双语阅读｜雅虎欲与Line合并 有望成为“超级应用”

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.

日本软银（SoftBank）创始人孙正义（Masayoshi Son）计划在通过以合并的方式在日本打造一个互联网巨头。此举获到投资者的欢迎。不过，雅虎日本（Yahoo Japan）和聊天应用Line在业务整合方面面临不少挑战。

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.

据参与合并谈判的人士透露，软银旗下的互联网门户网站雅虎日本与Line有可能在本月达成合并协议。双方证实确有合并谈判一事，但表示尚未达成任何决议。

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，雅虎日本母公司股价在东京交易所上涨16.9％，Line则上涨15.4％，使得两家公司市值合计超过300亿美元。Line在日本及其他亚洲地区拥有的用户达数千万，但大部分的用户是在免费使用Line，或花费不多。市场分析师表示，这笔交易有利于Line借此实现用户资源变现。同时，能帮助雅虎日本扩大购物等互联网服务的用户范围。

“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.

市场研究公司Ace Research Institute分析师泽田辽太郎（Ryotaro Sawada）说道：“雅虎可以借此快速切入Line的年轻用户市场，而Line可以借雅虎的众多服务实现盈利。”

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.

软银本月公布，对共享办公企业WeWork等他创业企业的投资出现了巨额亏损，促使孙正义对外发表示道歉声明。孙正义有亿万身价，主要投资科技行业，此前通过其有1000亿美元家底的愿景基金（Vision Fund）大举投资硅谷。不过，孙正义此前表示，不会在新投资上退缩。软银最近的这笔合并交易的障碍在于提出一个两全其美的办法，既能使孙正义满意，也能让Line 母公司——韩国Naver集团满意，实现权力均衡。上述参与谈判的人士表示，双方正在探讨筹划成立一家新控股公司，软银与Naver各占50％的股份。该公司将控股雅虎日本的母公司Z Holdings，而雅虎日本和Line的业务则分别由Z Holdings掌管。该人士表示，软银希望在未来几年内获得对Line更大的控制权。

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.

另一难题是雅虎日本和Line都将重点放在日本市场上——日本的人口正在萎缩，市场增长前景有限。这两家公司提供的服务，例如短信、网上购物和线上金融服务等，在大多数其他国家已由亚马逊和Facebook等规模更大的竞争对手垄断。

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.

不过，有分析师表示，如果安排得当，新成立的企业有望成为日本首个“超级应用”——成为各种日常需求的入口。正是这种模式推动了腾讯和阿里巴巴的发展。现在，在中国买东西几乎都用微信支付和支付宝。

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.

分析师称，移动支付在此次合并中最具前景，但同样很难落地。雅虎和Line在日本都有各自的智能手机支付平台。其它一此企业也在竞争这项业务，迫使这两家企业都向用户提供丰厚的福利。

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）的分析师杉山胜（Masaru Sugiyama）估计，在2019财年，雅虎日本旗下的支付应用运营亏损将超过7亿美元，Line在非核心业务（包括支付应用）上的运营亏损也接近这一数字。财报显示，Line在1月至9月期间净亏损达400亿日元（合3.68亿美元）。

“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）的分析师伊东和德（Kazunori Ito）说道：“在真正际的协同效应之前，两家公司需要花大力气合并他们的数字支付服务。”

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.

雅虎日本与美国威瑞森通信公司旗下的雅虎美国已无资本联系。雅虎日本作为门户网站，拥有超过5000万用户，这些用户的年龄一般较大，还停留在用“古典”的主页查看新闻的阶段。雅虎日本最近宣布收购时装电商Zozo，意在吸引年轻用户。

译者：中央财经大学翻译小组

编辑：翻吧君

来源：Wall Street Journal