谷歌新CFO承諾加強成本控制 New Google CFO promises more discipline

Google’s new chief financial officer on Thursday promised to bring greater discipline to the company’s cost controls, as well as to its ballooning capital spending on its most ambitious “moonshot” projects.

週四，谷歌(Google)新任首席財務官露絲波拉特(Ruth Porat)承諾，要對公司的成本控制和最雄心勃勃的“Moonshot”項目不斷膨脹的資本支出，實施更嚴格的管理。

The comments came as shares in the internet search company jumped almost 12 per cent in after-market trading, adding more than $40bn to its market value, after it topped most analysts’ earnings forecasts and met expectations for net revenues in its latest quarter.

在她做這番表態之際，這家互聯網搜索公司的股價在盤後交易中暴漲近12%，市值增加逾400億美元。此前，谷歌發佈了最近一個季度的財報，該公司盈利超出多數分析師的預期，淨收入則符合分析師的預期。

Financial analysts have looked to Ruth Porat, a former Morgan Stanley CFO, for a more Wall Street-friendly approach from Google, which pledged at its IPO more than a decade ago that it would keep its sights firmly set on the long term rather than on quarterly earnings.

金融分析師們期待這位摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)前首席財務官能使谷歌變得對華爾街更友好。在10多年前上市時，谷歌發誓將牢牢着眼於長期、而非季度盈利。

Besides keeping a closer eye on how the company prioritises its spending, Ms Porat said she was looking into extending Google’s financial disclosure. The company’s refusal to give more information about its ever-widening range of new businesses, even as its costs have risen and its growth slowed, has become as source of frustration on Wall Street.

波拉特說，除了更密切關注公司支出的優先順序外，她還準備擴大谷歌財務披露的範圍。谷歌拒絕就其不斷擴展的新業務披露更多信息（即便是在它的成本已經上升、增長已經放緩之際），這讓華爾街感到沮喪。

However, Ms Porat stopped short of setting targets that limit cost growth and expressed strong support for the financial objectives set by chief executive Larry Page, who has repeatedly brushed aside Wall Street’s concerns and stressed the growth potential in new markets ranging from life sciences to the “smart home” of the future.

然而，波拉特沒有設置成本目標來限制成本上升，並對首席執行官拉里槧奇(Larry Page)設定的財務目標表示強烈支持。後者一再對華爾街的擔憂表示不屑，並強調了從生命科學到未來“智能家居”等一系列新市場的增長潛力。

“To be clear, the priority is revenue growth, but pursuing revenue growth is not inconsistent with expense management,” Ms Porat said on a call with investors on Thursday.

“需要明確的是，最優先的是收入增長，但追求收入增長與支出管理並不矛盾，”波拉特週四與投資者通電話時說。

Google reported pro forma earnings per share of $6.99, up from $4.99 a year before, and higher than the $6.74 analysts had been expecting, amid signs that the inflation in its operating costs was moderating after recent quarters.

谷歌的預估每股收益從一年前的4.99美元升至現在的6.99美元，高於分析師此前預期的6.74美元。目前跡象表明，經過最近幾個季度，該公司營業成本的膨脹正在放緩。

Google used its latest earnings call to fight back against recent fears on Wall Street that YouTube has been losing ground to Facebook in online video. Total views on the site were up 60 per cent, the highest growth rate in two years, with mobile views doubling, Ms Porat said.

谷歌利用此次財報電話會議回擊了華爾街最近的擔憂，華爾街近來一直擔心YouTube在在線視頻領域正在輸給Facebook。波拉特說，YouTube網站的總瀏覽量增加了60%，爲兩年來的最高增速，而移動端的瀏覽量翻了一番。

Google’s gross revenues, at $17.73bn, came in slightly below analysts’ consensus view.

谷歌177.3億美元的總收入略低於分析師的共識預期。