商務禮節美語第68期:首次公開募股(2)

公司老闆召集手下Lisa和Ken開會，商量公司上市的問題。上市有哪些風險呢？Ken說，

K: Well, the day we offer stock for sale is the day we will see how much faith there is in our company. If people don't think we're very valuable they won't buy our stock. And if no one buys our stock we'll lose a lot of prestige.

L: I think I see the wisdom in Jerry's logic. I see our company as entering a transitory period. We've done very well so far but if we want to see serious growth it might be time to ditch our old business model and go public.

Ken說，公司上市能看出公衆對他們公司是不是有信心。Lisa覺得，Jerry主張公司上市融資增加公司規模的邏輯有道理，I see the wisdom in Jerry's logic. 她覺得，公司是應該進入一個轉型期，a transitory period, 放棄原來的商業模式，改爲上市。Lisa用的ditch is spelled d-i-t-c-h, ditch是放棄，拋棄的意思。

K: e. But I have my doubts. Remember all those companies back during the dot-com bust? They made their IPOs and a short time later, they were history.

J: That's true. But don't forget, some of those companies made a killing.

K: Okay, let's say we make a decision to go public; what kind of price are we thinking about charging for our stock?

Ken表示，自己還是持懷疑態度。I have my doubts. Ken 提到的 dot-com bust 是指1995年到2000年間的網絡泡沫，結果大批上市公司都成了 history. 形容某人或某事是 history，成爲歷史，意思是過氣了，再也不重要了。但是 Jerry 也說，Don't forget, some of those companies made a killing. 別忘了，其中很多公司都足足撈了一大筆。make a killing 意思是取得了巨大成功，尤其是指賺了很多錢。如果真要上市，每股定價多少呢？

J: I don't think there's a lot of appetite for adventure in the market right now. People are looking for either a good deal or something safe. I think we should offer a good deal and not make our initial price too expensive.
L: That's probably wise. But Jerry, have you really thought this through? You would essentially be giving up the company that your great-grandfather built.

Jerry覺得，現在市場上大家都在找上算的或是安全穩妥的股票，there isn't a lot of appetite for adventure. 沒有多少人願意冒險，所以Jerry建議股票定價不要過高。Lisa同意Jerry的看法，又問Jerry是不是考慮清楚了，think something through 是仔細考慮的意思。Jerry 會不會動搖呢？我們下次繼續聽。