马云着眼世界 阿里巴巴为何大举收购

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)近来一直在大举收购。过去一年里，这家中国电子商务公司动用资金逾20亿美元，或入股或直接收购了超过10家规模较小的公司。这些公司包括地图软件制作商、社交媒体网站、网络浏览器、物流公司以及一家创意源自巴黎跳蚤市场的美国网站。

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.
这轮“大采购”是有章法可循的。今年，阿里巴巴将进行各方热切期待的首次公开发行(IPO)，届时该公司的估值可能超过1000亿美元。目前，阿里巴巴正急于在IPO之前弥补其经营短板。由于竞争加剧及该公司已控制中国80%电子商务的事实，该公司近期营收增长放缓。

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.
阿里巴巴美国区总经理许洁(Annie Xu)表示，“我们努力的方向是”对美国及世界其它地区的销售。但就目前而言，阿里巴巴收购的目标都是那些能帮助其抵御腾讯(Tencent)和百度(Baidu)这类国内竞争对手的美国和中国初创企业。原因是在世界人口最多的国家，电子商务正迅速向移动设备转移。

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.
阿里巴巴对电子商务配送集团ShopRunner（该公司是阿里巴巴过去12个月里入股的至少4家美国企业之一）的投资就是一个例子。尽管ShopRunner最终可能有助于阿里巴巴对美国消费者的销售，但与此同时，收购该公司是为了通过其美国物流网络，让中国消费者能够从美国商家的网站上在线购买商品。

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.
在还未推出的新服务中，ShopRunner将管理在美国的物流事务，而阿里巴巴将管理清关、送货及支付方面的事务。许洁表示，阿里巴巴的“核心竞争力仍然是针对中国国内消费者的销售”，ShopRunner将有助于扩大这一业务。

“Chinese consumers are crazy about anything not made in China,” she adds.” Fulfilling that need “is still a huge opportunity”.
她补充说：“对任何非中国制造的商品，中国消费者都趋之若鹜。（对这一需求的满足）仍是一个巨大的机遇。”

Mobile dealmaking at home
移动领域的国内收购

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.
阿里巴巴近来在国内的收购活动更为密集。“移动”是这些收购活动的关键字。在中国，阿里巴巴及其竞争对手都在争相应对智能手机的迅速普及。

“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.”
在某一家竞争对手公司，一名要求匿名的高管表示：“如果说阿里巴巴上市时存在明显短板，那就是移动互联网领域。中国所有大型互联网企业都有同样问题。移动互联网正悄然向它们发起冲击。”

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.
中国移动设备用户数在2012年就超过了个人电脑(PC)用户数，两者之间的差距还在不断扩大。根据一家中国官方研究机构的数据，69.7%的互联网用户表示他们是PC用户，比2012年有所下降，而使用智能手机的百分比则上升至81%。当然，多数人两者都用。

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.
考虑到中国上网人口只占45%，移动互联网应该会继续保持增长势头。仅去年一年新增的移动互联网用户人数就达到5400万。分析人士表示，如今许多人优先用（甚至只用）移动设备上网。智能手机正变得更为廉价，低端设备售价已不到100美元。而今年中国刚开始启用超高速的4G网络。

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.
阿里巴巴对地图软件制造商高德(Autonavi)的收购就是出于移动互联网服务的考虑。该公司上周一同意全资收购高德公司，在这一交易中对高德的估值为16亿美元。

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.
更好的地图服务将有助于阿里巴巴吸引那些用智能手机查找店铺的顾客。此外，通过手机与阿里巴巴支付宝(Alipay)的连接，这种服务还鼓励顾客使用手机完成购物。支付宝是一种与PayPal类似的支付平台。

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.
根据知情人士的说法，阿里巴巴最近投资快的打车(Kuaidi Dache)，部分目的就是为了让用户习惯于使用移动支付。快的打车是一种能让用户召唤出租车并通过支付宝支付的应用。

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.
移动互联网同样也是阿里巴巴买入UCWeb股权（数额未公开）的原因。UCWeb是中国最受欢迎的智能手机浏览器制作商，阿里巴巴可能会用这种浏览器将流量引导至自己的网站。上海商业资讯公司睿析科技(RedTech Advisors)的迈克尔•克伦德宁(Michael Clendenin)表示：“阿里巴巴的总体战略是进入移动互联网市场。不过，他们有些收购行为是进攻性的，有些则是防御性的。”