BuzzFeed拒绝迪士尼坚持独立

    不久前，病毒式传媒公司BuzzFeed创始人乔纳•佩雷蒂拒绝了迪士尼（Disney）的高价收购要约，从而引发了一系列连锁反应。BuzzFeed拒绝迪士尼，可不是什么新创企业拒绝提前套现点小钱的故事。BuzzFeed已经成立7年了，投资者（价值4630万美元）和公司员工（500多名）都渴望有靠谱的股票出让机会。

    迪士尼提供的正是这样的机会。《财富》杂志曾第一个报道，迪士尼与BuzzFeed曾在今年早些时候认真地讨论过收购问题。但BuzzFeed最终拒绝了迪士尼给出的收购要约，因为佩雷蒂希望使自己的公司保持独立。

    这是一个大胆的举动，而它的后果包括：一、BuzzFeed首席运营官乔恩•斯坦伯格于上周在尚未找到合适接班人的情况下就已经离职。斯坦伯格在BuzzFeed工作了四年，扮演着非常重要的角色，不仅负责BuzzFeed利润丰厚的本地广告业务，而且经常担任消费者新闻与财经电视频道（CNBC）的嘉宾。

    斯坦伯格离职的时机并非巧合。他的四年行权等待期刚满，而且BuzzFeed刚刚拒绝了迪士尼的收购要约。据知情人士透露，斯坦伯格一直赞成与迪士尼联姻。斯坦伯格与佩雷蒂不同，后者因2010年美国在线（AOL）收购赫芬顿邮报（Huffington Post）时大赚了几百万美元，斯坦伯格可没有过这样的大笔进账。

    换句话说：斯坦伯格不愿再在BuzzFeed干上4年。佩雷蒂拒绝迪士尼收购要约之时，斯坦伯格就准备闪人了。BuzzFeed关于斯坦伯格离职的备忘录只说斯坦伯格“决定是时候继续前进”。 BuzzFeed董事长肯•莱勒称，斯坦伯格离职与迪士尼收购BuzzFeed失败没有直接关系。莱勒说道，两件事之间可能有些间接的关系，“乔纳决定不出售BuzzFeed，引发了关于别的机会的讨论，乔恩不愿意继续在BuzzFeed干上4年、6年，或是10年。”

    据知情人士透露，在拒绝迪斯尼的收购要约后，BuzzFeed一直在默默筹划上市。BuzzFeed不会正式排除其他可能，比如购买次级股票以买断早期投资者，比如正日益增加对科技新创企业投资的私募股权公司和对冲基金。莱勒向《财富》记者表示，BuzzFeed董事会讨论了上市问题，但还没有做出任何决定。不过，BuzzFeed已经排除了被其他公司收购的可能性。

    最后一点可谓不言而喻：BuzzFeed的估值高达8亿至10亿美元，能出得起这种收购价的潜在媒体买家屈指可数。传统的传媒公司个个囊中羞涩，而且10亿美元的估值是BuzzFeed的2014年预期收益——1.2亿美元的6.25倍。（美国在线收购赫芬顿邮报的价格仅为后者当年预期收益的5倍。）况且佩雷蒂坚持要让BuzzFeed保持独立。

    首次公开募股恐怕至少要等到2015年，因为大部分希望今年去市的企业已经聘请了投行。即便那些据称已秘密提交上市申请的企业，比如Box，也因为最近公开市场波动较大而推迟了上市计划。

    斯坦伯格没有回应《财富》记者的置评请求。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    When Jonah Peretti walked away from a lucrative acquisition offer from Disney (DIS), it put the wheels in motion for BuzzFeed. This was not a young company turning down a paltry offer to cash out early. BuzzFeed is seven years old, with investors ($46.3 million worth) and employees (more than 500), all eager for a solid exit.

    Disney was offering that. As Fortune first reported, Disney and BuzzFeed had held serious deal discussions earlier this year. BuzzFeed walked away from Disney's acquisition offer because Jonah Peretti wanted to keep his viral content company independent.

    It was a bold move that has implications. For one, last week BuzzFeed's COO, Jon Steinberg, left the company with no successor in place. After working at BuzzFeed for four years, Steinberg exited his highly visible role, which included running the company's profitable native advertising business and speaking frequently on CNBC.

    The timing of Steinberg's exit – just after he met his four-year vesting period, and just after BuzzFeed turned down the Disney offer – was no coincidence. Steinberg had been in favor of the Disney deal, according to a person familiar with the situation. Unlike Peretti, who had made millions in the sale of Huffington Post to AOL in 2010, Steinberg did not have a big win under his belt.

    Put another way: Steinberg did not want to sign on for another four years of working at BuzzFeed. When Peretti turned down the sale to Disney, Steinberg was ready to leave. An exit memosimply said that Steinberg "has decided it's time to move on." BuzzFeed Chairman Ken Lerer said there was not a "straight line" between any potential Disney transaction and Steinberg's exit. "A squiggly line, maybe," he said. "When Jonah decided he didn't want to sell to anybody, obviously that started conversations about different opportunities and Jon wasn't willing to say, 'Okay guys, I'm in this for another four, or six, or ten years."

    As a result of turning down the Disney offer, BuzzFeed has been working behind the scenes on plans to go public, according to a person familiar with the situation. The company will not officially rule other options, such as taking on secondary equity to buy out early investors, potentially from the private equity firms and hedge funds that have been increasingly investing in tech startups. Lerer told Fortune that BuzzFeed has talked about going public at the board level, but has not made any decision yet. One thing the company has ruled out is selling to another company.

    That last part should be self-evident: The landscape of potential media buyers which could afford to acquire BuzzFeed at a valuation of $800 million to $1 billion is small. Traditional media players are cash-strapped themselves, and a $1 billion deal would value BuzzFeed at 6.25 times its expected revenue of $120 million for 2014. (For context, AOL paid 5 times the expected revenue for The Huffington Post.) Likewise, Peretti is steadfast in his desire to keep BuzzFeed independent.

    An IPO would likely not happen until 2015, as most companies that want to go public this year have already hired bankers. Even those who have reportedly filed a "secret filing," like Box, have delayed the listing due to recent public market volatility.

    Steinberg did not respond to a request for comment.