近35年来,NBA犹他爵士队(Utah Jazz)的老板一直是犹他商人拉里•米勒或他的家族成员。但米勒家族于10月29日突然宣布,球队控股权将出售给科技公司Qualtrics的联合创始人瑞安•史密斯,这让当地人惊讶不已。
那么,犹他爵士队的新老板究竟是谁?
简单来说有以下几点:史密斯比较年轻(现年42岁),他是个篮球迷,并对社会公正、尤其是种族公正问题表现出了强烈的责任感。当然了,他也非常富有。
爵士队此前的老板米勒出生于盐湖城。他从一名汽车经销商起步,最终建立了一个商业帝国,后来则将业务拓展到了电视电影行业,并于1985年买下了爵士队。据报道,爵士队当时100%的股权价格为2200万美元。米勒于2009年去世,并将球队控制权转交给了米勒家族。
米勒和史密斯之间的反差,首先要从收购球队的价格说起。据报道,史密斯买下爵士队花费了16.6亿美元。目前还不清楚史密斯将持有多少股份,但据福布斯日前公布的数据显示,这支球队估值为15.5亿美元。不论史密斯得到多少股份,按照通货膨胀调整后的价格计算,史密斯支付的金额几乎是米勒当年买下整支球队所花费的30倍。
史密斯也有能力付得起这个价格。2002年,他与哥哥和父亲共同创立了Qualtrics公司(他父亲是杨百翰大学的市场营销学教授)。2018年,Qualtrics以80亿美元的价格出售给了德国商业软件巨头SAP,但它仍然是一个独立运营的部门,史密斯也继续担任公司首席执行官。据估计,几位联合创始人在这笔交易中获得了30亿美元,目前福布斯则估计瑞安•史密斯的身家为13亿美元。
SAP收购的究竟是怎样一家公司?Qualtrics最初提供网上客户问卷调查服务,但现在业务已经大幅扩展。目前,公司最有名的产品是一种叫做“客户体验管理”的软件,它用来整合问卷调查、社交媒体聊天、客户直接反馈等各种数据。软件旨在跟踪人们对公司产品和服务,以及具体客户互动(例如申请维修或退款等)的总体态度。与Qualtrics主营业务类似的竞争对手还有Salesforce,后者也利用大量数据来帮助公司管理销售与客户的关系。
正如《财富》杂志在揭晓2016年全球“40位40岁以下商界精英”榜单时介绍的那样,史密斯毕生都居住在犹他州,而和绝大多数犹他居民一样,他也是一名摩门教徒。他一直是当地工商界的主要支持者,曾经帮助建立了犹他州中部科技企业联盟Silicon Slopes。
史密斯一直十分热衷维护社会公正。今年6月,在“黑人的命也是命”(Black Lives Matter)抗议运动如火如荼之际,史密斯宣布只要Qualtrics公司员工为该运动的法律辩护基金捐款,他个人也将捐出同等金额。福布斯2017年的一份个人简介显示,史密斯与其他创始人一起制定战略,探讨如何才能够使犹他州变得更加多元化。
鉴于近期体育与政治之间的碰撞,包括今年8月NBA球员一度短暂罢赛,以回应警察枪杀非洲裔美国人的事件,史密斯表现出的责任感将对他担任爵士队老板大有帮助。他在这方面也与米勒截然不同。2005年,米勒曾经以电影描绘了同性关系为由,拒绝在他拥有的影院里播放李安的《断背山》(Brokeback Mountain),从而引发了活动人士的愤慨。
史密斯显然也十分热爱篮球运动。他自己的地下室里建有一座篮球场,位于犹他州奥勒姆市的Qualtrics公司总部大堂内也有一座篮球场。史密斯经常在推特上发布体育相关的推文,而他之前也与爵士队有过合作,包括今年他赞助球队为癌症研究筹集了2500万美元。(财富中文网)
译者:智竑
近35年来,NBA犹他爵士队(Utah Jazz)的老板一直是犹他商人拉里•米勒或他的家族成员。但米勒家族于10月29日突然宣布,球队控股权将出售给科技公司Qualtrics的联合创始人瑞安•史密斯,这让当地人惊讶不已。
那么,犹他爵士队的新老板究竟是谁?
简单来说有以下几点:史密斯比较年轻(现年42岁),他是个篮球迷,并对社会公正、尤其是种族公正问题表现出了强烈的责任感。当然了,他也非常富有。
爵士队此前的老板米勒出生于盐湖城。他从一名汽车经销商起步,最终建立了一个商业帝国,后来则将业务拓展到了电视电影行业,并于1985年买下了爵士队。据报道,爵士队当时100%的股权价格为2200万美元。米勒于2009年去世,并将球队控制权转交给了米勒家族。
米勒和史密斯之间的反差,首先要从收购球队的价格说起。据报道,史密斯买下爵士队花费了16.6亿美元。目前还不清楚史密斯将持有多少股份,但据福布斯日前公布的数据显示,这支球队估值为15.5亿美元。不论史密斯得到多少股份,按照通货膨胀调整后的价格计算,史密斯支付的金额几乎是米勒当年买下整支球队所花费的30倍。
史密斯也有能力付得起这个价格。2002年,他与哥哥和父亲共同创立了Qualtrics公司(他父亲是杨百翰大学的市场营销学教授)。2018年,Qualtrics以80亿美元的价格出售给了德国商业软件巨头SAP,但它仍然是一个独立运营的部门,史密斯也继续担任公司首席执行官。据估计,几位联合创始人在这笔交易中获得了30亿美元,目前福布斯则估计瑞安•史密斯的身家为13亿美元。
SAP收购的究竟是怎样一家公司?Qualtrics最初提供网上客户问卷调查服务,但现在业务已经大幅扩展。目前,公司最有名的产品是一种叫做“客户体验管理”的软件,它用来整合问卷调查、社交媒体聊天、客户直接反馈等各种数据。软件旨在跟踪人们对公司产品和服务,以及具体客户互动(例如申请维修或退款等)的总体态度。与Qualtrics主营业务类似的竞争对手还有Salesforce,后者也利用大量数据来帮助公司管理销售与客户的关系。
正如《财富》杂志在揭晓2016年全球“40位40岁以下商界精英”榜单时介绍的那样,史密斯毕生都居住在犹他州,而和绝大多数犹他居民一样,他也是一名摩门教徒。他一直是当地工商界的主要支持者,曾经帮助建立了犹他州中部科技企业联盟Silicon Slopes。
史密斯一直十分热衷维护社会公正。今年6月,在“黑人的命也是命”(Black Lives Matter)抗议运动如火如荼之际,史密斯宣布只要Qualtrics公司员工为该运动的法律辩护基金捐款,他个人也将捐出同等金额。福布斯2017年的一份个人简介显示,史密斯与其他创始人一起制定战略,探讨如何才能够使犹他州变得更加多元化。
鉴于近期体育与政治之间的碰撞,包括今年8月NBA球员一度短暂罢赛,以回应警察枪杀非洲裔美国人的事件,史密斯表现出的责任感将对他担任爵士队老板大有帮助。他在这方面也与米勒截然不同。2005年,米勒曾经以电影描绘了同性关系为由,拒绝在他拥有的影院里播放李安的《断背山》(Brokeback Mountain),从而引发了活动人士的愤慨。
史密斯显然也十分热爱篮球运动。他自己的地下室里建有一座篮球场,位于犹他州奥勒姆市的Qualtrics公司总部大堂内也有一座篮球场。史密斯经常在推特上发布体育相关的推文,而他之前也与爵士队有过合作,包括今年他赞助球队为癌症研究筹集了2500万美元。(财富中文网)
译者:智竑
The NBA's Utah Jazz has been owned for close to 35 years by Utah businessman Larry H. Miller or his family. But in a move that stunned locals, the Miller family announced on October 29 that it would sell a controlling stake in the team to Ryan Smith, cofounder of tech company Qualtrics.
So who is the new owner of the Utah Jazz?
Here are the high points: Smith is young (42), loves basketball, and has signaled a strong commitment to social justice, particularly racial justice issues. And of course, he's very wealthy.
Prior Jazz owner Miller was born in Salt Lake City and built a business empire starting with car dealerships, then expanding to a television station and movie theaters before purchasing the Jazz in 1985. The price tag was reportedly $22 million for 100% of the Jazz. Miller died in 2009 and passed control of the Jazz to his family.
The contrasts between Miller and Smith start with that price tag: Smith’s takeover of the Jazz will cost him a reported $1.66 billion. It’s not entirely clear how large the Smith' stake will be, though the team was recently estimated to be worth $1.55 billion by Forbes. However much he got, Smith paid nearly thirty times what Miller paid for the entire team, in inflation-adjusted terms.
Smith can afford the markup. He co-founded Qualtrics, with his brother and father, a marketing professor at Brigham Young University, in 2002. In 2018, the company was sold to German business software giant SAP for $8 billion, though it remains an independently run unit and Smith still serves as CEO. The founders’ share of that payday was estimated at $3 billion, and Forbes now estimates Ryan Smith’s personal net worth at $1.3 billion.
What exactly did SAP buy? Qualtrics started off by offering customer surveys online, but has expanded considerably. It's now best known for its so-called “customer experience management” software, which brings together a variety of data sources, including surveys, social media chatter, and direct customer feedback. The software is meant to track both broad sentiment about a company’s products and services, and specific customer interactions, such as repair or refund requests. One of Qualtrics’ closer competitors is Salesforce, which draws on a similarly broad array of data sources to help companies manage sales and customer relationships.
As Fortune detailed when we named him to its 40 Under 40 list in 2016, Smith is a lifelong Utah resident and, like the majority of Utah residents, a Mormon. He’s been a major booster of the local business community, helping found a coalition of central Utah tech businesses called Silicon Slopes.
Smith has been notably active on social justice causes. In June, at the height of Black Lives Matter protests, Smith announced he would personally match donations by Qualtrics employees to legal defense funds for the movement. In a 2017 Forbes profile, he strategizes with fellow founders about how to attract more diversity to Utah.
Those commitments should serve Smith well as an NBA owner, given recent collisions between sport and politics that included a brief NBA player strike in August in response to police shootings of African-Americans. They also mark something of a contrast with Miller, who in 2005 raised the ire of activists by refusing to show Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain at theaters he owned because it depicted a gay relationship.
Smith also clearly loves basketball. He has a court in his basement, as well as in the lobby of Qualtrics’ headquarters building in Orem, Utah. Smith’s Twitter feed is sports-heavy, and he has partnered with the Jazz before, including a sponsorship this year that helped raise $25 million for cancer research.