馬雲着眼世界 阿里巴巴爲何大舉收購大綱

Alibaba has been on quite a shopping spree. In the past year the Chinese ecommerce company has spent more than $2bn taking a stake in, or buying outright, more than 10 smaller companies. These include map makers, social media sites, web browsers, logistics companies and a US site inspired by Parisian flea markets.
阿里巴巴(Alibaba)近來一直在大舉收購。過去一年裏，這家中國電子商務公司動用資金逾20億美元，或入股或直接收購了超過10家規模較小的公司。這些公司包括地圖軟件製作商、社交媒體網站、網絡瀏覽器、物流公司以及一家創意源自巴黎跳蚤市場的美國網站。

This dealmaking madness has a method. Alibaba is rushing to shore up areas of weakness ahead of a hotly anticipated initial public offering this year, which could value its equity at more than at $100bn. Revenue growth has been slowing because of competition and the fact that the company already controls 80 per cent of ecommerce in China.
這輪“大采購”是有章法可循的。今年，阿里巴巴將進行各方熱切期待的首次公開發行(IPO)，屆時該公司的估值可能超過1000億美元。目前，阿里巴巴正急於在IPO之前彌補其經營短板。由於競爭加劇及該公司已控制中國80%電子商務的事實，該公司近期營收增長放緩。

Selling to the US and the rest of the world is “the direction we want to move in”, says Annie Xu, Alibaba’s US general manager. But, for now, Alibaba is targeting American and Chinese start-ups that can help it fend off local rivals Tencent and Baidu, as ecommerce in the world’s most populous nation shifts rapidly to mobile devices.
阿里巴巴美國區總經理許潔(Annie Xu)表示，“我們努力的方向是”對美國及世界其它地區的銷售。但就目前而言，阿里巴巴收購的目標都是那些能幫助其抵禦騰訊(Tencent)和百度(Baidu)這類國內競爭對手的美國和中國初創企業。原因是在世界人口最多的國家，電子商務正迅速向移動設備轉移。

Alibaba’s investment in ecommerce delivery group ShopRunner – one of at least four US companies it has taken a stake in during the past 12 months – is a case in point. While ShopRunner could eventually help Alibaba sell to US consumers, in the meantime the plan is to use its US logistics network to let Chinese consumers buy goods online from US merchants’ sites.
阿里巴巴對電子商務配送集團ShopRunner（該公司是阿里巴巴過去12個月裏入股的至少4家美國企業之一）的投資就是一個例子。儘管ShopRunner最終可能有助於阿里巴巴對美國消費者的銷售，但與此同時，收購該公司是爲了通過其美國物流網絡，讓中國消費者能夠從美國商家的網站上在線購買商品。

Under the new service, which is not yet launched, ShopRunner will handle US logistics and Alibaba will manage customs, delivery and payments. Alibaba’s “core competence is still selling to the Chinese consumer in China”, says Ms Xu, and ShopRunner will help expand that business.
在還未推出的新服務中，ShopRunner將管理在美國的物流事務，而阿里巴巴將管理清關、送貨及支付方面的事務。許潔表示，阿里巴巴的“核心競爭力仍然是針對中國國內消費者的銷售”，ShopRunner將有助於擴大這一業務。

“Chinese consumers are crazy about anything not made in China,” she adds.” Fulfilling that need “is still a huge opportunity”.
她補充說：“對任何非中國製造的商品，中國消費者都趨之若鶩。（對這一需求的滿足）仍是一個巨大的機遇。”

Mobile dealmaking at home
移動領域的國內收購

The pace of Alibaba’s dealmaking in China has been even more intense. There the key word is mobile. In China Alibaba and its rivals are all scrambling to respond to the rapid growth in smartphone adoption.
阿里巴巴近來在國內的收購活動更爲密集。“移動”是這些收購活動的關鍵字。在中國，阿里巴巴及其競爭對手都在爭相應對智能手機的迅速普及。

“If Alibaba has a perceived weakness going into the IPO, it is in the mobile internet,” says an executive at a competitor who asked not to be named. “It’s the same thing with all big Chinese internet companies. Mobile just sort of snuck up on them.”
在某一家競爭對手公司，一名要求匿名的高管表示：“如果說阿里巴巴上市時存在明顯短板，那就是移動互聯網領域。中國所有大型互聯網企業都有同樣問題。移動互聯網正悄然向它們發起衝擊。”

The number of Chinese mobile users overtook the number of PC users in 2012, and the gap is growing. The percentage of internet users who say they use PCs is 69.7 per cent, a decline from 2012, while the percentage who use smartphones has risen to 81 per cent, according to data from a research group affiliated with the government. Most people, of course, use both.
中國移動設備用戶數在2012年就超過了個人電腦(PC)用戶數，兩者之間的差距還在不斷擴大。根據一家中國官方研究機構的數據，69.7%的互聯網用戶表示他們是PC用戶，比2012年有所下降，而使用智能手機的百分比則上升至81%。當然，多數人兩者都用。

With only 45 per cent of the population online, mobile internet growth looks set to continue. In the past year alone, 54m users were added, and analysts say many of the people now getting online will be mobile-first or mobile-only. Smartphones, which are selling for less than $100, are becoming cheaper and China is only starting to introduce superfast 4G networks this year.
考慮到中國上網人口只佔45%，移動互聯網應該會繼續保持增長勢頭。僅去年一年新增的移動互聯網用戶人數就達到5400萬。分析人士表示，如今許多人優先用（甚至只用）移動設備上網。智能手機正變得更爲廉價，低端設備售價已不到100美元。而今年中國剛開始啓用超高速的4G網絡。

Mobile was the rationale for Alibaba’s purchase of map software maker Autonavi, which it agreed to take private last Monday in a deal that valued Autonavi at $1.6bn.
阿里巴巴對地圖軟件製造商高德(Autonavi)的收購就是出於移動互聯網服務的考慮。該公司上週一同意全資收購高德公司，在這一交易中對高德的估值爲16億美元。

A better mapping service will help Alibaba capture consumers who use their smartphones to find places to shop, while also encouraging them to make the purchases by phone instead, which would link up with the company’s Alipay, which is like PayPal.
更好的地圖服務將有助於阿里巴巴吸引那些用智能手機查找店鋪的顧客。此外，通過手機與阿里巴巴支付寶(Alipay)的連接，這種服務還鼓勵顧客使用手機完成購物。支付寶是一種與PayPal類似的支付平臺。

A recent investment in Kuadi Dache, a smartphone app that lets people hail taxis and pay via Alipay, is in part meant to get people used to mobile payments, according to people familiar with the investment.
根據知情人士的說法，阿里巴巴最近投資快的打車(Kuaidi Dache)，部分目的就是爲了讓用戶習慣於使用移動支付。快的打車是一種能讓用戶召喚出租車並通過支付寶支付的應用。

Mobile was also the reason it took an undisclosed sake in UCWeb, which makes the most popular smartphone browser in China, which Alibaba could use to drive traffic to its site. “The overarching strategy is to move into the mobile internet, but some of the acquisitions are offensive and some are defensive in nature,” says Michael Clendenin of Redtech Advisors, a Shanghai-based business consultancy.
移動互聯網同樣也是阿里巴巴買入UCWeb股權（數額未公開）的原因。UCWeb是中國最受歡迎的智能手機瀏覽器製作商，阿里巴巴可能會用這種瀏覽器將流量引導至自己的網站。上海商業資訊公司睿析科技(RedTech Advisors)的邁克爾•克倫德寧(Michael Clendenin)表示：“阿里巴巴的總體戰略是進入移動互聯網市場。不過，他們有些收購行爲是進攻性的，有些則是防禦性的。”Fending off Tencent and Baidu
擊退騰訊和百度

The groups Alibaba is defending itself against include, most notably, Tencent and Baidu.
阿里巴巴集團正在打一場防禦戰，它最明顯的對手就包括騰訊和百度。

Tencent developed the hugely popular chat app WeChat, which is evolving into a “one-stop online lifestyle service platform”, says Cynthia Meng at Jefferies. The app already offers ecommerce and investment services, and could soon be planning to push into mobile banking, she adds.
騰訊開發了極爲流行的聊天應用微信(WeChat)。傑富瑞證券公司(Jefferies)的Cynthia Meng表示，該應用正演化成一種“一站式在線生活方式服務平臺”。她補充說，該應用已經在提供電商和投資服務，並可能很快規劃進軍手機銀行業務。

A Chinese new year promotion encouraged millions to link their bank account to WeChat as a way of sending traditional holiday presents of money – or “red packets” – to friends.
在農曆新年的一次推廣活動中，該應用鼓勵數以百萬計的人將銀行賬號與微信相連，以便向朋友發送傳統節日禮物“紅包”。

Baidu, the search and media group, has also been active in mobile-focused acquisitions, and has spent as much as, if not more than, Alibaba on dealmaking in the past year, including $1.9bn on a popular Chinese app store.
過去一年裏，搜索和媒體集團百度在移動領域的收購也十分活躍，其在併購交易上動用的資金不在阿里巴巴之下，包括斥資19億美元收購中國一家流行的應用商店。

Among Alibaba’s defensive plays, Mr Clendenin says, was its purchase last April of 18 per cent in Nasdaq-listed Sina Weibo. The Twitter-like microblogging site lets Alibaba mix more social media with its ecommerce, moving into the same area as WeChat. “They had a blind spot and they were getting their butt kicked by Weixin [WeChat],” he says. “Weibo was a blocking manoeuvre.”
克倫德寧表示，阿里巴巴的防禦性舉措之一是去年4月購得在納斯達克(Nasdaq)上市的新浪微博(Weibo) 18%股權。新浪微博是一個類似推特(Twitter)的微博網站，讓阿里巴巴能在其電子商務業務中加入更多社交網絡元素，從而進入微信所在的領域。他表示：“過去，他們的業務存在盲區，這讓他們被微信打得無法還手。入股新浪微博是一個招架動作。”

Part of the challenge for Alibaba, analysts say, is that the large scale of its core ecommerce business means accelerating growth relative to the market will take substantial new business. Despite such worries, Alibaba’s revenues last quarter increased by more than half over a year ago.
分析人士表示，阿里巴巴面臨的部分挑戰在於，該公司核心的電子商務業務規模太大，這意味着該公司必須開拓大量新業務才能實現相對於市場的加速增長。不過，儘管存在這種擔憂，阿里巴巴上季度的營收增幅同比還是超過了一半。

The Russian frontier
俄羅斯市場的前線

While there are still vast opportunities offered by the Chinese market, Alibaba will at some point have to look further afield to continue its growth. But instead of a showdown with Amazon in Europe and the US, the most likely arena for its next expansion may be Russia, where Alibaba will clash with market leader Ozon and eBay, which is also making a push into the market.
儘管中國市場仍存在巨大商機，但阿里巴巴爲保持增長勢頭，總有一天將不得不把目光投向更遙遠的地方。不過，該公司不太可能在歐美與亞馬遜(Amazon)展開對決。相反，它最有可能的下一個擴張目標是俄羅斯。在那裏，它將與佔市場領導地位的Ozon以及同樣在擠入這一市場的eBay展開競爭。

Alibaba last year launched a Russian site for its AliExpress business. AliExpress is a unit that typically sells to wholesale buyers outside China, but it also lets shoppers buy in smaller quantities.
去年，阿里巴巴爲其全球速賣通(AliExpress)業務推出一個俄語網站。全球速賣通銷售的目標通常是國外批發商，但也會讓購物者購買少量商品。

The AliExpress site is far less slick than most ecommerce sites in the US and Europe, and it uses machine translation for some text, as few of the retailers listing goods on the site speak Russian. Sellers with names such as ABC Co from Guangdong province sell $18 dashboard cameras for cars, a popular item in Russia. Others offer dresses for under $10, or fur-lined men’s shoes for $25.
全球速賣通網站的運轉遠不如歐美多數電子商務網站流暢。由於在該網站上列出商品的零售商幾乎沒人懂俄語，網頁上部分文字還是用機器翻譯而成的。在該網站上，類似廣東省ABC Co等名稱的賣家以18美元出售車用儀表盤攝像頭，一種在俄羅斯很受歡迎的商品。此外還有賣家以不到10美元的價格出售衣服，或以25美元的價格出售帶毛皮襯裏的男鞋。

Alibaba has been working on getting into the market for a few years. In 2012 it struck a deal with Qiwi, the leading online payment provider, to help Russians buy AliExpress goods.
幾年來，阿里巴巴一直在致力於進入俄羅斯市場。2012年，該公司與俄羅斯最大的在線支付提供商Qiwi達成一個協議，以幫助俄羅斯人購買全球速賣通上提供的商品。