what do you think about when you decide on dividends?

在决定分红时会考虑哪些因素
He had a long discussion;

调查过程很漫长
they said millions of different things--it's very hard.

他们谈到了成千上万的因素这活儿不容易
People who decide on dividends are facing a complicated issue.

决定分红的人们面临的是个复杂的问题
One thing that Merton Miller distilled from it

但莫顿·米勒总结出一点
was that people on boards, who decide on dividend payout,

决定是否分红的董事们
are very focused on the price of a share

十分关注股价
and they're worried about investor reaction.

他们很担心投资者们的反应
Boards always want to keep their price of a share up

董事们想将股价维持在高水准上
because if it starts to decline,

因为股价一旦下滑
the company could become a takeover target;

公司很可能会成为收购目标
it's viewed as a failure etc., etc.

被人看做是决策失误等等