貝佐斯收購《華郵》不值得亞馬遜股東慶賀
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????聽說了嗎，杰夫?貝佐斯已經同意以2.5億美元收購《華盛頓郵報》（The Washington Post）？當然聽說了，因為你是新聞消費者，而你的承辦商們（如我和我的同僚）都被會議室里發生的事情搞得心神不寧。或許，你正在讀的文章正繪聲繪色地描述仁慈的亞馬遜（Amazon）創始人如何身騎白馬，只身拯救一家苦苦掙扎在數字時代的公司。
????我也同意，對于《華盛頓郵報》而言，這是筆好買賣。但對于亞馬遜股東們而言，卻要另當別論。 ????杰夫?貝佐斯是那種幾乎讓自己的公司都黯然失色的CEO。股東們之所以信任亞馬遜，只是因為他們相信貝佐斯，而他總是把長期收益放到短期盈利能力之上。 ????然而，似乎貝佐斯在《華盛頓郵報》中投入的任何時間都是本應該用于亞馬遜的時間。記住，他收購這家報紙只是一筆個人投資，而不是通過亞馬遜（如果通過亞馬遜進行收購會更加有趣）。這筆交易不會產生任何公司協同效應，因為它們不是同一家公司。 ????真正的問題在于，貝佐斯會將多少時間投入到最近購買的公司當中。有人認為，他只會投入很少的時間，一定程度上是因為2.5億美元的購買價格還不到貝佐斯凈資產的1%（如果是這樣，貝佐斯將《華盛頓郵報》打造成數字利潤中心的說法在很大程度上就沒有意義了）。但我并不這么認為。 ????我的懷疑一部分是根據我的預感，一名互聯網企業家拯救一家因為互聯網陷入鬼門關的公司，貝佐斯肯定對這種想法感到著迷。但我更多的疑問在于，媒體會如何關注貝佐斯在《華盛頓郵報》的一舉一動，只要報紙陷入困境時貝佐斯袖手旁觀，媒體批評肯定會鋪天蓋地而來。 ????記住，相對其他大多數公司（包括亞馬遜）的未來，我們（所有人）更關心（《華盛頓郵報》）這家公司。這將讓他之前或好或壞的經歷都相形見絀。即使是像貝佐斯這樣具有強烈方向感的人，如果他不密切參與決策，面對如此嚴密的監督，也可能迷失方向。 ????需要說明的是，我并不認為亞馬遜的股東單單因為貝佐斯收購了一家報紙就出售亞馬遜公司的股票。但他們也沒什么值得慶賀的，因為未來，他花在主業上的精力必然會減少。（財富中文網） ????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓? |
????Did you hear that Jeff Bezos has agreed to purchase The Washington Post for $250 million? Of course you did, because you're a news consumer and your purveyors (i.e., me and my peers) are collectively obsessed by what happens in our own boardrooms. ????And what you probably read were glowing accounts of how the Amazon (AMZN) founder was riding in on a white horse to save an institution struggling to succeed in the digital age. The Beneficent Beez. ????And I agree that, for The Washington Post, this is a welcome development. What this means for Amazon.com shareholders, however, may be another matter. ????Jeff Bezos is one of those few CEOs who almost eclipses his own company. Shareholders believe in Amazon because they believe in Bezos, and his prioritization of long-term gains over short-term profitability. ????But it would seem that any time Bezos now gives to WaPo will be time he's not giving to Amazon. Remember, he is buying the paper as a personal investment, not via Amazon (which would have been a more interesting move). There will be no corporate synergies because there is no common corporation. ????The real question is how much time Bezos really will devote to his newest portfolio company. There are some who believe it will be minimal, in part given that the $250 million purchase price represents less than 1% of Bezos' net worth (in which case the whole talk of Bezos converting WaPo into a digital profit center is largely moot). But I don't buy it. ????Part of my skepticism is based on a hunch that Bezos must be intrigued by the idea of an Internet entrepreneur saving a business that is on death's door because of the Internet. More of it, however, is based on how the media is going to watch every move Bezos makes with WaPo, and be withering in its criticism if he takes a hands-off approach while the paper burns. ????Remember, (the collective) we care about this particular company's future more than we do the future of most other companies (including Amazon). It will make what he's experienced so far -- the good and the bad -- feel like the minor leagues. Even for someone with a famously strong sense of direction, such scrutiny could be disorienting if he isn't intimately involved with the decision-making. ????To be clear, I'm not arguing that Amazon shareholders should sell because Bezos is buying a newspaper. But they also shouldn't be celebrating because, going forward, he'll be paying a bit less attention to his primary job. |
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