2018年经济学人 特斯拉与市场:将特斯拉私有化(1)

 

"I wish we could be private with Tesla." So said an exasperated¹ and exhausted² Elon Musk³ to Rolling Stone last November.

“我希望可以将特斯拉私有化。”去年11月在对话《滚石》杂志时，愤怒又疲惫的埃隆·马斯克说如是。

Tesla's rise has been remarkable⁴.

特斯拉的成长一直引人注目。

In 15 years it has taken on established carmakers to become the world's leading manufacturer of electric cars.

在15年内，特斯拉从既定汽车制造商变成了世界电动车顶级制造商。

But the journey has been bumpy⁵. Of late Mr. Musk says his company has been in "production hell" trying to increase output of the Model 3,

但其成长路程并非一帆风顺。最近，马斯克表示他的公司一直处于“生产地狱”中，他们在设法增加Model 3的产量，

a whizzy mass-market saloon. While on its quest to change the world,

Model 3 是一款出色的畅销轿车。而其对于要改变世界的追求而言，

Tesla has frequently missed its production targets and has never made an annual profit.

特斯拉经常无法完成其生产目标，也从未有过年利润。

Feeling the heat, Mr. Musk earlier this year lashed⁶ out at share analysts⁷ for "bonehead" questions,

感受到这种高压后，马斯克在今年年初对股票分析师进行猛烈抨击

and has derided⁸ the army of short sellers targeting it.

并嘲笑了那些将此作为目标的买空型投资者。

Yet it still came as a shock when, on August 7th, Mr. Musk revealed his intention to take Tesla private in an extraordinary tweet.

但是8月7日，当马斯克在推特上透露他想将特斯拉私有化的意图后，大家还是感到很震惊。

He claimed that he had lined up enough money to buy out the firm at $420 per share, roughly a fifth above the share price at the time.

他声称他准备了足够的资金能够以每股420美元的价格买下公司全部产权，初略估计当时该价格超过其股价的五分之一。

The chaos⁹ surrounding the tweet led to a brief suspension of trading of its shares on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

围绕其推文而生出的混乱导致该公司股票在纳斯达克股票交易所短暂停牌。

Then Tesla released a memo¹⁰ confirming Mr. Musk's plan. He added details in subsequent tweets suggesting this was more than a lark¹¹.

然后特斯拉发布备忘录证实了马斯克的计划。他在后来的推文中透露了一些细节，这表明该计划并非玩闹。

By the end of the day the firm's shares were up sharply, dealing¹² a costly¹³ blow to the shorts.

到那一天结束之前，公司股价飙升，这给那些买空型投资者予以高代价的一击。

Mr. Musk's wish to depart from the public market is understandable, though of late he seems to have made some peace with its constraints¹⁴.

马斯克脱离公开市场的意愿也是可以理解的，虽然他最近似乎和公开市场中的一些限制达成了和解。

At a quarterly-earnings call on August1st he said output of the Model 3 was rising and forecast profits soon.

8月1日，在一场季度财报电话会议上，他表示Model 3的产量在增长，预测很快就能盈利。

He even apologised to analysts. But private backers with deep pockets would let him expand at his own pace.

他甚至还向分析师道歉。但是财力雄厚的私人赞助商将会让马斯克按照自己的计划进行扩张。

Can he achieve the unlikely yet again? One potential snag might be his cavalier use of tweets to drop his latest bombshell.

他能再一次实现这个似乎不可能的目标么？一个潜在的障碍或许是他在推特上公布了使人大为震惊的消息。

American regulators have ruled that firms are permitted to disclose financial information using social media,

美国监管者规定允许公司利用社交媒体披露财务信息，

but they must not mislead investors¹⁵.They will be watching to see if his claim of having "funding secured" is borne out.

但不得误导投资者。他们将观望他获得“资金担保”的言论是否属实。

1 exasperated   

adj.恼怒的

参考例句：

• We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
• Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。

2 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

3 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

6 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

8 derided   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His views were derided as old-fashioned. 他的观点被当作旧思想受到嘲弄。
• Gazing up to the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity. 我抬头疑视着黑暗，感到自己是一个被虚荣心驱使和拨弄的可怜虫。 来自辞典例句

9 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

10 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

11 lark   

n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏

参考例句：

• He thinks it cruel to confine a lark in a cage.他认为把云雀关在笼子里太残忍了。
• She lived in the village with her grandparents as cheerful as a lark.她同祖父母一起住在乡间非常快活。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

14 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

15 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会