美科技巨头管理漏洞揭秘（科技巨头从人生模拟器开始）

原文标题：
Business in America
Big tech, big trouble
Slowing growth is exposing the governance flaws of big tech firms‘
美国商业
大科技，大麻烦
增长放缓暴露了科技巨头的管理缺陷

Facebook and the conglomerate curse
Beset by bloating and egomania, big tech would benefit from active boards and investors
脸书和大型企业集团的诅咒
大科技公司因扩张和极端利己而受困扰，但可以从积极的董事会和投资者身上受益

[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，亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝佐斯在给股东的第一封信中写道，对他的公司来说仍然是“第1天”。

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

他后来解释说，第2天意味着停滞，第2天之后就会变得无关紧要。他极力呼吁避免骄傲自满的情绪，这放在当今社会依然适用。

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大科技巨头：Alphabet、亚马逊、苹果、Meta、微软。长期以来，他们都是美国股市和经济的基石，奇迹般地将可靠的增长和盈利能力结合在一起。

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.
但在经历了艰难的第三季度之后，它们的市值从年初到现在已累计下降了37%。已蒸发了约37万亿美元的市值。

[Paragraph 2]
The law of large numbers made it inevitable that the tech giants would mature.
大数定律使科技巨头必定成熟，因此发展余地变小。

Sales growth in the last quarter slowed to 9%—barely above inflation.
上一季度的销售额增长放缓至9%，仅在通货膨胀率之上一点点。

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.
随着科技巨头规模的扩大，它们与经济周期紧密相连；而新冠期间数字业务的暴增只是暂时掩盖了这一事实。

Penetration rates for smartphones, digital advertising and streaming are plateauing.
智能手机、数字广告和流媒体的渗透率正趋于平稳。

With slowing core businesses, the giants are venturing onto each other’s turf, increasing competition.
随着核心业务的放缓，巨头们正大胆进入彼此的地盘，加剧内卷。

[Paragraph 3]
Meanwhile, they are threatened by “conglomeritis”. The symptoms of this disease are bloating and egomania.
与此同时，他们受“大企业病”的威胁。这种病的症状是扩张和极端利己。

Consider the recent orgy of spending on hiring, experimental ventures, vanity projects and building data centres.
细看他们近期在招聘、实验性投资、虚荣项目和建设数据中心方面的疯狂支出。

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，这5家公司的年支出总额首次达到1万亿美元，这些所谓的轻资产企业的实体工厂价值已达到6000亿美元，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.
扩张的成本和资产负债表意味着资本回报率已从五年前的60%以上降至26%。其中有三家科技巨头不愿支付股息。

[Paragraph 4]
It is hardly unprecedented for successful companies to lose their focus, or to fail to control costs.
对于成功的公司来说，失去重心或未能控制好成本，这并非史无前例。

In the 1980s RJR Nabisco’s executives splurged on jets and golf before being ousted by private equity’s barbarians.
20世纪80年代，雷诺烟草的高管们挥霍巨资在飞机和高尔夫上，后来被私人股本的野蛮人赶下台。

General Electric sprawled and had to be partially bailed out during the financial crisis of 2008-09.
通用电气四处扩张，但在2008-2009年的金融危机中也不得不请求部分资金援助。

The best safeguards against such indiscipline are active boards and investors.
防止这种无纪律行为的最佳保障措施就是积极的董事会和投资者。

When successful managers start to believe that they always know best, it is the board’s job to rein them in.
当成功的管理者总认为自己是对的的时候，董事会的职责就是约束他们。

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

Often they entrust disproportionate power to bosses and founders, some of whom enjoy special voting rights that give them near-absolute control.
通常，公司制度将不成比例的权力委托给老板和创始人，其中一些人享有特殊的投票权，也就是这些人几乎拥有绝对控制权。

Such bosses often cultivate an image as visionaries, whose daring bets horrify myopic outsiders but end up lucratively transforming the world.
这样的老板通常会塑造一种有远见的形象，他们大胆的赌注式投资会吓坏目光短浅的局外人，但最终会改变世界。

[Paragraph 6]
At the worst end of the spectrum is Meta, the owner of Facebook, run increasingly erratically by Mark Zuckerberg.
5家巨头中最糟糕的是“脸书”的母公司Meta，马克·扎克伯格的经营方式越来越不稳定。

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%。它的核心业务摇摇欲坠，吸引了太多的毒素，年轻人太少，广告太少。

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.
很明显，扎克伯格正在把公司押注于元宇宙，企图从单一的社交媒体业务转向多样化业务。他计划在元宇宙领域投入巨资，这笔巨资是苹果制造第一部iPhone投入资金的20倍。

Because dual share classes give him 54% of voting rights, Mr Zuckerberg has been able to ignore the pleas of outside investors.
由于双重股份制赋予他54%的投票权，因此扎克伯格先生可以无视外部投资者的请求。

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的制度更好一点，但也很无力。公司创始人们保留了51%的投票权，因此他们可以否决其他持股者的意愿。

[Paragraph 7]
In the middle is Amazon, which has over-invested in e-commerce and expanded too far, crushing its cashflow and returns.
中间位置是亚马逊，由于公司过度投资于电子商务，扩张过度，压缩了公司现金流和回报。

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.
现任执行董事长贝佐斯先生的投票权不到15%，因此他至少得对投资者做出一定的回应。

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.
苹果和微软处于良性位置。两家公司都是老牌公司，创始人们不再有拥有控股权，并按照一股一票的原则做决策。两家公司都听局外人的意见。

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，苹果公司的老板蒂姆·库克与热情的投资者卡尔·伊坎共进晚餐，库克接受了伊坎的请求，即通过回购将资金返还给股东。

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，微软邀请了一位行动派投资者梅森·莫菲特加入其董事会。在5大巨头中，今年这两家公司业绩最好。

[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.
当你颠覆了行业并创造了数千亿美元的财富时，你就很难接受财务约束和外部审查了。

Nonetheless, many in big tech’s elite need to show more humility and better performance.
尽管如此，许多大科技精英仍需要有谦逊的特质和更好的业务能力。

Otherwise Day 3 might bring an escalating confrontation between them and investors over who controls the most successful firms of the past two decades.
否则，在第3天，他们和投资者之间的对抗可能会加剧，对抗的焦点就是谁控制20多年来最成功的公司。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量752词左右）
原文出自：2022年11月5日《TE》Leaders版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
大数定律由雅各布·伯努利（1654－1705）提出，他是瑞士数学家、也是概率论的重要奠基人。大数定律和中心极限定理，是概率论中极其重要的两个极限定理，也是概率学的核心定律。大数定律的定义是，当随机事件发生的次数足够多时，随机事件发生的频率趋近于预期的概率。可以简单理解为样本数量越多，其平概率越接近于期望值。大数定律的条件：1、独立重复事件；2、重复次数足够多。

与“大数定律”对应的，就是“小数定律”，不要遵循心理上的“小数定律”，犯一些滥用典型事件、以偏概全、赌徒谬误的错误。即便一个东西概率很低，只要次数足够多，就一定会发生，而如果这个东西，会造成巨大的影响，即 “黑天鹅”事件。

纳贝斯克集团公司（RJR Nabisco, Inc.）是雷诺烟草控股公司的母公司。雷诺烟草（初名雷诺士公司）成立于1875年，当时，25岁的雷诺先生（Richard Joshua Reynolds）开始在北卡州云丝顿（Winston）小镇上开始经营一家嚼烟生产企业。在经营咀嚼烟以后，他正确地预见到吸食烟草将会流行，并开始改革烟草配方、市场营销和包装。

双重股权制，在持股数量相同的情况下，基于持股等级的差异，部分股东可获得更多的投票权。与通常的一元制股权中一股一票、股东投票权一致的公司表决结构不同，双重股权结构中的优级股（通常是B股） 每股所拥有的表决权大于一般股（通常是A股）。双重股权结构在世界范围内被广泛采纳，但具体到每个国家（地区）则有所不同。

一股一票制是指股份公司的股东大会实行的表决制度。即对关系到公司发展的重大问题进行表决时，在股东大会上每个股东根据其持有股份的多少按股投票，一股一票。特点是凭股份参与企业的经营决策，按股参加分红。

【重点句子】（3 个）
With slowing core businesses, the giants are venturing onto each other’s turf, increasing competition.
随着核心业务的放缓，巨头们正大胆进入彼此的地盘，加剧内卷。

Meanwhile, they are threatened by “conglomeritis”. The symptoms of this disease are bloating and egomania.
与此同时，他们受“大企业病”的威胁。这种病的症状是扩张和极端利己。

The best safeguards against such indiscipline are active boards and investors.
防止这种无纪律行为的最佳保障措施就是积极的董事会和投资者。

自由英语之路