昨天，《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）大出风头。该报报道称，Facebook正在准备明年上市，其首次公开募股（IPO）的估值可能超过1,000亿美元。一时间，从路透社（Reuters）到新闻聚合网站德拉吉报道（Drudge Report），各大媒体纷纷链接或转载该文，《赫芬顿邮报》（Huffington Post）还将其作为头条大力推介。

    我把《华尔街日报》那篇报道翻来覆去读了好几遍，愣是没找着什么先前没有报道过的信息。唯一有点新意的是：它预测Facebook可能凭借IPO筹集100亿美元，可商业内幕网站（Biz Insider）副主编尼古拉斯•卡尔森早在今年5月就已经估算出了这个数字。事实上，文中大多老掉牙的信息都来自之前一篇报道，而那篇报道的源头……等等……就是《华尔街日报》自己！

    我花了大约19分钟时间，简单搜索了一下，就找到了下列相关新闻：

    2011年1月3日

    美联社(Associated Press)：“券商Wedbush Morgan的分析师罗•柯纳称，Facebook的价值能达到500亿美元……他认为，该公司公开上市的话，其市值有望达到1,000亿美元。柯纳一贯看好社交媒体，尤其是Facebook.”

    2011年3月17日

    《华尔街日报》旗下“风投快报”（Venture Dispatch）博客：“考虑到各界就Facebook价值发表的言论，如果该公司像人们预期的那样在2012年IPO，届时其估值可能超过750亿美元，甚至是1,000亿美元。”

    2011年5月1日

    《华尔街日报》：“据报道，高盛（Goldman）与俄罗斯风投公司数码天空科技（DST）今年年初投资Facebook时，其入股价暗示Facebook的估值为500亿美元。据熟悉该公司近期财务状况的人士透露，他们认为Facebook的利润增长率相当高，一旦上市，足以支撑1,000亿美元乃至更高的市值。”

    法新社(Agence France Presse)：“美国投资咨询公司晨星（Morningstar）的IPO分析师比尔•布尔认为，市场对于社交媒体公司的股票需求可以理解，但未必合理。‘以Facebook为例，如今人们已在讨论1,000亿美元的估值。’”

    2011年5月25日

    商业内幕网站：“Facebook上市可能筹集到100亿美元左右的现金，可在马克•扎克伯格和谢丽尔•桑德伯格看来，这能形成多大的竞争优势呢？”

    Yesterday the Wall Street Journal got a huge amount of attention for reporting that Facebook is preparing to go public next year in an IPO that could value the company in excess of $100 billion. It became the top story on HuffingtonPost, and got prominent links/rewrites everywhere from Reuters to Drudge.

    Huh? I've read the WSJ story several times, and can't find any information that hasn't been previously reported. The only exception would be that Facebook may raise $10 billion via the offering, but that's a working figure that Biz Insider's Nicholas Carson suggested back in May. In fact, much of the existing info comes from earlier articles in the... wait for it... Wall Street Journal!

    Here's a quick selection, which took approximately 19 minutes of research to compile:

    • January 3, 2011

    Associated Press: "Wedbush Morgan analyst Lou Kerner, who has been bullish on social media and Facebook in particular, says Facebook is well worth $50 billion... Kerner thinks the company could trade at $100 billion if it went public."

    • March 17, 2011

    WSJ Venture Dispatch blog: "Judging by all the price talk out there, its valuation could be above $75 billion, maybe even $100 billion, by 2012 when it expects to hold its IPO."

    • May 1, 2011

    WSJ: "Goldman's and Digital Sky Technologies' investment reported early this year was at a share price that implied a $50 billion valuation for Facebook. The people familiar with the company's recent finances said they thought its profit was growing at a fast-enough clip to justify a valuation of $100 billion or more when it goes public."

    • May 17, 2011

    Agence France Presse: "Morningstar IPO analyst Bill Buhr agrees that market appetite for social-media stocks is understandable, but not necessarily justified. 'If you consider Facebook, for instance they're talking about a $100 billion valuation.'"

    • May 25, 2011

    Business Insider: "How big of a competitive advantage do Mark and Sheryl think it will be for Facebook to have $10 billion or so in cash available."

    2011年6月13日

    CNBC财经频道：“据知情人士透露，社交网站Facebook很可能将于2012年第一季度上市，届时其估值可能会超过1,000亿美元。Facebook是全世界最受关注的未上市公司之一。”

    2011年6月28日

    《华尔街日报》“交易周报”（Deal Journal）博客：“几个月来，投行人士们挤破了Facebook位于帕洛阿尔托总部的门，希望能在这家社交网络公司进行首次公开募股之前，向其推销服务。Facebook预计将于明年春季上市，估值可能会达到1,000亿美元，华尔街的大银行都希望能从中分得一杯羹。”

    2011年7月14日

    《华尔街日报》：“如今，根据Facebook股票在二级市场的交易价计算，其估值约为840亿美元。有些人认为，如果Facebook明年上市，其市值可能达到1,000亿美元。”

    2011年9月14日

    《纽约时报》（NY Times）：“据知情人士周三透露，该公司仍计划于明年上半年公开上市。”

    2011年9月18日

    商业内幕：“一位与Facebook雇员关系密切的消息人士昨天向我们发邮件称，该公司员工之间流传的小道消息是‘Facebook将很快提交S-1上市申请文件，最早可能下个月就提交。’”

    更重要的是，昨天的那篇报道显然充满了不确定性。文章称，Facebook首席执行官马克•扎克伯格“尚未作出任何最终决定”，该公司也没有正式选定投行。那么这篇新闻到底新在何处？

    好吧，我理解“Facebook 上市”重磅标题的商业价值，它可以带来巨大的流量，让之前不关注此事的人纷纷转发相关链接（况且还有我这种人会专门为此写一篇文章——我知道这很有讽刺意味）。但是，在Facebook切实采取措施推进上市进程之前，我们就不能消停一点，少发点这类报道吗？最起码，能不能别给那些炒冷饭的家伙捧场帮腔？

    译者：小宇

    • June 13, 2011

    CNBC: "Facebook, the social-networking site that is one of the most closely-watched private companies in the world, is likely to go public by the first quarter of 2012, say people familiar with the matter, at a valuation that could be pegged at north of $100 billion."

    • June 28, 2011

    WSJ Deal Journal blog: "Investment bankers have been knocking on Facebook Inc.'s Palo Alto doors for several months already, pitching their wares to the social networking company, ahead of an initial public offering. The event is expected to happen next spring at a possible valuation of $100 billion. Wall Street's big banks all want a piece of it."

    • July 14, 2011

    WSJ: "Today, transactions of Facebook stock on private marketplaces value it at about $84 billion. Some people believe that if Facebook goes public next year, it will trade at a $100 billion valuation"

    • September 14, 2011

    NY Times: "The company is still planning to go public in the first half of next year, people close to the matter said on Wednesday."

    • November 18, 2011

    Business Insider: "A source close to Facebook employees emailed us yesterday to say that the rumor flitting from employee to employee is that 'a Facebook S-1 filing is coming really soon. Possibly as soon as next month.'"

    Moreover, yesterday's story is explicitly indefinite. It says that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg "hasn't made any final decisions," nor has Facebook formally selected bankers. So what is new here?

    Look, I understand the business value of a big "Facebook IPO" headline. It drives pageviews and gets link love from those who weren't previously paying attention (and, yes, I recognize the irony of this very post). But could we put a moratorium on these sorts of stories until Facebook actually takes a specific step toward listing? Or, at the very least, stop hyping those who rehash old information.