6月21日。夏至。下午收盘后,腾讯控股(00700.HK)突然发布公告:
“董事会欣然宣布于2016年6月21日,经与Supercell协商后组成及现时由本公司全资拥有的财团已同意透过买方(财团的全资附属公司)收购Supercell的大部分股权。该交易的条款载于由软银联属公司、若干Supercell员工股东及Supercell的若干前员工(统称卖方)、Supercell、本公司(作为担保人)及买方于2016年6月21日订立的有条件股份收购协议。根据有条件股份收购协议的条款,买方将向卖方收购卖方之Supercell已归属证券,合共占最多约84.3%的Supercell证券。总对价分三期支付,目前预计约为86亿美元。”
这是一桩事先张扬的并购,结果在人们预料之中,但数目字却又出人意料。“Supercell是一家在芬兰注册成立的私人公司及移动游戏开发商,其研发的游戏在使用苹果iOS和谷歌Android操作系统的平板计算机和智能手机上运行。自2010年成立以来,Supercell已在市场推出四款主要游戏,分别为‘部落冲突’(Clash of Clans)、‘部落冲突:皇室战争’(Clash Royale)、‘海岛奇兵’(Boom Beach)及‘卡通农场’(Hay Day)。”
Supercell号称“手游暴雪”,公司在2015年内共实现营业收入23.3亿美元,净利润达到了9.64亿美元,约62.8亿人民币。腾讯控股2015年财报显示,上一年度其营业收入1028.63亿港元,利润288.06亿港元。
“商业人物”发现,此番收购Supercell,尽管公告中没有提到腾讯领投财团组成买方的股权结构,但提到了在签署时买方仍然透过财团由腾讯全资拥有等措辞,这意味着腾讯已经成为事实上Supercell最大的股东。
“腾讯控股拥有中国最大的社交网络和最大的移动游戏分发平台,是全球最大的游戏厂商。腾讯控股旗下的知名游戏有《穿越火线》《英雄联盟》等。”
在一个特殊的时间进行的一场特殊的并购,很容易使人产生宏大叙事的冲动。腾讯的这桩并购,极有可能载入史册;除了它的象征意义之外,还因为它能巩固腾讯“游戏之王”的地位,为整个腾讯“连接世界”赢得足够的时间与空间。
除此之外,这一桩并购也容易使人联想到阿里巴巴2005年夏天与雅虎的那场大交易。阿里巴巴除了获得了来自雅虎的美元外,还“并购”了雅虎中国,其象征意义被拔擢至极高之处。
2005年8月,当雅虎注资阿里巴巴、阿里巴巴收购了雅虎中国时,很多中国人对此评价为一桩“奇怪的交易”,但马云用自己的行动创造了中国互联网行业的奇迹,收购雅虎中国的举措甚至被《华尔街日报》和《金融时报》形容为中国互联网公司反攻纳斯达克、侵吞美国互联网权力的开始。它被描述成了一个象征事件。马云被描述成了一个象征人物。
2016年夏至的这场并购,也可以被赋予一种象征意义。因为这是一场真正的“权力游戏”,除了因为Supercell是“手游暴雪”之外,还因为这场并购将对中国互联网格局产生深刻的影响。
在Supercell背后,是那个叫孙正义的矮个子男人。作为阿里巴巴最大的股东,孙正义所控制的软银集团正在沽售其所持有的阿里巴巴股票。今年6月1日,阿里巴巴集团宣布,同意从软银集团手中购买其持有的价值20亿美元阿里巴巴股票,所需资金由阿里巴巴自有现金支付。此外,由阿里巴巴创始人和高管组成的阿里巴巴合伙人同意,从软银集团手中认购另外4亿美元的阿里巴巴股票。
沽售阿里巴巴是孙正义的无奈之举。受收购美国移动运营商Sprint Corp影响,软银自2013年以来一直债台高筑。据彭博数据汇编,软银当前总债务高达1082亿美元。也因为负债过高,投资人看淡软银的未来。
阿里巴巴堪称软银创始人孙正义一生最为荣耀的投资,但现在孙正义不得不出售手中最为优良的资产——阿里巴巴,以及全球最佳游戏公司Supercell。Sprint已成为软银的泥潭,孙正义只能以更多现金为Sprint输血。
当孙正义面临着1082亿美元的巨额债务,因一场判断失误的并购焦头烂额时,权力的格局开始改变。当孙正义被迫从阿里巴巴撤退的时候,阿里巴巴的股权结构开始变得更加均衡;当孙正义将73%的Supercell的股权卖给腾讯及其财团的时候,他拿走了“救命”的现金,而腾讯们则拿走了“现金奶牛”,以及未来。
我们很难说Supercell到底能为腾讯带来多少利润,这在某种程度上取决于腾讯希望它能在多大程度上变成一家带有“中国情感”的游戏公司。但可以确定的是,Supercell作为优质资产,其所提供的利润,将会为腾讯在“连接世界”时所进行的各种尝试提供时间和空间。某种意义上,Supercell代表的是当下,决定的是腾讯的未来。
不给予充分的观测时间,我们很难从一桩并购上发现其象征意义。有时候它只是一桩并购而已,有时候却又会变成一个时代的分水岭。
因为偶然性,孙正义突然横亘在了“二马”中间,成为“二马江湖”的一道分水岭。除此之外,他或许只是一个见证人。他不得不将自己珍视的阿里巴巴股票卖回给阿里巴巴,又不得不将自己珍视的Supercell卖给腾讯。当一个大买家突然成为大卖家的时候,我们不得不慨叹一个时代的终结。
今天腾讯收购Supercell会被描述成一个象征事件。在孙正义主导的权力游戏当中,主角正在退场,曾经清晰伟岸的形象正在模糊,“二马”的时代已经到来。这是毋庸置疑的权力游戏。
它同时也意味着,在全球互联网格局当中,除了要在数量上寻求势均力敌之外,中国公司正在重要性上开始与美国公司进行均衡的较量。这种较量会很难,有时候看不到什么希望,但至少我们可以发现,中国公司正在潮头。
除此之外,由于“二马”各自的扩张,他们已经拉开了与追赶者的距离。他们已经成为中国乃至全球互联网真正的巨头。BAT的时代已经结束了,AT才是对当下的最佳定义。
这就是权力游戏。潮水往哪儿去,权力就从哪儿来。“权力存于人心。信则有,不信则无。惑人的把戏,如浮影游墙。即便是矮小之人,也能投射出巨大的影子。”
腾讯总裁刘炽平和SupercellCEOIlkkaPaananen
(图片来自Supercell官网)
附件为Supercell公司CEO Ilkka·Paananen的公开信,标题:THE NEXT CHAPTER: OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH TENCENT,我们戏译为《翻篇儿:我们跟腾讯过了》。
以下为公开信正文:
Hey Everyone,
I wanted to write a quick post to announce the world's worst kept secret :) Yes...Tencent, the world's biggest games company, has taken a lead to purchase SoftBank's investment in Supercell and will be our new strategic partner.
在此,我想对于这个最“不是秘密的秘密”写一个简单的回应。
是的……腾讯,这家世界上最大的游戏公司主导了这次Supercell的收购,他们在收购了软银此前的投资并成为了我们新的战略伙伴。
There have been a lot of rumors in the media about this in the past month, so I wanted to use this opportunity to tell y ou what happened, why and what makes me so excited about it.
媒体们在过去一个月已经对此事流言纷纷,所以我今天想借此机会和大家说明一下真实的情况、合作的原因和我为什么对此充满兴奋。
Some background first. A while back, Masa (the founder of SoftBank, and our Chairman) told me that if we were able to find a new partner, he would like to sell SoftBank's shares in Supercell to finance what he called SoftBank's 2.0 transformation strategy.
先和大家交代一下背景吧。前一阵子,孙正义(软银创始人兼Supercell主席)和我说如果我们能找到新的合作伙伴,他愿意出售软银对Supecell的控股部分以便他推行他所说的软银2.0转型战略。
This meant we at Supercell needed to think hard and do some soul-searching. What is it really that we want to accomplish with Supercell? What is it that we value in a partner? It may sound funny, but when we finally got our thoughts together, the choice was actually surprisingly easy. Let me explain why.
这意味着我们需要沉下心来思考并拷问我们自己的内心。我们Supercell到底想要达成怎样的愿景?我们对于新的合作伙伴该用什么评估方式?这听起来可能有点不真实,但是真的当我们把各自的想法都拿出来看的时候,我们发现原来要作出这个选择其实是如此惊人的简单。让我们来说说为什么吧。
For us, today is all about chasing a future for Supercell that we have always dreamed of. We founded this company to make great games that people all over the world would play for decades. We have been very lucky as over the past six years we've released four top games that are now played by over 100 million people every single day (you may have seen our little celebration here). But more than this, we dream of our current and future games becoming a part of the rich history of games, living onto the very long term. And if you take this very long-term view, you quickly realize that we are still at the beginning of what will hopefully be a very long journey.
As we started to spend more time getting to know potential strategic partners, it became apparent to us that a partnership with Tencent would secure everything that has made Supercell a success, while also enabling us to take a few pretty big leaps on this journey I mentioned above. Here's why:
对我们来说,今天是为了追寻 supercell的未来,那个我们一直梦寐以求的未来。我们创立了这家公司,全世界的玩家玩我们制造的游戏,经久不衰。我们非常幸运,在过去六年我们制作了四款顶级游戏,每天有超过一亿玩家在玩它们(你能感受到我们这里的小小自豪)。我们梦想,梦想着我们现在和未来所制作的游戏,可以成为游戏浩瀚历史的一部分,并长盛于此。而如果把眼光放得足够长远的话,您可以很快发现我们仅仅是在万里长征第一步。
所以我们一直在寻找潜在的战略合作伙伴,而显而易见与腾讯的合作能够给supercell带来达到成功的所有因素,并且使我们在我所提到的那段征途中有一个大的飞跃。
First, we have agreed with Tencent that Supercell will continue to be operationally independent, exactly as it was under SoftBank's ownership. They understand that our unique culture of small and independent teams (or "cells" as we call them) is what makes Supercell. We want Supercell to continue to be the world's best place for creative people to create games. Also, our headquarters will stay in Helsinki and we will pay our taxes in Finland. All of this is very important for us.
首先,我们与腾讯达成共识,Supercell接下来将继续独立运营,与和软银的合作别无二致。腾讯非常理解Supercell之所以是Supercell是因为我们独特的小而美的独立团队(我们内部称之为“细胞”)文化。我们双方都希望Supercell可以继续为世界上最有创意的游戏人提供最好的工作环境。 并且,我们的总部会依然定在赫尔辛基并且在芬兰纳税。对我们来说,这些都非常的重要。
Second, China is home to more gamers than any other country. Tencent's platforms reach around a billion users (yes, a billion!). And, they have around 300 million unique users playing games on their platforms. What this means for us is that together with Tencent, we can bring our games to so many more players. Also, their social platforms offer many new possibilities for our games, particularly for social play. All of this is very exciting!
第二,中国拥有全球最多的游戏玩家,而腾讯平台能够触达近10亿用户(没错,十亿!),其中约有3亿游戏玩家。这意味着,我们和腾讯携手,能为我们的游戏带来更多的玩家。此外,腾讯的社交平台能为我们的游戏带来更多的可能性,尤其是社交游戏。所有的这一切都非常令人兴奋!
Third, Tencent's people seem to love games as much as we do. In fact, in one of my meetings with Martin (their President), he had just dropped out from Clash Royale global top-100 players, and it was almost impossible to get his focus back to the topics we had to discuss… talk about being passionate about games! J On a more serious note, Tencent has built a hugely successful partnership with Riot Games, a team we greatly admire and that has inspired us over the years in so many ways. Now we'll have an excuse to call Riot and talk shop more often!
第三,腾讯的用户看上去和我们一样热爱游戏。事实上,在我和Martin(腾讯公司总裁)的一次会面中,他刚刚从CR的全球前100强玩家排名中掉下去,搞得他根本无心回到我们讨论的话题上来——额,就是讨论对于游戏的狂热!另外还有一个细节是,腾讯和拳头公司的合作非常成功,我们一直很欣赏拳头团队,过去几年,他们的作品一直以各种方式激励着我们不断创新。现在,我们终于找个接口给拳头公司打个电话,经常聊聊应用商店的事!
And fourth, this deal enables us to keep Supercell privately held. That is a better match with our small size and unique culture than being a public company where our concern would be the pressure from financial markets to think short term. However, while enabling us to stay private, the partnership with Tencent provides us with some of the benefits of being public: as part of this transaction, our employees will be able to sell their shares in Supercell over time (everyone at Supercell is an owner). The total equity value of $10.2 billion dollars also recognizes the value of the phenomenal company that our people have built.
第四,这次交易能够让我们继续保持私有,免去上市的压力。这与我们一直坚持的小团队创作和独特文化更加契合,而如果上市,成为一家公众企业,就意味着我们必须承担市场压力,进而变得短视。但是,与腾讯合作,不仅能让我们继续保持独立的同时,还能享受上市的好处:我们的员工可以在这次交易变现自己手上的股份(每个SC员工都是股东)。102亿美元的估值,就是对我们一起携手建立这家现象级公司的一种认可。
Finally, I would like to thank a few people (because I am Finnish I will keep this short :)
First of all, a huge thank you to all the players whose passion for our games both inspires and humbles us. It is because of you we come to work excited every day! We feel so grateful to all of you!
最后,我想感谢一些人(作为芬兰人,我尽量保持简短:)
首先,我要感谢SC的玩家,感谢你们对SC游戏的热情,这一直激励着我们,鼓舞着我们。也正因为你们,让我们每天都可以对自己的工作感到兴奋。我们衷心得表示感谢!
Also, I want to personally thank Masa, the founder of SoftBank, for his support during the time I had the honor of working with him. He truly is an incredible entrepreneur, and I learned enormously from him during our time together. Luckily, as Masa said to me, our business partnership may end due to changing strategies, but our friendship will stay forever.
其次,个人要感谢孙正义先生,作为软银的创始人,感谢他过去给予我们的支持,和他共事我感到十分荣幸。孙正义先生是真正了不起的企业家,在过去一起合作的日子里,我个人获益良多。幸运的是,孙正义告诉我, 因为策略变化,我们在商业上的合作结束了,但友谊永存,
And, of course, thank you to my fellow Supercellians, all 190 of them. It really is incredible to work alongside people who work so hard to provide our players with the best possible experience, every single day. I feel so proud and lucky for the opportunity to be part of this incredible team.
当然,我也要感谢190位超级细胞们!跟这群家伙一起共事,实在是太神奇了!他们每一天都在努力工作,为我们的玩家提供最好的游戏体验,能有机会成为这个了不起的团队中的一员,我感到十分幸运和自豪。
Perhaps this post was not so short after all :) Anyway, here's to the next chapter! I have worked in games for 16 years now and I have never been more excited.
可能上面这些话也不算太短…:)总而言之,现在我们要开始新的一章!我已经在游戏业工作了16年,但现在,我还是感到前所未有的兴奋!
Kiitos!
Ilkka