棋逢对手，何惧争锋！看，腾讯如何投资布局挤出竞争对手？

By amassing stakes in hundreds of companies, internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. of China has quietly become one of the world’s largest and most active technology investors, a calculated strategy that is crowding out rivals and bolstering its profits.

通过入股数百家公司，中国互联网巨头腾讯控股有限公司(Tencent Holdings Ltd.简称：腾讯)已悄然跻身全球最大且最活跃的科技投资者行列，这是一个挤出竞争对手并提高自身利润的精心战略。

The social-media and videogame company has bought stakes in 277 startups since 2013 and its pace of deal-making accelerated last year, according to data from Dow Jones Venture Source. In 2017 alone, Tencent invested in more than 80 private and public companies, participating in far more deals than its main rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which took part in about 40, data from Bernstein Research shows.

Dow Jones Venture Source数据显示，2013年以来，这家社交媒体和视频公司收购了277家初创企业的股份，去年更是加快了交易步伐。Bernstein Research数据显示，仅2017年，腾讯就投资了80多家非上市和上市公司，交易数量远超主要竞争对手阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)，后者参与了约40项交易。

Tencent over the past year has emerged as one of the world’s most valuable tech giants with a market capitalization of nearly half a trillion dollars after its shares nearly doubled, making the Hong Kong-listed company worth nearly as much as Facebook Inc. and Alibaba. It is best known for its popular Chinese messaging app WeChat.

过去一年，腾讯股价上涨近一倍，成为全球最有价值的科技巨头之一，市值接近5,000亿美元，比肩Facebook Inc.和阿里巴巴。腾讯最知名的产品是在中国广泛使用的通讯应用微信(WeChat)。

Tencent’s investments have been in a wide range of companies, from young startups to firms that have already raised several rounds of funding and some listed technology companies. Tencent hasn’t disclosed how much it has spent on such investments, but the value of its stakes in public companies topped $33 billion at the end of last year.

腾讯的投资对象非常广泛，既包括崭露头角的初创公司，也包括经历过几轮融资的企业，还包括一些上市科技公司。腾讯没有披露投资规模，不过截至去年年末，腾讯持有的上市公司股份价值超过330亿美元。

Tencent’s incessant deal-making, however, has also drawn criticism from some market participants who believe it is helping to inflate valuations of companies that aren’t making money. Shares of some Tencent-backed companies that went public to much initial fanfare have slumped in recent months, after investors turned skeptical of the companies’ profit-generating prospects.

不过，腾讯接连不断地达成交易也惹来一些争议。一些市场人士认为，腾讯的交易推高了某些并不赚钱的企业的估值。腾讯支持的一些公司在上市之初受到热捧，但最近几个月股价大跌，因为投资者对这些公司的利润创造前景改持怀疑态度。

In 2017, almost a quarter of Tencent’s $11.1 billion net income came from valuation gains in companies it has stakes in that went public, such as Chinese insurer ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co. Ltd and search browser Sogou Inc. A year ago, Tencent’s stakes in listed companies made up a 7% share of its profits, and the recent gains from investments have helped cushion the impact of slowing revenue growth in its main businesses.

2017年，在腾讯111亿美元的净利润当中，将近四分之一来自持股公司上市后的估值上升，比如中资保险商众安在线财产保险股份有限公司(ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance,简称：众安在线)和搜索浏览器搜狗(Sogou Inc.)。一年前，腾讯在上市公司中持有的股份占总利润的比例为7%，近期的投资收益缓解了主营业务收入增长放缓造成的冲击。

Tencent is increasingly acting like the “SoftBank of China,” said Bernstein analyst Bhavtosh Vajpayee, referring to Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. a software distributor and telecommunications firm that morphed into the world’s largest technology investor. Mr. Vajpayee estimates Tencent has spent at least $25 billion buying stakes in companies in recent years. In funding rounds for private companies, Tencent has often been the lead investor, putting in more money than other participants.

Bernstein分析师Bhavtosh Vajpayee说，腾讯的行事风格越来越像“中国版的软银”，他指的是日本软银集团股份有限公司(SoftBank Group Corp.)，后者也是从一家软件分销商和通讯公司转变为全球最大的科技投资者。Vajpayee估计，近年来，腾讯至少花费了250亿美元用于购买企业股份。在投资非上市公司方面，腾讯往往是领投方，投入的资金高于其他参与者。

Tencent’s investment priorities include growing its gaming and music businesses, expanding the use of its WeChat messaging platform and payments service, and growing in artificial intelligence, said people familiar with the company. Tencent has said it is focused on investments in companies with leading technologies or research as well as top players in high-growth markets “where we can share our experience and contribute to building the internet ecosystems.”

知情人士表示，腾讯在投资方面的主要着眼点在于推动自身游戏和音乐业务的扩张，扩大微信通信平台和支付服务的使用，以及发展人工智能。腾讯曾表示，其主要投资目标包括拥有领先技术或研发能力的公司，以及一些高增长市场的领头羊企业，在这些市场中，腾讯能够分享自身经验并为创造互联网生态系统做出贡献。

Most of Tencent’s investments have been funded from its cash hoard; the company had 24 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) in free cash flow last year, according to its annual report.

腾讯用于投资的资金主要来自现金储备。根据年报，腾讯去年自由现金流为人民币240亿元（合38亿美元）。

Many of the moves reflect Tencent’s desire to build market share in China’s highly competitive internet and consumer sector and have helped to lock out rival Alibaba from taking stakes in those businesses, according to people close to the company. Investing in internet startups, for example, can help get customers of those companies onto Tencent’s growing WeChat mobile-payments platform, which competes directly with Alipay, a larger payments network run by an affiliate of Alibaba.

据熟悉腾讯的人士透露，腾讯的很多行动反映了这家公司希望在中国竞争激烈的互联网领域和消费领域攻城略地，从而挤出竞争对手阿里巴巴，不让阿里入股这些业务。比如，投资互联网初创公司有助于引导这些公司的消费者进入腾讯不断发展的微信移动支付平台。微信支付平台与阿里巴巴关联公司经营的更大规模的支付网络支付宝(Alipay)存在直接竞争关系。

In many transactions, startups that accept cash from Tencent have to agree in deal documents not to take money from or enter into strategic partnerships with Tencent’s rivals such as Alibaba, according to people close to the deals.

据熟悉这些交易的人说，在众多交易中，接受腾讯投资的初创公司必须在协议文件中同意不接受阿里巴巴等腾讯竞争对手的投资或是不与其达成战略合作关系。

Some deal agreements have clauses stipulating that companies have to seek approval from Tencent before accepting funds from other strategic investors, say people who have reviewed the documents. Alibaba imposes similar funding restrictions on companies it invests in, they said. Alibaba prefers to take larger and sometimes controlling stakes in companies it invests in, which could give founders less flexibility, market participants say.

看过这些协议文件的人表示，一些交易中有条款规定，企业必须得到腾讯同意才能接受其他战略投资者的投资，阿里巴巴对自己投资的公司也作出类似的接受投资的限制。市场参与者称，阿里巴巴更愿意在自己投资的公司中获得较大比例的股份，有时甚至是控股权，这可能减少创始人的灵活性。