经济学人147:双重股份制结构 控制的代价

 　　Business Dual-class share structures The cost of control

　　商业 双重股份制结构 控制的代价

　　The trouble with non-voting shares

　　无选举股份的麻烦

　　SHAREHOLDERS¹ in News Corporation have only themselves to blame. When they entrusted³ Rupert Murdoch with their money, they knew he would not let them tell him what to do with it. The Murdoch family owns about 12% of the company but controls almost 40% of the votes, through a special class of shares which have superior voting rights. Such "dual-class" share structures are quite common, especially at media firms. (The Economist⁴ Group has a version.) They can shield managers from stockmarket short-termism and hostile takeovers. But they cause problems, too.

　　新闻出版公司的股东只能为他们的行为买单。当将自己的钱委托给鲁伯特·默多克时，他们知道他不会让他们告诉他该怎样处理这些钱。默多克家族拥有公司12%的股份，却控制着40%的股权，这更高的表决权就是通过一种特殊的股份标准实现的。这种"双重标准"股份制结构相当常见，特别是在传媒公司中。（经济学人合作团队就是个例子）。他们可以使经理人免受由股票市场短期损益和敌对的收购带来的损失。

　　Two studies of American firms by Paul Gompers, Joy Ishii and Andrew Metrick, covering the years from 1994 to 2002, found that dual-class firms perform worse than comparable firms where all shares confer equal voting rights.

　　两项由Paul Gompers,Joy Ishii 和Andrew Metrick三人进行的对美国公司的研究包括了1994年到2002年的内容，发现当所有股东商谈平等投票表决权时，实行双重标准的公司表现的比同类公司差劲。

　　Dual-class firms are fonder of debt than equity⁵, to prevent the dilution⁶ of controlling stakes. Yet surprisingly, their shares do not trade at a big discount on stockmarkets. A study by Chad Zutter and Scott Smart found that dual-class initial public offerings (IPOs) achieved only slightly lower price-earnings and price-sales ratios than comparable single-class IPOs。

　　实行双重标准的公司更倾向于运用债务而不是资本金来降低控制风险。然而令人吃惊的是，他们的股份不会在股票市场上以很大的折扣进行交易。一项由Chad Zutter和Scott Smart主持的研究发现，双重标准IPO达到的跟同类单标准IPO公司相比只是轻微地降低了市盈率。

　　Nor does this strange ownership model show any sign of going out of fashion. There were 12 dual-class IPOs in America last year, not far from the norm for the nine-year period in the 1990s studied by Mr Zutter and Mr Smart.

　　但这种奇怪的所有权例子也没有任何过时的迹象。美国去年有12家进行双重标准IPO的公司，这与Zutter和Smart先生研究的20世纪90年代中实行的标准相差无几。

　　Dual-class structures are not just a way for press barons⁷ to keep their hands on the hatchet⁸ with which they threaten governments. Internet firms love them, too, since they allow founders⁹ brimming with self-belief to raise cash without surrendering control. Google's IPO in 2004 involved two classes of share. LinkedIn followed suit this year. The IPO filings of Zynga and Groupon would also grant managers control over voting rights.

　　双重标准结构并不只是一种让出版业大王高举斧头威胁政府的一种方法。因特网公司业很喜欢他们，因为他们允许创办人满怀自信地筹集资金而不听从别人的摆布。谷歌在2004年进行的IPO就实行了这种双标股份制。在接下来的几年里都是这样的。IPO档案管理者的Zynga和Groupon也会准予经理人对投票表决权进行控制。

　　Investors¹⁰ who seek long-term gains may be happy to cede¹¹ control if they think the boss is a genius. It worked for the holders² of B shares in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. It once worked for investors in Mr Murdoch, too. But tech punters have not been so lucky. The number of dual-class firms listed in America fell from 482 in 2000 to 362 in 2002 as the dotcom bubble burst. If the current internet boom follows a similar path, News Corporation shareholders will not be the only ones feeling second-class.

　　找到长期获利的投资者也许会很高兴地把操纵权转让，如果他们认为老板是个天才的话。他曾经在华伦巴菲特的Berkshire Hathaway中为B股股东工作。他也曾经在默多克为投资者服务。但技术投资者就不会这么幸运了。双重编制公司在美国的数量由于受到网络公司泡沫破裂的影响已从2000年的482家减少到2002年的362家。如果现今的因特网向同样地方向发展，新闻公司股东将不会是唯一感受到不被重视的人。

1 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

2 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

3 entrusted   

v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He entrusted the task to his nephew. 他把这任务托付给了他的侄儿。
• She was entrusted with the direction of the project. 她受委托负责这项计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

6 dilution   

n.稀释，淡化

参考例句：

• There is no hard and fast rule about dilution.至于稀释程度，没有严格的规定。
• He attributed this to a dilution effect of the herbicide.他把这归因于除草剂的稀释效应。

7 barons   

男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨

参考例句：

• The barons of Normandy had refused to countenance the enterprise officially. 诺曼底的贵族们拒绝正式赞助这桩买卖。
• The barons took the oath which Stephen Langton prescribed. 男爵们照斯蒂芬？兰顿的指导宣了誓。

8 hatchet   

n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀

参考例句：

• I shall have to take a hatchet to that stump.我得用一把短柄斧来劈这树桩。
• Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.别用斧头拍打朋友额头上的苍蝇。

9 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

10 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

11 cede   

v.割让，放弃

参考例句：

• The debater refused to cede the point to her opponent.辩论者拒绝向她的对手放弃其主张。
• Not because I'm proud.In fact,in front of you I cede all my pride.这不是因为骄傲，事实上我在你面前毫无骄傲可言。