科技股上漲給硅谷員工帶來額外獎酬

As the stock market values of Amazon and Facebook rose past $500bn for the first time this week, one group of people was definitely celebrating: the companies’ workers.

最近亞馬遜(Amazon)和Facebook的市值首次超過5000億美元之際，有一群人肯定正在慶祝——這些公司的員工。

Employees at the leading tech groups are seeing a boom in their stock-based pay unrivalled since the stock market bubble of the late-1990s.

自上世紀90年代末的股市泡沫以來，這些科技巨頭的員工正看到自己的股票部分薪酬大幅上漲。

The numbers are jaw-dropping. Between them, the five leading tech companies by market value — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft — handed out $20.4bn worth of restricted stock units and other share-based pay in 2016. That was 23 per cent more than the year before, and it capped a steady escalation that has seen the figure creep up from only around $6bn in 2011.

相關數字令人瞠目結舌。2016年，以市值計算前五大科技公司——Alphabet、亞馬遜(Amazon)、蘋果(Apple)、Facebook和微軟(Microsoft)——配給員工的限售股和其他基于股票的薪酬價值204億美元，較上一年增長了23%，并成為多年穩(wěn)定增長的高峰——2011年該數字僅為60億美元左右。

The last time tech companies were this profligate with ownership rights was during the dotcom bubble, when stock options were thrown around like confetti. Things have definitely changed for the better since then, but there are still some parallels that should give tech investors pause.

科技公司上一次這樣肆意揮霍股權還是在網絡股泡沫時期，當時股票期權像五彩紙屑一樣滿天飛。在那之后，情況明顯改善了，但仍然有一些相似之處應該讓科技股投資者三思。

Two things in particular have triggered the latest employee stock bonanza. One is an increase in the value of individual stock awards. Rising staff numbers account for around half of the overall increase in stock compensation in the past five years. The rest is a product of the war for talent and the increased bargaining power of workers, especially sought-after engineers.

近年有兩件事引發(fā)了最近一輪員工斬獲巨大股票收益。一件是個人股票獎酬的價值上升。過去五年，員工數量增加占了股票獎酬整體增長的一半左右。其余部分的增長是爭奪人才之戰(zhàn)和員工(特別是企業(yè)趨之若鶩的工程技術人員)議價能力提高的產物。

Alphabet, for instance, handed out an average of $93,000 per worker last year, 53 per cent more than five years before. Apple’s average stock compensation is lower, at around $36,000, but it has still risen by 87 per cent in the same period.

例如，去年Alphabet分給每個員工的股票價值平均達9.3萬美元，比5年前高出53%。蘋果公司的平均股票獎酬較低，約為3.6萬美元，但仍比5年前高出87%。

Variations in the mix of workers and overall compensation philosophies account for some of the differences between companies. But there are still some striking contrasts. Facebook’s stock awards averaged $187,700 last year, putting it well ahead of the pack.

員工組成結構和整體薪酬理念的差異，造成了企業(yè)之間的部分區(qū)別。但是仍然有一些鮮明反差。去年Facebook的股票獎酬平均為18.77萬美元，遙遙領先于其他公司。

The other aspect of the boom in stock-based pay has been the share price increases that have pushed up the value of past awards that are only now vesting. This has brought a windfall for workers lucky enough to have been in the right place years ago.

基于股票的薪酬大漲的另一個方面是，股價上漲推高了如今才結束限定期、被轉移至員工名下的往年獎酬的價值。這給那些多年前幸運地選對公司的員工帶來了意外之財。

At Alphabet, $12bn worth of employee stock benefits given out under past awards vested last year. That was far more than the $6.7bn in new stock awards the company handed out (itself a record), and a mark of how far its share price has risen.

根據往年分配的股票獎酬，Alphabet去年轉移至員工名下的股票福利價值120億美元。這遠遠超過該公司去年配給員工的67億美元的新的股票獎酬(這本身也創(chuàng)下了紀錄)，并說明該公司股價的漲幅有多大。

For tech investors, this boom in stock-based pay is a mixed bag. The good news is that higher share prices have made it less dilutive to use stock as a recruitment tool. Companies can give out more valuable awards without increasing their share count as much. The value of restricted stock units handed out by Facebook last year went up by a third, but because its share price was higher, the actual number of RSUs fell.

對于科技股投資者來說，基于股票的薪酬大漲既有好的方面，也有不好的方面。好消息是，股價上漲意味著，企業(yè)用股票作為招聘工具的稀釋效應減小了，因為企業(yè)可以給出更有價值的獎酬，而無需增加太多的股票總數。去年Facebook分給員工的限售股價值增加了三分之一，但因為股價上漲，實際的限售股數量減少了。

Also, today’s stock awards should work far better as hiring and retention tools than those used in the 1990s. Options are worth something only if a company’s share price rises above the option strike price. In the highly volatile world of the dotcoms, tech workers came to see them as lottery tickets rather than a part of overall pay. The RSUs that most tech companies hand out these days, by contrast, retain at least some of their value in all but a complete wipeout.

同樣，如今股票獎酬作為聘用和留住工具的效果，應該遠遠好于上世紀90年代。只有在一家公司的股價上漲至高于期權履約價時，期權才有價值。在高度動蕩的網絡股泡沫期間，科技行業(yè)員工把期權視為彩票，而不是整體薪酬的一部分。相比之下，如今大多數科技公司給出的限售股至少能保留一部分價值——除非企業(yè)徹底垮臺。

But the cost to shareholders has still been creeping up. At Google, stock-based pay equalled 26 per cent of profits last year, up from only 17 per cent five years before. Facebook handed out about the same proportion of its profits in stock benefits. Amazon, with little to show in the way of net income, gave out more than half its profits by way of equity awards. At the other end of the spectrum, Apple’s stock compensation amounted to only 9 per cent of profits — though that was still double the figure five years before.

但是股東承受的成本仍在悄悄增加。在谷歌，去年基于股票的薪酬支出相當于利潤的26%，遠高于5年前的17%。Facebook分給員工的股票福利占公司利潤的比重也差不多。至于凈利潤很少的亞馬遜，通過股票獎酬把一半以上的利潤都給了員工。在另一個極端，蘋果的股票獎酬僅占利潤的9%——盡管這個比重仍然是5年前的兩倍。

This increase is not something to which most tech investors are likely to have paid much attention. Most tech companies strip stock-based pay from the pro-forma earnings they present to Wall Street (with the honourable exception of Amazon, which does not report non-GAAP numbers).

大多數科技股投資者可能不太關注這種漲幅。多數科技公司在向華爾街報告預估盈利數據時，都會刨去基于股票的薪酬支出(最突出的例外是亞馬遜，該公司不報告非公認會計原則(non-GAAP)數據)。

For as long as the stock prices keep going up, there is a temptation to look on equity compensation as a virtuous circle that keeps everyone happy. But outside shareholders shouldn’t be fooled: they are still footing the bill.

只要股價繼續(xù)上漲，股票獎酬就可能被視為皆大歡喜的良性循環(huán)。但外部股東不應該被愚弄：他們仍在為此買單。