经济学人245:新鲜多汁的“苹果”

　　Carl Icahn’s latest investment

卡尔·伊坎的最新投资

Nice juicy Apple

新鲜多汁的“苹果”

Activist 1 investors 2 are training their sights on tech firms

积极投资者正在瞄准科技公司

Aug 17th 2013 | SAN FRANCISCO |From the print edition

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ALTHOUGH he is still stirring things up at Dell, an ailing 3 computer-maker, Carl Icahn has found time to tilt 4 at another tech titan. On August 13th the veteran shareholder 5 activist revealed that he had built up a stake in Apple, though he stayed mum about exactly how many shares he had bought. Mr Icahn’s intentions, however, are crystal clear: he wants the consumer-electronics behemoth to expand plans to return some of its whopping $147 billion of cash and marketable securities to shareholders 6.

尽管卡尔·伊坎仍在陷入困境的电脑生产商戴尔公司搅和，他已经抽出了时间力争另一家科技巨头。8月13日，这位积极的投资老手透露他已经持有苹果的股份，但是具体持有多少则避而不谈。然而，伊坎先生的意图很明确：他想要这家消费电子产品巨头扩张计划，将1470亿美元市值里的部分资金以现金和有价证券的形式返还给股东。

Mr Icahn is also after more money at Dell, where he has been lobbying with allies against a proposed buy-out plan put forward by Michael Dell, the firm’s founder 7, and Silver Lake, a private-equity firm. His pressing has already forced the buy-out group to raise its initial offer by over $350m, to $24.8 billion and he has taken his battle to the courts in a bid to extract an even higher price.

伊坎先生也仍在从戴尔公司争取更多的钱，他正在游说股东反对一起收购。这项收购计划是由戴尔的创始人迈克尔·戴尔和一家私募股权公司银湖发起的。来自伊坎先生的压力已经使收购方提高了3.5亿美元的价格，使得收购价达到了248亿美元。他已经将斗争带到了法庭，通过投标争取得到更多的钱。

Other tech firms have been attracting the attention of activist investors too. Earlier this year ValueAct Capital, an investment fund, said it had built up a $2 billion stake in Microsoft. Jaguar 8 Financial, a Canadian bank, has been encouraging fresh thinking at troubled BlackBerry, which announced on August 12th that it is exploring various strategic options, including alliances and a possible sale. And Elliott Management, a hedge fund, has been lobbying for change at NetApp, a data-storage firm that it thinks could do more to improve returns to shareholders.

其他的科技公司也吸引了不少积极投资者的注意。今年早些时候，一个投资基金ValueAct Capital表示其持有了微软公司20亿美元的股份。加拿大银行捷豹金融也鼓励陷入危机的黑莓创新思维。今年8月12日，黑莓公司表示其正在探索战略选择，包括结盟和出售公司。一家对冲基金艾略特管理公司游说数据存储公司NetApp做出改变，该公司认为NetApp能做出更多来提高股东的收益。

One reason tech firms have found themselves in activists 9’ crosshairs is that, like Apple, some built up big cash piles during the economic downturn and have been slow to use the money. Financiers hope to get them to loosen their purse-strings faster and to pocket some of the cash. Mr Icahn wants Apple to increase and accelerate a share buy-back programme that is currently set to return $60 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.

积极投资人瞄准科技公司的一个原因是，很多科技公司跟苹果一样在经济衰退时拥有很大的现金流，但是资金利用不足。金融家希望他们放松自己的财政，放出更多的现金。伊坎先生想要苹果增加并加速其股份回购计划。现在该计划是截止到2015年末，苹果公司返还600亿美元给股东。

Another reason that tech firms make tempting 10 targets for shareholder activists is that swift changes in technologies can trip up even the mightiest 11. Witness the case of Microsoft, which ruled the roost during the personal-computer era but has struggled to adapt to a world in which tablets and smartphones are all the rage. Investors hope to mint money by pushing companies to change more rapidly in response to such upheavals 12 in their markets.

积极投资者瞄准科技公司的另一个原因就是科技的日新月异甚至会搞垮行业巨头。看一看微软的例子，在个人电脑时期成垄断之势，而在平板电脑智能手机时代则处于苦苦挣扎的境地。投资者希望通过推动公司做出更快改变适应市场变化来挣得更多利润。

The rewards can be substantial. Egged on by Third Point, an activist hedge fund, Yahoo appointed Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive in July 2012. By the time she celebrated 13 a year in the job last month, the troubled web giant’s share price had risen by over 70%. In July the hedge fund sold a big chunk 14 of shares back to Yahoo. Mr Icahn thinks Apple’s share price, which closed at $499 on August 14th, could soar too if the firm follows his advice on buy-backs. He tweeted this week that he had had a “nice conversation” with Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, about his idea, though he did not say what Mr Cook thought of it. If Apple drags its feet, expect things to turn nasty.

报酬是实质性的。在活跃对冲基金第三点公司的怂恿之下，雅虎在2012年7月任命梅丽莎梅耶为新CEO。上个月她任职一年，这家陷入危机的互联网巨头股价上升了70%。7月，这家对冲基金回卖了一大笔股票给雅虎。伊坎先生认为苹果如果听从他关于回购的意见的话，其股价也能大涨。8月14日苹果的股价为每股499美元。这周他发推表示他跟苹果老板蒂姆库克有一个很愉快的对话，尽管他没有说库克对其建议的看法。如果苹果一拖再拖的话，等着丑事儿发生吧。