雙語閱讀｜雅虎欲與Line合併 有望成為“超級應用”

Investors welcomed plans for a merger to create an internet-services giant in Japan controlled by SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, but Yahoo Japan and chat app Line face challenges combining their businesses.

日本軟銀（SoftBank）創始人孫正義（Masayoshi Son）計劃在通過以合併的方式在日本打造一個互聯網巨頭。此舉獲到投資者的歡迎。不過，雅虎日本（Yahoo Japan）和聊天應用Line在業務整合方面面臨不少挑戰。

A person involved in the discussions said Yahoo Japan, an internet portal affiliated with SoftBank Group Corp., and Line Corp. were likely to reach a merger deal this month. The companies confirmed merger talks and said nothing has been decided.

據參與合併談判的人士透露，軟銀旗下的互聯網門戶網站雅虎日本與Line有可能在本月達成合併協議。雙方證實確有合併談判一事，但表示尚未達成任何決議。

Shares of Yahoo Japan’s parent rose 16.9% in Thursday trading in Tokyo and Line was up 15.4%, bringing the combined market capitalization of the two companies above $30 billion. Analysts said a deal could give Line chances to monetize its user base of tens of millions of Japanese and other Asians, most of whom pay little or nothing using the app, and Yahoo Japan could expand the reach of services such as shopping.

11月14日，雅虎日本母公司股價在東京交易所上漲16.9％，Line則上漲15.4％，使得兩家公司市值合計超過300億美元。Line在日本及其他亞洲地區擁有的用戶達數千萬，但大部分的用戶是在免費使用Line，或花費不多。市場分析師表示，這筆交易有利於Line藉此實現用戶資源變現。同時，能幫助雅虎日本擴大購物等互聯網服務的用戶範圍。

“It’s a fast pass for Yahoo to access Line’s young users to expand its business, while Line can leverage a wide range of Yahoo services to become profitable,” said Ryotaro Sawada, an analyst at Ace Research Institute.

市場研究公司Ace Research Institute分析師澤田遼太郎（Ryotaro Sawada）說道：“雅虎可以藉此快速切入Line的年輕用戶市場，而Line可以借雅虎的眾多服務實現盈利。”

SoftBank this month reported large losses connected to its investments in shared-office provider WeWork and other startups, prompting an expression of regret from Mr. Son, the billionaire tech investor who has poured money into Silicon Valley through his $100 billion Vision Fund. However, Mr. Son said he wouldn’t shy away from making new investments. Hurdles to the latest SoftBank deal include figuring out a power balance that satisfies both Mr. Son and Line parent Naver Corp. of South Korea. The person involved in the discussions said the sides are looking at an arrangement under which SoftBank and Naver would each own 50% of a new holding company. That company would in turn control Z Holdings Corp., currently Yahoo Japan’s parent, with Yahoo Japan and Line operations housed separately under Z Holdings.

SoftBank wants to gain greater control of Line in years to come, the person said.

軟銀本月公布，對共享辦公企業WeWork等他創業企業的投資出現了巨額虧損，促使孫正義對外發表示道歉聲明。孫正義有億萬身價，主要投資科技行業，此前通過其有1000億美元家底的願景基金（Vision Fund）大舉投資硅谷。不過，孫正義此前表示，不會在新投資上退縮。軟銀最近的這筆合併交易的障礙在於提出一個兩全其美的辦法，既能使孫正義滿意，也能讓Line 母公司——韓國Naver集團滿意，實現權力均衡。上述參與談判的人士表示，雙方正在探討籌劃成立一家新控股公司，軟銀與Naver各佔50％的股份。該公司將控股雅虎日本的母公司Z Holdings，而雅虎日本和Line的業務則分別由Z Holdings掌管。該人士表示，軟銀希望在未來幾年內獲得對Line更大的控制權。

Another challenge is the two companies’ focus on the Japanese market, where the population is shrinking and growth prospects are limited. The market for the services they offer—such as texting, internet shopping and online financial services—is already dominated in most other countries by larger rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc.

另一難題是雅虎日本和Line都將重點放在日本市場上——日本的人口正在萎縮，市場增長前景有限。這兩家公司提供的服務，例如短信、網上購物和線上金融服務等，在大多數其他國家已由亞馬遜和Facebook等規模更大的競爭對手壟斷。

Still, analysts said the new entity, if designed well, could become Japan’s first “super app,” a gateway on smartphones for a broad range of everyday needs. That model has driven growth for China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Tencent’s WeChat app for chatting with friends spawned a payment service, WeChat Pay, that along with Alibaba’s Alipay is now almost universally used for retail purchases in China.

不過，有分析師表示，如果安排得當，新成立的企業有望成為日本首個“超級應用”——成為各種日常需求的入口。正是這種模式推動了騰訊和阿里巴巴的發展。現在，在中國買東西幾乎都用微信支付和支付寶。

Analysts described mobile payments as one of the most promising areas for the merger, but also hard to carry out. Yahoo and Line each have their own smartphone-payment platforms in Japan. Many others are competing for business too, forcing the companies to offer users generous bonuses.

分析師稱，移動支付在此次合併中最具前景，但同樣很難落地。雅虎和Line在日本都有各自的智能手機支付平台。其它一此企業也在競爭這項業務，迫使這兩家企業都向用戶提供豐厚的福利。

Goldman Sachs analyst Masaru Sugiyama estimated that the operating loss at the payment app affiliated with Yahoo Japan would top $700 million this fiscal year, and he said Line’s operating loss in noncore businesses including payments would be nearly as large this year. Line reported a net loss of ¥40 billion ($368 million) in the January-September period.

高盛（Goldman Sachs）的分析師杉山勝（Masaru Sugiyama）估計，在2019財年，雅虎日本旗下的支付應用運營虧損將超過7億美元，Line在非核心業務（包括支付應用）上的運營虧損也接近這一數字。財報顯示，Line在1月至9月期間凈虧損達400億日元（合3.68億美元）。

“Some hard work would be necessary for the two companies to merge their digital payment services before we see real synergy,” said Morningstar Research analyst Kazunori Ito.

晨星研究公司（Morningstar Research）的分析師伊東和德（Kazunori Ito）說道：“在真正際的協同效應之前，兩家公司需要花大力氣合併他們的數字支付服務。”

Yahoo Japan—which no longer has a capital connection to the U.S. Yahoo website owned by Verizon Communications Inc.—is an internet portal with more than 50 million users who tend to be older and check the site’s retro-looking home page for news headlines. The company’s recently announced acquisition of online fashion retailer Zozo Inc. was aimed at attracting younger users.

雅虎日本與美國威瑞森通信公司旗下的雅虎美國已無資本聯繫。雅虎日本作為門戶網站，擁有超過5000萬用戶，這些用戶的年齡一般較大，還停留在用“古典”的主頁查看新聞的階段。雅虎日本最近宣布收購時裝電商Zozo，意在吸引年輕用戶。

譯者：中央財經大學翻譯小組

編輯：翻吧君

來源：Wall Street Journal