科技股上涨给硅谷员工带来额外奖酬

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.

最近亚马逊(Amazon)和Facebook的市值首次超过5000亿美元之际，有一群人肯定正在庆祝——这些公司的员工。

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.

自上世纪90年代末的股市泡沫以来，这些科技巨头的员工正看到自己的股票部分薪酬大幅上涨。

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.

相关数字令人瞠目结舌。2016年，以市值计算前五大科技公司——Alphabet、亚马逊(Amazon)、苹果(Apple)、Facebook和微软(Microsoft)——配给员工的限售股和其他基于股票的薪酬价值204亿美元，较上一年增长了23%，并成为多年稳定增长的高峰——2011年该数字仅为60亿美元左右。

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.

科技公司上一次这样肆意挥霍股权还是在网络股泡沫时期，当时股票期权像五彩纸屑一样满天飞。在那之后，情况明显改善了，但仍然有一些相似之处应该让科技股投资者三思。

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.

近年有两件事引发了最近一轮员工斩获巨大股票收益。一件是个人股票奖酬的价值上升。过去五年，员工数量增加占了股票奖酬整体增长的一半左右。其余部分的增长是争夺人才之战和员工(特别是企业趋之若鹜的工程技术人员)议价能力提高的产物。

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分给每个员工的股票价值平均达9.3万美元，比5年前高出53%。苹果公司的平均股票奖酬较低，约为3.6万美元，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.

员工组成结构和整体薪酬理念的差异，造成了企业之间的部分区别。但是仍然有一些鲜明反差。去年Facebook的股票奖酬平均为18.77万美元，遥遥领先于其他公司。

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.

基于股票的薪酬大涨的另一个方面是，股价上涨推高了如今才结束限定期、被转移至员工名下的往年奖酬的价值。这给那些多年前幸运地选对公司的员工带来了意外之财。

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.

根据往年分配的股票奖酬，Alphabet去年转移至员工名下的股票福利价值120亿美元。这远远超过该公司去年配给员工的67亿美元的新的股票奖酬(这本身也创下了纪录)，并说明该公司股价的涨幅有多大。

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.

对于科技股投资者来说，基于股票的薪酬大涨既有好的方面，也有不好的方面。好消息是，股价上涨意味着，企业用股票作为招聘工具的稀释效应减小了，因为企业可以给出更有价值的奖酬，而无需增加太多的股票总数。去年Facebook分给员工的限售股价值增加了三分之一，但因为股价上涨，实际的限售股数量减少了。

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.

同样，如今股票奖酬作为聘用和留住工具的效果，应该远远好于上世纪90年代。只有在一家公司的股价上涨至高于期权履约价时，期权才有价值。在高度动荡的网络股泡沫期间，科技行业员工把期权视为彩票，而不是整体薪酬的一部分。相比之下，如今大多数科技公司给出的限售股至少能保留一部分价值——除非企业彻底垮台。

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.

但是股东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当于利润的26%，远高于5年前的17%。Facebook分给员工的股票福利占公司利润的比重也差不多。至于净利润很少的亚马逊，通过股票奖酬把一半以上的利润都给了员工。在另一个极端，苹果的股票奖酬仅占利润的9%——尽管这个比重仍然是5年前的两倍。

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).

大多数科技股投资者可能不太关注这种涨幅。多数科技公司在向华尔街报告预估盈利数据时，都会刨去基于股票的薪酬支出(最突出的例外是亚马逊，该公司不报告非公认会计原则(non-GAAP)数据)。

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.

只要股价继续上涨，股票奖酬就可能被视为皆大欢喜的良性循环。但外部股东不应该被愚弄：他们仍在为此买单。