People often ask me what we do, and I reply by saying we have an internet business. But we don't actually have a... we're not actually a company, are we, Richard?人们经常问我我们是做什么的，我通常回答说我们有一家互联网业务。但实际上我们并没有……我们其实不是一家公司，对吧，Richard？

No we're not, we are going to talk about companies, in particular PLCs. So, OK, what is a PLC? A PLC, a public limited company, is one which has a number of shares which are publicly traded on the stock exchange.没错，我们不是。接下来我们要谈的是公司，特别是股份有限公司（PLC）。那么，什么是 PLC？PLC，也就是公众有限公司，是一种拥有股票，并且这些股票可以在证券交易所公开交易的公司。

So, when you say shares... Well, the company is divided into shares, so you own a share of the company. A portion of the company. Exactly.那么，当你说“股份”时……公司被分成许多股份，所以你拥有公司的一个股份，也就是一部分公司。没错。

So these shares are bought or sold on the stock exchange, and so the value goes up and down.这些股份可以在证券交易所买卖，因此它们的价值会上下波动。

Is there a certain number of shares? I mean, do all companies have 100 shares, or can you have a different number of shares per company? They can have as many as they like. OK.股份数量是固定的吗？比如说，所有公司都是 100 股，还是可以不同？公司可以拥有任意数量的股份。好的。

Often there are millions of shares. Right. But you can be a shareholder.通常公司会发行数百万股。对。但你仍然可以成为股东。

You may only own 10 shares, but you still own a part of that company. So, if somebody buys shares in a company, they're shareholders. Yep.你可能只拥有 10 股，但你仍然是公司的一部分。所以，只要某人买了股票，他就是股东。对。

What do they do? Essentially nothing. They've bought the shares in the hope that the value of the company, and i.e. their shares, will go up in price. Right.那股东平时做什么呢？基本上什么都不做。他们买股票是希望公司价值上涨，也就是他们的股票升值。没错。

And if the company makes a profit, the company gives them a dividend, a small amount of money out of the profits. Like a kind of interest? Sort of, yes.如果公司盈利，公司会分红，也就是从利润中分给股东的钱。有点像利息？差不多，是的。

And that money goes directly back to the shareholder? Exactly, yes.这些钱会直接返还给股东？没错。

But often most of the profits go back into the company, reinvested into the company.但大多数利润会回流公司，用于再投资。

So, that's all very well when the company is doing well, but what happens when the company goes belly up? What happens to the shares and the shareholders then?当公司经营良好时一切都很好，但如果公司破产了呢？股份和股东会怎样？

Well, if a company fails, the whole point is it is a public limited company, and that is the word limited. The owners, i.e. the shareholders, can only lose the amount that they invested, i.e. the amount they paid for their shares.如果公司倒闭，关键在于这是“有限”公司。所有者，也就是股东，最多只会损失他们投资的金额，即买股票的钱。

So, usually the company would have bank loans or owe money to their suppliers, etc., but the shareholders won't be liable for this.所以，公司可能欠银行或供应商的钱，但股东不需要承担这些债务。

The accountants or the liquidators will come in and just try to sell all the things that the company has in order to pay off the loans, and, of course, the employees will lose their jobs.会计或清算人会接管并出售公司资产来偿还贷款，当然，员工会失业。

If you're a shareholder with, say, 300 shares and the company goes belly up, you lose your 300 shares and that's it? Correct.如果你有 300 股，公司倒闭了，你就损失这 300 股，就这样？对。

What I don't understand, though, Richard, is that recently in the news – and there are always stories like this – Richard Branson, Virgin Airways, now, he's a multi-billionaire.但我不明白的是，Richard，最近新闻里——这种故事常见——说到 Richard Branson，维珍航空，他是个亿万富翁。

His company has done extraordinarily well, but because there's a problem with his airline, Virgin Atlantic, now, he wants the government to bail out his airline.他的公司一直经营很好，但现在他的航空公司维珍大西洋出了问题，他希望政府救助他的航空公司。

Doesn't he have responsibility for that? He's got loads of money. Why doesn't he do that himself?难道他不需要负责吗？他有那么多钱。为什么不自己出钱？

Well, you're quite right, but he's just a shareholder, just like lots of other people.你说得没错，但他只是股东，和其他人一样。

So he owns a portion of the company, and if it goes bust, he loses his investment, yes. But that's it. He doesn't have any further liability.所以他拥有公司的一部分，如果公司破产，他损失自己的投资，仅此而已。他不需要承担额外责任。

But if the company's going very well, which it has been, he makes an enormous amount of money for his own personal use, if it goes wrong, he's expecting me, the taxpayer, to bail him out.但如果公司经营很好，他能赚大笔钱用于个人消费；如果出问题，他却希望我——纳税人——来救他。

Well, that's certainly true, but that's the whole point of the system.嗯，这是真的，但这就是这个制度的核心。

He's only liable for the shares that he holds.他只对自己持有的股份负责。

So he doesn't actually own the company?所以他实际上不拥有公司？

He owns a proportion of the company.他拥有公司的一部分股份。

So it's who will blink first, the government or Branson?所以现在就看谁先妥协，是政府还是 Branson？