Facebook, run increasingly erratically by Mark Zuckerberg.
5家巨頭中最糟糕的是“臉書”的母公司Meta，馬克·扎克伯格的經(jīng)營方式越來越不穩(wěn)定。

Its value has dropped by 74% this year. Its core business is wobbly, attracting too much toxicity, too few young people and too little advertising.
今年它的市值下降了74%。它的核心業(yè)務(wù)搖搖欲墜，吸引了太多的毒素，年輕人太少，廣告太少。

It has become clear that Mr Zuckerberg is betting the firm on the metaverse, an attempt to diversify away from social media, on which he plans to lavish 20 times what Apple spent to build the first iPhone.
很明顯，扎克伯格正在把公司押注于元宇宙，企圖從單一的社交媒體業(yè)務(wù)轉(zhuǎn)向多樣化業(yè)務(wù)。他計(jì)劃在元宇宙領(lǐng)域投入巨資，這筆巨資是蘋果制造第一部iPhone投入資金的20倍。

Because dual share classes give him 54% of voting rights, Mr Zuckerberg has been able to ignore the pleas of outside investors.
由于雙重股份制賦予他54%的投票權(quán)，因此扎克伯格先生可以無視外部投資者的請求。

Alphabet, the owner of Google, has performed better but is flabby. Its founders retain 51% of its voting rights, allowing them to overrule the wishes of other owners.
谷歌的母公司Alphabet的制度更好一點(diǎn)，但也很無力。公司創(chuàng)始人們保留了51%的投票權(quán)，因此他們可以否決其他持股者的意愿。

[Paragraph 7]
In the middle is Amazon, which has over-invested in e-commerce and expanded too far, crushing its cashflow and returns.
中間位置是亞馬遜，由于公司過度投資于電子商務(wù)，擴(kuò)張過度，壓縮了公司現(xiàn)金流和回報(bào)。

Mr Bezos, who remains executive chairman, owns less than 15% of the firm’s voting rights, so he has to be at least somewhat responsive to investors.
現(xiàn)任執(zhí)行董事長貝佐斯先生的投票權(quán)不到15%，因此他至少得對投資者做出一定的回應(yīng)。

Apple and Microsoft are at the benign end of the spectrum. Both firms are older, no longer have founders with controlling stakes and operate on the principle of one share, one vote. Both listen to outsiders.
蘋果和微軟處于良性位置。兩家公司都是老牌公司，創(chuàng)始人們不再有擁有控股權(quán)，并按照一股一票的原則做決策。兩家公司都聽局外人的意見。

In 2013 Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, sat down for dinner with Carl Icahn, a fiery investor, and took on board his request to return money to shareholders through buybacks.
2013年，蘋果公司的老板蒂姆·庫克與熱情的投資者卡爾·伊坎共進(jìn)晚餐，庫克接受了伊坎的請求，即通過回購將資金返還給股東。

In 2014 Microsoft invited an activist investor, Mason Morfit, onto its board. The two firms have performed the best of the big five this year.
2014年，微軟邀請了一位行動(dòng)派投資者梅森·莫菲特加入其董事會。在5大巨頭中，今年這兩家公司業(yè)績最好。

[Paragraph 8]
When you have disrupted industries and created hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth it is hard to accept financial constraints and outside scrutiny.
當(dāng)你顛覆了行業(yè)并創(chuàng)造了數(shù)千億美元的財(cái)富時(shí)，你就很難接受財(cái)務(wù)約束和外部審查了。

Nonetheless, many in big tech’s elite need to show more humility and better performance.
盡管如此，許多大科技精英仍需要有謙遜的特質(zhì)和更好的業(yè)務(wù)能力。

Otherwise Day 3 might bring an escalating confrontation between them and investors over who controls the most successful firms of the past two decades.
否則，在第3天，他們和投資者之間的對抗可能會加劇，對抗的焦點(diǎn)就是誰控制20多年來最成功的公司。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量752詞左右）
原文出自：2022年11月5日《TE》Leaders版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路
本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
大數(shù)定律由雅各布·伯努利（1654－1705）提出，他是瑞士數(shù)學(xué)家、也是概率論的重要奠基人。大數(shù)定律和中心極限定理，是概率論中極其重要的兩個(gè)極限定理，也是概率學(xué)的核心定律。大數(shù)定律的定義是，當(dāng)隨機(jī)事件發(fā)生的次數(shù)足夠多時(shí)，隨機(jī)事件發(fā)生的頻率趨近于預(yù)期的概率?？梢院唵卫斫鉃闃颖緮?shù)量越多，其平概率越接近于期望值。大數(shù)定律的條件：1、獨(dú)立重復(fù)事件；2、重復(fù)次數(shù)足夠多。

與“大數(shù)定律”對應(yīng)的，就是“小數(shù)定律”，不要遵循心理上的“小數(shù)定律”，犯一些濫用典型事件、以偏概全、賭徒謬誤的錯(cuò)誤。即便一個(gè)東西概率很低，只要次數(shù)足夠多，就一定會發(fā)生，而如果這個(gè)東西，會造成巨大的影響，即 “黑天鵝”事件。

納貝斯克集團(tuán)公司（RJR Nabisco, Inc.）是雷諾煙草控股公司的母公司。雷諾煙草（初名雷諾士公司）成立于1875年，當(dāng)時(shí)，25歲的雷諾先生（Richard Joshua Reynolds）開始在北卡州云絲頓（Winston）小鎮(zhèn)上開始經(jīng)營一家嚼煙生產(chǎn)企業(yè)。在經(jīng)營咀嚼煙以后，他正確地預(yù)見到吸食煙草將會流行，并開始改革煙草配方、市場營銷和包裝。

雙重股權(quán)制，在持股數(shù)量相同的情況下，基于持股等級的差異，部分股東可獲得更多的投票權(quán)。與通常的一元制股權(quán)中一股一票、股東投票權(quán)一致的公司表決結(jié)構(gòu)不同，雙重股權(quán)結(jié)構(gòu)中的優(yōu)級股（通常是B股） 每股所擁有的表決權(quán)大于一般股（通常是A股）。雙重股權(quán)結(jié)構(gòu)在世界范圍內(nèi)被廣泛采納，但具體到每個(gè)國家（地區(qū)）則有所不同。

一股一票制是指股份公司的股東大會實(shí)行的表決制度。即對關(guān)系到公司發(fā)展的重大問題進(jìn)行表決時(shí)，在股東大會上每個(gè)股東根據(jù)其持有股份的多少按股投票，一股一票。特點(diǎn)是憑股份參與企業(yè)的經(jīng)營決策，按股參加分紅。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3 個(gè)）
With slowing core businesses, the giants are venturing onto each other’s turf, increasing competition.
隨著核心業(yè)務(wù)的放緩，巨頭們正大膽進(jìn)入彼此的地盤，加劇內(nèi)卷。


Meanwhile, they are threatened by “conglomeritis”. The symptoms of this disease are bloating and egomania.
與此同時(shí)，他們受“大企業(yè)病”的威脅。這種病的癥狀是擴(kuò)張和極端利己。

The best safeguards against such indiscipline are active boards and investors.
防止這種無紀(jì)律行為的最佳保障措施就是積極的董事會和投資者。