雅虎收购疑云：群雄逐鹿，利弊互现
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或许杨致远还不愿意相信，雅虎（Yahoo）将被挂牌出售，但《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）却已经刊登了大幅的报道，称多家公司和私募基金正准备将他成立的这家门户网站一口吞下。目前，这家公司已经破碎不堪、遍体鳞伤、群龙无首。（尽管他曾表示自己宁死也不会放弃雅虎，但这次他或许在劫难逃。） 报道称，谷歌公司（Google）已经就购买雅虎公司核心业务的事宜与两家神秘的私募基金进行过讨论。上周，在科技博客All Things D召开的会议上，阿里巴巴公司（Alibaba）CEO马云称对雅虎非常感兴趣。此外，《华尔街日报》的这篇报道还称，微软公司（Microsoft）正计划与银湖投资集团（Silver Lake）和加拿大退休金计划投资委员会（Canada Pension Plan Investment Board）联手竞购雅虎。 收购雅虎对这些公司意味着什么？下文将分别进行探讨。 谷歌 利：拉里•佩奇和他的下属或许可以解决雅虎的广告收益问题。如何将网络和手机渠道中日益增长的在线广告需求转化为实际收入，这家搜索巨头已经找到了答案；此外，公司最近公布的季度收入与利润均好于预期。Google +的用户数量增长速度惊人，这意味着公司可以将雅虎也纳入社交网络领域。正如《华尔街日报》的所言，一旦收购成功，谷歌将可以获得雅虎与“美国广播公司新闻网（ABC News）等所谓的优质内容提供商”之间长期的合作关系。如果交易成功，谷歌将对广告定价拥有更大的控制权；同时其他搜索公司，比如微软的必应（Bing），日子将更加艰难。 弊：是不是应该考虑一下反垄断问题？ 阿里巴巴 利：雅虎和阿里巴巴这两家公司长期以来一直有千丝万缕的联系。雅虎以10亿美元获得阿里巴巴40%的股份，而阿里巴巴则负责运营雅虎的中国业务。阿里巴巴占有极大的优势，有能力将雅虎打造成中国领先的公司；它也可以使雅虎进入在线零售业务，因为现在阿里巴巴已经是中国最大的在线购物网站。而且，一旦交易成功，阿里巴巴也能赶上其在中国的竞争对手百度（Baidu）和腾讯（Tencent）步伐，此前，这两家公司已经开始进行海外并购。 弊：雅虎网站掌握着数十万美国公民的电子邮件账户和个人信息数据，美国的政界和监管部门会允许一家中国公司收购这样一家网站吗？ 微软 利：2008年，微软出价446亿美元收购雅虎，但未能如愿。现在，它想要从雅虎那里得到任何它感兴趣的业务，只需要之前出价的55%便可成交。收购成功将使微软与雅虎达成的搜索与在线广告合作伙伴关系得到保护。而且，雅虎在全球的7亿用户可以帮助微软普及微软的在线产品，例如必应搜索，这些产品的质量已经有了大幅改善。收购将使微软在在线广告业市场中占有更大的优势。 弊：微软是否还愿意溢价收购？ 你对此事有何高见？你认为哪家公司应该成为雅虎的新东家？先抛开值不值的问题不谈，你认为哪家公司会真的收购雅虎呢？无论新东家是谁，收购雅虎之后，它们是否会像1995年的那些投资者一样，专门为杨致远留出一席之地？ |
While Jerry Yang may not believe that Yahoo is on the auction block, the Wall Street Journal is full of reports that there are companies and private equity firms preparing to swallow up the battered, bruised, rudderless, headless web portal that he founded (and will likely have to be pried from his cold, dead hands.) The newspaper says Google has spoken with two mystery private equity firms about buying Yahoo's core business. At a conference hosted by All Things D last week, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma said that he was interested in Yahoo. And the WSJ reports that Microsoft is looking into a bid for Yahoo with Silver Lake and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. What would a Yahoo deal mean for each of these groups? Here's a look at the options. The Good: Larry Page and crew might be able to solve Yahoo's ad revenue problem. The search giant has found a way to monetize the growing demand for online advertising online and on mobile phones; and it recently beat quarterly revenue and profit estimates. The phenomenal growth of Google+ users means that the company might be able to get Yahoo into the social networking world as well. As the WSJ notes, Google (GOOG) would then have access to Yahoo's longstanding relationships with "so-called premium-content publishers like ABC News." A deal would give Google much more control over ad pricing and make life much harder for other search businesses, like Microsoft's Bing. The Bad: Can you say, antitrust issues? Alibaba The Good: The two companies already have a longstanding relationship. Yahoo bought about 40% of Alibaba for $1 billion, and Alibaba runs Yahoo's China operations. Alibaba is in a great position to turn Yahoo (YHOO) into a powerhouse in China; and it could help Yahoo get into the online retailing game, given that Alibaba is already China's biggest online shopping site. A deal would also allow Alibaba to keep up with Chinese competitors Baidu (BIDU) and Tencent, which have already made acquisitions outside of China. The bad: Try imagining U.S. politicians and regulators allowing a Chinese company to buy a website that includes the email accounts and personal data of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens. Microsoft The Good: Microsoft could get all of the things it wanted from Yahoo when it offered to buy the company in 2008, but at a 45% discount to its original offer of $44.6 billion. A purchase would protect the search and online ad partnerships it already has with Yahoo. And Yahoo's 700 million users around the globe could help Microsoft (MSFT) expand use of online properties like Bing, which has greatly improved, and give it more leverage in the online advertising market. The Bad: Would Microsoft still be willing to overpay? What do you think? Which, if any, of these potential bidders should get Yahoo? Who will, deserving or not, actually buy the company? Will whoever buys Yahoo build a special office for Jerry Yang that is designed to look just like the world did back in 1995? |
