经济学人16:拆分新闻集团 默多克的"壮士断腕"

 　　Business.

　　商业。
　　Breaking up News Corp.
　　拆分新闻集团。
　　Murdoch does the splits.
　　默多克的"壮士断腕"。
　　Investors 1 like the idea of hiving off the group's newspaper arm.
　　投资者更赞成新闻集团能够将报纸业务剥离出去,与其电视娱乐业务分立开。
　　SHAKESPEARE mused 2 that "It is beyond the power of man to bring love and wisdom to an union."
　　莎士比亚曾思索到，让一个人兼具爱与智慧，乃其力所不及的。
　　News Corporation's shareholders 3 have long agreed, arguing that Rupert Murdoch's abiding 4 love for newsprint has clouded his judgment 5 and tainted 6 his media empire. The sluggish 7 growth and the legal cases besetting 8 News Corp's publishing arm set it in sharp contrast to the group's robust 9 film and television assets, which account for three-quarters of revenues and almost all operating profit.
　　新闻集团的股东们一直认为并辩称鲁伯特·默多克对新闻出版业的钟情影响了他的决策判断，从而拖累了他整个传媒帝国。集团的出版业务增长缓慢，官司不断，这使得该部门的资产与集团强劲的电影与电视部门相比相形见绌，后者为集团贡献了四分之三的收入，以及几乎所有的营业利润。
　　After months of hinting that it may heed 10 investors and separate the two parts, News Corp's board met on June 27th to approve a split, and was set to confirm its decision as The Economist 11 went to press. (Update: The firm has since announced its plans for a split.)
　　新闻集团在数月来提及其可能会听从投资者的建议将两大业务分拆之后，6月27日，董事会批准分拆计划，并定于本刊出版之际确认决议。（最新消息：新闻集团已经对外宣布了分拆计划）。
　　News that a split was under consideration sent News Corp's share price up by around 10%. At over $22, it is now at its highest since 2007. This bolstered 12 the view that dividing the group will boost both companies and reward shareholders.
　　考虑分拆的消息将新闻集团的股价推高近10%，股价超过22美元，达到2007年来的最高点。股价的表现支持了这一观点，即：分拆将同时促进两家公司的发展，并且使股东得到更好的回报
　　After the phone-hacking 14 scandal at News Corp's British newspaper arm-which is still being investigated by Lord Justice Leveson, a senior judge-the group had to drop its bid for full ownership of BSkyB, a profitable satellite broadcaster; it already owns 39%. Separating the publishing division and giving it a new boss may not be enough to overcome regulatory obstacles to News Corp taking full ownership of BSkyB. But it should help protect the entertainment businesses from the scandal's rising legal costs, and at least ward 13 off pressure for News Corp to sell its existing stake.
　　在新闻集团英国的报业分支爆出窃听门丑闻之后（该案件目前仍在接受上诉法院大法官莱维森的调查），该集团不得不放弃收购英国天空广播公司（BSkyB）以实现完全控股（新闻集团目前已拥有该公司39%的股份）。尽管将新闻出版部分剥离出来并转由新的老板管理尚不足以使得新闻集团克服监管障碍，从而买下天空广播公司，但它能帮助集团的娱乐业务免受窃听门案件带来的诉讼成本高涨的影响，至少消除新闻集团出售现有股份的压力。
　　Besides closing the News of the World in the wake of the hacking scandal, News Corp has recently rid itself of another sour asset, MySpace (an ailing 15 social-media site), and initiated 16 a $10 billion share buy-back (which will have the side-effect of enlarging the Murdochs' 40% stake). Such moves have supported the group's share price and pleased shareholders. But splitting the company in two is the "ultimate dream" of investors, says Michael Nathanson of Nomura, a stockbroker 17.
　　除了在窃听门事件之后关停《世界新闻报》，新闻集团最近还甩卖了（一家每况愈下的社交网站）聚友网这一不良资产，并发起了一项100亿美元的股票回购计划（这将扩大默多克现在持有的40%的股份）。对于新闻集团来说，这些举动提振了股价，取悦了股东。不过，在日本野村证券的股票经理人迈克尔·纳罕森看来，将新闻集团一分为二才是投资者的最终梦想。
　　Analysts 18 worry that News Corp is still juggling 19 too many minority stakes in smaller companies, such as Hulu (online video) and Tata Sky (Indian satellite television). Todd Juenger of Sanford C. Bernstein, an investment bank, also worries about the $11 billion of idle cash on News Corp's balance-sheet. However, Chase Carey, the group's chief operating officer, has been busy trying to sort out its tangle 20 of holdings, selling some of its minority stakes at a profit and buying full control of other holdings. Investors seem prepared to cut Mr Carey some slack while he does so. Any reorganisation of the top table will probably keep him just below Rupert Murdoch, leaving his son James Murdoch, who gave up the chairmanship of News Corp's British newspaper arm after the scandal, out of the spotlight 21 for now.
　　新闻集团在太多相对小型的公司（如在线视频网站葫芦网以及印度卫星电视塔塔天空）都持有一小部分股份（言外之意是持股太分散了），分析人士对此表示担忧。托德·乔根，是来自一家名为桑福德·伯恩斯坦（Sanford C. Bernstein）投资银行。他对新闻集团资产债务表上110亿美元的闲置现金表示担心。然而，新闻集团的COO（首席运营官）切丝·凯里则忙于整理混乱的持股，获利出售一部分新闻集团占少数股权公司的股份，同时收购一些股份以实现占大股份公司的全部控股。尽管他如此做，但投资者看似准备放过凯里一马（参考译法：投资者似乎准备助其一臂之力）。高层的任何重组都很有可能使得凯里的地位仅次于鲁伯特·默多克，从而让默多克的儿子詹姆士·默多克暂时脱身于公众聚焦。窃听门丑闻发生后，詹姆士·默多克辞去了新闻集团英国报业执行主席一职。
　　The fastest-growing parts of the company are its television and cable businesses. News Corp was shrewd in understanding the market for conservative political TV in America: the core audience of Fox News creates a stable cashflow. The company has also made wise investments in sports broadcasting, which viewers still prefer to watch live (making it more attractive to advertisers). BSkyB owns the lion's share of Britain's football rights, Fox has American football, and its cable network hosts NASCAR races. The company is expanding its holdings in Australia and Latin America, and is considering a new national sports network in America to rival ESPN.
　　电视及有线业务是新闻集团增长最快的部分。新闻集团深谙政治上偏保守的电视节目在美国的市场，凭借福克斯新闻笼络一批核心观众，创造了一个稳定的收入。同时，集团还对体育赛事播报进行投资，因为观众还是更喜欢看现场直播（这对于广告商来说更具吸引力），此举非常英明。天空广播公司拥有英国足球赛事的最大份额转播权，福克斯拥有美国足球的播放权，以及福克斯有线电视网络举办的纳斯卡赛车比赛。公司正在澳大利亚及拉丁美洲扩大其持股，并考虑在美开办一个新的全国体育广播网与ESPN竞争。
　　The portfolio 22 of newspapers in News Corp's publishing arm (which also includes HarperCollins, a big book publisher) encompasses 23 loss-makers like the London Times and the New York Post, as well as the Wall Street Journal, which Mr Murdoch paid too much for but which at least is in profit, and the Sun, a populist cash-cow. The newspaper business may not be growing, but it generates enough cashflow to sustain itself, says Jeff Logsdon of BMO Capital Markets. It is unlikely that the company will try to offload its British papers while Mr Murdoch is still alive, in part because the phone-hacking trials could go on for years.
　　相比之下，新闻集团的出版业务（包括哈珀柯林斯，一个大型图书出版社）则涵盖伦敦的《泰晤士报》，《纽约邮报》以及《华尔街日报》，这些默多克倾注最多但盈利却最少的包袱，及《太阳报》这样的大众化报纸，它的盈利还是可观的。蒙特利尔银行（BMO）资本市场部的杰夫·罗格斯登说："报纸业务也许并不会增长，但它带来的现金流足以维系自身运转。"在默多克的有生之年，公司不大可能将英国的报纸业务甩掉，这其中部分也因窃听门审理可能会持续数年。
　　The ideal outcome for investors may be a repeat of what happened when Viacom, a film and cable giant, spun 24 off its broadcast arm, CBS, in 2005. Sumner Redstone remained chairman of both sides but Leslie Moonves, given the job of running the supposedly sluggish CBS part, showed that it could be revived-since when the shares of both businesses have risen.
　　对于投资者而言，最理想的结果可能是重演2005年维亚康姆（Viacom）拆出其电视业务CBS一幕。维亚康姆是一家以电影及电视网为主的传媒巨头。维亚康姆分拆后，萨默·雷思东（Viacom的董事长兼CEO）仍然兼任两个公司的董事长，莱斯利·穆恩维斯(CBS的总裁)则负责运营被认为萧条的哥伦利比亚广播公司（CBS），他们认为分拆后CBS能够复兴。果如其所料，维亚康姆自分拆为二上市后，其两家公司股票都出现上涨。