2023年经济学人 字节跳动开启新一轮股票回购（在线收听）

字节跳动开启新一轮股票回购

The world this week--Business

本周国际要闻--商业

ByteDance has offered to buy back stock from investors, according to reports, in a proposal that values the owner of the TikTok and Douyin platforms somewhere between 260bn dollars and 268bn dollars.

据报道，字节跳动提出从投资者手中回购股票，该提议对TikTok和抖音平台的所有者字节跳动的估值在2600亿美元至2680亿美元之间。

That is about 10% less than what the firm was reportedly worth a year ago in a separate buy-back plan. 这比该公司一年前在另一项回购股票计划中的估值低了约10%。

ByteDance is still the world’s most valuable startup and one of the most valuable firms in China. 字节跳动仍是世界上最有价值的初创公司，也是中国最有价值的公司之一。

It has toyed with listing on the Hong Kong stockmarket several times.

字节跳动还曾开玩笑似地多次在香港港股上市。

Meanwhile, a federal judge imposed an injunction against Montana’s statewide ban on TikTok. 与此同时，一名联邦法官实施了一项禁令，禁止蒙大拿州对TikTok实施全州禁令。

The ban was supposed to come into force in January, but the judge found that Montana was focused on “targeting China’s ostensible role in TikTok”, and that foreign policy “is not an important Montana state interest”. 这项禁令本应于明年1月生效，但这位法官裁决，蒙大拿州的重点是“针对中国在TikTok上的表面作用”，而外交政策“不是蒙大拿州的重要利益”。

The ban had been challenged by TikTok and free-speech advocates. TikTok和言论自由倡导者曾对这一禁令提出质疑。

Montana described the injunction as “a preliminary matter” in an ongoing process in which it would present “a complete legal argument” to the court. 蒙大拿州将这项禁令描述为正在进行的程序中的“初步事项”。在这个程序中，该州将会向法院提出“完整的法律论据”。

China has started operating the world’s first “fourth-generation” nuclear reactor, according to state media.

据官方媒体报道，中国已开始运营世界首座“第四代”核反应堆。

The coastal plant in China’s Shandong province generates power through a HTR-PM high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor, based on a modular design. 这座位于中国山东省的沿海核电站基于模块化设计，通过HTR-PM高温气冷堆发电。

Over the past ten years China has added 37 nuclear reactors to its energy mix (America has added two) and is aiming to install between another six and eight a year.

在过去的十年里，中国在其能源结构中增加了37个核反应堆(美国增加了2个)，中国还计划每年再安装6到8个。

British American Tobacco said it would take an impairment charge of around 25bn pounds (31.5bn dollars), as it writes down the carry value of its cigarette assets over the next 30 years. 英美烟草公司宣布将计提约250亿英镑(合315亿美元)的减值损失，该公司将在未来30年减记其卷烟资产的账面价值。

The company, which counts Dunhill, Kent and Lucky Strike among its brands, aims to get half its revenue from smokeless products by 2035.

包括登喜路(Dunhill)、肯特(Kent)和好彩(Lucky Strike)在内都是这家公司的旗下品牌，其目标是到2035年无烟产品占其总收入的一半。

Procter & Gamble also booked an impairment charge, on the value of Gillette, which it acquired almost two decades ago. 宝洁公司也减计了其近20年前收购的公司吉列的价值。

The conglomerate is writing off 1.3bn dollars from the male shaving-and-grooming business in the current quarter, which comes on top of the 8bn dollars it wrote down in 2019.

该集团将在本季度从男性剃须和美容业务中减记13亿美元，此前该集团在2019年减记了80亿美元。

Gillette has struggled to compete against razor-sharp marketing from upstarts such as Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s.

吉列一直难以与Dollar Shave Club和Harry’s等后起之秀的犀利营销竞争。

Disney was forced to defend its business strategy, after Nelson Peltz launched a fresh proxy fight to gain a seat on the company’s board.

迪士尼被迫为自己的商业战略辩护，此前，纳尔逊·佩尔茨为在公司董事会获得一个席位，发起了一场新的代理权争夺战。

In February Mr Peltz’s hedge fund, Trian Partners, backed down from its battle to get a board seat, saying that Disney’s restructuring plan, which included 7,000 job losses, did “everything we wanted them to do”. 佩尔茨的对冲基金Trian Partners在今年二月放弃了争取董事会席位的斗争，称迪士尼的重组计划(包括裁员7000人)“做了我们希望他们做的一切”。

But Mr Peltz now says that, since giving Disney the opportunity to “right the ship”, shareholders have lost 70bn dollars in value. 但佩尔茨现在表示，自从给予迪士尼“挽回颓势”的机会以来，股东已经损失了700亿美元的价值。

Disney responded by saying it is in the middle of a “significant transformation”.

迪士尼回应称公司正处于“重大转型”之中。