????Facebook公司表示，公司創始人兼CEO馬克?扎克伯格將出售4,414萬股價值23億美元的Facebook股票，用以支付稅款。這項納稅義務顯然是因為他行使期權，購買了6,000萬B類股所致。需要說明的是，B類股蘊含的投票權10倍于出售給普通投資者的A類股。

????扎克伯格的投票權由此將從58.8%減少至56.1%，因此他仍然是門洛帕克的“山大王”。

????扎克伯格出售Facebook股票的舉動現在成了每個人都在熱議的話題，但這真的只是邊角料。在我看來，真正重要的故事是，扎克伯格銷售的股票是Facebook公司最新公開發行的大約7,000萬A類股的一部分。在這個發行總數中，扎克伯格將貢獻4,414萬股（所得款項將用來繳稅或其他用途），Facebook公司將發售2,700萬股，這將攤薄現有股東的權益。

????這家公司表示，售股所得（大約15億美元）計劃用于“充實營運資本和其他一般企業用途”。

????什么？“一般企業用途？”好吧，Facebook公司是在說，它將攤薄股東權益，以募集資金，這樣就可以繼續運營下去？這家公司不是剛剛在1年前通過上市發行獲得了一大筆資金嗎？

????從許多層面來看，這都是一個令人不安的跡象。我們都知道，Facebook的用戶數量正在下降，在青少年群體中，它已經不像昔日那樣“酷”。盡管如此，這家公司依然在賺取真金白銀。其實，它在今年第三季度創下20億美元營收，斬獲6.25億美元利潤。這份成績單一點都不糟糕；事實上，它完全超出分析師的預期，他們此前給出了一個更加溫和的營收預期值。結果就是，Facebook的股價出現飆升。總體而言，這家公司今年的股價已翻了一番，因為隨著這家社交網絡進入移動廣告領域，市場預期其利潤將呈現更強勁的增長態勢。

????Facebook似乎正在實踐它的盈利承諾，這項售股計劃由此顯得更加離奇。Facebook究竟迫切需要什么東西，以至于它愿意攤薄現有股東的權益？我不敢妄稱自己知道門洛帕克那邊正在發生什么事情，但身處紐約的我可以告訴你，對于投資者而言，這種行為是一個危險信號。

????簡單地說，只有在Facebook認為其股價被高估的情況下，這種行為才講得通。Facebook拒絕接受本文作者的采訪要求。

????為什么呢？首先，目前的債務成本很便宜——便宜得有些離譜。在這種環境下，特別是如果你是一家類似Facebook這樣的“成長型”公司，你就沒有任何借口以出售股份的方式籌集資金。要是他們發行債券融資，無疑將獲得超額認購，意味著他們幾乎不必支付任何利息——基本上是免費使用。此外，我確信任何一家銀行都非常樂意為這家公司提供資金，以換取參與其投行業務的機會。忘掉繳稅和其他托詞吧，就憑這些就足以使得這項售股計劃看起來非常可疑。

????所以說，Facebook公司顯然無意間透露出它的真實看法。他們其實是在說，Facebook股票目前被高估了，也就是說，他們認為公司未來的業績不會像市場預期的那么好。幸運的是，Facebook本周為我們提供了一個“不喜歡”按鈕，那我也就恭敬不如從命，徑直按下了。（財富中文網）

????譯者：葉寒

????Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, will sell 41.4 million shares worth of stock in the company, worth $2.3 billion, to pay a tax bill, the company said. He apparently incurred the tax liability when he exercised the option to buy 60 million class B shares, which carries 10 times the voting power of Class A shares, the kind sold to schlubs like us.

????This will reduce Zuck's voting power from 58.8% to 56.1%, so he is still king of the hill in Menlo Park.

????Now, Zuck selling Facebook shares is the headline everyone is talking about, but that's really just the side story here. In my view, the real story is that Zuck's sale is part of a new public offering by Facebook (FB) of some 70 million Class A shares. Of that total, Zuck is contributing 41.35 million shares (the proceeds of which go to the IRS or whatever), while Facebook (the company) is offering 27 million shares, which is dilutive to existing shareholders.

????The company says it plans on using the money (roughly $1.5 billion) from its portion of the share sale "for working capital and other general corporate purposes."

????Excuse me? "General corporate purposes?" So Facebook is saying it is diluting its shareholders today (stock is down 2% this morning) to raise money so it can, well, essentially keep the lights on? Didn't the company just get a big chunk of money by going public, like, a year ago?

????This is disturbing on many levels. We all know that Facebook is seeing a decline in users and that it isn't as "cool" as it once was among teens. Nevertheless, the company is making money. In fact it made $625 million in the third quarter of this year off of $2 billion in revenue. That isn't bad at all; in fact, it blew analysts' expectations away, who were expecting a more modest number on the revenue side. As a result, Facebook's shares soared. Overall, they have doubled this year as people anticipate stronger profit growth as the social network expands into mobile advertising.

????Facebook seems to be delivering and making money, making this whole share sale all the more odd. What could Facebook be needing so badly that it was willing to dilute its shareholders? I don't claim to know what's going on inside Menlo Park, but sitting here from New York, I can tell you that this sort of behavior is a red flag to investors.

????Put simply, this would only make sense if Facebook believes its shares are overvalued. Facebook declined to offer comment for this story.

????Why? First, debt is cheap -- very cheap. There is no excuse to be selling shares to raise cash in this environment, especially if you are supposedly a "growing" company like Facebook. If they did a debt offering, it would undoubtedly be oversubscribed, meaning that they could probably get away with paying little to no interest -- basically, free money. Furthermore, I am sure any bank would love to give the company cash in exchange for a piece of whatever investment banking deals they end up doing. Forget about the tax shields and all that other stuff -- these points alone are enough to make this share sale look suspect.

????So Facebook is clearly tipping its hand today. They are saying that their stock is overvalued and, as such, the company isn't going to perform as well as the market believes it will. Luckily, Facebook came out with a "dislike" button this week. I just pressed it.