时事新闻:雅虎错失良机

【英文原文】

Yahoo's Bartz Has Missed the Boat

摘要：雅虎(Yahoo! Inc.)首席执行长巴尔茨(Carol Bartz)想以搜索交易换取微软大出血，然而事实上巴尔茨最终敲定的交易给雅虎带来的好处实在少得可怜。这笔交易没有预付现金，还让微软得到了它一直想要的东西：实际控制雅虎的搜索业务。

So much for the 'boatload of money' Carol Bartz wanted from Microsoft in return for a search deal. Instead, Yahoo's chief executive settled for a deal that wouldn't fill a bathtub. The transaction involves no cash upfront and gives Microsoft what it has always wanted: effective control over Yahoo's search business.

Given Microsoft was willing to pay nearly $48 billion for all of Yahoo in early 2008, this is quite a coup for the software giant. It can now take another crack at Google's dominance of the lucrative search market, having largely failed with its expensive in-house attempts. Google has 65% of search queries in the U.S. and 68.6% globally, according to ComScore. Yahoo's market share is 19.6% and 9%. Microsoft trails at 8.4% and 2.7%.

Yahoo's search bar will be powered by Microsoft's new Bing engine, and ads will be served against search results by the latter's advertising platform. That will finally give Microsoft the volume of search queries it needs to try narrowing the gap with Google by making its ad business more efficient.

So much for Microsoft. What does Yahoo get?

Surprisingly little. It will receive an attractive 88% of the search revenue generated from traffic through its own sites, but that is still less than the 100% it used to get. And the revenue-share deal lasts 10 years, with certain changes kicking in halfway. After that, Yahoo might have a weaker hand to renegotiate.

Yahoo, in giving up on its own technology, will help reduce capital expenditure by about $200 million a year. And the company retains its relationship with key search advertisers, giving it some continuing control over the search business. Yahoo says the deal will boost operating cash flow by $275 million a year.

The transaction will probably get through regulatory scrutiny even though it will leave only two main competitors in most markets, because it would create a more serious challenger to Google. But the deal faces many months of scrutiny -- given the Department of Justice is getting tougher and Microsoft has faced years of regulatory issues in Europe. That, and the integration risk that will come afterward, gives Google plenty of opportunity to extend its market leadership in the meantime.

But the real disappointment for Yahoo shareholders is that the company threw away its trump card so cheaply. Microsoft needed Yahoo's search business for its longer-term strategic goal of competing with Google on the Internet. That should have allowed Yahoo to force a premium price. Instead, it squandered last year's approach.

It is now hard to see a sale of the reshaped Yahoo for a good price, leaving the company to slog it out in the increasingly competitive display-advertising market. Small wonder Yahoo investors lost a boatload of money Wednesday, as shares crashed 12%.

【中文译文】

雅虎(Yahoo! Inc.)首席执行长巴尔茨(Carol Bartz)想以搜索交易换取微软大出血，然而事实上巴尔茨最终敲定的交易给雅虎带来的好处实在少得可怜。这笔交易没有预付现金，还让微软得到了它一直想要的东西：实际控制雅虎的搜索业务。

考虑到微软在2008年初还愿意支付近480亿美元收购整个雅虎，这次的交易对这家软件巨头来说可谓得其所哉。微软现在可以再度向谷歌(Google)在利润丰厚的搜索市场占据的优势地位发起冲击，此前微软内部进行了代价高昂的尝试，但基本上未能成功。ComScore的数据显示，谷歌在美国占有65%的搜索份额，全球为68.6%。雅虎的份额分别为19.6%和9%，微软仅为8.4%和2.7%。

雅虎的搜索栏将由微软新推出的“必应”(Bing)搜索引擎提供支持，广告则由微软的广告平台依据搜索结果提供。这样一来，通过提高广告业务的效率，微软最终将得以实现所需的搜索量，借以试图缩小与谷歌之间的差距。

微软的情况就是这样。那雅虎又得到了什么？

简直少得惊人。雅虎将从其自身站点浏览量产生的搜索收入中分得88%，这一比例还算诱人，但还是比不上以前的100%。而且收入分成协议期限为10年，中途还会有某些变化。在那之后，雅虎重新谈判的能力可能大大减弱。

雅虎通过放弃自己的技术，每年可帮助减少2亿美元的资本开支。同时雅虎保持了与重要搜索广告商的关系，从而得以继续对搜索业务有一些控制力。雅虎称，这桩交易将使运营现金流量每年增加2.75亿美元。

这桩交易达成后，大多数市场都会只剩下两个主要竞争对手，但即便如此，该交易仍有可能通过监管审查，因为它会制造一个更能与谷歌匹敌的竞争对手。但考虑到美国司法部(Department of Justice)越来越强硬，同时微软多年来在欧洲面临诸多监管问题，这桩交易的审查过程将会长达数月之久。这种情况加上交易达成后两家公司整合过程中将会出现的风险，将使得谷歌拥有许多机会在此期间扩大市场领先地位。

但真正令雅虎股东失望的是，雅虎如此轻易地丢掉了自己的王牌。微软需要雅虎的搜索业务，目的是为了在互联网领域与谷歌竞争的长期战略目标。雅虎本可借此机会坐地起价。相反，雅虎却白白放弃了去年的大好策略。

经过重组后的雅虎很难再卖出好价钱，它只能在竞争日渐激烈的展示广告市场艰难前行。在这样的情况下，雅虎股东周三损失惨重也就不足为奇了，雅虎股价周三暴跌12%。