当我还是美国的一个股票经纪人的时候,同事们很少有人知道阿里巴巴,更少有人明白这个东方大国的电商发展之迅猛甚至超过了美国。我很高兴,当年明智地把阿里的股票放入了自己的投资组合。我自己也是个像马云那样的人,出身并不耀眼,却做了些大事。他是一个积极乐观、充满活力的人,对我们所有(出身并不显赫的人)都是一种激励。 Yes, I am proud of that BABA symbol in my stock portfolio! Not many of my colleagues, when I was a stockbroker, knew about Alibaba or understood how China was adopting ecommerce even faster than the US. Also, I just liked Jack Ma’s personality; a little guy who does big things! He is positive and energetic. An inspiration to us all. 我多年前开始持有阿里的股票,现在它们表现得一直很好,我真希望自己当时能再多买些。但是,我也同时觉得,因为自己是一个比较保守、注重多样化的投资者,我没有过分把赌注放在任何一支股票上,这是正确的做法。我并不期望藉投资迅速致富,而是让投资组合慢慢地升值。钱不应该被以储蓄的形式放在商业银行里睡大觉,我只是让自己的钱为自己工作!工作!工作!我放在阿里巴巴的钱,的确把这件工作干得很漂亮。 Yes, I bought the stock years ago and now it has done so well I wish I had bought more. But, I always feel that way with every stock I’ve bought, and since I am a conservative, diversified investor, I know that I did the right thing by not buying more back then. I don’t invest to get rich, at least very quickly. I invest to put my money to work and grow it, and not let it sit in some bank being lazy and sleeping and snoring. I make it get out and work! Work! Work! And the portion of it that went to work for Alibaba has done a good job. 不过,虽然阿里巴巴如今已经成为举世瞩目的阿里帝国,有着9个在线平台,是很多国际品牌开拓中国市场的重要途径;虽然人们认为,今年阿里巴巴的表现还会超出预计——但是,阿里巴巴是不是已经“大而不倒”了?当然不是,这一点是显而易见的。当然,我也不是在预测阿里巴巴一定会倒,只是说我们永远不能排除这个可能。我觉得目前阿里巴巴面临的问题,并不一定都致命,但是的确存在: Now, even though Alibaba has become such a famous, huge and dominating company, operating 9 online marketplaces and becoming the most important way global brands sell into the Chinese market, and even though it is still considered to beat its estimate growth number for this year, is it “too big to fail?” Certainly not. That should be obvious. Now, that is not a prediction, but always in the realm of possibilities. Among the list of things that could slow Alibaba, not necessarily cause it to fail, but cause it a lot of problems are the following: 竞争者: 京东是阿里的头号对手,而且与腾讯联盟。同时,阿里还面临很多其他方面的竞争者,比如亚马逊、Vipshop等。 副业风险:阿里巴巴在向世界各地发展附属业务,这可能导致管理层注意力的分散,甚至带来意想不到的麻烦。 监管风险:阿里的支付系统可能会继续受到监管的约束。目前阿里内部的业务80%是通过支付宝,任何监管上的不利变动,都可能会给阿里造成内伤。 假货与残次品:你懂的。 国际知名度:阿里的在线商场的确是很多国际品牌在中国市场的一个重要渠道,但是在外国,它的知名度还是很低。 VIE结构:阿里的VIE结构允许外国投资者持有开曼群岛业务的股份,但是如果中国商务部有一天忽然对VIE不高兴了,那这些外国投资者们(作为股东的)合法权益将不复存在,这可能引起混乱。 管理架构:同时,阿里巴巴的董事会可以由持股占比很小的五人委员会决定,这四两不知是否总能拨得动千斤。 - Competitors: 京东(JD.COM)-正品低价、品质保障、配送及时、轻松购物! is the number one rival and has a strategic partnership with Tencent. There are others who are competitive in other ways, such as VipShop and Amazon and others. - Lots of ancillary businesses Alibaba owns or has created around the world could cause management distraction and even cause unintended problems. - There could be some additional regulation in the way payments are made and settled within the Alibaba system. Currently 80% payments are settled in Alipay and any tightening of regulations could hurt. - There are still a lot of counterfeit and other problematic goods on the 9 marketplaces - Alibaba’s system is good for global brands selling into China, but it is not very well recognized as a marketplace brand outside of China - The VIE structure of corporate governance allows foreign investors to own shares of the Cayman Islands entity, but if the Chinese Ministry of Commerce changes its view on VIE, then foreign investors will have little legal rights and this could be very disruptive. - Also, the board of directors of Alibaba can basically be determined by the Committee of Five which only holds a minority stake in the company. This seems to be the tail wagging the dog. In addition to these potential challenges, there are other, new and emerging technologies that could be disruptive to huge, centralized near monopolies like Alibaba. Decentralization through blockchain solutions, or what some have called the “zero marginal cost society” might challenge these titans and it could happen more quickly than we expect. 除了上述这些问题,像阿里巴巴这样的近乎处于垄断地位的公司,还面临不断发展的科技的挑战。区块链技术带来的去中心化,或者所说的“零边际成本社会”,也在挑战着这些巨头,而且来得可能比我们想象的更快。 |