DAY 1-2
Taking the Mickey?
Disneyland Paris
PARIS
A quarter of a century of broadsmiles and financial losses
IF YOU judge only by the volume of screams and the beaming faces of those taking rides at Europe’s most-visited,privately-owned tourist destination, then it is clear that Disneyland Paris has much to celebrate. In the three decades since Disney,an American media firm, agreed to put its European theme park on a site east of Paris, and the 25 years since its doors swung open, in 1992, 320m customers have queued for attractions such as “Space Mountain”,as tomach-twisting roller coaster,and photo-ops with Disney characters. Tomark these anniversaries,the firm is making bold claims for the park’s economic and social benefits.Nearly €8bn ($8.6bn) has been invested in or near the site, whichincludes a second Disney studio-themed park, 8,500 hotel rooms,convention centers and a golf course. France’s economy has supposedly seen gains worth €68bn and the creation of 56,000 jobs.Politicians pay it heed: François Hollande, the retiring president,made an end-of-term visit late last month.
photo op n.an occasion that lends itself to (or is deliberately arranged for) taking photographs that provide favorable publicity for those who are photographed
Convention center A Convention center, in American English, is a exhibition hall, or conference center, that holds conventions
heed :If you take heed of what someone says or if you pay heed to them, you pay attention to them and consider carefully what they say. (FORMAL)
Stomach-twisting:If you say something is stomach-twisting. You mean
it makes you excited, nervous and nauseous.
But investors tell a different story.Shares in Euro Disney (the French parent company)have performed like a raft on the “Pirates of the Caribbean”log-flume ride: the price on the opening day in 1989 was the equivalent of €97 and they reached €221 three years later,but have languished for more than a decade since. Disney repeatedly reinvested capital to avoid bankruptcy at Euro Disney,in the process diluting others’holdings. In 1989 it owned 49%; it is now the majority-owner.Last month it restated its wish to take Euro Disney wholly private,and agreed to swap some of its own stock for a 9% stake in the European firm that was held by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. Disney now holds nearly 86% of Euro Disney.It is offering—for a limited period—to buy out remaining investors for €2 a share, roughly the current price.
raft/rɑːft; US
ræft; ræft/n(a) flat floating structure of logs,barrels, etc tied together, used esp as a substitute for a boat筏;筏子
languish/ˈlæŋgwɪʃ; ˋlæŋɡwɪʃ/v[I] (fml文)lack orlose vitality缺乏活力;失去活力:Since the war the
industry has gradually languished.开战以来,这一工业的生产每况愈下.
buy outIf you buy someone out, you buy their share of something such as a company or piece of property that you previously owned together.
Stomach-twisting:If you say something is stomach-twisting. You mean it makes you excited, nervous and nauseous.
Asenior executive at Euro Disney suggests that the smallest investors areunlikely togrumbleabout that price, even ifthey areout of pocket. Theymayhave bought into the project as muchforemotionalasfinancialreasons,caringaboutthebrandandperks,suchaspreferentialentryto the park.In any case, hesays,the firmalwaysrisked “financial failure” rightfrom thestartbecause of high debt,held by 64differentlenders. HadDisney not recapitalized and reduced thoseborrowings,nobusinesswouldevenexisttobetakenprivate.
grumble/ˈgrʌmbl; ˋɡrʌmbl/v[I, Ipr]~ (at/to sb) (about/at/over sth)complainor protest in a bad-tempered way发怨言;鸣不平:Stop grumbling!
You've got nothing to complain about.别抱怨了!你没什麽可抱怨的.
out of pocket having suffered a financial loss.
Yet investors clearly have reasons to lament the firm’s performance.Disney land Paris has failed to deliver more than a handful of profitable years—it last did so in 2008. Visitor numbers have slipped. Some 13m came last year,1m-2m fewer than a decade ago; hotel occupancy rates that were at nearly 90% early in this decade are below 80%; spending per visitor is up only modestly,despite new restaurants.A spokesman, François Banon,blames “macroeconomic conditions and difficulties”,noting years of stagnation in France and its neighbours,plus fears about terrorism.
lament/ləˈment; ləˋmɛnt/v[I, Tn] complain (about sth)抱怨（某事）:She's always lamenting the lack of sports facilities in
town.她总是抱怨伦敦缺少体育设施.
Otherssaythat Disney itselfmaybe at fault. CIAM, a French activistfund, took astakein Euro Disney in2015. It reckons its shareswerebadlyundervalued, and has decided to resist Disney’s effort totakeit private. It has asked a judge toinvestigateif Disney’s description of EuroDisney’s value wasfair.CIAMpointstoEuroDisney’s rights until 2035 to develop 2,200 hectares of prime commercial landclose to Paris, around the theme park, at a remarkably low purchase cost, itsays,of €1.69 per square meter (rightswhich it has only partly exercised). The judgemayyet dismiss the case. But Anne-Sophied’Andlau,of CIAM,saysa surveyor commissioned by her fund concluded the value ofcontrolling the land was €1.9bn alone—far above Euro Disney’smarketcapitalization.
CIAM also alleges a“darker side” to Disney’s behavior,suggesting the American firm should reimburse over €900m in fees and royalties for the Disney brand that were charged to its European outfit over the years. Although these are occasionally waived by Disney,CIAM claims thattheyareexcessiveandthattheyhelptoexplainEuroDisney’slackofprofits. Mr Banon calls these allegations“false and unfounded”.The property business earns Euro Disney just €10m annually,he points out, and CIAM’s calculation“grossly exaggerates the value of these real-estate rights”.As for Disney’s various fees,he says royalties are unexceptional at 6%or less of total revenues, and that a management fee is 1% of revenues.
outfit/ˈautfɪt; ˋaʊtˏfɪt/n[CGp] (infml口) group of people working together; organization（协同工作的）集体,组织:a small publishing
outfit小型出版单位.
waive/weɪv; wev/v[Tn](fml文) not insist on (sth) in a particular case;
forego不坚持要求（某事物）;放弃:waive a claim,
privilege, right, rule放弃一要求﹑特权﹑权利﹑规定
The dispute could quickly end if Disney increases its offer.CIAM notes that since it began asking questions, Disneyhas already raised its bid to minority holders, from €1.25, which implies that theearlier valuation was too low.CIAMis emerging as a rare French activist fund that gets results: it profited by intervening in thetakeoverof Club Med, a tourist firm, byChina’sFosun
Internationaltwo yearsago.
Fosun International :复星集团
AsforEuroDisney,its theme park has high running costs. It iswoefullybehind on digital efforts: it lacks Wi-Fi for visitors. But it ispopular,andFrance’seconomy isperking upabit. A plan to develop new railway lines in the greater Paris region should increase demand for the commercial land that it has rights to. How irksome it would be for some if it delivered steady profits under Disney’s full ownership.
woefully used for emphasizing that something is very bador does not happen enough
irksome If something is irksome, it irritates or annoys you. (FORMAL)
DAY 3-5
A Better Pill from China
The pharma business
Chinese pharma firms are starting to develop newdrugs for the global market
WALKintothe Shanghai laboratories of Chi-Med, a biotech firm, and you encounter thesort ofshiny,cutting-edgefacilities common in any major pharma company in America, Europe or Japan.Chi-Med has just had positive results in alate-stagetrial of its drug forcolorectalcancer,which is calledFruquintinib. Ifthe drug is approved both in China and inWestern
marketsit could betheveryfirstprescription drugtobedesigned and developed entirely in China that will be on a path to globalcommercialization.
late-stage：晚期
Colorectal: Of or relating to the colon（结肠）and rectum（直肠）.
GivenChina’sageing population, higher incomes and rising demandfor health care it is clear why innovation in drugs is a priority for thecountry.Its national market for drugs hasgrown rapidly in recent years to become theworld’ssecond-largest. It could grow from $108bn in 2015 to around $167bn by2020, according to an estimatefrom
America’sDepartment of Commerce. Bycomparison,Americaspendsabout$400bnayearondrugs.
Chinese firms mainly sell cheap,generic medicinesthat earn onlyrazor-thinmargins. The pharmaindustryisextremelyfragmented,withthousandsoftinymanufacturersanddistributors.That helps explain the limited amount of finance that is available forinvestment innewmedicines. MostChinese pharma firms devote less than 5% of sales to R&D, according to areport last year from theWorldHealthOrganization (big global drug firms typically spend 14%-18% of salesonR&D).Andthebulkofthatspendinggoestoresearchintogenerics.
A generic drugis a pharmaceuticaldrug that is equivalent to a brand-name product in dosage, strength, route ofadministration, quality, performance, and intended use. The term may also referto any drug marketed under its chemical name without advertising, or to the chemicalmakeup of a drug rather than the brand name under which the drug is sold.Although they may not be associated with a particular company, generic drugsare usually subject to government regulations in the countries where they aredispensed.
通用名药/仿制药（Generic drug）是相对于在专利保护期内的原研药（Innovator Drug,全球基于系统开发研究结果而最早上市的药品）的一类药品，其具体特征是：已失去化合物专利的保护，其他药品生产商都可注册生产，需要证明和原研药临床上等效，并且不能使用原研药品牌名（brand-name）。
Razor-thin:Arazor-thin majority or profit is a very small one.
But things are changingquickly.The government is encouraging the industry toconsolidate, chiefly by raisingstandards for the quality of new medicines. It is also improving the country’sregulatory infrastructure, which should make it more efficient, and faster, to developdrugs.The value of deals in thehealth-care sector has beenincreasing as a result.ChinaBio, a researchfirm, reckons that over $40bn of foreign and local money went into the lifesciences in China in 2016. In the same year just three Chinese biotechfirms—CStone, Innovent and Ascletis—together raised more than $500m offinancing.
Another boost is the arrival of talent from abroad,whether Chinese-born executives returning with aWesterneducation orWesternerswith experience of multinational pharmaceutical firms. Christian Hogg,the boss of Chi-Med—which was founded in 2000, has eight drugs in clinicaldevelopment and listed on the NASDAQ stockexchangein 2016—used to work atProcter &
Gamble,a global consumer goods firm. Samantha Du, thefirm’svery first scientificofficer,was formerly an executive atPfizer,an American pharma giant. Now known asthe godmother of Chinese biopharma, she used to manage healthcare investmentsforSequoia Capital, a SiliconValleyventure-capital firm. In 2013 shehelped foundZai Lab, which licenses late-stagedrugs fromWesternpharma companiesto develop and sell in China. Zai Lab also aims to develop innovative medicinesinimmune-oncology.Anotherfirm attracting attention isBeiGene, anoncologyfirmbasedinBeijing,whichhasfourclinical-stagedrugcandidatesandwhichraised $158m in an IPO last year.Chi-Med’s Fruquintinib may even be beaten in the race to approval in America and Japan by a cancer drug called Epidaza from Chipscreen Biosciences of Shenzhen. China approved it in 2015.
Sequoia Capital:红杉资本
Zai Lab：再鼎医药
Immuno-oncology:The branch of medicine concerned with the study, classification, and
treatment of the immunization of tumors.
BeiGene：中国靶向及免疫抗癌药研发创新生物制药公司——百济神州
oncology[ɔŋˈkɔlədʒɪ]n.肿瘤学
shenzhen chipscreen bios：深圳微芯生物科技有限公司
Procter& Gamble Co., also known as P&G, is an American consumer goods corporation.
Pfizer Inc. /ˈfaɪzər/（辉瑞）is an American pharmaceutical corporationheadquartered in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton,Connecticut. It is among the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.
It is too early tosaywhether these innovative firms will remain rarities. Only afewlarge ones have emerged, sincetheindustry is resisting consolidation. But the size of thelocal market will itself help the industrygrow.And developing a drug in China is far cheaper than it is in America or Europe.Given the outrage at the high cost of drugs in America, in particular,there is every incentive for Chinese firms to develop medicines for the global market.