Millions of workers across India are protesting against rising prices and demanding better wages from their government. The 24-hour strike has ground transport and commerce to a halt in many parts of the country. Prerna Suri reports from New Delhi.
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report, from //voaspecialenglish.com | //facebook.com/voalearningenglish
Facebook says it aims to raise five billion dollars through its first public sale of stock. That would be one of the biggest initial public offerings ever. And it would be much bigger than Google's first public stock sale in two thousand four. That IPO raised almost two billion dollars. The world's biggest social media network filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February first. The documents are required before the company can launch an initial public offering. A date for the sale was not immediately announced. Facebook has more than eight hundred million users around the world. It represents the second most visited website after Google. Now, experts say the social media company is in a position to become one of the world's most valuable Internet companies. Stock expert Anupam Palit at Greencrest Capital says that among social media sites, Facebook is in a class by itself. "It's the biggest company in this space and we believe what makes it very unique from every other company that went public last year in this space is that it is very, very profitable." Early estimates value the social network between seventy-five and one hundred billion dollars. That includes earlier investments by other companies. David Kirkpatrick wrote the book "The Facebook Effect." He says Facebook's IPO will be historic: "Will Facebook's IPO be the biggest IPO in American history? Probably not. But it will certainly be by far the biggest Internet or technology IPO we've ever seen."The stock sale could also make twenty-seven-year-old Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg one of the world's youngest billionaires. Investment companies are likely to be the first to buy the stock. Investment manager Jim O'Shaugnessy points out that the price of some IPO stocks fall not long after they first go on sale. Stock in LinkedIn, Groupon and Zynga dropped as much as twenty-five percent after going public. "Many IPOs come out being very, very overvalued because they get so hyped up and investors are so taken in by the story that they're willing to pay any amount just to be able to get into the stock. That generally translates to being very overvalued. So we generally tell investors that they should wait probably a good full year before they look at buying stock that was recently IPO'd." There were similar questions eight years ago about Google. Today, Google is one of the world's most valuable technology companies. For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presutti. (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 03Feb2012)
From //voaspecialenglish.com | //facebook.com/voalearningenglish
Many American cities once had streetcars, but not anymore. Yet streetcars have been running in New Orleans for over 150 years. Anthony Falls has been driving streetcars for 10 years, and plans to keep doing so.
ANTHONY FALLS: "First of all, it's one of the most, the oldest rail lines in the world. And second of all, you know, it's just part of being part of history, you know. Because at one time, you know, they didn't have, you know, people of color driving the street car, you know. So I, you know, I think that's a big part of my job."
The Saint Charles Avenue streetcar is said to be the oldest continuously-operating streetcar in the world.
RIDERS: "I've been riding the streetcars ever since I started high school. Sometimes we would go out to lunch, grab ... hop on the street car. It's convenient ... it's cheap ... and it gets you where you need to go." "I think they're pretty cool, they're fun, you know. They're unique, and different. Like I said, we don't get that in California, where we are. So everything is on a rush. Get in the car, and hurry up and get to A to B. And it's a really neat way to see the sights." "The reason why I like it? I don't know. It's a piece of history. They have these old cars, and they respect them, and they keep them running. You know, we can ride down here and be part of the living history of New Orleans."
This year, the city is opening new streetcar lines. New Orleans is just one of about 20 American cities that are expanding or developing streetcar systems. In 2001, a streetcar line opened in Portland, Oregon. About 12,000 people ride Portland's six-point-five kilometer streetcar system every day. Dominic Moncada is a transportation official in New Orleans.
DOMINIC MONCADA: "With gas prices constantly increasing, a lot of public transit agencies are trying to find ways to modernize their systems, anything that, you know, has a better cost benefit for an agency." I'm Steve Ember.
ฝากข้อความหลังไมค์
Rss Feed
ผู้ติดตามบล็อก : 52 คน [
