Technology listings---Partying like it’s 1999

Initial public offerings are back in Silicon Valley amid the pandemic, after a fashion

经济学人8月刊

The first has to do with the financial markets themselves. Venture capitalists who had been pouring billions into unlisted firms began to cool on frothy startups before the pandemic, after a few unicorn listings disappointed (Lyft and Uber) or collapsed (WeWork). At the same time, rock-bottom interest rates are pushing public capital to seek returns. As a result, stockmarket investors are ready to accept high valuations, says Lauren Cummings of Morgan Stanley, an investment bank and a leading underwriter of IPOs. “There is insatiable demand by public investors,” agrees Brian Feinstein of Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture-capital (VC) firm.

Venture capitalists：风险投资，国内经常简称风投/VC   

rock-bottom n，最低点；adj，最低的，底层的

 Frothy /ˈfrɒθi/   1.( of liquids 液体 ) 有泡沫的；起泡沫的 •frothy coffee 泡沫咖啡 2.华而不实的；夸夸其谈的；花架子的 •frothy romantic novels 轻浮浅薄的浪漫小说 3.(衣服或布料 ) 轻薄精巧的

Underwriter 1，承保人，保险商（尤指船只）2. 核保人（对投保项目进行风险评估并决定保险费率）

Insatiable  adj./ɪnˈseɪʃəbl/ 不知足的；无法满足的 • an insatiable appetite/curiosity/thirst 永不满足的食欲╱好奇心╱渴望

Startups are keen to slake it before it dissipates. Many firms are therefore dusting off listing plans that were put on hold in the wake of the ride-hailing duds and the WeWork snafu. Their case is bolstered because and this is the second reason for startups’ listing-lust the pandemic has been a boon for many tech firms.

 be keen to 热衷于，渴望            put on hold：延期、推迟

Slake  v. /sleɪk/  1.~ your thirst to drink so that you no longer feel thirsty 缓和（口渴）；解（渴）

2. to satisfy a desire 满足（欲望）

Dissipate  v. /ˈdɪsɪpeɪt/  1. （使）消散，消失；驱散 •Eventually, his anger dissipated. 他的愤怒终于平息了。 2.挥霍，浪费，消磨（时间、金钱等）

dust off ：扫去灰尘，重新使用。这里指企业重新开始IPO

in the wake of 紧紧跟随；随着…而来；作为…的结果；仿效 ·There have been demonstrations on the streets in the wake of the recent bomb attack.  在近来的炸彈袭击之后，大街上随即出现了示威游行。

Hailing v. （大量物体）像雹子般落下（或击打）；跟……打招呼；示意（出租车）停下；把……誉为；（热烈）欢迎（hail 的现在分词）  ride-hailing 打车服务

Dud  n. 衣服；[军] 哑弹；无用物 adj. 无用的

Snafu  n. /snæˈfuː/（一切均未按计划发生的）混乱局面 • It was another bureaucratic/ˌbjʊərəˈkrætɪk/ snafu. 又让官僚主义搞成了一团糟。

Bolster /ˈbəʊlstə(r)/  n，垫枕（长而厚）v，~ sth (up) 改善；加强 • to bolster sb's confidence/courage/morale 增加某人的信心╱勇气╱士气

lust /lʌst/  1.~ (for sb) 强烈的性欲；色欲；淫欲 •Their affair was driven by pure lust. 他们私通纯粹是受淫欲的驱使。2.~ (for sth)  强烈欲望；享受欲 •She has a real lust for life (= she really enjoys life) . 她真懂得享受生活。

lust after/for sb/sth ( often disapproving )  对…有极强的欲望（尤指性欲）

Boon  n. /buːn/  ~ (to/for sb) 非常有用的东西；益处

The five big platforms Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft have thrived as self-isolating consumers spend more time and money online, and firms splash out on cloud-computing services to enable remote working. On August 19th Apple briefly touched a market capitalisation of $2trn, the first American company to do so. Not-so-big tech, too, has benefited, including many companies that have recently gone public.

splash out：随意花钱

The pandemic has highlighted and sped up a fundamental shift towards digital businesses, says Sarah Cannon of Index Ventures, a VC firm. The trend will last for decades, she predicts. Markets concur. The tech-heavy Renaissance IPO Index, which includes most listers of the past two years, is up by more than 40% since January (see chart 2). Zoom, whose videoconferencing app has become ubiquitous amid lockdowns, has seen its share price rise fourfold since floating in April 2019; it is worth $78bn. CrowdStrike, a cyber-security firm which listed in June last year, has quadrupled in value since March.

Concur  v. /kənˈkɜː(r)/  ~ (with sb) (in sth)~ (with sth) ( formal ) to agree 同意；赞同 • Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。

Renaissance IPO Index：富时IPO指数 和标普500一样是股票指数

ubiquitous adj. /juːˈbɪkwɪtəs/  似乎无所不在的；十分普遍的 • the ubiquitous bicycles of university towns 大学城里处处可见的自行车

Quadruple  /'kwɒdrʊp(ə)l; kwɒ'druːp(ə)l/ adj. 四倍的；四重的vt. 使……成四倍vi. 成为四倍 n. 四倍；四元组

One thing the latest boom has done is highlight how unhappy startups and VC firms have grown with the current process of going public. It is cumbersome, with reams of paperwork, and can take more than a year. It is also pricey and seen as too cosy for Wall Street. Investment banks’ fees alone eat up between 4% and 7% of a typical IPO’s proceeds, not counting lawyers and other advisers. Startups and VC firms point to big first-day pops as evidence that offerings are underpriced to give banks’ big investors a quick return. After all, those customers are regulars that must be kept sweet, whereas most startups only go public once.

Cumbersome  adj. /ˈkʌmbəsəm/  

1.大而笨重的；难以携带的 •cumbersome machinery 笨重的机器

2.缓慢复杂的 •cumbersome legal procedures 繁琐的法律程序

3. (词语)  冗长的；累赘的；复杂的 •The organization changed its cumbersome title to something easier to remember. 这家机构把它那复杂累赘的名称改得好记一些了。

ream /riːm/  n，1. 大量的文字（或写作）•She wrote reams in the exam. 她在考试中写得很多。 2.(术语) 500 sheets of paper 令  v，不公平地对待；欺骗 •We got reamed on that deal. 那笔交易我们上当受骗了。 ream sb←→ˈout 训斥；斥责

Disaffection with the IPO process, combined with a renewed desire to go public, has led some firms to consider alternatives. One is a “direct listing” of the sort Palantir is pursuing, and which Spotify, a music-streaming service, and Slack, a corporate-messaging firm, have used to good effect. Asana, which sells web-based project-management software, may be another unicorn to take the direct route. Direct listings use an electronic auction by the stock exchange to get startups a fairer price for their shares than investment bankers might. But they do not allow firms to raise new money. As a result, they are an option only for cash-rich firms.

of the sort：诸如此类···

译文

The first has to do with the financial markets themselves. Venture capitalists who had been pouring billions into unlisted firms began to cool on frothy startups before the pandemic, after a few unicorn listings disappointed (Lyft and Uber) or collapsed (WeWork). At the same time, rock-bottom interest rates are pushing public capital to seek returns. As a result, stockmarket investors are ready to accept high valuations, says Lauren Cummings of Morgan Stanley, an investment bank and a leading underwriter of IPOs. “There is insatiable demand by public investors,” agrees Brian Feinstein of Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture-capital (VC) firm.

第一个原因是与金融市场相关。疫情来临之前，风投给泡沫满满的初创企业不要命的撒钱热情，在一些独角兽企业失败的上市中开始退却。包括Lyft和优步Uber的上市未达到预期，以及Wework的失败收场。同时，低至谷底的银行利率推动公众资本寻求回报。投资银行、IPO的主要承销商摩根·斯坦利的lauren·Cummings表示，由于以上原因，股票市场的投资者已经准备好接受高估值。风投企业Bessemer的Brian·Feinstein同意的说道“公众资本确实有点欲壑难填的感觉。”

Startups are keen to slake it before it dissipates. Many firms are therefore dusting off listing plans that were put on hold in the wake of the ride-hailing duds and the WeWork snafu. Their case is bolstered because and this is the second reason for startups’ listing-lust the pandemic has been a boon for many tech firms.

趁在公众欲望消散之前，初创企业非常渴望满足他们。因此很多公司纷纷拾起因为uber的惨淡和wework的失败而搁置的上市计划。现在的环境好多了，这也是初创企业强烈上市欲望的原因--疫情对很多科技公司来说是简直是天赐良机。

The five big platforms Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft have thrived as self-isolating consumers spend more time and money online, and firms splash out on cloud-computing services to enable remote working. On August 19th Apple briefly touched a market capitalisation of $2trn, the first American company to do so. Not-so-big tech, too, has benefited, including many companies that have recently gone public.

互联网五大巨头--谷歌字母表、亚马逊、苹果、脸书、和微软蒸蒸日上，因为隔离中的消费者在线上花更多的时间、更多的钱；公司为了确保远程工作在云计算上面如流水砸钱。8月19日，苹果公司市值短暂的达到了2万亿美元，成为第一家突破的美国企业。其他不怎么大的企业也从中受益，包括很多最近上市的企业。

The pandemic has highlighted and sped up a fundamental shift towards digital businesses, says Sarah Cannon of Index Ventures, a VC firm. The trend will last for decades, she predicts. Markets concur. The tech-heavy Renaissance IPO Index, which includes most listers of the past two years, is up by more than 40% since January (see chart 2). Zoom, whose videoconferencing app has become ubiquitous amid lockdowns, has seen its share price rise fourfold since floating in April 2019; it is worth $78bn. CrowdStrike, a cyber-security firm which listed in June last year, has quadrupled in value since March.

风投企业Index Ventures的Sarah·Cannon表示疫情突出并加速了电子商务的根本转移。并预测这种趋势将会持续多年。市场印证了她的观点，科技比重大的富时IPO指数，它包括着近两年大部分上市的企业，从1月开始到现在涨幅超过40%。Zoom，一家视频会议app在封禁期间变得无所不在。它的市值自2019年4月发行之后，增长至是以前的4倍，达到780亿美元。2019年6月上市的网络安全公司CrowdStrike，市值也翻了两翻。

One thing the latest boom has done is highlight how unhappy startups and VC firms have grown with the current process of going public. It is cumbersome, with reams of paperwork, and can take more than a year. It is also pricey and seen as too cosy for Wall Street. Investment banks’ fees alone eat up between 4% and 7% of a typical IPO’s proceeds, not counting lawyers and other advisers. Startups and VC firms point to big first-day pops as evidence that offerings are underpriced to give banks’ big investors a quick return. After all, those customers are regulars that must be kept sweet, whereas most startups only go public once.

近期上市潮凸显了初创企业和风投公司对现今上市流程日益增长的不满。太繁琐了，大量的文字工作，流程可以长达一年。而且非常贵，感觉华尔街躺着赚钱。单单投行费用就能吃掉一般IPO融资的4%-7%，还不包括律师及其他咨询费用。初创企业和风投公司指出上市首日股价大涨表明发行价格被低估，用于投行给其投资大户带来快速回报。毕竟，常客需要讨好，而IPO基本是一次性买卖。

Disaffection with the IPO process, combined with a renewed desire to go public, has led some firms to consider alternatives. One is a “direct listing” of the sort Palantir is pursuing, and which Spotify, a music-streaming service, and Slack, a corporate-messaging firm, have used to good effect. Asana, which sells web-based project-management software, may be another unicorn to take the direct route. Direct listings use an electronic auction by the stock exchange to get startups a fairer price for their shares than investment bankers might. But they do not allow firms to raise new money. As a result, they are an option only for cash-rich firms.

对上市流程的不满，以及重燃对上市的渴望，一些企业开始考虑其他手段上市。其中一个是“直接上市”，诸如Palantir这类公司所追求。线上音乐服务商spotify和企业通信公司Slack取得了不错的效果。卖掉网页项目管理软件的Asana有可能也会走这条路。直接上市通过股票交易市场的电子竞价让企业获得通过投行上市相对公平的价格。但它不允许企业募集新资金。所以他们只是现金流充裕公司的备选。

未完待续····