华盛顿邮报 推特采取“毒丸”策略阻碍马斯克收购计划(3)

And so I want to ask the question that I think is on a lot of people's minds, if they're just people who don't know this, like, "Wolf of Wall Street's" corporate¹ lingo², but, like, what is a hostile takeover?

所以我想问一个我认为很多人都在想的问题，如果他们不了解，像“华尔街之狼”这样的公司行话，不过，怎么说，什么是恶意收购?

Like, how can Elon Musk³ force Twitter to become his company?

比如，埃隆·马斯克怎么能强迫推特成为他的公司?

Right. So a hostile takeover is kind of exactly what it sounds.

对。 听起来就是恶意收购。

It is an uninvited demand for the opportunity to buy Twitter.

收购推特的机会不请自来。

And Twitter's board, you know, they have a fiduciary⁴ duty to do what is best for the shareholders⁵.

而推特的董事会，他们有受托责任为股东做最好的事情。

So that means if someone offers a legitimate⁶ amount of money, you have to consider it.

这意味着如果有人提供了合理的金额，你必须考虑。

You can't just laugh it off because that's not what the executives want or that's not what the employees want or not what the users want.

你不能一笑了之，因为这不是高管想要的，不是员工想要的，也不是用户想要的。

It's all about what is good for shareholders.

这一切都是为了股东好。

So even if everyone on the board of this company is like, "We don't really want him to have control of our company, and we don't want to sell to him," they don't have the control to say no?

即使公司董事会的每个人都说，“我们真的不想让他掌管我们公司，我们也不想把公司卖给他”，他们就不能说不吗?

They have to basically say, "Look, you're offering us enough money, so here you go. Here's our company"?

他们基本上会说，“看，你给了我们足够的资金，所以公司给你吧。 这是我们的公司”?

They don't have to agree to it at all, but they do have to consider it.

他们根本不需要同意，但他们必须考虑。

And the amount that he offered, you know, makes it hard to just, like, dismiss outright⁷.

他提供的金额，让我们很难，直接拒绝。

It was a premium⁸ on the very recent stock price.

这是最近股价的附加金额。

However, it is not if you consider just, you know, late fall last year, it was worth almost double as much.

然而，如果你想想去年秋天，现在股价几乎是原来的两倍。

So it's not an offer that they can just laugh out of hand.

所以这不是一个可以让他们一笑置之的提议。

You know, they have to take it seriously.

他们必须认真对待。

And that's why they adopted, Twitter's board, this poison pill defense⁹.

这就是为什么他们，推特的董事会，采用了毒丸防御策略。

Yeah, that's another term that I've heard people throw around that I really don't understand.

是，这是我听到人们说的另一个术语，我真的不理解。

Like, what is the poison pill defense?

什么是毒丸防御策略?

Like, what is Twitter trying to do here to defend against this hostile takeover?

这么说吧，推特在这里试图做什么来抵御这种恶意收购?

Intuitively, you understand. Like, it means, like, "I kill myself but also kill you."

直观地说, 以你理解的方式。 比方说，意思相当于 "我杀了自己，也杀了你" 。

I mean, essentially¹⁰ what it does is buys the Twitter board some time.

我的意思是，这种策略基本上是为收购成为推特董事会争取了一些时间。

So this poison pill defense, it only kicks in if Elon Musk increases his share to 15%.

所以这种毒丸防御策略，只有埃隆·马斯克把他的股份提高到15%时才会起作用。

If that happens, everybody but Elon, as the prospective¹¹ buyer, will be able to buy Twitter shares at a reduced price, and those shares -- Say they'll offer $10, and those shares at $10 will begin trading at $20.

如果这样的话，除了埃隆以外的所有人，作为潜在买家，都可以以低价购买推特的股票，假设他们的出价是10美元，这些股票将以20美元的价格开始交易。

So that means that Elon's stake in the company is significantly reduced, and the amount of money he would have to pay in order to buy up enough shares to purchase Twitter and take it private is prohibitively expensive.

因此，这意味着埃隆在该公司的股份大幅减少，而他必须支付的资金数额，用来购买足够的股份以收购推特并将其私有化，是非常昂贵的。

And so this also could potentially force Elon to go back to the board to renegotiate.

因此，这也可能迫使埃隆回到董事会重新谈判。

I mean, really what they're buying is time and difficulty.

他们真正购买的是时间和难度。

You know, if he wanted to just, as the richest man in the world, make a quick offer, take Twitter off the market, that's no longer an easy-peasy option for him.

如果他，作为世界上最富有的人，想要做出一个快速的提议，把推特从市场上撤出，这对他来说不再是一个简单的选择。

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 lingo   

n.语言不知所云，外国话，隐语

参考例句：

• If you live abroad it helps to know the local lingo.住在国外，学一点当地的语言自有好处。
• Don't use all that technical lingo try and explain in plain English.别尽用那种专门术语，用普通的词语解释吧。

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 fiduciary   

adj.受托的，信托的

参考例句：

• A company director owes a fiduciary duty to the company.公司董事应对公司负责受托人责任。
• He was acting in a fiduciary capacity.他以受托人身份行为。

5 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

6 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

7 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

8 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。