公司老板召集手下Lisa和Ken开会，商量公司上市的问题。Jerry说，

Jerry: Well, I've called you here today because we have to make a very important decision, one that affects the future of our company. As you know...we have been a privately held, family owned company for over 120 years, but it has come to my attention that it may be time to consider some major changes.

Lisa: You mean... like becoming a publicly traded company?
J: That's right. It's something we should give serious consideration to.

这家公司120多年来，一直是 privately held, family owned 私人持有、家族经营的公司。Jerry 说，it has come to my attention 意思是我注意到，如今应该考虑采取重大改革了。Lisa 问 Jerry 是不是想成为 a publicly traded company. 上市公司。 Ken 说，

Ken: Wow Jerry! That is a revolutionary idea. Can you tell us why you think this makes good business sense to you?

J: We've been doing quite well on our own and we could probably survive like this for quite a few more years to come, but if we really want to take it to the next level, we are going to have to consider finding more investors. We simply don't have the funds to make any serious investments towards obtaining a bigger market share. We need funds to grow.

上市从商业角度看，有没有道理呢？换句话说，does it make good business sense? Jerry 解释说，公司保持现状再维持几年肯定没有问题，但如果想 take it to the next level 更上一层楼的话， 就要找到更多的投资人。公司要争取 a bigger market share 更大的市场份额，需要资金，有了资金，才能成长。

K: So our goal in making an initial public offering is to solicit investors? But then we'll have to accept a Board of Directors chosen by our stockholders. Wouldn't that limit us in many ways?

J: There will certainly be some limitations. But if you consider the massive capital investment that we'll receive, you'll understand that this could take our company from being a medium tier firm to one of the big players.

L: What are the risks of making the decision to become a publicly traded company?

首次公开募股initial public offering也就是公司上市，简称 IPO。上市公司由股东 stockholders 推选董事会 Board of Directors，当然会给公司决策带来一些限制，但是Jerry说，与此同时，上市能筹集到大笔资金，让他们的公司从一个中等层次的公司，变成 one of the big players 举足轻重的大公司之一。从家族企业变成上市公司可能会有哪些风险呢？我们下次继续听。