Facebook上市讓你窥豹一斑


一間公司的上市文件,某程度上能讓你赤裸裸地欣賞你未必知道的一面。最近Facebook絕對是讓人很想了解的公司,下面就是他們公司可能面對的風險:

1、我們可能輕易流失用戶,或者無法吸引新用戶。
We could simply lose users, or fail to add new ones.

2、我們有可能失去廣告商 — 新技術也許會幫助用戶屏蔽廣告。
We could lose advertisers — and new technology may let users block ads.

3、Facebook的手機平台上沒有展示廣告 — 越是這樣發展下去,對我們越是不利。
Facebook’s mobile platform doesn’t show ads — so the more that grows, the worse for us.

4、Facebook的應用平台可能不成功。
The platform for Facebook apps might not be successful.

5、來自Google、微軟、Twitter的競爭會加大 — 更別提全球其它眾多的社交網絡了。
The competition from Google, Microsoft and Twitter could heat up — not to mention other social networks around the world.

6、更多國家政府會限制對Facebook的訪問。
More governments could restrict access to Facebook.

7、用戶會轉用其它公司的新產品。
Users could turn their noses up at new products.

8、Facebook文化就是快速創新及用戶參與 — 這些成本將蠶食我們的利潤。
The Facebook culture is all about rapid innovation and getting users engaged — and that could come at the cost of profits.

9、不明朗的未來將會抹黑我們的品牌。
Unspecified future events could tarnish our brand.

10、系統出錯會讓人們訪問到他們不應該見到的信息。
Bugs might give people access to users’ information that they’re not supposed to see.

11、媒體會關注我們。
The media could turn on us.

12、我們的季度財務結果難以預測。
Our quarterly financial results could be difficult to predict.

13、Zynga佔了我們的收入12%。如果我們不再與合作,損失將很慘重。
Zynga accounts for 12% of our revenue. If we part ways, that could seriously hurt us.

14、我們的收入在上年增長了88% — 持續增長是件不容易的事情,增長之後必然是下滑。
Our revenue grew by 88% last year — and that’s simply not sustainable. Growth is bound to decline.

15、我們遵守的美國法律和制度,可能改變或修訂。
The U.S. laws and regulations we’re governed by could change or be reinterpreted.

16、如果我們的專利和版權未獲批准,或者無效,便會嚴重打擊我們。
If our patents and copyrights aren’t granted — or aren’t effective — it could seriously hurt us.

17、我們手頭有不少對我們不利的專利訴訟案件。
We have some patent lawsuits on our hands that could end badly.

18、我們捲入集體訴訟,可能會敗訴。
We’re also involved in class-action lawsuits, and we could lose them too.

19、Mark Zuckerberg佔有公司大比例股份,故公司權力過度集中於一個人手上。
Mark Zuckerberg has a massive amount of shares, which concentrates power in the hands of one man.

20、我們售出的特別股份涉及複雜的稅務負債 — 稅率會高達45%。
There’s a complicated tax liability connected to a particular kind of stock unit we gave out — one that will be taxed at 45%.

21、如果我們需要新一輪的投資,項目可能不太理想。
If we need more rounds of investment, the terms might not be reasonable.

22、成本上升有可能快過收入的增加。
Costs might grow faster than revenue.

23、我們大量的服務器是由第三方管理,它們可能會癱瘓。
A lot of our servers are handled by third parties, and they might be disrupted.

24、我們已著手建立大量自己的數據中心來處理網絡流量,但我們在這方面經驗不足。
We’ve started building a lot of our own data centers to handle traffic, and we’ve got limited experience doing this kind of thing.

25、我們的軟件出乎意料地複雜,可能會有大量錯誤。
Our software is incredibly complex and may have a lot of bugs.

26、我們不能說一定能夠有效應付業務的增長 — 我們現在有超過3000個員工,隨時可能會失控。
We can’t say for sure that we’ll handle our growth effectively — we have more than 3,000 employees now, and that could spin out of control.

27、如果我們失去像Zuckerberg或COO Sheryl Sandberg這樣的領導,我們將大受打擊。
If we lose our leaders, like Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, that would really harm us.

28、人們可能會對Facebook上貼出的各種內容起訴我們,包括知識產權、版權和誹謗等等。
People might sue us over all sorts of stuff posted on Facebook — intellectual property, copyright, defamation, and so on.

29、網絡病毒、黑客攻擊、網絡釣魚、惡意軟件會嚴重威脅我們。
Viruses, hacking, phishing and malware.

30、Facebook應用中的支付系統會催生新的政府監管措施。
Payment systems in Facebook apps could mean new government regulations.

31、我們會繼續海外擴張,我們無法預料在新的國家會出現的全部風險。
We’re continually expanding abroad, and we may not understand all the risks in new countries.

32、我們打算大量收購其它公司,它們可能會破壞Facebook的任何事情。
We’re planning to acquire lots of other companies, which could disrupt everything at Facebook.

33、我們可能對我們的租賃和債務違約。
We might default on our leases or our debt.

34、我們的稅務負債總額比我們預想的要大。
Our tax liabilities, in general, are bigger than we thought.

35、如果美國稅法需要改革,它可能會擊中我們的痛處。
U.S. tax code reform, if it happens, might hit us where it hurts.