默多克与中国的爱恨情仇

    上周四，传媒大亨鲁珀特•默多克旗下的21世纪福克斯集团（21st Century Fox Group）宣布，将所持有的星空传媒（Star China TV）股份全部出售，后者旗下运营着数个华语普通话频道。至此，默多克在中国市场上长达20年的投资宣告结束。

    默多克此举并不出人意料。虽然人人都知道中国市场潜力巨大，但纵使默多克苦心经营多年，却始终未能在这个全球第二大经济体中打开局面。而默多克出售星空传媒的时机也颇为尴尬，媒体纷纷猜测此举和他与其华裔妻子邓文迪的离婚有关。

    尽管Quartz杂志的标题有所暗示，但默多克与中国的爱恨纠缠却与其婚姻生活毫无瓜葛。不过，这篇刊登在Quartz杂志上的文章却道出了默多克撤出中国的真实原因。2005年，默多克曾表示，由于中国政府收紧了对试图在华扩张的外国传媒企业的限制，因而导致他在中国的业务“碰壁”。五年之后，21世纪福克斯集团便将手头所持有的星空传媒大部分股份出售给了中国华人文化产业投资基金（China Media Capital）。

    今年年初，鲁珀特•默多克的儿子、21世纪福克斯集团负责海外业务的首席执行官詹姆斯•默多克在接受《财富》杂志高级编辑亚当•拉辛斯基采访时直言，在中国做生意越来越难：“对于我们这样处于意识形态领域的企业来说，在中国的处境一直都很困难，这种困境显而易见，而且很多人都有着同样的遭遇。”

    默多克显然不是第一个出口抱怨的企业高管。2010年，《金融时报》（Financial Times）曾经报道，通用电气（GE）首席执行官杰夫•伊梅尔特认为中国对跨国公司非常“不友善”。他直言：“我很担心在中国的生意，我到现在也不清楚中国政府能不能容忍我们在中国市场上取得竞争优势。”

    谁也不清楚伊梅尔特现在怎么想，但默多克的举动则表明，跨国公司想要从高速发展的中国经济中“分一杯羹”并不是件容易的事。

    中国本土企业的境遇也好不到哪儿去。世界银行每年发布的《营商环境》报告（Doing Business report）会根据一系列衡量标准来评估全球经济体的营商环境。据最新一期报告，中国在全球189个国家中排名第96，虽然名次较去年上升三位，但仍然垫底，排在俄罗斯、塞尔维亚、牙买加和马尔代夫之后。虽然中国政府在解决企业贷款以及破产倒闭等问题上已经取得了一些进步，但在保护投资者、减少创业的成本和时间方面依然有很大的提升空间。

    普华永道（PwC）在2013年所做的一项调查显示，对美国的首席执行官们来说，中国依然是最重要的市场。虽然他们对中国市场的投资热情正在减少，而且开始将目光转向德国、加拿大墨西哥等其他市场，但在所调查的167位首席执行官中，有41%的人认为，中国市场对于其公司在未来一年的总体增长来说仍然非常重要。有鉴于此，人们不禁要问，默多克们的下一个目标将会是哪儿？（财富中文网）

    译者：唐昕昕     

    Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's 20-year pursuit of the Chinese market came to an end on Thursday after his film and television business, 21st Century Fox Group, announced that it would sell its remaining stake in Star China TV, which operates Mandarin language channels.

    This isn't much of a surprise. Despite all we hear about the potential of China's growing market, doing business in the world's second-largest economy has turned off Murdoch for many years now. The media has focused on the timing of his move, awkwardly connecting it to his recent divorce from his Chinese-born wife Wendi Deng.

    However, it's clear that Murdoch's love-hate relationship with China has little, if anything, to do with his marital problems, despite what a headline from Quartz may suggest. The piece, however, offers a helpful explainer on why Murdoch pulled out of China. In 2005, Murdoch said his business in China "hit a brick wall" after the government tightened restrictions on foreign media companies looking to expand there. And five years later, 21st Century Fox (FOX) sold its controlling stake in Star China to China Media Capital.

    In an interview earlier this year with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, who is chairman and chief executive of international operations at 21st Century Fox, said it has become harder to do business in China: "It's always been hard for us in the business of ideas to do business in China. That's clear and a lot of people have those issues."

    Murdoch certainly isn't the first executive to complain. In 2010, the Financial Times reported that GE (GE) CEO Jeff Immelt said that China was hostile to multinational companies, saying "I really worry about China. In the end I am not sure they want us to win, or to be successful."

    Who knows how Immelt feels now, but the Murdochs' move signals that cashing in on China's unprecedented growth hasn't gotten much easier.

    And it hasn't gotten that much better for domestic companies in China, either, according to the World Bank's latest annual Doing Business report, which ranks economies on the ease of doing business based on various measures, such as the time it takes to start a business. China climbed three spots to 96 out of 189 nations, but it's still at the bottom rung, just below Russia, Serbia, Jamaica, and the Maldives. China has made it easier for businesses to get credit and resolve insolvency, but the country has not made improvements on other measures, such as protecting investors and reducing the cost and time to start a business.

    Nonetheless, China is the most important economy to U.S. CEOs, according to a 2013 PwC survey. Of the 167 CEOs surveyed, 41% said China was critical to their companies' overall growth prospects over the next 12 months, although interest has waned as executives pay increased attention to the German, Canadian, and Mexican markets.

    All this raises the question: Where will the Murdochs look next?