【文章预读】

FOR seasoned bankers and starry-eyed entrepreneurs alike, doing an IPO, or initial public offering, is synonymous with the very idea of taking a firm public. No wonder, then, that the decision by Spotify, a music-streaming service, to opt for an unconventional alternative called a “direct listing” has prompted debate. Instead of paying investment banks hefty fees to arrange an IPO, Spotify plans to have existing shares simply switch one day to being tradable on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

IPOs themselves have become rarer, as startups such as Uber and Airbnb have chosen to raise money through private markets instead. Although there was an uptick in the number of IPOs in America in 2017—108, compared with 74 in 2016—the average number of IPOs has remained at around 100 annually since 2000, compared with over 300 in the course of the two previous decades. But until now no big company had contemplated direct listing as an alternative. The structure has been seldom used: in America, examples include a few vehicles for investing in property and a handful of small biotech firms. Among American exchanges, only NASDAQ has so far allowed such listings; the NYSE has proposed a change to its own rules that would allow them (it is still to be approved by regulators).

【文章精讲】

FOR seasoned bankers and starry-eyed entrepreneurs alike, doing an IPO, or initial public offering, is synonymous with the very idea of taking a firm public. No wonder, then, that the decision by Spotify, a music-streaming service, to opt for an unconventional alternative called a “direct listing” has prompted debate. Instead of paying investment banks hefty fees to arrange an IPO, Spotify plans to have existing shares simply switch one day to being tradable on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
对于经验丰富的银行家和满怀抱负的企业家来说，IPO（首次公开募股）就是公司上市的代名词。因此，当音乐流媒体服务公司Spotify决定选择一种名为“直接上市”（direct listing）的非常规方式时，引发争议也就不足为奇了。Spotify并没有向投资银行支付一大笔钱来安排IPO，而是计划在某一天让现有股票在纽约证券交易所直接转成可交易股票。

seasoned adj.有经验的
starry-eyed adj.幻想的 (having hopes that are not realistic)
entrepreneur n.创业者
synonymous adj.同义词的
-antonymous adj.反义词的
no wonder 难怪
unconventional adj.非传统的，标新立异的
-conventional adj.传统的
alternative n.另一种选择
prompt v.导致
hefty adj.沉重的
switch v.转换

IPOs themselves have become rarer, as startups such as Uber and Airbnb have chosen to raise money through private markets instead. Although there was an uptick in the number of IPOs in America in 2017—108, compared with 74 in 2016—the average number of IPOs has remained at around 100 annually since 2000, compared with over 300 in the course of the two previous decades. But until now no big company had contemplated direct listing as an alternative. The structure has been seldom used: in America, examples include a few vehicles for investing in property and a handful of small biotech firms. Among American exchanges, only NASDAQ has so far allowed such listings; the NYSE has proposed a change to its own rules that would allow them (it is still to be approved by regulators).
优步和爱彼迎等创业公司如今都选择通过私人市场融资，IPO本身已经变少。尽管2017年美国IPO数量增至108个（2016年为74个），但自2000年以来IPO的平均数量一直保持在每年100个左右；而再往前的20年里，年均IPO数量超过300个。不过到目前为止，还没有哪家大公司考虑过直接上市。企业很少采用这种上市结构，在美国，只有几个投资房地产的实体和少数几家小型生物技术公司使用过这种方法。在美国的交易所中，迄今为止只有纳斯达克允许直接上市；纽交所已经提出调整自身规则的计划，允许直接上市，但仍需要监管机构批准。

uptick n.上升
annually adv.每年地
-annual adj.每年的
decade n.十年
contemplate v.深思熟虑
seldom adv.罕见地
vehicle n.媒介
biotech n.生物技术
propose v.提出

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