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????美國(guó)最早同時(shí)也是最大的在線(xiàn)團(tuán)購(gòu)公司Groupon（與騰訊合資的中國(guó)公司名為高朋——譯注）近日以7.5億美元的價(jià)格申請(qǐng)實(shí)行首次公開(kāi)募股（IPO）。摩根士丹利公司（Morgan Stanley）和高盛公司（Goldman Sachs）是Groupon首次公開(kāi)募股的聯(lián)合主要承銷(xiāo)商，瑞士信貸銀行（Credit Suisse）也將參與此次IPO的承銷(xiāo)。 ????Groupon并未聲明將選擇紐交所（NYSE）還是納斯達(dá)克（Nasdaq）進(jìn)行交易。但是，該公司明確表示，其定單符號(hào)將名為GRPN。與兩家最近上市的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司LinkedIn和俄羅斯搜索引擎Yandex一樣，Groupon選擇的也是雙級(jí)股票結(jié)構(gòu)。 ????2010年，這家總部位于芝加哥的公司營(yíng)業(yè)收入為7.13億美元，凈損失為4.13億美元。2011年首個(gè)財(cái)季，營(yíng)業(yè)收入為6.64億美元，比去年同期增長(zhǎng)了14倍，凈損失為1.13億美元。這家公司目前擁有7,000多名雇員，迄今已經(jīng)在全球43個(gè)國(guó)家向8,310萬(wàn)名訂戶(hù)銷(xiāo)售了7,000多萬(wàn)個(gè)Groupon團(tuán)購(gòu)。 ????迄今為止，該公司已經(jīng)募集了5.6億美元的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)資本資金；此外，它還支付了5.73億美元的流動(dòng)資金給早期員工和股東[其中也包括那些因Groupon拒絕谷歌（Google）60億美元天價(jià)收購(gòu)方案而怒火中燒的人]。其主要外部股東包括恩頤投資公司（New Enterprise Associates）和加速合伙公司（Accel Partners）。 ????Groupon表示，首次公開(kāi)募股的股票并非全部由公司自行承擔(dān)，有部分會(huì)源自“銷(xiāo)售股東”。但是，它并未透露任何與這些股東的認(rèn)購(gòu)數(shù)量或者身份有關(guān)的信息。 ????（最新消息：從下面這條tweet消息可以看出，似乎銷(xiāo)售股東信息迄今仍未完全確定。） ????業(yè)界曾普遍預(yù)計(jì)Groupon今年會(huì)上市。但是，由于首席運(yùn)營(yíng)官羅伯?索羅門(mén)（Rob Solomon）3月份意外辭職，致使公司計(jì)劃受阻。一個(gè)月后，前谷歌（Google）高管瑪戈?吉奧爾吉亞迪斯（Margo Georgiadis）接任。但是，從公司高級(jí)管理層的變更，到公司申請(qǐng)首次公開(kāi)募股，這段過(guò)渡時(shí)間仍嫌過(guò)短。 ????但是，說(shuō)到底，Groupon本來(lái)就并非一家循規(guī)蹈矩的公司。首席執(zhí)行官安德魯?梅森（Andrew Mason）一向特立獨(dú)行，這由他執(zhí)筆的首次公開(kāi)募股申請(qǐng)介紹信中即可見(jiàn)一斑： ????我們不同尋常，我們自我欣賞。 ????我們希望，客戶(hù)與Groupon共渡的時(shí)光令人難忘。人生苦短，應(yīng)該幫助別人過(guò)得多姿多彩才是。 ????還有下面這條（有些人認(rèn)為，Groupon所在的行業(yè)門(mén)檻低，幾乎沒(méi)什么傳統(tǒng)壁壘可言，因而其成功很可能只是曇花一現(xiàn)。下面這句即是對(duì)這些人的正面回?fù)簦?/p> ????我們心里只有客戶(hù)及合作商家。 ????我們堅(jiān)信，曾經(jīng)輝煌一時(shí)的公司之所以衰落，并非因?yàn)樗麄冚斀o了對(duì)手，而是輸給了自己。而且，一旦公司不再關(guān)注客戶(hù)滿(mǎn)意度時(shí)，這種情況就會(huì)發(fā)生。因此，我們也不打算與競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手針?shù)h相對(duì)。我們會(huì)對(duì)他們予以關(guān)注，但并不會(huì)因此分散注意力。我們的決策將始終以客戶(hù)和零售商的滿(mǎn)意度為第一要?jiǎng)?wù)。 ????以及： ????我們的成功不以世俗標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)衡量。 ????我們密切追蹤三個(gè)主要財(cái)務(wù)指標(biāo)。首先，我們跟蹤毛利，因?yàn)槲覀冋J(rèn)為它才真正代表我們所創(chuàng)造的價(jià)值。其次，我們衡量自由現(xiàn)金流；因?yàn)樵谖覀冄劾?，這是考量長(zhǎng)期財(cái)務(wù)穩(wěn)定性的最佳指標(biāo)。最后，我們用來(lái)衡量公司財(cái)務(wù)績(jī)效的第三個(gè)指標(biāo)是調(diào)整后的總部門(mén)運(yùn)營(yíng)利潤(rùn)（Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income，ACSOI）。這個(gè)指標(biāo)指的是在產(chǎn)生新的用戶(hù)采購(gòu)成本和某些非現(xiàn)金支出之前的總部門(mén)運(yùn)營(yíng)利潤(rùn)。我們將之視為：與長(zhǎng)期發(fā)展相關(guān)的營(yíng)銷(xiāo)成本產(chǎn)生之前的運(yùn)營(yíng)收益率。 ????最后： ????這個(gè)行業(yè)問(wèn)世僅30個(gè)月，與業(yè)內(nèi)的任何一家企業(yè)一樣，我們的成功之路絕不會(huì)一帆風(fēng)順，既有輝煌燦爛的時(shí)刻，亦有愚不可及的暗淡歲月。我們深知，前途將時(shí)有坎坷。對(duì)于有志同行的人，我們深感謝意。 ????論及崎嶇的前進(jìn)之路，也許我應(yīng)該在此提及，6月2日，LinkedIn股票交易價(jià)跌破了80美元/股的大關(guān)。換言之，那些在公開(kāi)市場(chǎng)購(gòu)買(mǎi)了首日股票的投資者，如今已被套牢。當(dāng)然，無(wú)論從目標(biāo)還是規(guī)模而言，Groupon和LinkedIn都是兩家截然不同的公司。但是，對(duì)Groupon來(lái)說(shuō)，此事仍然不失為一個(gè)警醒：即便泡沫不斷膨脹，沒(méi)有投資銀行關(guān)系的散戶(hù)的投資之路仍然步履維艱。 ????譯者：大海 |
????Groupon, the original and largest daily deals company, has filed to raise $750 million in an initial public offering. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are listed as co-lead underwriters, with Credit Suisse also participating. ????The company did not say if it plans to trade on the NYSE or Nasdaq, but did say its ticker symbol would by GRPN. It features a dual-class stock structure, as have other recent Internet issuers like LinkedIn (LNKD) and Yandex (YNDX). ????The Chicago-based company reports a $413 million net loss for 2010, on $713 million in revenue. For the first three months of 2011, it's a $113 million net loss on $664 million in revenue (14x rev increase from year-earlier period). It has over 7,000 employees and has sold more than 70 million "Groupons" to 83.1 million subscribers in 43 countries. ????The company had raised over $560 million in venture capital funding, plus another $573 million that provided liquidity to early employees and shareholders (including those angry that Groupon had turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google). Major outside shareholders include New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners. ????Groupon says that some of the IPO shares will come from "selling shareholders" -- as opposed to only from the company -- but does not provide any information about quantity or identity. ????[Update: It seems, from this tweet, as if the selling shareholder info has not yet been determined.] ????Groupon had been widely expected to go public this year, but its plans hiccuped when chief operating officer Rob Solomon surprisingly resigned back in March. Ex-Google executive Margo Georgiadis was hired one month later to succeed Solomon, but that's still a very short turnaround from new senior management to IPO filing. ????Then again, Groupon is not the most conventional of companies. Its IPO registration includes am introductory letter from iconoclastic CEO Andrew Mason, which includes the following nuggets: ????We are unusual and we like it that way. ????We want the time people spend with Groupon to be memorable. Life is too short to be a boring company. ????And this (which is a direct response to those who argue Groupon cannot stay wildly successful in an enterprise that has few traditional barriers to entry): ????Our customers and merchants are all we care about. ????We believe that when once-great companies fall, they don't lose to competitors, they lose to themselves—and that happens when they stop focusing on making people happy. As such, we do not intend to be reactive to competitors. We will watch them, but we won't distract ourselves with decisions that aren't designed primarily to make our customers and merchants happy. ????And: ????We don't measure ourselves in conventional ways. ????There are three main financial metrics that we track closely. First, we track gross profit, which we believe is the best proxy for the value we're creating. Second, we measure free cash flow—there is no better metric for long-term financial stability. Finally, we use a third metric to measure our financial performance—Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income, or Adjusted CSOI. This metric is our consolidated segment operating income before our new subscriber acquisition costs and certain non-cash charges; we think of it as our operating profitability before marketing costs incurred for long-term growth. ????Finally: ????As with any business in a 30-month-old industry, the path to success will have twists and turns, moments of brilliance and other moments of sheer stupidity. Knowing that this will at times be a bumpy ride, we thank you for considering joining us. ????Speaking of that bumpy ride, it's perhaps worth noting that LinkedIn shares today are trading below $80 per share. In other words, those who bought first-day shares on the open market are currently underwater. These two companies are obviously quite different in both purpose and scale, but it's a reminder of how retail investors without I-bank ties can get burned even while the bubble is inflated... |
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