拒絕迪士尼的高價收購要約 BuzzFeed堅持獨立

When Jonah Peretti walked away from a lucrative acquisition offer from Disney (DIS), it put the wheels in motion for BuzzFeed. This was not a young company turning down a paltry offer to cash out early. BuzzFeed is seven years old, with investors ($46.3 million worth) and employees (more than 500), all eager for a solid exit.

不久前，病毒式傳媒公司BuzzFeed創始人喬納·佩雷蒂拒絕了迪士尼（Disney）的高價收購要約，從而引發了一系列連鎖反應。BuzzFeed拒絕迪士尼，可不是什麼新創企業拒絕提前套現點小錢的故事。BuzzFeed已經成立7年了，投資者（價值4630萬美元）和公司員工（500多名）都渴望有靠譜的股票出讓機會。

Disney was offering that. As Fortune first reported, Disney and BuzzFeed had held serious deal discussions earlier this year. BuzzFeed walked away from Disney's acquisition offer because Jonah Peretti wanted to keep his viral content company independent.

迪士尼提供的正是這樣的機會。《財富》雜誌曾第一個報道，迪士尼與BuzzFeed曾在今年早些時候認真地討論過收購問題。但BuzzFeed最終拒絕了迪士尼給出的收購要約，因爲佩雷蒂希望使自己的公司保持獨立。

It was a bold move that has implications. For one, last week BuzzFeed's COO, Jon Steinberg, left the company with no successor in place. After working at BuzzFeed for four years, Steinberg exited his highly visible role, which included running the company's profitable native advertising business and speaking frequently on CNBC.

這是一個大膽的舉動，而它的後果包括：一、BuzzFeed首席運營官喬恩o斯坦伯格於上週在尚未找到合適接班人的情況下就已經離職。斯坦伯格在BuzzFeed工作了四年，扮演着非常重要的角色，不僅負責BuzzFeed利潤豐厚的本地廣告業務，而且經常擔任消費者新聞與財經電視頻道（CNBC）的嘉賓。

The timing of Steinberg's exit – just after he met his four-year vesting period, and just after BuzzFeed turned down the Disney offer – was no coincidence. Steinberg had been in favor of the Disney deal, according to a person familiar with the situation. Unlike Peretti, who had made millions in the sale of Huffington Post to AOL in 2010, Steinberg did not have a big win under his belt.

斯坦伯格離職的時機並非巧合。他的四年行權等待期剛滿，而且BuzzFeed剛剛拒絕了迪士尼的收購要約。據知情人士透露，斯坦伯格一直贊成與迪士尼聯姻。斯坦伯格與佩雷蒂不同，後者因2010年美國在線（AOL）收購赫芬頓郵報（Huffington Post）時大賺了幾百萬美元，斯坦伯格可沒有過這樣的大筆進賬。

Put another way: Steinberg did not want to sign on for another four years of working at BuzzFeed. When Peretti turned down the sale to Disney, Steinberg was ready to leave. An exit memosimply said that Steinberg "has decided it's time to move on." BuzzFeed Chairman Ken Lerer said there was not a "straight line" between any potential Disney transaction and Steinberg's exit. "A squiggly line, maybe," he said. "When Jonah decided he didn't want to sell to anybody, obviously that started conversations about different opportunities and Jon wasn't willing to say, 'Okay guys, I'm in this for another four, or six, or ten years."

換句話說：斯坦伯格不願再在BuzzFeed幹上4年。佩雷蒂拒絕迪士尼收購要約之時，斯坦伯格就準備閃人了。BuzzFeed關於斯坦伯格離職的備忘錄只說斯坦伯格“決定是時候繼續前進”。 BuzzFeed董事長肯o萊勒稱，斯坦伯格離職與迪士尼收購BuzzFeed失敗沒有直接關係。萊勒說道，兩件事之間可能有些間接的關係，“喬納決定不出售BuzzFeed，引發了關於別的機會的討論，喬恩不願意繼續在BuzzFeed幹上4年、6年，或是10年。”

As a result of turning down the Disney offer, BuzzFeed has been working behind the scenes on plans to go public, according to a person familiar with the situation. The company will not officially rule other options, such as taking on secondary equity to buy out early investors, potentially from the private equity firms and hedge funds that have been increasingly investing in tech startups. Lerer told Fortune that BuzzFeed has talked about going public at the board level, but has not made any decision yet. One thing the company has ruled out is selling to another company.

據知情人士透露，在拒絕迪斯尼的收購要約後，BuzzFeed一直在默默籌劃上市。BuzzFeed不會正式排除其他可能，比如購買次級股票以買斷早期投資者，比如正日益增加對科技新創企業投資的私募股權公司和對衝基金。萊勒向《財富》記者表示，BuzzFeed董事會討論了上市問題，但還沒有做出任何決定。不過，BuzzFeed已經排除了被其他公司收購的可能性。

That last part should be self-evident: The landscape of potential media buyers which could afford to acquire BuzzFeed at a valuation of $800 million to $1 billion is small. Traditional media players are cash-strapped themselves, and a $1 billion deal would value BuzzFeed at 6.25 times its expected revenue of $120 million for 2014. (For context, AOL paid 5 times the expected revenue for The Huffington Post.) Likewise, Peretti is steadfast in his desire to keep BuzzFeed independent.

最後一點可謂不言而喻：BuzzFeed的估值高達8億至10億美元，能出得起這種收購價的潛在媒體買家屈指可數。傳統的傳媒公司個個囊中羞澀，而且10億美元的估值是BuzzFeed的2014年預期收益——1.2億美元的6.25倍。（美國在線收購赫芬頓郵報的價格僅爲後者當年預期收益的5倍。）況且佩雷蒂堅持要讓BuzzFeed保持獨立。

An IPO would likely not happen until 2015, as most companies that want to go public this year have already hired bankers. Even those who have reportedly filed a "secret filing," like Box, have delayed the listing due to recent public market volatility.

首次公開募股恐怕至少要等到2015年，因爲大部分希望今年去市的企業已經聘請了投行。即便那些據稱已祕密提交上市申請的企業，比如Box，也因爲最近公開市場波動較大而推遲了上市計劃。

Steinberg did not respond to a request for comment.

斯坦伯格沒有迴應《財富》記者的置評請求。