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People often ask me what we do, and I reply by saying we have an internet business. But we don't actually have a... we're not actually a company, are we, Richard?人们经常问我我们是做什么的，我通常回答说我们有一家互联网业务。但实际上我们并没有……我们其实不是一家公司，对吧，Richard？

No we're not, we are going to talk about companies, in particular PLCs. So, OK, what is a PLC? A PLC, a public limited company, is one which has a number of shares which are publicly traded on the stock exchange.没错，我们不是。接下来我们要谈的是公司，特别是股份有限公司（PLC）。那么，什么是 PLC？PLC，也就是公众有限公司，是一种拥有股票，并且这些股票可以在证券交易所公开交易的公司。

So, when you say shares... Well, the company is divided into shares, so you own a share of the company. A portion of the company. Exactly.那么，当你说“股份”时……公司被分成许多股份，所以你拥有公司的一个股份，也就是一部分公司。没错。

So these shares are bought or sold on the stock exchange, and so the value goes up and down.这些股份可以在证券交易所买卖，因此它们的价值会上下波动。

Is there a certain number of shares? I mean, do all companies have 100 shares, or can you have a different number of shares per company? They can have as many as they like. OK.股份数量是固定的吗？比如说，所有公司都是 100 股，还是可以不同？公司可以拥有任意数量的股份。好的。

Often there are millions of shares. Right. But you can be a shareholder.通常公司会发行数百万股。对。但你仍然可以成为股东。

You may only own 10 shares, but you still own a part of that company. So, if somebody buys shares in a company, they're shareholders. Yep.你可能只拥有 10 股，但你仍然是公司的一部分。所以，只要某人买了股票，他就是股东。对。

What do they do? Essentially nothing. They've bought the shares in the hope that the value of the company, and i.e. their shares, will go up in price. Right.那股东平时做什么呢？基本上什么都不做。他们买股票是希望公司价值上涨，也就是他们的股票升值。没错。

And if the company makes a profit, the company gives them a dividend, a small amount of money out of the profits. Like a kind of interest? Sort of, yes.如果公司盈利，公司会分红，也就是从利润中分给股东的钱。有点像利息？差不多，是的。

And that money goes directly back to the shareholder? Exactly, yes.这些钱会直接返还给股东？没错。

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