阿里巴巴上市前夕 马云仍是核心

Colleagues say Mr. Ma -- who is married with a son and daughter -- loves performing. At Alibaba's annual 'Alifest' conferences for customers and media, Mr. Ma has in past years shared the stage with former President Bill Clinton, Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
同事们称，马云喜欢表演。他已经结婚，育有一子一女。在客户及媒体参加的阿里巴巴年度网商大会上，过去几年马云曾与美国前总统克林顿(Bill Clinton)、洛杉矶湖人队球星科比(Kobe Bryant)和演员施瓦辛格(Arnold Schwarzenegger)同台。

Mr. Ma has 'that ability, even in a room of 600 people, to make people think [he is] talking to one person, to you,' said Duncan Clark, a longtime acquaintance and tech consultant based in Beijing.
驻北京的科技顾问克拉克(Duncan Clark)认识马云很长时间了，他说，马云有这种能力，即使在一个有600人的房间里，他也能让在场的人认为他是在单独跟你一个人谈话。

Mr. Ma's eccentric performances and his ability to motivate a crowd have helped build a cultlike following among Alibaba employees. At the company's Hangzhou headquarters, Mr. Ma has blessed hundreds of newlywed Alibaba employees in wedding attire during an annual ritual.
马云的搞怪表演和他激励大众的能力帮助他在阿里巴巴员工中赢得近乎狂热的崇拜。在公司杭州总部，马云在年会上向数百对身着礼服的新婚员工送上祝福。同事们说，马云的果断和他承担重大风险的意愿帮助公司经受住挑战。

Mr. Ma's decisiveness and his willingness to take big risks helped the company overcome challenges, colleagues said.
2002年，eBay Inc.与国内一家购物网站合作，进入中国，马云创办了淘宝网(Taobao)，正面迎接挑战。

When eBay Inc. entered China in 2002 by teaming up with a local shopping site, Mr. Ma developed Taobao to compete head-on with the U.S. company.
阿里巴巴执行副主席蔡崇信(Joe Tsai)表示，马云说，进攻是最好的防御。

'Jack said that the best defense is offense,' said Joe Tsai, Alibaba's executive vice chairman.
马云还决定淘宝应该免去商家的产品目录费和交易费，尽管他的第一个网站Alibaba.com勉强收支平衡。免费模式使淘宝迅速吸引了商家，很快便超过eBay中国网站。淘宝后来找到了通过广告创收的方法。

Mr. Ma also decided that Taobao should let merchants sell without paying listing or transaction fees, even though his first website -- Alibaba.com -- was barely breaking even. The no-fee model allowed Taobao to attract sellers quickly, and the business soon overtook eBay's Chinese market. Taobao later figured out ways to generate revenue through advertising.
2009年，全球金融危机打击了利用Alibaba.com来寻找海外买家的中国小商家，包括Alibaba.com当时的首席执行长卫哲(David Wei)在内的公司高管提议将收费减半。

In 2009, when the global financial crisis hit small Chinese merchants who were using Alibaba.com to find overseas buyers, company executives -- including David Wei, Alibaba.com's then CEO -- proposed cutting fees by as much as half.
卫哲回忆说，马云当时说如果商家没有了，阿里巴巴将不复存在。卫哲还说，马云一刻都没有多想。

'Jack said if merchants disappear there will be no Alibaba,' Mr. Wei recalled. 'Jack didn't even think for a second.'
降低收费帮助阿里巴巴度过了金融危机，用户数量大幅增加，2010年 利润较2009年增长45%。

Cutting fees helped Alibaba.com weather the financial crisis and led to a jump in users, pushing up its net profit by 45% in 2010 over 2009.
尽管马云创建阿里巴巴时几乎没有任何商业或技术背景，但他却知道如何选贤任能。

Although Mr. Ma started Alibaba with little background in business or technology, he knew enough to pick the right people.
马云推出阿里巴巴几个月后，他聘用了台湾出生、耶鲁毕业的律师蔡崇信。从1999年从高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)获得第一笔500万美元投资到广受期待的美国上市，蔡崇信在阿里巴巴的筹资和收购活动中发挥了重要作用。

Several months after he launched Alibaba, Mr. Ma hired Mr. Tsai, a Taiwanese-born, Yale-educated lawyer. Mr. Tsai has played a central role in Alibaba's fundraising and acquisitions, from the first $5 million investment by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 1999 to the widely anticipated U.S. IPO.
现任和前任同事说，马云凭直觉做决策。

Current and former colleagues say Mr. Ma makes decisions with gut instinct.
2004年底，阿里巴巴决定推出支付宝，当时马云飞赴广州拜访了时任区域销售团队负责人的陆兆禧(Jonathan Lu)。陆兆禧现任阿里巴巴首席执行长。

In late 2004, when Alibaba decided to launch Alipay, Mr. Ma flew to Guangzhou to visit Jonathan Lu, Alibaba's current chief executive, who was then the head of a regional sales team.
陆兆禧回忆说，马云问他对支付宝或贝宝是否有所了解。陆兆禧回答说他不了解。马云答道：“好，就由你来负责支付宝。”