硅谷傳奇投資人為亞馬遜經營理念辯護
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????本周一，《華盛頓郵報》（Washington Post）被亞馬遜（Amazon）的創始人兼CEO杰夫?貝佐斯收購的消息見諸報端。消息一出，引發了成百上千篇報道和Twitter微博的熱烈討論，安迪?波洛維茲還不無調侃地寫了篇諷刺文，標題為《亞馬遜創始人聲稱，收購華盛頓郵報只因“手滑”》（此處諷刺的是亞馬遜英文網站的一鍵下單功能——譯注）。 ????能讓吵吵嚷嚷的媒體階層炸開鍋的新聞莫過于一家歷史悠久的報社被人收購的消息——而且它的時機很特別，前不久正好有兩家知名新聞品牌——《新聞周刊》（Newsweek）和《波士頓環球報》（Boston Globe）陸續遭遇轉讓的命運。 ????然而，在成百上千篇討論中，最值得蘋果公司（Apple）的投資人細細品讀的莫過于邁克爾?莫里茨寫的一篇文章。莫里茨曾是《時代周刊》（Time）記者，著有《小王國》（The Little Kingdom）一書，是第一部講述史蒂夫?喬布斯的蘋果公司內幕的書籍。如今，莫里茨已成為硅谷最成功的風險投資人之一，他所投資的公司包括谷歌（Google）、雅虎、貝寶（Paypal）、Youtube等等。 ????想必本專欄的讀者都知道，投資人最喜歡把亞馬遜拿來跟蘋果公司相提并論。 ????莫里茨借著貝佐斯收購《華盛頓郵報》的機會，提醒蘋果公司的投資人理清自己的經營目標。 ????他在商務社交網站LinkedIn上發布了一篇長達1700字的文章，標題為《重磅新聞：傳媒新巨頭浮出水面》。在這篇文章中，莫里茨一方面帶領讀者回顧了貝佐斯在1997年寫給股東的一封信——此后亞馬遜每年向股東例行致信時都會附上這份歷史文件，另一方面講解了如何解讀該公司的資產負債表。我們給大家附了一份信件樣本。 ????亞馬遜從業務運營中創造現金流的超強能力，以及它對股東的悉心保護，是所有這些信件都未曾提及的。1997年，貝索斯寫道：“我們從長遠角度創造的股東價值是衡量公司是否成功的一個主要標準”。評論人士與其緊盯著亞馬遜微薄的營運利潤率，或者自從創辦以來區區19億美元的累計凈利潤，還不如睜大眼睛看看亞馬遜的現金流有多充沛，股東基數有多穩定。可以不夸張地說，亞馬遜整個業務的運轉都是由供應商和顧客的資金支撐起來的：亞馬遜給書商們兌現發票的速度很慢；顧客在亞馬遜上買書，可預付一筆資金購買Amazon Prime服務（以享受全年包郵優惠——譯注）；企業用戶需要提前支付一筆資金，以獲取預留的AWS云計算服務。在洛杉磯，顧客支付220美元即可享受Amazon Fresh生鮮日用雜貨送貨上門服務；凡是超過35美元的訂單，亞馬遜將“免費”配送。雖然看似“免費”，但亞馬遜的現金已然到手。正是因為從顧客和供應商那里拿到了資金，亞馬遜才得以建立了90個訂單履行中心，它占地面積將近6,500萬平方英尺，規模之大足以讓聯邦快遞（FedEx）和UPS的管理層聞之色變。 ????亞馬遜自創立以來共創造了202億美元的運營收入，其中將近一半的收入（86億美元）被用于資本支出，比如新建配送中心等，這些資本支出有助于改善顧客的消費體驗。過去的十年里，亞馬遜的股份基數僅僅增長了10%，而公司本身卻成長了十二倍。對于股東來說，沒有比這更好的結果了。 ????近年來，“股東價值”這個詞在很大程度上已被惡意濫用。熱衷于分拆企業的資產投機客們打著“私募股權”的旗號，大行中飽私囊之實，全然不顧其他股東的利益，管理層也用這套說辭來粉飾太平。無怪乎年輕的企業家們會對“股東價值”這個詞深惡痛絕。相反，如果是一個真正明智的人，尤其是持有企業大額股份的創始人（貝佐斯持有亞馬遜將近20%的股份），那么在他的眼里，“股東價值”所體現的，就是要把很多事情做對——要做到這一點，首先得從取悅顧客開始。從長遠上看，一家公司只有把顧客伺候好了，它的股東價值才會增加。 ????有些人覺得“亞馬遜就是個慈善機構，里面掌權的都是些只知道為顧客著想的投資白癡。”其實這種論調貝佐斯和莫里茨聽得多了，他們只不過對此付之一笑。相反，覺得亞馬遜的運營者白癡的人才應該好好讀一讀莫里茨的文章。（財富中文網） ????譯者：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. |
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