2019 was a banner year for investors, but it might have been an even better time for consumers. It was, of course, the year for food delivery, one-day shipping, ride sharing, and streaming—great services at bargain-basement prices.
对于投资者而言，2019年是收获颇丰的一年，但对消费者来说更是一个好年景。去年，送餐、当日达送货、叫车和流媒体这些价格优惠的服务深受消费者欢迎。
The great deals have been effectively subsidized by venture capital firms and other private investors looking to fund the next big thing, regardless of profits. For money losing start-ups like Uber Technologies (UBER), Lyft (LYFT), Grubhub (GRUB), and Netflix (NFLX), success has been measured by growth and scale—how many people a company could sign up for their services.
这些服务都是由寻找下一个大事件的风投公司和其他私人投资者资助的，这些投资者目前还不在意这些业务有没有盈利。对于优步(Uber Technologies, UBER）、Lyft (LYFT)、Grubhub (GRUB)和Netflix (NFLX)等仍处于亏损状态的初创公司而言，它们做得是否成功主要还是以增长和规模衡量的，即公司能够吸引多少人来注册使用它们的服务。
In the latest episode of The Readback, Barron’s tech reporter Tae Kim, says that’s about to change.
在最新一期《Readback》中，《巴伦》科技板块记者金泰(Tae Kim)认为这种情况即将发生变化。
Tae Kim: “WeWork was the true turning point. Earlier this year, Softbank valued the company at $47 billion. And it was going to be a huge IPO—all the biggest banks, like JPMorgan, wanted in. And then when they actually filed their IPO documents, investors saw their massive losses, bewildering management practises, and strange corporate governance.
金泰：“WeWork是真正的转折点。2019年初，软银(Softbank)对该公司的估值为470亿美元。WeWork原本要进行一次规模宏大的IPO，摩根大通(JPMorgan)等大型银行都想参与。然后，当他们提交IPO文件后，投资者看到的却是巨额亏损、令人困惑的管理方式和奇怪的公司治理。
“And it caused a huge shift in investor sentiment.”
“这导致投资者情绪发生了巨大转变。”
Alex Eule: “So investors have started to feel the pain. What does this all mean to consumers?”
亚历克斯·尤勒：“投资者开始了解到这类公司存在的问题，这对消费者意味着什么？”
Tae Kim: “It means their free lunch is about to end. Consumers are likely going to feel the pain as these business models turn out to not work.”
金泰：“这意味着可能不再会有免费的服务。随着这类商业模式的失败，消费者可能会随之受到不利影响。”
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翻译 | Anqi
版权声明：
《巴伦》(barronschina) 原创文章，未经许可，不得转载。英文版见2020年1月9日报道“Great Deals on Ride Hailing, Food Delivery, and Streaming Won’t Last Forever. Here’s Why.”。
（本文内容仅供参考，投资建议不代表《巴伦》倾向；市场有风险，投资须谨慎。）
