螞蟻金服與其大猩猩朋友 Ant Financial: consider its ways

Unicorns beware: ants are on the up. Last week, Ant Financial, the online payments affiliate of Chinese e-retailer Alibaba, became the largest Chinese private company on record, kicking off a funding round that would value the company as highly as $60bn. That puts it in second place worldwide behind Uber of the US, whose most recent fundraising valued that company at more than $60bn.

獨角獸們請注意：螞蟻正爬上來。中國電子零售集團阿里巴巴(Alibaba)旗下在線支付公司螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)正在進行新一輪融資，對螞蟻金服的估值將達到最多600億美元，使其成爲中國有記錄以來最大的私人公司。這也意味着螞蟻金服在世界範圍內將僅落後於美國的優步(Uber)，後者最新一輪融資對其估值爲逾600億美元。

Big numbers for a nominally small creature, in Ant Financial’s case, but online payment has big potential in China. Consumers there are well ahead of their US counterparts in online shopping. Credit Suisse estimates that in 2014 the internet accounted for 9 per cent of retail sales in China, compared with 6 per cent in the US. And online payment is not limited to buying goods for home delivery: Chinese shoppers frequently use mobile payment apps to settle anything from taxi fares to restaurant bills. The broker reckons that over $3tn in transactions were closed online last year.

對於一家叫做“螞蟻”的公司而言，螞蟻金服的估值數字倒挺大，不過這不奇怪——在線支付在中國擁有巨大的潛力。在網購方面，中國消費者比美國消費者超前得多。據瑞信(Credit Suisse)估算，2014年，互聯網佔中國零售業銷售額的9%，而在美國，這一比例爲6%。而且，在線支付也不僅限於網購商品：中國消費者經常用各種移動支付應用結算各種費用——從打車費到餐廳賬單。瑞信估計，中國去年有逾3萬億美元的交易是在線結算的。

Ant Financial has over half the market. Internet rival Tencent has market share of one-fifth with its system Tenpay; China’s near-monopoly renminbi credit card settlement provider, China UnionPay, has 6 per cent. Meanwhile, in December, Apple and Samsung each announced partnerships with China UnionPay to bring their payment systems to China.

螞蟻金服佔據逾一半的在線結算市場。阿里巴巴的互聯網競爭對手騰訊(Tencent)旗下的財付通(Tenpay)佔有五分之一的市場份額；在中國擁有近乎壟斷地位的人民幣信用卡結算服務提供商——中國銀聯(China UnionPay)佔6%。此外在去年12月，蘋果(Apple)和三星(Samsung)分別宣佈與中國銀聯合作，在中國推出自己的支付系統。

Still, Ant Financial will not be stepped on any time soon. Its payments arm, Alipay, has an exclusive arrangement to settle Alibaba’s transactions. And while Alibaba does not have a stake in Ant Financial, exactly, it has an agreement entitling it to 37.5 per cent of all Ant Financial’s pre-tax profit (in turn, it pays a fee for settlement services). In the event of a listing, Alibaba could elect to continue the agreement, or receive a payment equal to 37.5 per cent of the equity value. This ant has a good friend who happens to be a gorilla.

不過，螞蟻金服短期內不會被踩在腳下。螞蟻金服旗下支付平臺——支付寶(Alipay)獨家代理阿里巴巴的交易結算。雖然準確地說阿里巴巴不持有螞蟻金服的股份，但一項協議讓阿里巴巴有權拿走螞蟻金服37.5%的稅前利潤（反過來，阿里巴巴向螞蟻金服支付結算服務費用）。一旦螞蟻金服上市，阿里巴巴可以選擇繼續履行該協議，或收取相當於螞蟻金服股權價值37.5%的付款。這隻“螞蟻”有一個好朋友，而這個好朋友恰好是一隻“大猩猩”。