阿里巴巴閃亮登場 雅虎黯然神傷

Alibaba has finally made its entrance. But for Yahoo investors, the exit beckons.

阿里巴巴(Alibaba)終於登場。然而對雅虎(Yahoo)投資者而言，退場的鈴聲響起了。

Alibaba Group Holding filed for an initial public offering late Tuesday. Shares of Yahoo, which owns a 22.6% stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant and has been the primary way for U.S. investors to participate in its growth, slid the following day.

阿里巴巴集團週二晚間提交了首次公開募股(IPO)申請。雅虎股價第二天便下滑。雅虎持有這家中國電子商務巨頭22%的股份，也是美國投資者分享阿里巴巴增長的主要途徑。

Alibaba's filing showed it had 231 million active buyers and sales of $248 billion across its three retail sites in 2013. It also disclosed that last month, the company valued itself at $121 billion, including stock-based compensation and the conversion of certain preferred shares. Analyst estimates for its valuation range from $136 billion to $250 billion. Beyond that, though, the filing was scant on details investors crave, such as a breakdown of Alibaba's individual business units and more information about affiliate Alipay.

阿里巴巴的文件顯示，2013年該公司三個零售網站共有2.31億活躍買家，交易額總計爲2,430億美元。阿里巴巴還披露，上個月該公司對自身的估值爲1,210億美元，其中包括股票薪酬和某些優先股的轉換。分析人士預計其估值在1,360億美元至2,500億美元之間。但除此之外，阿里巴巴的文件缺乏投資者渴望瞭解的細節，比如阿里巴巴各項業務的細分和有關支付寶(Alipay)業務的更多信息。

In summary: Alibaba is just as huge as everyone thought it was.

總的來說：阿里巴巴的規模之巨與所有人想像的一樣。

That is actually underwhelming for Yahoo's investors because Alibaba has already juiced the U.S. company's shares. These are up 122% over the past two years, against 38% for the Nasdaq Composite. Alibaba's growth explains most of this given that Yahoo's core Internet advertising business has faced declining revenues.

這對雅虎的投資者來說實在不算什麼，因爲阿里巴巴早已推高了雅虎的股價。過去兩年中，雅虎上漲了122%，同期納斯達克綜合指數升幅爲38%。鑑於雅虎核心互聯網廣告業務的收入一直在下滑，阿里巴巴的增長是促成雅虎股價上漲的主要原因。

Granted, Yahoo only has to part with about 9% of Alibaba in the IPO. It can retain the rest of its stake, the value of which could continue to bolster its stock.

當然，雅虎在阿里巴巴IPO過程中只需出售約9%的股權。雅虎能夠保留剩下的持股，而這部分股份的價值或繼續支撐雅虎股價。

At that point, though, investors will be able to own Alibaba directly. An added incentive to lose the middleman is the fear that Yahoo's investors won't see much of the Alibaba sale proceeds. Chief Executive Marissa Mayer has said Yahoo would be 'good stewards' of its capital and continue its strategy of making acquisitions, leaving other moves--buybacks, perhaps?--up to the discretion of its board.

但阿里巴巴上市時，投資者就可以直接持有該股。拋開雅虎這個中間人的進一步動因是外界擔心，購買雅虎的股票不如直接投資阿里巴巴更能從後者的銷售業績中受益。雅虎的首席執行長瑪麗莎・梅耶爾(Marissa Mayer)曾表示，雅虎將是資本的“好管家”，將繼續執行其收購策略，並保留採取其他行動（可能是指回購）的餘地。所有這些都將取決於董事會的考量。

Alibaba's filing merely confirmed the excitement already baked into Yahoo's valuation. It has also brought home the reality that Yahoo's days as a Chinese e-commerce tracking stock are numbered.

阿里巴巴的上市申請只是印證了雅虎價值中已經體現的欣喜。但同時也讓人意識到這樣的現實：即雅虎作爲一隻中國電子商務巨頭追蹤股的日子已經屈指可數了。