经济学人下载:一周商业要闻

Business this week

一周商业要闻

Aug 17th 2013 |From the print edition

In a surprise move America’s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit opposing the merger of American Airlines and US Airways, specifically because it thinks air fares would rise as a result. In February the airlines announced they would combine, following the trend of consolidation among big American carriers. The merger recently won approval from European antitrust regulators. The American government’s opposition complicates American Airlines’ route to leaving bankruptcy protection, which it entered in 2011. See article.

美国司法部提起诉讼反对美国航空公司和全美航空公司的并购，这让人大吃一惊。原因是司法部认为这样会导致航空票价提高。二月，两家航空公司表示它们将合并，紧跟大型美国运营商的合并趋势。最近这起并购得到了欧洲反垄断监管机构的许可。美国政府的反对使得美国航空公司摆脱破产保护之路更加扑朔迷离，该公司在2011年宣布进行破产保护。

BlackBerry, which a few years ago was producing the world’s most sought-after smartphones, set up a committee to explore its “strategic alternatives”, including a possible sale of the company. Despite the launch of a revamped range of BlackBerry 10 devices this year the company has seen its market share slip further. Its stockmarket value is now around $6 billion, down from $40 billion three years ago.

几年前还生产深受市场欢迎的智能手机的黑莓公司目前成立了一个委员会探讨其战略选择，包括出售公司。尽管今年发布了全新的黑莓10系列设备，但是其市场占有率进一步下滑。目前其市值已从三年前的400亿美元跌倒了现在的60亿美元。

Squeezing Apple

受挤压的苹果

Carl Icahn, an activist investor who is marshalling the resistance to Michael Dell’s proposed buy-out of his computer company, revealed that he had acquired a small stake in Apple and had had a “nice” chat with Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, about boosting the size of its share buy-back programme. Earlier this year Apple was pressured into returning more of its cash pile to investors through dividends and share buy-backs. See article.

正在组织抵抗迈克尔·戴尔收购其创立的电脑公司的激进投资者卡尔·伊坎透露其得到了苹果少许份额的股票，并且表示其与苹果的老板蒂姆·库克有一个美好的对话，对话内容是关于扩张苹果股份回购项目的规模。今年早些时候苹果迫于压力通过分红和股份回购的形式向其投资者返还更多的现金。

Bill Ackman, another activist investor, resigned from the board of J.C. Penney, a struggling department-store chain, after a public slanging-match with its management. Mr Ackman’s hedge fund owns 18% of J.C. Penney’s shares. In 2011 he pushed to rebrand the stores and recruited an executive from Apple to run the company, only to see his man removed and replaced with J.C. Penney’s former boss. See article.

另外一位激进投资者比尔·阿克曼在与管理层互相谩骂之后从彭尼的董事会辞职，彭尼连锁百货处境艰难。阿克曼先生的对冲基金持有彭尼18％的股份。2011年阿克曼推动重塑彭尼的形象，并从苹果招募了一位主管管理公司，结果是他雇佣的主管下台，彭尼的前老板重新执掌公司。

América Móvil, Latin America’s biggest mobile-phone operator, bid to take control of KPN, offering 7.2 billion euros ($9.6 billion) for the 70% of shares in the Dutch telecoms company that it does not already hold. América Móvil, which is owned by Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, bought a minority stake in KPN last year in its first venture into European telecoms.

拉丁美洲最大的手机通信运营商“美洲移动”出价72亿欧元（96亿美元）从他人手中购买荷兰皇家电信70％的股份，从而接管荷兰皇家电信。美洲移动持有者Carlos Slim是世界首富，去年在向欧洲电信首次投资时购买了荷兰皇家电信的稍小股份。

Cisco, a big maker of networking equipment, said it would cut a further 4,000 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce. The firm is quitting consumer businesses and expanding into corporate cloud-computing.

大型网络设备制作公司思科表示其进一步减少4000份职位，约为其员工总数的5％。该公司正在退出消费者市场，扩大企业云计算市场。

Europe advances

欧洲取得进步

The euro zone’s GDP rose by 0.3% in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year, ending six consecutive quarters of contraction. Germany’s economy grew by 0.7%, the fastest pace in a year, and France’s by 0.5%. Italy and Spain were still mired in recession, but Portugal’s economy expanded by 1.1%. See article.

欧元区的GDP在今年二季度相比一季度增长了0.3%，结束了连续六个季度的持续收缩。德国的GDP增长了0.7%，是今年增速最快的国家，法国则增长了0.5%。意大利和西班牙仍旧处于衰退中，但是葡萄牙GDP增长了1.1%之多。

Japan’s economy grew by 2.6% at an annualised rate in the second quarter, well below most forecasts. The figure will fuel a debate about whether to increase the national sales tax to help reduce public debt. Some economists argue that raising the tax next year, as planned, will only dampen Japan’s soggy recovery.

二季度，日本经济按照年化率算增长了2.6%，低于大多数预测。该增长数字引起了关于是否增加国家销售税减少国债的讨论。一些经济学家表示明年按计划增加税负只会抑制日本疲软的复苏。

A survey of house prices by Britain’s Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors recorded the fastest rate of growth since November 2006 (measured as the proportion of surveyors reporting a rise in prices minus those reporting a fall). The index rose in every region of England and Wales, not just in London, as would-be house buyers surged into the market. In March the government unveiled a “Help to Buy” scheme that backs cheap loans for new buyers. Critics say this is merely creating a new property bubble.

英国皇家特许测量师协会的一份房价报告记录了自2006年十一月以来房价的最快增速（测算是按照报告价格增长的调查者比例减去报告价格降低的调查者比例）。随着潜在的购房者涌入市场，指数不仅仅是在伦敦，在英格兰和威尔士全境都为增长。三月，英国政府出台了一项助买计划，为新购房者提供低价贷款。批评者表示这几乎正在创造新的房地产泡沫。

The minutes from the latest meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee showed that one of its members dissented from the introduction of “forward guidance” that the bank will keep interest rates at 0.5% until the unemployment rate falls to 7%. Martin Weale supported the policy in principle but voted against it because of concerns about inflation. Britain’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in the three months to June at 7.8%. 

英格兰银行贷款政策委员会最新会议流出的摘要显示委员会中一名成员对前瞻指引的引言持异议。该引言规定英格兰银行在失业率下降到7%以下前将会将利率保持在0.5%。马丁·威尔原则上支持此项政策，但是由于担忧通货膨胀所以投了反对票。英国的失业率二季度持续保持在7.8%。

The first criminal charges were brought in the case of a derivatives trade that resulted in $6 billion in losses last year for JPMorgan Chase. Prosecutors in New York accused two former traders who worked in London of conspiracy and wire fraud, though Bruno Iksil, the trader nicknamed the “London whale”, avoided charges in an immunity deal. See article.

JP摩根收到去年导致60亿美元损失的衍生品交易案件的第一项指控。尽管外号伦敦鲸鱼的交易员布鲁诺·伊克希尔在一项豁免协议中拒绝指控，纽约的检察官仍指控JP摩根伦敦的其与另一名前交易员合谋策划远程诈骗。

Paulson hits the right notes

鲍尔森弹对了曲子

Steinway Musical Instruments, arguably the world’s best-known maker of pianos, accepted a buy-out offer from John Paulson’s investment firm for $512m. In July Steinway had agreed to be bought out by Kohlberg & Company in a separate private-equity deal, but Kohlberg declined to match Mr Paulson’s overtures.

斯坦威乐器公司可以说是世界上最好的钢琴生产商，近日接受了约翰·鲍尔森的投资公司5亿1200万美元的收购计划。七月，斯坦威同意科尔伯格公司的独立私募股权交易，但是科尔伯格最终拒绝了此项交易。