評論
打印
Business
商業
News Corporation's travails
新聞集團的陣痛
Rising Sun, setting son
《太陽報》冉冉升起，太子爺黯然退場
James Murdoch quits the newspaper business. Will News Corp too?
詹姆斯.默多克不再插手報紙行業，新聞集團會停止該業務嗎？
WHETHER James Murdoch can ever succeed his father, Rupert, at the helm of News Corporation after resigning on February 29th as head of its scandal-ridden newspaper arm, News International, is not clear.
2月29日，詹姆斯辭去了深陷丑聞的新聞國際公司首席運營官一職。他是否能繼承他的父親，魯伯特.默多克成為新聞集團，即新聞國際公司的母公司的掌舵人，目前還尚不清楚。
The firm, of course, is depicting the change as almost trivial: he will still be deputy chief operating officer of News Corp and overseer of its international businesses,
新聞集團稱這次只是一個小小的人事變動：他將仍然是新聞集團的副首席運營官以及其國際業務的監督人。
and it was first announced nearly a year ago that he would move to New York.
況且，早在近一年以前，已經有消息稱他要搬到紐約。
In theory he can now make a fresh start: one of his main responsibilities will be pay television, a business in which he did well before taking over the newspapers in 2007, the move that marked him as heir apparent.
理論上，他現在可以重新來過：他將主要打理收費電視業務，在2007年接管新聞國際公司之前，他把這個業務搞得有聲有色，人們因其接管了新聞國際公司而認為他是默克多最有可能的繼承人。
And he will be insulated from the poisonous atmosphere in London, where it was confirmed this week that the victims of phone-hacking by News of the World (NOW) journalists included none other than Mr Murdoch's disgraced former sidekick,
他還可以避開在倫敦的壓抑氣氛。倫敦本周確認，《世界新聞報》記者竊聽事件的受害人（注：這里可能是''villain"的筆誤，布魯克斯應該是指使這次丑聞的人之一）居然還包括默多克不光彩的前任下屬兼密友麗貝卡.布魯克斯（Rebekah Brooks）。
Rebekah Brooks, who at the time was editor of NOW's stablemate, the Sun.
她當時是《太陽報》的編輯。《太陽報》與《世界新聞報》同屬新聞集團。
All the same, James Murdoch will be remembered as the man who closed Britain's biggest Sunday paper and claimed not to have known how deep the rot was despite warnings from underlings.
盡管如此，詹姆斯.默多克被記得最多的將是，他關閉了英國最大的周日報，并且宣稱他本人并不知道該報有多腐敗，雖然下屬曾經提醒過他。
When Rupert Murdoch appeared in London in February to launch the Sun on Sunday, it was without James but with his elder son, Lachlan, prompting speculation that the latter, formerly out of favour, is back in the running to take over.
2月10號，魯伯特.默多克到倫敦籌辦《星期日太陽報》辦報事宜，陪伴一旁的是他的大兒子拉克蘭，而不是次子詹姆斯。這引起了人們的猜想：一度失寵的后者如今又將重新加入到新聞集團的繼承權之爭中。
Rupert Murdoch may be in the habit of anointing his successors with printing ink,
魯伯特.默多克或許習慣于讓報刊業為他的接班人鍍金。
but to the markets his newspapers matter little.
但是，他的報刊業務在他所有的市場中所占的份額根本是無足輕重。
In 2010, the last year News Corp reported earnings separately for the papers (plus some online-information services), they brought in less than a fifth of the company's revenue and only an eighth of its profits.
2010年，也就是新聞集團單獨公布報紙盈利(包括一些網絡服務的盈利)的最后一年，所公布的收入還不足新聞集團盈利的五分之一，其利潤也僅僅占了八分之一。
Investors welcomed the seventh-day Sun, which should win back some of NOW's lost readers, but in general they see newspapers as an "asset-intensive, slow-growth, marginally profitable business", says Todd Juenger of Sanford C. Bernstein, an investment bank.
來自桑福德伯恩斯坦（Sanford C. Bernstein）投資銀行的托德.容格（Todd Juenger）說，投資者青睞《星期日太陽報》，這應該有助于集團挽回一些《世界新聞報》流失的讀者。但是一般而言，他們認為報業是一個"資產密集型，增長緩慢，盈利極小的行業"。
Though its shares are at a four-year high the firm is still widely reckoned to be undervalued.
雖然新聞集團的股價達到了四年來最高的水平，但是很多人都估計，該集團的價值被低估了。
They even rose slightly the day James Murdoch resigned, and the day after his boss, Chase Carey, the chief operating officer, acknowledged at a conference that executives had discussed selling the newspaper business.
甚至在詹姆斯.默多克辭職當天，股票還輕微上漲了；還有他的上司，首席運營官切斯?凱里(Chase Carey)在一次會議中證實高管們曾經討論要把報紙相關的業務賣出去的那一天，股票也上漲了。
That may mean investors think the papers' eventual sale is now more likely, or that the hacking affair has taken its last senior scalp, or both.
股票上漲可能意味著投資者認為，集團旗下的報紙現在將很有可能被賣出去，又或者是竊聽事件已經告一段落，又或者是兩者兼有。
But celebrating either would be premature. It would be hard to get a good price for the tainted News International, Mr Juenger points out,
但是，容格指出，現在就要慶祝以上兩件事任何一件都還為時過早，如今想要聲名狼藉的新聞國際公司賣個好價錢，并不容易。
and any buyer would probably insist that News Corp indemnify it against the effects of possible future revelations.
況且任何買家可能都會堅持要求新聞集團為報紙將來可能受到的指控負責任。
And if the investigation in Britain finds evidence of bribery, News Corp could face stiff fines in America under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and more heads could roll.
如果英國的調查小組發現有關賄賂的證據，根據美國的《反海外腐敗法》，新聞集團很有可能面臨巨額賠款，還將有更多的人受到影響。
Even if James Murdoch can redeem himself, likely rivals for the top job will include not just his siblings but also Mr Carey, widely seen as one of the most competent media executives in America.
即使詹姆斯.默多克能夠挽回自己的聲譽，跟其競爭總裁這一職位的潛在對手除了他的兄長和姐姐，還有凱里，后者被認為是美國最有能力的媒體管理者之一。
But he has time yet. And a News Corp without newspapers might be the perfect company for him.
但是他還有時間。如果新聞集團停止有關報刊的業務，對他來說才是最好的。
