预付卡之王
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一旦“金点子”一败涂地，大多数创业菜鸟们往往就此一蹶不振。但49岁的史蒂芬•W•斯特雷特却突发奇想，最终时来运转。斯特雷特曾做过“成人时代”广播音乐节目制作人。1999年，他在位于加利福尼亚州蒙罗维亚的卧室里创立了一家名为iGen的公司。公司的目标是：为青少年提供预付费借记卡，使他们可以在线购物。 然而，这种借记卡推出之后并未引起孩子们的兴趣。相反，那些没有支票户头或无法申请信用卡的成年人却蜂拥抢购，用这种卡支付日常开支，比如家用开销等。斯特雷特回忆说：“当时我想：‘我们的产品没有问题，只是目标市场定位出现了偏差。’因此，我们进行了调整。” 之后，斯特雷特将公司更名为绿点（Green Dot），并获得了硅谷公司红杉资本（Sequoia Capital）的投资。目前，绿点公司已经成为美国最大的“非银行用户”预付费借记卡提供商。美国的“非银行用户”约有7,300万人。绿点公司于2010年上市。红杉资本最初持有的580万美元股份，现在的价值约为2.7亿美元。 绿点公司真正迎来突破是在2005年。当时，沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）与其合作发行了沃尔玛现金卡（MoneyCard），消费者在沃尔玛将工资或退税兑现后，可以将现金存入卡中。2011年第一季度，绿点公司的收入达到1.17亿美元，比2010年上涨了26%，而其中仅来自沃尔玛业务所占比例就高达60%。目前，绿点公司已发行借记卡数量为430万张，遥遥领先于竞争对手netSpend公司的230万张。去年，受公司良好发展前景的吸引，沃尔玛增持该公司9%的股份。就连美国财政部（U.S. Treasury）也在绿点公司进行试点，通过其借记卡办理退税。 然而，绿点公司也面临诸多不利因素。首先，竞争日益激烈：美国运通（American Express）也即将推出其预付卡，而其他商业银行也纷纷暗示，将参与竞争。虽然运通卡瞄准的是利基市场，以持有一般支票账户的客户为目标客户群，主要功能是用于支付孩子的大学费用，但运通卡收取最低的手续费。这将给绿点公司带来不小的麻烦，因为绿点借记卡购卡和充值都需要交费，此外每月还要收取维护费。目前，尽管绿点公司坚称自己的收费是透明的，但美国佛罗里达州首席检察官正在对此类公司展开调查。 法规变化是另外一个不确定因素。在关于银行对借记卡交易的收费限制方面，多德•弗兰克法案》（Dodd-Frank Act ）之《德斌修正案》（The Durbin Amendment）特别将预付费公司排除在外，因为它们面对的是低收入市场。但如果预付费卡被广泛接受，则这一规定或将改变。 正是这些不确定因素给绿点公司的股票带来了负面影响。目前，该公司股票卖出价为27美元，比36美元的上市价格下跌了24%。几个月前，公司股价还曾暴涨至65美元。摩根大通（J. P. Morgan）银行业分析师黄天津称：“由于市场对公司未来前景的质疑，公司的股票也出现了诸多争议。”但即便如此，他依然增持了该公司的股票。斯特雷特称，他对新竞争对手表示欢迎，因为他坚信，竞争对手的出现将扩大行业的业务范围。但公司所面临的压力或许需要他再次施展魔法，再来一次“灵光闪现”。 翻译：刘进龙/汪皓 |
Not many fledgling entrepreneurs could survive the discovery that their brainchild was a flop. But Steven W. Streit, 49, had a eureka moment that turned his fortunes around. In 1999, Streit, a former adult-contemporary radio programmer, started a business called iGen in the bedroom of his Monrovia, Calif., apartment. The goal: to give teenagers a debit card loaded with prepaid cash so that they could shop online. When the card was rolled out, kids didn't show much interest but adults who couldn't get checking accounts or credit bought the cards in droves, using them for such prosaic tasks as paying household bills. "I thought, 'We have the right product, just the wrong target market,' so we retooled," Streit recalls. Streit rechristened the company Green Dot (GDOT), got backing from Silicon Valley venture firm Sequoia Capital, and now is the largest provider of prepaid debit cards to the "underbanked" in America, a class estimated at 73 million people. Green Dot went public in 2010: Sequoia's original $5.8 million stake is now worth around $270 million. Its breakthrough came in 2005 when Wal-Mart (WMT) partnered with it for the Walmart MoneyCard, which customers load with money when they cash a paycheck or tax refund at a Wal-Mart. The retailer now accounts for 60% of Green Dot's revenue, which hit $117 million in 2011's first quarter, up 26% over 2010. With 4.3 million cards outstanding, it is far ahead of its closest rival, netSpend (NTSP), with 2.3 million. Wal-Mart was so impressed that it bought 9% of the company last year. Even the U.S. Treasury has started a pilot program to issue tax refunds on Green Dot cards. Yet Green Dot is facing some strong headwinds. Competition is heating up: American Express (AXP) is introducing its own prepaid card and commercial banks are hinting they will join the fray. Although the AmEx card appears aimed at a niche market a way for people with normal checking accounts to give money to college kids, for example it is charging minimal fees. That could mean trouble for Green Dot, which charges to buy the cards and reload them, then adds a monthly maintenance fee. Now Florida's attorney general is investigating prepaid firms to see whether they fully disclose their charges. Green Dot insists it does. Legislative changes are another uncertainty. The Durbin Amendment tucked into the Dodd-Frank Act specifically excluded prepaid cards from its limits on how much banks can charge for processing debit card transactions, because they serve the low-income market. That could change if prepaid cards become more widely accepted. All those doubts have had a dampening effect on Green Dot's stock, which is selling at $27, about 24% below its IPO price of $36. That's down from $65 just a few months ago. "There is a lot of controversy over the stock because of doubts about future growth," says Tien-tsin Huang, a banking analyst at J.P. Morgan, who nonetheless has an overweight on the company. Streit says he welcomes new competitors because he believes they will expand the category. But the pressure may force him to conjure up yet another eureka moment. |
