本周一，《华盛顿邮报》（Washington Post）被亚马逊（Amazon）的创始人兼CEO杰夫•贝佐斯收购的消息见诸报端。消息一出，引发了成百上千篇报道和Twitter微博的热烈讨论，安迪•波洛维兹还不无调侃地写了篇讽刺文，标题为《亚马逊创始人声称，收购华盛顿邮报只因“手滑”》（此处讽刺的是亚马逊英文网站的一键下单功能——译注）。

    能让吵吵嚷嚷的媒体阶层炸开锅的新闻莫过于一家历史悠久的报社被人收购的消息——而且它的时机很特别，前不久正好有两家知名新闻品牌——《新闻周刊》（Newsweek）和《波士顿环球报》（Boston Globe）陆续遭遇转让的命运。

    然而，在成百上千篇讨论中，最值得苹果公司（Apple）的投资人细细品读的莫过于迈克尔•莫里茨写的一篇文章。莫里茨曾是《时代周刊》（Time）记者，著有《小王国》（The Little Kingdom）一书，是第一部讲述史蒂夫•乔布斯的苹果公司内幕的书籍。如今，莫里茨已成为硅谷最成功的风险投资人之一，他所投资的公司包括谷歌（Google）、雅虎、贝宝（Paypal）、Youtube等等。

    想必本专栏的读者都知道，投资人最喜欢把亚马逊拿来跟苹果公司相提并论。

    莫里茨借着贝佐斯收购《华盛顿邮报》的机会，提醒苹果公司的投资人理清自己的经营目标。

    他在商务社交网站LinkedIn上发布了一篇长达1700字的文章，标题为《重磅新闻：传媒新巨头浮出水面》。在这篇文章中，莫里茨一方面带领读者回顾了贝佐斯在1997年写给股东的一封信——此后亚马逊每年向股东例行致信时都会附上这份历史文件，另一方面讲解了如何解读该公司的资产负债表。我们给大家附了一份信件样本。

    亚马逊从业务运营中创造现金流的超强能力，以及它对股东的悉心保护，是所有这些信件都未曾提及的。1997年，贝索斯写道：“我们从长远角度创造的股东价值是衡量公司是否成功的一个主要标准”。评论人士与其紧盯着亚马逊微薄的营运利润率，或者自从创办以来区区19亿美元的累计净利润，还不如睁大眼睛看看亚马逊的现金流有多充沛，股东基数有多稳定。可以不夸张地说，亚马逊整个业务的运转都是由供应商和顾客的资金支撑起来的：亚马逊给书商们兑现发票的速度很慢；顾客在亚马逊上买书，可预付一笔资金购买Amazon Prime服务（以享受全年包邮优惠——译注）；企业用户需要提前支付一笔资金，以获取预留的AWS云计算服务。在洛杉矶，顾客支付220美元即可享受Amazon Fresh生鲜日用杂货送货上门服务；凡是超过35美元的订单，亚马逊将“免费”配送。虽然看似“免费”，但亚马逊的现金已然到手。正是因为从顾客和供应商那里拿到了资金，亚马逊才得以建立了90个订单履行中心，它占地面积将近6,500万平方英尺，规模之大足以让联邦快递（FedEx）和UPS的管理层闻之色变。

    亚马逊自创立以来共创造了202亿美元的运营收入，其中将近一半的收入（86亿美元）被用于资本支出，比如新建配送中心等，这些资本支出有助于改善顾客的消费体验。过去的十年里，亚马逊的股份基数仅仅增长了10%，而公司本身却成长了十二倍。对于股东来说，没有比这更好的结果了。

    近年来，“股东价值”这个词在很大程度上已被恶意滥用。热衷于分拆企业的资产投机客们打着“私募股权”的旗号，大行中饱私囊之实，全然不顾其他股东的利益，管理层也用这套说辞来粉饰太平。无怪乎年轻的企业家们会对“股东价值”这个词深恶痛绝。相反，如果是一个真正明智的人，尤其是持有企业大额股份的创始人（贝佐斯持有亚马逊将近20%的股份），那么在他的眼里，“股东价值”所体现的，就是要把很多事情做对——要做到这一点，首先得从取悦顾客开始。从长远上看，一家公司只有把顾客伺候好了，它的股东价值才会增加。

    有些人觉得“亚马逊就是个慈善机构，里面掌权的都是些只知道为顾客着想的投资白痴。”其实这种论调贝佐斯和莫里茨听得多了，他们只不过对此付之一笑。相反，觉得亚马逊的运营者白痴的人才应该好好读一读莫里茨的文章。（财富中文网）

    译者：Nasca

    The news Monday that the Washington Post has been purchased by Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon (AMZN), has launched hundreds of stories and tweets -- including Andy Borowitz's Amazon Founder Says He Clicked on Washington Post by Mistake.

    Nothing gets the chattering classes chattering like the sale of a storied newspaper -- especially when it follows so closely the sale of two other name brand journalistic outlets, Newsweek and the Boston Globe.

    But of those hundreds of stories, the piece that is most relevant to Apple investors is the one by Michael Moritz, the former Time correspondent who wrote The Littlest Kingdom, the first inside story of Steve Jobs' Apple, and went on to become one of Silicon Valley's most successful venture capitalists (Google, Yahoo!, PayPal, YouTube, etc.).

    As readers of this column know, Amazon is one of the companies most often compared by investors with Apple and found wanting.

    Moritz uses Bezos' WashPo purchase as an opportunity to set those Apple investors straight.

    In a 1,700-word LinkedIn post titled Stop the Presses: A New Press Lord Appears, Moritz points readers to Bezos' original 1997 letter to shareholders -- a document Amazon has appended to every shareholder letter since -- and offers a lesson in how to read the company's balance sheet. A sample:

    One fact, not disclosed in any of these letters, is the extraordinary cash generating power of Amazon's business and its zealous protection of shareholders. In 1997, Bezos wrote that one chief measure of "our success will be the shareholder value we create over the long term." While critics fasten on the company's skimpy operating margins, or the fact that the company has generated just $1.9B of net income since inception they should turn their attention instead to the cash flow statements and the shareholder base of the company. It isn't too much of an exaggeration to say that Amazon's entire business has been financed by vendors and customers: book-sellers who collect their invoices slowly; consumers who stump up money for Amazon Prime in advance of receiving deliveries; or companies that pay in advance for guaranteed capacity on AWS. In Los Angeles customers who pay $220 up front for Amazon Fresh, the company's home delivery grocery service, get 'free' shipping on orders above $35. It might be 'free' but Amazon has their cash. Customers and vendors have helped Amazon build its 90 fulfillment centers, which now enclose about 65 million square feet. That should be enough to make the managements of FedEx and UPS tremble.

    Since inception Amazon has generated $20.2 billion from operations almost half of which ($8.6 B), has been used for capital expenditures such as new distribution centers, which improve life for the customer. In the past ten years theshare basehas only increased by just over 10% while the company has grown twelve-fold. For shareholders it doesn't get better than that.

    The term 'shareholder value' has been much maligned in recent years. Asset strippers, masquerading behind the title 'private equity', use the phrase to describe the way they enrich themselves at the expense of others and managements employ it to camouflage bad news. Little wonder that young entrepreneurs often think of 'shareholder value' as a term of opprobrium. In the right hands, especially a Founder who owns a large part of his company (Bezos owns nearly 20% of Amazon) it is a reflection of doing many things right – and this starts with pleasing customers. Companies do not increase shareholder value over the very long-term unless they have happy customers.

    For those who believe that "Amazon is a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers" -- an oft-repeated remark that both Bezos and Moritz find hilariously half-witted -- it's a must read.