PayPal该不该脱离eBay单飞

    是什么导致了落后？一个原因可能是eBay让基金管理人感到困惑。eBay的收入分为两部分，其市场业务以百分之十几的速度增长，另一部分贝宝业务增长速度则快得多，超过了20%。当一个公司下有两种不太相干的业务以不同速度增长时，一般寻找“专营”公司的投资者们很容易被吓跑。作为一个投资组合，eBay究竟更看重电子商务，还是更看重在线支付业务？应当把它看成价值型股票，还是高增长型的股票？以上所有问题的答案都可以是肯定的，这就意味着许多投资者不太可能将易趣列入投资组合。持有eBay的股票没什么必要，这也许可以解释为何它落后于同行。

    贝宝是eBay的一部分，管理者是技术和销售专家，而不是在线支付业务的专家。正因如此，假如贝宝的领导者曾就职于美国运通（American Express）这样的信用卡公司，或First Data Resources这样的全球支付运营商，它在网络之外的发展也许就不会如此成功。

    比如，尽eBay顺利地让网络用户接受了贝宝，却在实体店复制这个成功时遇上了麻烦。贝宝有着1亿会员，按理说商家应该争先恐后地与贝宝合作。然而到目前为止，只有很少的一部分商家愿意接受贝宝。原因是因为，在实体店中使用贝宝支付比较复杂，要经过一些额外的手续，这首先就给使用贝宝造成了障碍。线上支付服务与线下支付大为不同，贝宝的管理层似乎并没有意识到这一点。此外，eBay使用了发现金融服务公司（Discover）的支付网络来授权交易，这意味着其放弃了一大笔收入。贝宝有能力自己提供支付网络，也应当被允许追求这个目标。而在eBay旗下，这一切都变得很复杂。

    然而，eBay的管理层认为对贝宝可以放手不管。他们的观点有一定道理。比如尽管贝宝只有30%的收入来自eBay，却有半数利润却仍然依靠后者。此外，eBay积极地进行国际扩张，这也帮助增加了贝宝的全球曝光率，尤其是在巴西和俄罗斯这种贝宝正在开拓市场的国家。如果马上切断两者之间的联系，贝宝在国际上的发展恐怕会止步不前。

    此外，eBay有着良好的信用档案，这让贝宝开展转移支付业务时显得可靠和可信。贝宝一旦独立，一些银行，尤其是跨国银行，也许就会禁止贝宝访问其账户。eBay的良好信用和现金储备还能让贝宝获得低成本的资金，从而进行关键收购。比如，eBay去年花费8亿美元收购了Braintree，有望提高贝宝在关键的移动支付领域的业务表现。

    不过，尽管贝宝与eBay联系紧密，却不能排除它独自运营时能够生存和发展的可能性。如果它们真的分开，也会愿意成为彼此的亲密合作伙伴。eBay甚至可以拥有贝宝的大量股权，就像它在2009年出售Skype后仍保留了30%股份一样。不过作为一家独立公司，贝宝的管理层可以把支付网络的需求放在所有其他考虑之前，从而让公司的发展冲破eBay的束缚。随后，贝宝不仅能够在eBay流行的地区进行扩张，还能开拓eBay不够流行的市场，比如中国。贝宝诞生于eBay，却并不意味着它应当永远和eBay绑在一起。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    So what's with the lag? One reason may be that eBay confuses fund managers. Its revenue is divided between its marketplace business, which is growing at in the low teens, and its PayPal business, which is growing much faster at over 20%. When you have two disparate businesses growing at two different rates under one roof, you tend to scare away investors who usually look for more "pure play" businesses. Should eBay be part of a portfolio that focuses on e-commerce, or should it be in one that focuses on payment networks? Would it be considered a value stock or a high growth stock? The answer for all of those questions could be "yes," which means that eBay is likely being left out of many investors' portfolios. This lack of demand to own eBay stock may explain why it is lagging its peers.

    As a part of eBay, Paypal is run by people who know tech and know retail, not by people who necessarily know payment networks. As such, Paypal's growth beyond the web may not be as successful as it could be if it was led by people who worked at a credit card company like American Express (AXP) or a global payment provider like First Data Resources.

    For example, while eBay has been successful in getting Paypal accepted online it has had trouble replicating that success at brick-and-mortar stores. With 100 million members, merchants should be jumping up and down to get Paypal, but so far, only a few have agreed to accept it. That's because checking out with Paypal at a store is a bit complicated and requires extra steps, which defeats the point of using Paypal in the first place. Being an online payment service is far different than being one offline, something that appears to have been lost on PayPal's management. Furthermore, eBay is using Discover's (DFS) payment network to authorize transactions, meaning that it is giving up a great deal of revenue. PayPal has the capability to become its own payment network and should be allowed to pursue that objective -- all of which is complicated within the confines of eBay.

    eBay's management, though, thinks PayPal is best left alone. Their arguments have merit to some degree. For one, while PayPal derives just 30% of its revenue from eBay, it is still dependent on it for half of its profits. Also, eBay's aggressive international expansion is helping to grow PayPal's global presence, especially in countries like Brazil and Russia, where eBay is taking off. If the cord is cut too early the fear is that PayPal's international growth may stall.

    Furthermore, eBay's stellar credit profile gives PayPal legitimacy as a reliable and trustworthy way to conduct payment transfers. Some banks, especially international ones, may not be as forthcoming in allowing a stand-alone PayPal to access its accounts. And eBay's credit profile and cash reserves gives PayPal access to low cost capital, allowing for critical acquisitions, like eBay's $800 million purchase of Braintree last year, which is expected to boost PayPal's presence in the critical mobile payment space.

    But while PayPal is closely aligned with eBay, that doesn't preclude the possibility of it being able to survive and grow as a separate entity. Indeed, if the two do split, it will be in both of their interests to remain close partners. eBay could even own a large chunk of PayPal, similar to the 30% it retained in Skype after selling that unit off in 2009. But as an independent entity, PayPal's management would put the needs of the payment network above all other considerations, allowing the company to grow outside the eBay construct. PayPal could then concentrate expansion efforts not just where eBay is popular but also in places where it isn't, like China. PayPal owes its life to eBay, but that doesn't mean it should be imprisoned in it forever.