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The company that is changing driving owns no cars; the one that has the hotel industry on the run owns no rooms.
一家没有汽车的公司正在改变驾驶；一家没有客房的公司打得酒店业溃不成军。
Such are the standard tributes to the radical business models of Uber and Airbnb.
这些是对优步(Uber)、Airbnb的全新商业模式的标准称颂之词。
Something else they lack, despite putative valuations of $68bn and $30bn respectively, is public listings.
还有一样东西是这两家公司没有的——尽管公认的估值分别为680亿美元和300亿美元，两家公司都没有公开上市。
For good or ill, this is innovation too, and part of a trend that reaches beyond the technology sector.
无论好坏，这也是创新，是不仅限于科技行业的一种趋势的一部分。
Private investors flush with cash have provided these companies and others with billions in funding.
现金充裕的私人投资者已经为此类公司提供了数十亿美元融资。
Tech company initial public offerings in 2016 are at the lowest level since the 2009 crisis.
2016年，科技公司首次公开发行(IPO)处于自2009年金融危机以来的最低水平。
Might a new tech bubble be inflating where only insiders — all with an interest in more pumping-up — can see it? And is the wider public the loser when more and more assets are owned by an investment elite?
新的科技泡沫是不是正在只有局内人能看到的地方被吹起——这些局内人全都受益于泡沫被吹得更大？而当越来越多的资产由投资精英所有时，广大民众是否成了输家？
News that Snapchat’s parent company Snap has filed for a $20bn-$25bn public offering has raised hope that the status quo is returning.
Snapchat的母公司Snap已经提交了规模达200亿至250亿美元的公开上市申请，这一消息让人燃起了情况正在回归常态的希望。
And pressure from employees and investors will, in time, push some tech companies into the IPO market.
来自员工和股东的压力也早晚会迫使一些科技公司进入IPO市场。
But the general trend towards a greater private ownership of equity is likely to last.
但越来越多股份由私人所有的整体趋势可能会持久存在。
The availability of private capital of all sorts persists.
各种私人资金依然充足。
Dramatic evidence of this was the recent decision of SoftBank and Saudi Arabia to set up a $100bn tech buyout fund.
这方面明显的例证是，软银(SoftBank)与沙特阿拉伯最近决定成立一家规模1000亿美元的科技企业收购基金。
It would have twice the firepower of the entire US venture industry.
该基金的资金实力将相当于整个美国风险投资行业的两倍。
At the same time, being public is hard work, in terms of reporting and pleasing restless markets.
与此同时，做一家上市公司并不轻松，需要披露各种信息、取悦不停波动的市场。
There are more than 170 private tech companies with valuation in excess of $1bn.
估值超过10亿美元的非上市科技公司有170多家。
These unicorns are worth over $660bn in total, more than Apple, the largest public company in the world.
这些独角兽公司的总估值超过6600亿美元，比全球最大上市公司苹果(Apple)的市值还高。
Anyone given pause by the decline of public markets has more than Silicon Valley to worry about.
任何被公开市场的不景气吓呆的人，都不止需要担心硅谷。
Assets owned by private equity houses have gone from $465bn to $2.4tn globally in the decade to 2015.
在截至2015年的十年间，全球私人股本机构拥有的资产已经从4650亿美元增至2.4万亿美元。
The big private equity groups, through their portfolio companies, are among the largest private employers.
大型私人股本集团（通过它们投资的公司）已跻身最大私营雇主之列。
There is a positive side to all this.
所有这一切也有积极的一面。
There is evidence to suggest that private companies invest more than publicly held ones, which can by hypnotised by the need to hit quarterly targets.
有证据表明，非上市公司比上市公司投资更多——后者可能把全部心思都放在了如何达到季度业绩目标上。
The lack of productivity growth in the US and Europe suggests that more investment is welcome.
美欧生产率增长乏力意味着更多投资值得欢迎。
And highly concentrated private ownership is, if anything, more likely to keep a closer eye on corporate governance than highly diffuse public ownership.
相比高度分散的公众持股，高度集中的私人持股只会更有可能对公司治理实施更密切的监督。
That said, in the venture capital world, all participants have reason to put off the pain of a down fundraising round, which dilutes older shareholders and employees who have been paid largely in restricted stock.
尽管如此，在风险资本的世界里，所有的参与者都有理由阻止一轮估值下调的融资(down round)带来的痛苦，这种融资会让老股东和主要以限制性股票为酬劳的员工所持股份价值缩水。
In public markets, short sellers and other sceptics have the motive and information to take the negative side of the valuation argument.
在公开市场，卖空者及其他持怀疑态度的人有动机和必要信息对估值持看空立场。
This is healthy.
这是健康的。
Of course, a decade and a half ago, public market transparency brought reason to tech valuations only very belatedly, and in a single destructive spasm.
当然，15年前，公开市场的透明性太晚才戳破科技公司估值的泡沫，并且一下子让科技公司估值跌入万丈深渊。
But then the trend was in the other direction: companies were going public before they had given evidence of their viability.
但当时的趋势是反过来的：企业在拿出证明自身存活能力的证据之前就上市了。
The information that deep, liquid and diverse public markets provides is not only of value to investors.
大容量、流动性好且多样化的公开市场提供的信息不仅对投资者有价值。
It helps policymakers, corporate managers and entrepreneurs understand the economy.
它还可以帮助政策制定者、企业管理者和创业者了解经济。
There is therefore a collective interest in seeing that public markets remain robust.
因此，公开市场保持强劲符合所有市场参与者的共同利益。
So it is worth considering what can be done to ease the regulatory burden on public companies without harming investors.
所以，值得考虑的是如何做才能在不损害投资者的情况下减轻上市公司的监管负担。
Eliminating the US requirement for publishing quarterly rather than semi-annual accounts is a place to start.
可以从消除美国对上市公司发布季度（而非半年）财报的要求开始。
Public markets are messy and demanding but worth cultivating all the same.
公开市场混乱又不好管理，但依然值得好好培育。
