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 IPO is dead, long live the IPO. When the pandemic hit in March, initial public offerings, particularly those by technology startups, were predicted to be among the early victims. After all, who wants to go public in a once-in-a-century crisis?

IPO：initial public offering 首次公开募股

Silicon Valley：硅谷  Startup：这里这新公司、初创公司

after a fashion：adv，勉强，不太好·I can play the piano, after a fashion. 我会弹钢琴，不过马马虎虎。

Quite a few people, it turns out. In the past couple of months ipos, which all but dried up until late May, have come back with a vengeance in America. None of Silicon Valley’s recent and upcoming listings rivals that of Ant Group. The payments affiliate of Alibaba, an online giant, wants to raise a record $30bn in China by October, which could value the firm at around $200bn. But America’s technology startups have brought in $10bn so far this year (see chart 1)—and there is more to come. On August 19th Airbnb, which rents homes to travellers, filed for an ipo. Other privately held “unicorns” reportedly ready for public pastures include Snowflake Computing, which makes cloud software; DoorDash, which delivers food; and Instacart, which delivers groceries. Add Palantir, a cryptic data-management firm preparing for a direct sale of existing shares in public markets, and the latest combined valuation of these five is $80bn, according to PitchBook, a data provider. Even if they float only a portion of their shares, billions-worth of fresh tech stocks will soon trade publicly.

vengeance  n. /ˈvendʒəns/  ~ (on/upon sb) 报复；报仇；复仇• a desire for vengeance 复仇心• to take vengeance on sb 对某人进行报复

IDIOMS 习语

1. WITH A ˈVENGEANCE 程度更深地；出乎意料地 •She set to work with a vengeance. 她加倍努力地工作起来。

Pasture /ˈpɑːstʃə(r)/  

1.名词， 牧场；牧草地；动词，放牧 •an area of permanent/rough/rich pasture 一片永久的╱贫瘠的╱富饶的牧场  •high mountain pastures 高山牧场

2.复数形式：生活状况；工作条件；个人发展的机遇 •I felt we were off to greener pastures (= a better way of life) . 我觉得我们在迈向更好的生活。

public pastures：结合上下文，是指企业准备上市融资。

Ant Group：蚂蚁集团  阿里巴巴旗下的支付公司（The payments affiliate of Alibaba）

File for：申请，提出申请

Unicorn：独角兽，在这里指投资界对于10亿美元以上估值并创办时间较短的公司称谓

Cryptic /ˈkrɪptɪk/  含义隐晦的；晦涩难懂的 • a cryptic message/remark/smile 令人困惑的信息╱话语╱微笑

This flurry of activity has not reached dotcom-bubble territory from the turn of the century, when dozens of startups floated each month. But there is a whiff of “irrational exuberance” in the air, detects Lise Buyer, who has watched technology stocks since the heady late 1990S and now helps startups with IPOs at Class V Group, an advisory firm. When Duck Creek, an insurance-tech company, went public on August 14th, it closed nearly 50% higher. BigCommerce, an online-shopping platform which floated a week earlier, saw its shares “pop” by more than 200%.

dotcom-bubble territory：网络泡沫范围/领域，dotcom代表网络，这里指代本世纪初的互联网泡沫

Whiff /wɪf/  

1.~ (of sth) 一点儿气味；一股气味 •a whiff of cigar smoke 一股雪茄烟味

2. ~ (of sth)  轻微的迹象（或感觉）；一点点；些许 •a whiff of danger 一点点危险

3.( NAmE ) (  高尔夫球或棒球 ) 挥空（击球未中）

动词：有臭味，挥空（高尔夫或者棒球）

Exuberance  /ɪɡˈzjuːbərəns/  快乐有活力的行为 • Her burst of exuberance and her brightness overwhelmed me.  她的活力勃发和她的聪明智慧征服了我。

With the S&P 500 index of big American firms at an all-time high, never mind that covid-19 rages on, investors’ rationality is certainly up for debate. But for many startups, the desire to go public is perfectly rational, for two reasons.

S&P 500 index 标准普尔500指数，记录美国500家上市公司的一个股票指数。

rage /reɪdʒ/  

1. 暴怒；狂怒 •His face was dark with rage. 他气得面色铁青。 •to be shaking/trembling/speechless with rage 气愤得发抖╱战栗╱说不出话来

2. ( 构成复合词 ) （某情况引起的）愤怒，暴力行为 •a case of trolley rage in the supermarket 超市里一起由手推车引起的暴力事件

3. ~ (at/against/about sb/sth) 发怒；怒斥 •He raged against the injustice of it all. 这一切不公正使他大发怒火。

4.~ (on) (暴风雨、战斗、争论等 )  猛烈地继续；激烈进行 •The riots raged for three days. 暴乱持续了三天。

5.[ V usually + adv./prep. ] ( 疾病、火焰等 )  迅速蔓延；快速扩散 •Forest fires were raging out of control. 森林大火迅速蔓延，失去了控制。

6. 外出玩个痛快；出去作乐

译文

THE IPO is dead, long live the IPO. When the pandemic hit in March, initial public offerings, particularly those by technology startups, were predicted to be among the early victims. After all, who wants to go public in a once-in-a-century crisis?

IPO已死，IPO长存。3月份疫情来袭之时，IPO，尤其是科技新创公司的IPO被预测是最先受打击的一批。毕竟，谁会在百年一遇的灾难中上市呢？

Quite a few people, it turns out. In the past couple of months ipos, which all but dried up until late May, have come back with a vengeance in America. None of Silicon Valley’s recent and upcoming listings rivals that of Ant Group. The payments affiliate of Alibaba, an online giant, wants to raise a record $30bn in China by October, which could value the firm at around $200bn. But America’s technology startups have brought in $10bn so far this year (see chart 1)—and there is more to come. On August 19th Airbnb, which rents homes to travellers, filed for an ipo. Other privately held “unicorns” reportedly ready for public pastures include Snowflake Computing, which makes cloud software; DoorDash, which delivers food; and Instacart, which delivers groceries. Add Palantir, a cryptic data-management firm preparing for a direct sale of existing shares in public markets, and the latest combined valuation of these five is $80bn, according to PitchBook, a data provider. Even if they float only a portion of their shares, billions-worth of fresh tech stocks will soon trade publicly.

然而结果是不少的人都愿意在这种环境下上市。在过去的几个月中，美国的ipo到五月底基本完全销声匿迹，但迎来了出乎意料的复兴。当然硅谷近期及即将到来的上市公司都不是阿里巴巴旗下的支付公司-蚂蚁集团的对手。（它是）一家互联网巨头，打算10月份在中国上市，筹集300亿美元，意味着公司可能估值到2000亿美元。但美国的科技初创公司今年目前已经融资100亿美元。（参考图表1），而且还有更多的公司将要融资。8月19日，爱彼迎（airbnb），一家给游客租房的企业，提出上市申请。其他的独角兽企业也准备上市，包括Snowflake Computing，一家开发云软件的公司；DoorDash，餐饮配送企业；Instacart，日用百货配送企业。Add Palantir，一家神秘的数据管理公司也准备将现有股票直接公开出售。根据数据供应商PitchBook的估算，这五家企业最新的估值约800亿美元。即使他们仅发行一小部分他们的股份，几十亿美元的新科技股票将会在公开市场交易。

This flurry of activity has not reached dotcom-bubble territory from the turn of the century, when dozens of startups floated each month. But there is a whiff of “irrational exuberance” in the air, detects Lise Buyer, who has watched technology stocks since the heady late 1990S and now helps startups with IPOs at Class V Group, an advisory firm. When Duck Creek, an insurance-tech company, went public on August 14th, it closed nearly 50% higher. BigCommerce, an online-shopping platform which floated a week earlier, saw its shares “pop” by more than 200%.

这些互联网企业的骚动并没有达到本世纪初互联网网络泡沫时代的程度，当时每月都有好几打初创企业上市。但Lisa Buyer追踪到空气中有非理性狂热的迹象，她从90年代末开始关注科技股，现在在Class V 集团，一家咨询公司，帮助创业公司上市。科技保险公司Duck Greek在8月14日上市，当日收盘涨了接近50%。线上购物平台BigCommerce上周发行一些股份，结果暴增200%

With the S&P 500 index of big American firms at an all-time high, never mind that covid-19 rages on, investors’ rationality is certainly up for debate. But for many startups, the desire to go public is perfectly rational, for two reasons.

大型美企的标准普尔500指数居高不下，管它新冠肆虐。当然投资者是否理性值得讨论，但初创企业想要上市是理性的，有两个原因。

未完待续····