谷歌重组的意义 Google hacking the structure

It is a $29bn org chart. If Googleexecutives mapped out their new corporate structure on something as antediluvian as a white board, they could stick a gold frame around it.

这是一张价值290亿美元的组织架构图。如果谷歌(Google)高管在传统的白板上画出新的企业架构，他们可以裱一个金框。

Google’s shares rose by that amount, or 7 per cent, in after-hours trading on Monday when the company revealed it was creating a new holding company called Alphabet, with subsidiaries ranging from the core search and advertising business to Nest, which makes thermostats, Fiber, the high-speed internet provider, and Calico, the biotech company.

谷歌的市值在周一盘后交易期间上涨了上述金额，股价涨幅为7%，此前谷歌宣布将创建一家名为Alphabet的全新控股公司，其子公司包括核心的搜索和广告业务（即谷歌）、调温器制造商Nest、高速互联网提供商Fiber以及生物技术公司Calico。

At first sight, this is absurd. The balance sheet and cash flows will be unchanged. Larry Page, chief executive, calls it “cleaner”. The risk is it creates a mess, particularly in human resources. Even the top team is not exactly streamlined. Mr Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt move from Google to Alphabet, but Sundar Pichai moves from head of Google products to become chief executive of Google, and Ruth Porat, chief financial officer, will be CFO of both Alphabet and Google.

乍一看，此举非常荒谬。资产负债表以及现金流都不会改变。首席执行官拉里椠吉(Larry Page)称其“更干净”。风险在于，此举制造了混乱，特别是在人力资源方面。就连最高层团队也并未真的精简。佩吉、谢尔盖布林(Sergey Brin)以及埃里克施密特(Eric Schmidt)从谷歌移至Alphabet，但是桑德尔皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)从谷歌产品主管升任谷歌首席执行官，而首席财务官露丝波拉特(Ruth Porat)将成为Alphabet和谷歌两家的CFO。

Further down the organisation, life gets more compartmentalised. It is not obvious that working in a silo at Company XYZ, “an Alphabet subsidiary”, is as attractive as working on complex issues across today’s Google.

在组织的中下层，日子变得更加部门化。尚不清楚在某家“Alphabet子公司”的小天地工作会不会像在眼下的谷歌解决复杂问题一样具有吸引力。

There could be benefits to disclosures. At the moment, Google’s are paltry for a $487bn company, with barely any breakdown between lines of business. But the board has stopped short of giving each independent company its own public financials. Each apart from Google, will be contained in the same “non-Google” revenue line. That is hardly a revolution in transparency.

此举可能对披露有好处。目前，对于一家市值4870亿美元的公司，谷歌披露的内容实在不算多，基本上没有按业务部门划分的具体细节。但董事会并没有授权每一家独立公司公开财务。除谷歌以外，各子公司都将被纳入“非谷歌”营收线。这很难说是透明度方面的一场革命。

There is one big advantage. The core Google business may have been relegated to just another subsidiary and it may have lost Mr Page as day-to-day chief executive. But he has seemed more interested in new projects for some time. With a more dedicated management team, the performance of Google could improve. And with separated financials, the market can finally see what are already reputed to be fearsome margins.

此次重组有个重大优势。核心的谷歌业务或许已被降格为又一家子公司，其日常CEO或许可能不再是佩奇。但他貌似对新项目更感兴趣已经有一段时间了。有了一个更专注的管理团队，谷歌的表现可能会有起色。同时，借助分立的财报，市场有望终于看到据称非常高的利润率。