蘋果CEO贊中國區銷量 給股市打氣
SAN FRANCISCO — As stocks in the United States tumbled Monday morning after another sell-off in China, Timothy D. Cook, the chief executive of Apple, took an unusual step to put investors at ease: He emailed Jim Cramer, the television host of CNBC’s “Mad Money.”
舊金山——中國股市出現另一波拋售行情之後，美國股票也在週一上午紛紛下跌，然後蘋果公司(Apple)的首席執行官蒂莫西·D·庫克(Timothy D. Cook)採取了一個不同尋常的舉動來讓投資者安心：他向CNBC電視節目“瘋狂金錢”(Mad Money)的主持人吉姆·克拉默(Jim Cramer)發了一封電郵。
In the email, Mr. Cook said iPhone activations had accelerated recently, and that Apple’s App Store in China had its best performance of the year in the last two weeks.
庫克在電郵中說，iPhone的激活最近加快了，過去兩週裏，蘋果應用商店App Store在中國也取得了全年最佳業績。
“I get updates on our performance in China every day, including this morning, and I can tell you that we have continued to experience strong growth for our business in China through July and August,” Mr. Cook said in the email to Mr. Cramer. “Obviously I can’t predict the future, but our performance so far this quarter is reassuring.”
“我每天都能看到蘋果在中國的最新業績，今天早上當然也是如此。我可以告訴你，7月份和8月份，蘋果在中國的業務保持了強勁增長，”庫克在電郵中告訴克拉默。“很顯然我不能預測未來，但我們本季度迄今爲止的表現，相當讓人安心。”
The email seemed to ease the minds of some investors. After falling about 10 percent when the markets opened, shares of Apple recouped their losses and even entered positive territory. By the end of the day, shares were 2.5 percent lower.
這封電郵似乎安撫了一些投資者。在開盤下跌約10%後，蘋果的股價開始收復失地，甚至還一度由跌轉漲。收盤時蘋果跌幅爲2.5%。
Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst for Jackdaw Research, said Apple’s stock had taken a beating largely because of growing concerns about China. A simple solution was to send signals of positive performance in China to Mr. Cramer, he said.
穴鳥研究公司(Jackdaw Research)的獨立科技分析師簡·道森(Jan Dawson)表示，蘋果的股價受到衝擊，主要是由於市場對中國經濟形勢的擔憂加劇了。把公司在中國表現出色的正面信號傳遞給克拉默，是一個簡單的解決辦法，他說。
“I’m sure Cook was well aware that Cramer would share it with his viewers and it would therefore quickly become public,” Mr. Dawson said. “Apple stock has certainly risen sharply since the email was made public, so it’s arguable that it worked.”
“我敢肯定，庫克非常清楚克拉默會向觀衆分享這份郵件，因此消息很快就會公之於衆，”道森說。“自從該電郵公開之後，蘋果公司的股票確實出現了大幅回升，所以可以說這個行動奏效了。”
Mr. Cramer is the co-manager of a charitable trust portfolio, Action Alerts Plus, which holds shares of Apple.
克拉默是公益信託投資組合Action Alerts Plus的共同管理人，組合中包含蘋果股票。
Mr. Cramer said in an interview that he decided to try contacting Mr. Cook after a company called Skyworks Solutions, a chip supplier for Apple, appeared on “Mad Money” last week. Skyworks had said on the show that its sales were strong in China, but its stock plummeted afterward anyway. That made Mr. Cramer curious about what Mr. Cook would have to say about iPhone sales in China. He sent the email to the Apple chief Sunday evening.
克拉默在接受採訪時說，他之所以決定與蘋果聯繫，是因爲上週有一家名爲Skyworks Solutions的蘋果芯片供應商上了“瘋狂金錢”節目。該公司在節目中表示，自己在中國的銷售勢頭很強勁，可是之後它的股價還是出現了大幅下挫。克拉默開始好奇，對於iPhone在中國的銷售形勢，庫克會說些什麼。於是在週日晚上，他向庫克發了一封電郵。
His letter read: “Dear Tim, Just trying to do my best to cover Apple, as always, and I keep running up against ‘China fears’ and ‘China worries.’ We are in a tough moment in the market, and any clarity I might be able to get before Squawk on the Street at 9 Eastern would really help.”
他在信中寫道：“親愛的蒂姆，我寫信是爲了盡我所能地報道蘋果的情況，就像我一直以來所做的那樣。現在我總是遇到有人‘害怕’、‘擔心’中國的形勢。眼下我們的市場狀況很糟，如果你能進行一些澄清，讓我在東部時間9點的‘華爾街直播室’(Squawk on the Street)裏談論一下，真的會很有幫助。”
Mr. Cook, who is known for being an early riser, sent his reply around 8 a.m. on Monday — 5 a.m. in California, where he lives.
庫克一向起得很早，他在週一早8點左右回覆了電郵——在他居住生活的美國加州，那時還是凌晨5點。
Mr. Cramer said he was surprised to get a response. In March, the Apple chief called in to "Mad Money" to congratulate Mr. Cramer on the 10th anniversary of the show. Beyond that, Mr. Cramer said he had not cultivated a personal relationship with Mr. Cook, though the TV host noted he had long been an advocate for holding on to the Cupertino, Calif., company’s stock.
克拉默說，收到回覆出乎他的意料。今年3月，庫克曾致電“瘋狂金錢”，祝賀克拉默的這個節目誕生10週年。但克拉默說，除此之外，自己和庫克沒有私交，儘管他長期主張持有蘋果股票。
“I’ve been a stalwart in saying, ‘Don’t trade Apple,’ ” he said. “I think it’s a mistake to trade it. I think you should own it.”
“我一直堅定不移地勸說大家，不要賣掉蘋果的股票，”他說。“我覺得賣掉是個錯誤，你應該持有。”
China has become an increasingly important market for Apple. The company’s growth has slowed over the last few years in mature markets like the United States and parts of Europe, where the smartphone market has become saturated. China, however, remains a huge untapped market where plenty of people are still buying smartphones for the first time.
中國市場對於蘋果的重要性與日俱增。在美國和歐洲一些國家的成熟市場，隨着智能手機市場趨於飽和，蘋果的增速在過去的幾年裏有所放緩。然而中國卻是一個尚未開發的巨大市場，很多人仍是第一次購買智能手機。
Apple has long laid the groundwork to reap big sales in China, and revenue growth from the region has steadily gained momentum. The company in late 2013 struck an important deal to sell iPhones through China Mobile, the world’s largest phone carrier. Apple is also expanding its operations in the region, planning to increase its number of stores to 40 by mid-2016.
長期以來，蘋果爲在中國大賣奠定了基礎。該地區營收的增長趨勢一直很穩定。2013年底，蘋果公司達成了一項重要的協議，通過全世界最大的移動電話運營商中國移動銷售iPhone。蘋果也在擴大該地區的業務規模，計劃到2016年中期，讓店鋪數量增加到40家。
Some analysts have raised questions about whether Apple, the most valuable company in the world by market capitalization, can maintain its overall torrid pace of growth. Shares in the company are up about 45 percent in the last two years. But in the last six months, the stock has fallen over 18 percent.
一些分析人士質疑，作爲全世界市值最高的公司，蘋果迅猛的總體增速能否持續下去。過去兩年間，蘋果公司的股價上漲大約45%，但在過去六個月裏，該公司的股價下跌逾18%。
Mr. Cook also wrote to Mr. Cramer that he continued to believe “that China represents an unprecedented opportunity over the long term.”
庫克還在信中對克拉默說，他依然相信“從長期來看，中國代表着一個史無前例的機遇”。
Unlike his predecessor, Steven P. Jobs, Mr. Cook has been increasingly outspoken about a number of matters, including his views on civil rights, his sexual orientation and his concern for the environment. Aside from during quarterly earnings calls and major company events, though, he has generally been tight-lipped about sales and other financial figures.
不同於前任史蒂夫·P·喬布斯(Steven P. Jobs)，庫克在很多事情上越來越坦率，包括他對民權問題的看法、他的性取向，以及他對環境的擔憂。但除了每季度的財報會議和公司的重要活動外，他總體上對銷售額和其他財務數據閉口不談。
On Monday, some regulatory experts raised concerns about whether Mr. Cook’s email to Mr. Cramer had violated the Securities and Exchange Commission’s fair disclosure regulations. The rules, commonly known as Reg F.D., requires companies to share material information to all investors at the same time.
週一當天，一些證券監管專家對於庫克寫給克拉默的電子郵件提出了疑問，因爲這樣做或許違反了美國證券交易委員會（Securities and Exchange Commission，簡稱SEC）的公平披露規則。通常簡稱爲Reg FD的相關規定，要求企業同時向所有投資者分享重大信息。
In previous financial earnings calls, Apple had said it was bullish about its strong, long-term growth in China. But the S.E.C. has signaled that reaffirmation of financial guidance, in some contexts, could even lead to a full-disclosure violation, according to Thomas A. Sporkin, a partner for Buckley Sandler and a former S.E.C. enforcement official. In 2005, the commission charged the Flowserve Corporation, a manufacturer, with violating Reg F.D. for reiterating its guidance to a group of analysts before sharing the same information with the public.
在之前的財報會議中，蘋果曾表示對在中國實現強勁的長期增長持樂觀態度。但據巴克利桑德勒(Buckley Sandler)合夥人、SEC前執法官員托馬斯·A·斯波金(Thomas A. Sporkin)介紹，SEC發出的信號表明，在某些情況下，重申企業的財務表現，也可能屬於全面違反了涉及披露的規則。2005年，SEC指控制造業企業福斯公司(Flowserve Corporation)違反了公平披露規則，因爲該公司是在對一羣分析人士重申自己的業績之後，才向公衆披露同一信息的。
Mr. Cook’s reaffirmation to Mr. Cramer of Apple’s performance in China was softer and more generalized than when Flowserve shared specific numbers, Mr. Sporkin said. But he added that it was unclear whether Mr. Cramer could have a different interpretation of the email based on his relationship with Mr. Cook.
斯波金稱，福斯當時透露了具體數字，相比之下，庫克向克拉默重申蘋果在中國的表現時，措辭更溫和，也更籠統。但他接着表示，尚不清楚克拉默是否會基於他與庫克的關係，而對這封郵件有不同的解讀。
Apple, CNBC and the S.E.C. declined to comment. In response to questions raised about potential violations of the S.E.C.’s disclosure rules, Mr. Cramer would only say: “I got what I got. I got an email from Tim Cook.”
蘋果、CNBC和SEC拒絕置評。在被問到違反SEC披露規則的可能性時，克拉默只是回答：“我是收到了。我收到了蒂姆·庫克發來的電子郵件。”
Bill Singer, a regulatory lawyer, said he expected the S.E.C. to investigate the context of the email and provide guidelines as to whether companies can disclose financial information this way to selected news reporters.
監管領域的律師比爾·辛格(Bill Singer)表示，他預計SEC會調查郵件的來龍去脈，併發布指導意見，闡述企業是否能以這種方式，向特定的新聞記者披露財務信息。
“I can see here that Cook is literally dancing on the edge of a razor,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s one of the largest companies in the world telling one reporter via a private email that our ongoing quarter is actually going to surprise people, and I consider that material.”
“在這件事上，我感覺庫克是在刀尖上跳舞，”他說。“說到底，一家規模在全世界數一數二的公司，通過私人電子郵件告訴了一名記者，我們目前這一季度的業績真的會讓人們吃驚。我認爲，這屬於重大消息。”
