经济学人 | 打包一家汉堡王
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汉堡王，一个口味并不输给麦当劳，但竞争中却屡屡居于下风的快餐品牌，最终被私人股本收购…
”Whopper to go
至尊汉堡，打包带走
Will Burger King be gobbled up by private equity?
汉堡王是否会被私人股本吞并？
【1】SHARES in Burger King (BK) soared on September 1st on reports that the fast-food company was talking to several private-equity firms interested in buying it. How much beef was behind these stories was unclear. But lately the company famous for the slogan "Have It Your Way" has certainly not been having it its own way. There may be arguments about whether BK or McDonald‘s serves the best fries, but there is no doubt which is more popular with stockmarket investors: the maker of the Big Mac has supersized its lead in the past two years.
private-equity：私募股权基金；私募股权
lately：最近，近来，不久以前
slogan：标语，口号
stockmarket：证券市场，证券交易所，证券行情
supersize：（使）变大，更大；（使）膨胀；超大的
有报道披露，快餐企业汉堡王（BK）正在与数个有收购意向的私人股本接洽，9月1日，汉堡王的股值随之飙升。这些报道究竟有多少真材实料不得而知。汉堡王的著名口号是“我选我味”，但如今显然它身不由己，心中五味杂陈。汉堡王和麦当劳哪家薯条最好吃，食客们一直争论不休，但股票投资人更喜欢哪家股票，却一目了然：过去两年里，巨无霸麦当劳一直在扩大自己的优势。
［2］Recession has favoured McDonald’s over BK, whose share price has fallen by half since the economy was flame-grilled in the summer of 2008. Shares in McDonald’s have risen, reaching an all-time high in August. Same-store sales at BK have fallen for five successive quarters.
Recession：经济衰退；不景气；后退；撤退；撤回；凹陷
The recession caused sales to drop off.
经济不景气使销量下降。
flame-grilled：火焰烧烤
successive：连续的；接连的；相继的
He won three successive matches.
他连胜三场比赛。
金融危机比起汉堡王也更青睐麦当劳，自2008年经济低迷以来，汉堡王股票价格跌至原来的一半。而麦当劳的股票不跌反涨，在8月又创下了历史新高。汉堡王的同店销售额连续五个季度下跌。
［3］Why has McDonald’s been eating BK’s lunch? Among other things, BK has always had a higher proportion of sales to young men, who have been hit especially hard by the recession. McDonald’s, by contrast, has for several years wooed women and older people with relatively healthy salads and drinkable coffee. BK has struggled to follow suit. At the same time, it has had to contend with angry shareholders, as the rising cost of beef and other ingredients has clobbered its profits. BK may also have cannibalised its existing sales by offering value meals that were a bit too irresistible.
woo：求爱，求婚；争取…的支持
drinkable：可饮用的，好喝的
follow suit：跟风，跟着做，照着做；如法炮制
contend with：与（某人）竞争；与（某事物）抗争，苦于应付；争执
shareholder：股东，股票持有者
clobber：连续打击，彻底打垮；惩罚，使受到（严重经济损失）
cannibalise：吃同类的肉；拆用…的配件；调拨…的人员;吃人肉
irresistible：不可抗拒；无法抗拒的；不可阻挡；诱惑人的，具有非常的魅力的
为何麦当劳在与汉堡王的竞争中占得先机？别的不谈，汉堡王的顾客更多的是年轻人，而年轻人受金融危机打击尤其严重。相对地，麦当劳近年来一直以相对健康的沙拉和可口的咖啡，吸引女性和中老年人。汉堡王一直难以模仿。与此同时，随着牛肉等原材料的成本上涨，利润一跌再跌，汉堡王又不得不去对付那些愤怒的股东。 汉堡王的套餐太过诱人，可能也影响了其他产品的销量。
［4］BK is used to changes in ownership. It went from being part of Pillsbury, a food company, to Grand Metropolitan, a British conglomerate, then to Diageo, a drinks giant. In 2002 it was sold to a group of private-equity investors: TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs. They did a fair job, improving sales with better marketing. They also helped turn around the most troubled of the franchisees who operate most BK restaurants. In 2006 BK floated its shares again. Its bosses may hope that going private once more will protect them from short-term stockmarket pressures while they ponder how to beat McDonald’s.
conglomerate：砾岩；联合大企业；合成物；组合物；成团的;砾岩性的
private-equity：私募股权基金；私募股权
franchisee：特许经营人
float：浮动，漂流，漂移
ponder：思考，衡量；仔细考虑，琢磨
We pondered over the present state of affairs.
我们考虑了当前的情况。
汉堡王此前多次易主，已经习以为常了。它曾是皮尔斯百利食品公司的一部分，后转入英国大都会集团，继而转投饮品巨头帝亚吉欧。2002年又被转手卖给一批私人股本投资者：德克萨斯太平洋集团（TPG），贝恩资本和高盛。他们经营良好，利用优秀市场策略增加了销售。大部分汉堡王餐厅的运营商当时经营不善，他们还助其扭亏为盈。2006年汉堡王再度上市。其老板可能希望再度私有化以规避短期股市压力，为其争取时间定策击败麦当劳。
［5］If BK does go private, it may be part of a trend in the private-equity industry—now that some of the bigger firms have rediscovered their appetite for deals—of gobbling up the companies they had taken public during the bubble years but which are now trading cheaply. TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs still own a sizeable stake in BK, despite listing it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006. However, it seems that other private-equity firms are interested in buying it. If that happens, no doubt BK servers will appreciate the irony: the act of passing a company from one private-equity firm to another is known in the business as “flipping”.
rediscover：再次（重新）发现
appetite：胃口，欲望（指人或动物对食物或性的欲望，特指食欲），用于比喻可指“斗志”等。
I have no appetite for a big fight.
我无意大吵大闹。
gobble up：吞并；击垮；消耗；耗费
The firm's expenses gobbled up 44% of revenues.
该公司的支出占其收入的44%。
bubble years：泡沫时代
sizeable：相当大的，颇大的
irony：反语；冷嘲；有讽刺意味的情形；令人啼笑皆非之处
The irony was that Shawn had not seen her.
具有讽刺意味的是，肖恩并没有见过她。
私人股本行业——如今一些大公司重新对收购有了兴趣——吞并那些他们在经济泡沫时代卖掉，现在十分廉价的公司，俨然已成一股大潮，如果汉堡王真的私有化，就将融入这股大潮之中。德克萨斯太平洋集团（TPG），贝恩资本和高盛虽然2006年在纽约证券交易所已经兜售了汉堡王，但他们仍握有可观的股份。然而，其他私人股本公司似乎也有意收购。要是真被他们收购，无疑汉堡王的服务生都能领会其中的讽刺：在私人股本公司中被倒卖，在做汉堡这行叫“翻面”。
2010年汉堡王被3G资本收购，并私有化。现在来看这次收购对汉堡王是利大于弊的，它成功转型，并开始将市场向全球拓广。
现在在国内，也有越来越多的汉堡王快餐店，和麦当劳相比，汉堡王的汉堡价高但量大，喜爱美食的你更喜欢哪一家的呢？
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英文原文：
http://www.economist.com
讲解：霞姐 / Tiassa / Angel
编排 / 校对：Angel
本次文章翻译来源于网络，有更改
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