ECONOMICS REPORT - Microsoft's Play for Yahoo | Hollywood Writers Back to Work
Thu, 14 Feb 2008
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
经济报道－微软欲收购雅虎/好莱坞编剧重返岗位。
2008年2月14日，星期四。
The competition between Microsoft and Google took a new turn on February first. Microsoft made a public offer to buy the Internet company Yahoo. Microsoft says the combined companies would be in a better position to compete against Google in the online services market.
2月1日，微软与谷歌出现新一轮的竞争。微软公开报价，收购网络公司雅虎。微软说，二家公司合并后，与谷歌在线服务市场竞争中处于有利地位。
This week, Yahoo rejected the offer. Its board of directors said the price undervalued the company. The offer was worth almost forty-five billion dollars in cash and stock, or thirty-one dollars per Yahoo share. Yahoo is said to want forty dollars a share.
本周，雅虎拒绝了微软的报价。雅虎董事会说，报价低估了雅虎的价值。报价包括现金和股票，价值大约为450亿美元，即每股雅虎股票为31美元。据说，雅虎想要每股40美元。
Microsoft says it offered a full and fair price. It says moving forward quickly with the deal would be in the best interest of shareholders. Yet since February first, the value of Microsoft's offer has fallen to twenty-nine dollars a share because of a drop in its stock.
微软说，其报价是充分而公平的价格。微软还说，快速推进这一交易符合全体股东的最大利益。但是，自2月1日以来，由于微软股票的下跌，微软报价的价值已经下降到每股29美元。
Microsoft thinks it could better compete against Google with Yahoo's expert knowledge. Microsoft could attempt a hostile takeover. But that is not the way it normally does business, and there is risk of angering Yahoo's employees.
微软认为，雅虎专业知识能够更好地与谷歌竞争。微软可以采取敌对收购。但这并不是微软的通常做法，并且有可能激怒雅虎的员工。
In the last two weeks, Yahoo has discussed possible combinations with other companies, including the News Corporation, AOL and Google. But Yahoo may not be able to avoid a buyout by Microsoft. The latest reports are that some big Yahoo shareholders would support a deal if Microsoft raised its offer.
在过去的二周内，雅虎已与其它公司讨论了合并事宜，包括新闻公司、AOL（美国在线）以及谷歌。但是，雅虎也许无法避免被微软买断。最新的报道是，如果微软提高其报价，某些雅虎大股东将支持这一交易。
The purchase would be the largest ever by the world's leading software maker. Yet Microsoft has made little progress in its Internet search abilities and in the growing business of online advertising. Google, the leading Internet search company, is the strongest competitor for those advertising dollars.
这一收购将是世界领先软件制造商（微软）有史以来的最大收购。但是，微软网络搜索能力以及不断增长的在线广告业务进展缓慢。领先网络搜索公司（谷歌）是这些广告收入的最强竞争对手。
Microsoft is based in Redmond, Washington. Yahoo and Google are in California's Silicon Valley.
微软位于华盛顿州的Redmond市。雅虎和谷歌位于加利福尼亚的硅谷。
Internet technology was also at the heart of the television and movie writers strike, which ended this week. Writers voted in Los Angeles and New York to return to work after one hundred days on strike. A proposed new contract would pay them for the first time for creative material that appears online and in other new media.
网络技术也是电视电影编剧罢工的核心，该罢工于本周结束。在100天的罢工之后，编剧们在洛杉矶和纽约投票，决定重返岗位。拟议新合同将首次因在线以及其它新型媒介出现的创造性材料而向他们会费。
Members of the Writers Guild of America are expected to approve the three-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Now the producers need to negotiate a new agreement with the Screen Actors Guild or risk another strike. The current contract with the actors union ends June thirtieth.
美国编剧工会成员需要与电影电视制作人联盟共同批准该三年合约。目前，制作人需要与美国演员工会商谈新合同，否则有可能会再次罢工。与演员工会的现有合同在6月13日期满。
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty.
这是由Mario Ritter编写的、VOA特别英语的经济报道。我是Bob Doughty。
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