2017年十大商业丑闻

虽然2017年股东表面上没出什么大事，但实际上各种丑剧和公关失败案例层出不穷。

这一年，三星深陷行贿丑闻，韦恩斯坦公司遭性骚扰指控，美联航“拖拽”乘客造成流血事件历历在目，不过其他公司大体上比较平静。

以下列举了2017年商业界最大的几起丑闻：

Though stock markets were deceptively calm in 2017, there was no shortage of bad actors and public relations snafus.

Bribery charges hit Samsung, sexual harassment allegations chased Weinstein Co., and bloodied passengers have plagued United over the past 12 months — even as others skated through the year with little noise.

Here are some of the biggest business scandals in 2017:

美联航拖拽乘客下飞机导致受伤事件

2017年4月，美联航一架航班出现超额订票，两名安保人员将一位不愿下飞机的乘客强行拖走导致流血受伤，也引发全球对美联航的指责。视频显示，争吵中69岁的杜成德（David Dao）头部撞击到扶手，毛衣被拉至胸口露出肚子，眼镜也歪在一边，最后躺在地上由安保人员拖出过道下了飞机。

全球消费者看到这一幕都很震惊，迅速发起抵制行动。之后美联航首席执行官就此事道歉时却一副洗白姿态，只说“该事件令所有美联航员工感到难过”，却低估了视频对观众造成的负面影响，以及乘客对航空产业的巨大不满。更给伤口上撒盐的是，媒体报道显示穆尼奥斯在写给员工的信中骂杜成德是个“破坏分子，而且故意挑衅”。

虽然该事件对美联航利润影响不太大，但乘客对航空服务多年积怨借此事件集中爆发。

虽然此后杜成德与美联航庭外和解，但此事引发的对航空业巨大不满并未停止。美国交通部数据显示，事件发生后六个月里，与航空有关的投诉增加了13%。

United Drags a Bloodied Passenger Off a Flight

United Airlines felt the fallout worldwide when two security officers forcibly removed a bloodied passenger off an overbooked United flight in April — and none too gently at that. Video footage of the incident shows 69-year-old David Dao’s head smacking against an arm rest during the altercation, then his sweater hitching up to his chest to reveal his stomach and glasses askew as security dragged him supine down the aisle and off the flight.

Consumers worldwide reacted with horror and quickly called for a boycott. Making matters worse: United CEO Oscar Munoz apologized for the incident in rather sanitized corporate speak, saying “this is an upsetting event to all of us here at United” — underestimating just how viscerally disturbing the video had been, and how dissatisfied fliers were with the airline industry. Adding salt to the open wound, media reports revealed that Munoz had called Dao “disruptive and belligerent” in a letter to employees.

While the incident wasn’t expected to hurt profits, the debacle struck a chord among consumers who have dealt with years of flagging service standards aboard flights.

Even after Dao and United settled out of court, the frustrations unleashed upon airlines would not stop, with complaints against airlines up 13% in the six months following the incident, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

21世纪福克斯和比尔·奥莱利

2017年多家公司深陷性骚扰指控丑闻，其中也包括娱乐业巨头21世纪福克斯。

2016年福克斯的麻烦就开始了，前主持人格雷琴·卡尔森指控福克斯新闻首席执行官罗杰·艾尔斯性骚扰。但事情并未就此打住。4月有报道称，明星主播比尔·奥莱利曾付给五位女性数百万美元平息性骚扰指控。此事曝光后，广告主立刻暂停了向“奥莱利实情”节目的投放。当月奥莱利便离开电视台。

投资者知道此事后都非常生气，因为出现性骚扰丑闻代表这家公司文化有严重问题。之后又有报道称，福克斯知晓奥莱斯身受指控后还考虑1月继续请他工作，给愤怒的公众舆论火上浇油。

因此，福克斯11月同意支付9000万美元平息与奥莱利和艾尔斯丑闻相关的投资者指控，还专门成立了内部委员会负责确保正常的工作环境。

奥莱利拒绝认错，福克斯也没承认做错。

21st Century Fox and Bill O'Reilly

Sexual harassment allegations plagued many companies in 2017, including entertainment giant 21st Century Fox.

Fox’s woes started in 2016, with former anchor Gretchen Carlson filing a lawsuit against Fox News Channel’s news chief Roger Ailes, alleging sexual harassment. But it didn’t stop there. In April, it was reported that star commentator Bill O’Reilly had paid five women millions to keep allegations of sexual harassment in the dark. Upon hearing the news, advertisers hastily suspended their segments during the O’Reilly Factor. By April, O’Reilly was out.

Still, the news was upsetting to shareholders who considered the multiple allegations a sign of a company culture that allowed for sexual harassment. Adding fuel to the fire: Fox reportedly knew of the claims against O’Reilly when it decided to give him a new contract in January.

Thus in November, Fox agreed to pay $90 million to settle shareholder claims related to the O’Reilly and Ailes scandal, and create a council focused on creating a proper workplace environment.

O’Reilly has denied any wrongdoing, and Fox has not admitted wrongdoing.

Alphabet和Facebook

总统大选后的一年里，议会和互联网巨头们都在重新思考民主议程中自己扮演的角色。

很多人猜测社交媒体上充斥的假新闻可能影响了2016年大选，但看Facebook和谷歌等业内巨头都拒绝承认。

2017年情况发生变化，大部分收入来自互联网广告的Facebook和谷歌都表示，发现与俄罗斯政府相关的账号。Facebook称在平台上发现约3000条与俄罗斯相关的广告购买订单，背后的目的都是分裂美国。谷歌发现与俄罗斯有关的公司在YouTube和Gmail上购买了上万条广告。Twitter也表示，俄罗斯政府支持的媒体“今日俄罗斯”2016年在其平台上购买了27.4万美元的广告。

看起来问题暂时还没法彻底解决。Twitter、Facebook和谷歌仍在调查平台上与俄罗斯有关的活动。议会对该领域的态度日渐强硬，有些人已经开始质疑各巨头吸引用户的方式，各巨头的麻烦远未休止。

Alphabet and Facebook

The year following the presidential election became one for Congress — and internet titans — to rethink their role in the democratic process.

Amid speculation that fake news spread on social media may have influenced the 2016 elections, giants such as Facebook and Google appeared to dismiss the possibility.

But that changed in 2017, with Facebook and Google — which derive a major chunk of their revenue from ad placements — both saying that they had found accounts tied to the Russian government. Facebook reported some 3,000 Kremlin-linked ads aimed at dividing the country that had been bought on its platform. Google, meanwhile, found tens of thousands of ads bought by Russia-linked entities on YouTube and Gmail. Twitter also revealed that a news outlet paid for by the Russian government, Russia Today, had spent $274,000 in ads on the platform in 2016.

There’s no indication that the questions will stop any time soon. Twitter, Facebook, and Google are still investigating how much Russian activity there had been on their platforms. Adding to big tech’s big problems: Congress appears to be taking a harder stance against the sector, with some on Capitol Hill questioning the way they are getting users to keep coming back.

Uber一再出事

如果说之前Uber遇到的法律纠纷就像开车过减速带的颠簸，那么2017年Uber遇到的事堪称高速路上10辆车大追尾。前有性骚扰指控，后有针对创始人卡兰尼克领导能力的质疑，甚至还有犯罪调查。2月，前员工苏珊·富勒指控Uber内部性骚扰频繁出现。5月，司法部宣布对Uber开展犯罪调查，因为Uber被指使用名叫“Greyball”的软件在某些地区非法运营时规避地方监管者调查。结果是，6月卡兰尼克离职，给接任者——时任Expedia首席执行官的达拉·克斯罗萨西留下重整公司的巨大烂摊子。

接下来发生的事导致收拾烂摊子几乎变成“不可能的任务”：就在克斯罗萨西出任后不久，英国伦敦就宣布取缔Uber，11月有消息称Uber数据库遭黑，约5700万用户资料有泄露风险。

跟坐美联航飞机不一样，Uber用户选择其实很多，转头就可以选择豪华出租车。而且由于Uber犯错连连，市场份额也被竞争对手Lyft抢走，之前一年Uber市场份额为84%，2017年降至74%。

Uber估值曾高达680亿美元。但出这么多事后，日本银行软银收购其股份时估值已降至480亿美元。

Uber, Uber, and More Uber

If Uber’s past run-ins with the law were speed bumps, then 2017 hit the ride-hailing company like a 10-car pileup, with sexual harassment allegations, questions about founder Travis Kalanick’s leadership, and criminal probes. In February, former Uber employee Susan Fowler came forward alleging a culture of sexual harassment in the Silicon Valley giant. In May, the Justice Department revealed a criminal probe into Uber’s alleged use of a software dubbed “Greyball” to avoid regulators in geographic regions where it was operating illegally. That all helped lead to the ouster of Kalanick in June, giving then-Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi the unenviable task of reforming the firm.

What made it seem like even more of a Sisyphean ordeal: Shortly after Khosrowshahi took the reins, London banned Uber from the U.K. capital, and in November, it was revealed that Uber had been hacked, putting the data of some 57 million users in danger.

Unlike in the case of United Airlines, Uber’s users have chosen alternatives to the black cars. Due to its ongoing woes, Uber has ceded part of its market share to Lyft, now controlling 74% of the U.S. market against 84% last year.

Uber once had a valuation of about $68 billion. Japanese banking firm SoftBank meanwhile bought a stake in the company valuing it at $48 billion.

哈维·韦恩斯坦遭多起性骚扰指控

要说起韦恩斯坦的故事，好莱坞情节最曲折的电影都演不出来。

从10月开始，100多位女演员指控好莱坞大佬韦恩斯坦数十年间存在性骚扰行为。韦恩斯坦道了歉，但这位数次荣获奥斯卡的金牌制作人还是被迫离开韦恩斯坦公司。而且道歉之后公众仍然对韦恩斯坦能数十年行为不当却安然无恙十分愤怒。

据称韦恩斯坦为了避免对抗指控，曾聘请以色列情报机构摩萨德前探员跟踪指控者。但后来发现，韦恩斯坦之所以能掌握大权多年，靠的还不只是间谍和各种威胁，他还有很多亿万富翁朋友们保驾，虽然有迹象显示2015年韦恩斯坦曾挪用公司资金供私人使用。后来韦恩斯坦同意向公司偿还700万美元。

一系列指控最大的影响或许是，之后很多沉默的男男女女说出受到性骚扰的往事。

韦恩斯坦明确表示，未参与过任何“非自愿性行为”。

Harvey Weinstein's Multiple Sexual Assault Accusations

Weinstein’s story is one that can’t be concocted in even the most twisted of Hollywood films.

Starting in October, more than 100 actresses came forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against the Hollywood kingpin dating back for decades. Weinstein apologized — but it wasn’t enough to save the producer of Oscar-winning films from termination from Weinstein Co. Nor did it calm the public’s growing outrage over how Weinstein had managed to maintain his position for so long.

In his attempts to silence those accusations, Weinstein allegedly hired ex-Mossad agents to tail the accusers in question. But as turns out, it wasn’t just Weinstein’s reported spies and threats that kept him in power, but also a following of billionaire friends that kept him safe within Weinstein Co., despite signs that Weinstein was using company funds for personal projects in 2015. Weinstein later agreed to repay more than $7 million to the company.

But perhaps the most significant sea change: It sparked a wave of once silent men and women to speak out about their experiences with sexual harassment.

Weinstein has categorically denied taking part in any non-consensual sex.

艾可飞数据泄露

信用评级公司艾可飞赚取利润的方式主要是向金融机构和银行出售私人信息，而且经常是敏感的隐私信息。

但9月艾可飞称遭遇史上最严重的数据泄露，约涉及1.45亿人，达到美国人口半数。

有消息称艾可飞3月就知道后来黑客利用的漏洞存在，一片哗然中首席执行官理查德·史密斯宣布下台，首席信息官和首席安全官也宣布离职。更可恶的是，艾可飞获知数据泄漏后又等了两个月才公布消息。

此外，由于艾可飞高管在数据泄露消息公布前曾卖出价值约18亿美元的股票，司法部也开始调查是否存在内幕交易行为。

Equifax's Data Breaches

Credit rating firm Equifax makes its profits from selling personal, often sensitive information to financial institutions and lenders.

But in September, it revealed that it had been at the center of one of the worst data breaches in history, with the information of some 145 million people, about half of the U.S. population, compromised.

In the aftermath, CEO Richard Smith stepped down, as well as its chief information officer and chief security officer, amid revelations that Equifax was aware of the system flaw that the hackers took advantage of since March. Then, when the hack did happen, the firm waited a full two months before disclosing it.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is reportedly looking into whether top Equifax excutives committed insider trading when selling some $1.8 billion in shares just before the breach was disclosed.

三星行贿案

2016年，三星被Note 7手机电池爆炸折腾够呛。2017年则更糟，三星内部陷入混乱。

三星集团向来由家族掌管，继承人李在镕即将接班，不料卷进韩国前总统朴槿惠政治丑闻被捕入狱，三星面临接班人空缺的严重问题。

如今李在镕被指向朴槿惠行贿、挪用公款以及隐瞒海外资产，可能面临五年（也可能长达12年）牢狱之灾。

10月，三星电子联合首席执行官权五铉也宣布辞职，称当前三星的领导层面临严重危机。

“眼下我们面临前所未有的全面危机，现在全公司应该振作精神重新开始，要启用年轻领导者，在变化迅速的IT行业更快处理各种新挑战，”权五铉在声明中称。

虽然三星长期发展存疑，但短期来看似乎没什么危机。三季度财报显示三星利润创纪录地达到128亿美元，几乎为之前一年的三倍。

Samsung's Bribery Charges

In 2016, Samsung dealt with exploding Note 7 batteries. In 2017, it was imploding corporate ranks.

Originally planning to put heir Lee Jae-yong at the head of the empire, the family-run Samsung conglomerate is now facing questions of succession after Lee was caught in a sprawling political scandal that took down former South Korean President Park Guen-hye.

Lee Jae-yong is now facing five years (and potentially 12) in jail for offering allegedly offering bribes to Park, embezzlement, and hiding assets overseas.

Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kwon Oh-hyun meanwhile also resigned in October, citing Samsung’s leadership woes.

“As we are confronted with unprecedented crisis inside out, I believe that time has now come for the company [to] start anew, with a new spirit and young leadership to better respond to challenges arising from the rapidly changing IT industry,” he said in a statement.

While Samsung’s long-term health is still on shaky ground, the company’s near-term outlook belies those worries. The company posted record-breaking profits in the third quarter of $12.8 billion, almost triple the number it posted a year earlier.

神户钢铁、三菱材料，以及日本公司治理问题

到2017年三季度，日本GDP实现2001年以来持续增长，创下记录。但经济稳步复苏背后却是一波日本大公司产品质量造假的丑闻，也引发外界对日本制造强国地位的质疑。

10月，神户钢铁承认2007年以来出售给波音、福特、丰田等公司的部分材料信息造假。三菱材料承认，出售给约274个客户的汽车和飞机零部件数据造假。制造业巨头东丽也承认，2008年以来出售的加固轮胎绳索数据不实。

2017年，汽车公司日产和斯巴鲁各召回120万辆和39.5万辆汽车，因为数十年里曾让无资质的检验员负责新车出厂前的整车检查。

虽然该丑闻中并非涉及大规模质量问题，但对日本制造业来说影响很负面。如今中国和韩国制造业凭借低成本在市场上发展迅速，而日本制造一直靠优秀品质竞争高端市场。

不过也有分析师表示，之所以近几个月接连出现质量方面的丑闻，也许是日本企业的质量标准过高了。

Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials, and Japan's Corporate Governance Woes

Japan’s economy notched its longest GDP growth streak since 2001 in the third quarter of 2017. But underlying it’s steady recovery: A wave of quality-faking admissions from some of Japan’s biggest companies that’s has raised questions about the country’s standing as a manufacturing powerhouse.

In October, Kobe Steel revealed that it falsified information on some items sold to Boeing, Ford, Toyota, and others since 2007; Mitsubishi Materials, which said it faked data on auto and airplane parts affecting some 274 clients; and Toray, a manufacturing giant that revealed that it had fudged data for cords used to reinforce tires since 2008.

Carmakers Nissan and Subaru also recalled 1.2 million and 395,000 vehicles respectively in 2017, saying unqualified inspectors were allowed to vet their cars in the final checks for decades.

While the scandals haven’t revealed any major safety issues, they are negative for Japanese businesses. As lower cost alternatives from China and South Korea have proliferated through the market, Japan has competed mainly by pointing to the high quality of its products as a bulwark.

Analysts, though, say the series of scandals that have come out in recent months suggest that those Japanese quality standards may have been set too high.

富国银行的大麻烦

自从2016年因数千万虚假账户失去消费者信任，富国银行一直承诺透明和推动改革，希望重新争取用户。

但2017年富国银行问题变得更严重，因为其承认曾在57万客户不需要的前提下收取汽车保险费用。此举导致约2万客户车辆被收回。富国银行表示将支付8000万美元作为赔偿。后来富国银行个人银行负责人和零售银行部门70位左右高级管理人员也因此被开。

同在2017年，富国银行还承认在客户不知情时开设了140万个虚假账户，此前一年已经承认开设210万个假账户。

Wells Fargo's Woes Continue

After losing the trust of consumers in 2016 for creating millions of fake accounts, Wells Fargo struggled mightily to win back its customer base with promises of transparency and reform.

But Wells Fargo’s woes only deepened in 2017, when the company admitted that it had charged as many as 570,000 consumers for auto insurance that they did not need. Additionally, some 20,000 of those borrowers may have had their cars repossessed as a result. Wells Fargo said it would pay $80 million in remediation. Wells Fargo’s head of consumer banking and some 70 senior managers in the bank’s retail banking segment were also cut as a result.

In the same year, Wells Fargo also revealed that it had uncovered an additional 1.4 million fake accounts on top of the 2.1 million the bank previously disclosed had been created without consumer permission.

苹果“降速门”

临近年末，科技巨头苹果却遭遇巨大危机，因为报道称苹果为解决电池老化问题故意降低旧版iPhone运行速度。

这也印证了一些苹果用户长期以来的阴谋论：即每次发售新版之后，苹果会故意降低旧版手机运行速度以强迫用户升级。如今已有用户因苹果不事先通知便降低设备运行速度告上法庭。

苹果方面的回应首先是为降低旧版iPhone速度道歉，称之为“误解”，随后宣布降价为用户更换电池，之前价格为79美元，现降为29美元。苹果称，更换电池后手机运行速度便会变快。 （财富中文网）

译者:Pessy

审校：夏林

Apple's Slowed Down iPhones

The tech giant’s year ended with a bang, after reports that Apple had purposely slowed down older iPhones to compensate for decaying batteries.

It appeared to feed into a long-time conspiracy theory among some Apple users: that the company had been purposely slowing down old models when a new version came out in a bid to force consumers to upgrade. Now, the company is facing lawsuits for allegedly slowing down the devices without first warning consumers.

In response, Apple has apologized for slowing down the iPhones, calling it a “misunderstanding,” and offered to sell battery replacements for $29 instead of the usual $79. Apple has said that once the battery is replaced, the iPhone’s speed will pick up again.