軟銀要求優(yōu)步將重點放在美國和歐洲

Uber’s largest shareholder has called for the car-booking company to focus on recovering market share in the US and growing in key European markets, a strategy that would end the founders’ original vision of building a transport service “everywhere, for everyone”.

優(yōu)步(Uber)最大股東要求這家叫車公司將重點放在恢復美國市場份額以及歐洲主要市場的增長上，該戰(zhàn)略將終結優(yōu)步創(chuàng)始人打造一個“在每個地方為每個人”的交通服務的初始愿景。

Rajeev Misra, a board director of Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank — which becomes Uber’s biggest shareholder on Thursday, with the formal closing of an $8.8bn investment — told the Financial Times that the transportation group had a faster path to profitability if it returned to its core markets such as the US, Europe, Latin America and Australia.

日本科技集團軟銀(SoftBank)的董事拉吉夫•米斯拉(Rajeev Misra)向英國《金融時報》表示，這家運輸集團如果重返美國、歐洲、拉丁美洲和澳大利亞等核心市場，將更快走上盈利道路。周四軟銀正式完成了88億美元投資，成為優(yōu)步最大股東。

Mr Misra, who will join Uber’s board as part of the deal, insisted that exiting unprofitable countries was not solely about cutting its losses, which hit $1.5bn in the third quarter of 2017, but that growth prospects were more promising in its core markets.

作為上述交易的一部分，米斯拉將加入優(yōu)步董事會。他堅稱退出不盈利的國家不僅僅是為了減少損失——2017年第三季度達到15億美元——也是因為其在核心市場的增長前景更為樂觀。

“This is a growth company, this is not just about them cutting their losses,” he said. “Who cares if they lost a billion more or half a billion less?”

他說：“它是一個成長型公司，這并不只是為了讓他們減少虧損。誰在乎他們是多損失了10億還是少損失了5億?”

Uber had already started to leave some of its biggest emerging markets towards the end of the tenure of Travis Kalanick, the company’s controversial chief executive who was ousted in June. It sold its China business to rival Didi Chuxing in 2016, and merged its Russia business with local technology group Yandex shortly after Mr Kalanick’s departure.

在特拉維斯•卡蘭尼克(Travis Kalanick)任期結束之前——這位具有爭議的前首席執(zhí)行官在去年6月被趕下臺——優(yōu)步已經(jīng)開始從幾個最大的新興市場撤出。它在2016年將中國業(yè)務出售給競爭對手滴滴出行(Didi Chuxing)，并在卡蘭尼克離任不久后將俄羅斯業(yè)務與當?shù)乜萍技瘓FYandex合并。

However, Uber is still locked in expensive wars of attrition in India with local rival Ola and in Southeast Asia with Grab, and lost market share in the US to rival Lyft last year. SoftBank is already a major investor in several of Uber’s competitors — holding a 20 per cent stake in Didi, and a 30 per cent share of Grab — and its backing of the US company will complete its collection of ride-hailing themed investments.

不過優(yōu)步仍深陷與本土對手的昂貴消耗戰(zhàn)，在印度是與Ola，在東南亞是與Grab，而且去年在美國向?qū)κ諰yft丟掉了部分市場份額。軟銀已經(jīng)是優(yōu)步多個競爭對手的主要投資者——持有滴滴20%股份，以及Grab 30%股份——而其對優(yōu)步的支持將使其叫車服務主題投資變得圓滿。

SoftBank’s backing triggers a range of governance changes at the company and will give Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s new chief executive, more control as he tries to turn the company round. SoftBank owns 15 per cent of the company’s shares after the transaction, while a consortium of other investors bought 2.5 per cent in the same deal.

軟銀的投資引發(fā)了優(yōu)步一系列治理變革，并將給予優(yōu)步新任首席執(zhí)行官達拉•霍斯勞沙希(Dara Khosrowshahi)更多控制權，他正努力帶領這家公司扭轉(zhuǎn)局面。此次交易后軟銀擁有優(yōu)步15%的股份，財團內(nèi)其他投資者在這筆交易中購入了2.5%的股份。

A key challenge for Uber will be to improve the company’s financial position ahead of an initial public offering expected by October 2019. Mr Khosrowshahi has said that a key goal for this year is for the company to demonstrate a path to profitability.

優(yōu)步面臨的主要挑戰(zhàn)之一將是在預計于2019年10月進行的首次公開發(fā)行(IPO)之前改善公司的財務狀況?；羲箘谏诚Ｔ硎窘衲陜?yōu)步的一個關鍵目標是要展現(xiàn)盈利道路。

While Uber’s business is growing fast — gross bookings grew 85 per cent last year to about $37bn, compared with $20bn in 2016 — its losses have also widened.

雖然優(yōu)步的業(yè)務正在快速增長——去年訂單總額上漲85%，達到370億美元，2016年這一數(shù)字為200億美元——但其虧損也在擴大。

Mr Misra said that the company should also revamp its Uber Eats food delivery business, which has been one of the company’s recent bright spots and has been expanding into new markets aggressively.

米斯拉說，優(yōu)步還應改善其Uber Eats美食配送業(yè)務，后者已成為該公司近期的亮點之一，且一直在大舉向新市場擴張。

He added that the company needed to “restock human capital” following an exodus of much of its top leadership over the past 12 months.

他還表示，過去12個月很多高管紛紛離職，因此該公司需要“重新儲備人力資本”。

“We’re proud to have SoftBank . . . and the entire consortium in the Uber family,” an Uber spokesman wrote in a statement. “This is a great outcome for our shareholders, employees and customers that strengthens Uber’s governance as we double down on our technology investments and continue to bring our services to more people in more places around the world.”

“我們?yōu)閮?yōu)步大家庭擁有軟銀……以及整個財團感到驕傲，”優(yōu)步一位發(fā)言人在一份聲明中寫道，“這對我們的股東、員工和客戶而言是個極佳結果，在我們加大技術投資并繼續(xù)將我們的服務帶給全球更多地方的更多民眾之際，加強了優(yōu)步的治理。”

The closing of the deal marks the end of a seven-month process that was often fraught and seemed at risk of falling part. Its conclusion is a key part of Uber’s plan to move out from under the shadow of Mr Kalanick. Mr Kalanick sold $1.4bn worth of his shares as part of the transaction, which also reduced the influence of the company’s early investors.

該交易的完成標志著一場持續(xù)7個月、常令人擔憂且似乎有泡湯風險的談判進程的結束。其完成是優(yōu)步走出卡蘭尼克陰影的計劃的關鍵部分。作為交易的一部分，卡蘭尼克出售了手中價值14億美元的股份，這筆交易也降低了該公司早期投資者的影響力。

Talks between SoftBank and venture capital firm Benchmark, a major Uber shareholder, started in June. But all discussions were put on hold over the summer when Uber was without a chief executive for more than two months.

軟銀與優(yōu)步大股東、風投公司Benchmark的談判始于去年6月。但去年夏天所有談判被迫暫停，當時優(yōu)步首席執(zhí)行官空缺長達兩個多月。

The process resumed after Uber’s board appointed Mr Khosrowshahi as chief executive in September, although it was again delayed several times by the deep division on Uber’s board, which struggled to present a united front.

優(yōu)步董事會去年9月份任命霍斯勞沙希為首席執(zhí)行官后，談判得以恢復，不過難以形成統(tǒng)一戰(zhàn)線的優(yōu)步董事會內(nèi)部的嚴重分歧再次導致多次延期。

Arianna Huffington, the media entrepreneur and an Uber director, said that the company saw SoftBank as a strategic partner.

媒體企業(yè)家、優(yōu)步董事阿里安娜•赫芬頓(Arianna Huffington)表示，優(yōu)步將軟銀視為戰(zhàn)略合作伙伴。

“It was strategically very important for Uber to have SoftBank on the cap table in a significant way,” she said, referring to its investments in competitors.

她在談到軟銀對優(yōu)步競爭對手的投資時表示：“對優(yōu)步來說，讓軟銀成為重要股東具有非常重大的戰(zhàn)略意義。”

“The deal would not have happened without Rajeev being able to see all the big, strategic reasons why that deal was important for the whole ride-sharing industry, and not being stopped by the internal drama, but always being able to navigate beyond it.”

“如果不是拉吉夫看到該交易對整個叫車行業(yè)之所以重要的所有重大戰(zhàn)略原因，并且沒有受到內(nèi)部鬧劇的阻礙，而總能高瞻遠矚，這一交易就不會發(fā)生。”