This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
這裏是美國之音慢速英語經濟報道。
Facebook is the world's biggest social network. It has over nine hundred million users worldwide. And it reported three point seven billion dollars in sales for last year.
Facebook是全球最大的社交網絡，在全球範圍內擁有超過9億用戶，其公佈的去年的銷售額爲37億美元。
The company has been privately held since two thousand four. That was when Mark Zuckerberg and several classmates at Harvard University started Facebook as a business. But on May eighteenth, Facebook becomes a publicly traded
company. That means its shares will be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, and sold to the public.
自2004年以來該公司一直爲私人持有。當時馬克·扎克伯格和哈佛大學的幾位同學開創了Facebook。但5月18日Facebook將成爲一家上市公司。這意味着其股票將在納斯達克證券交易所上市並向公衆出售。
Interest in the stock has been building since Facebook announced details of its initial public offering, or IPO, earlier this year. The IPO will make billionaires of the company's founders, including Mr. Zuckerberg. Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder, has been strongly
criticized for giving up his United States citizenship. He will avoid a fifteen percent tax on the value of his shares by claiming to be a citizen of Singapore.
自今年早些時候Facebook公佈其首次公開募股（以下簡稱爲IPO）細節以後，公衆對該股票建立了濃厚興趣。這次IPO將使得包括扎克伯格在內的公司創始人成爲億萬富翁。作爲該公司聯合創始人之一的愛德華·薩維林（Eduardo
Saverin）因爲放棄其美國國籍受到強烈批評。薩維林通過宣稱自己成爲新加坡公民，將避免繳納其股票價值15%的稅收。
This week, Facebook told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it wanted to increase the number of shares being offered to over four hundred twenty million. The company had earlier said it planned
to offer three hundred thirty-seven million. The starting price has been set at between thirty-four and thirty-eight dollars -- also an increase. Now, some financial experts say Facebook could raise sixteen billion dollars, making it one of the biggest IPOs
ever.
本週，Facebook對美國證券和交易委員會表示，希望將股票發行數量增加到4.2億股。該公司早些時候曾表示計劃發行3.37億股。股票發行價格定在34到38美元之間，這也有所提高。目前，一些金融專家稱，Facebook能夠募集到160億美元，這使之成爲有史以來最大一次IPO。
Facebook says most of its money comes from online advertising. But the company also says it expects to earn money from fees charged on the sales of virtual goods. These are digital products used in social games, not physical
goods. Facebook says it sees important income coming from this new market, which could reach fourteen billion dollars by twenty sixteen.
Facebook表示，其資金大部分來源於網絡廣告。但該公司還表示，它預計將從虛擬商品銷售的收費中盈利。虛擬商品是指社交遊戲中使用的數字化產品，而不是實物商品。Facebook表示，它認爲到2016年，來自這一新的市場的重要收入將達到140億美元。
Not everyone is pleased. General Motors ended its advertising agreement with Facebook this week. The carmaker said it did not see results from the millions of dollars it spent on advertising with Facebook.
並非所有人都看好Facebook。通用汽車本週結束了它與Facebook的廣告協議。這家汽車製造商表示未能從投入到Facebook的數百萬美元廣告費上看到任何結果。
And Facebook has been criticized for some recent business decisions. It offered one billion dollars to buy Instagram, an application for sharing photographs. The deal requires government approval and has yet to be finalized.
而Facebook最近的一些商業決策也飽受批評。該公司耗資10億美元收購了Instagram，它是一個照片分享應用程序。這一交易需要獲得政府批准尚有待敲定。
So is Facebook worth the price of the stock? That will be for investors to decide.
Facebook股票值這個價嗎？這將由投資者決定。
From：http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/Facebook_wraps_up_IPO_45497_1.html