美国综合性商业公司崛起的时代已经过去了几十年。20世纪60年代至70年代是综合性企业崭露头角的黄金时期，但不过几十年的时间，这些企业便纷纷破产，因为经济趋势已从多样性转变为专业性。但是在2016年，中国综合性企业崛起的热情达到了前所未有的高度，尤其是互联网公司。去年，网络巨头百度、阿里巴巴以及腾讯在134个商业领域共计投资了290亿美元。
这三家企业中以阿里巴巴为最，去年在收购和少数股权方面的投资比腾讯和百度加起来还要多。投资领域多种多样，既有翻译网站，也有房屋租赁。他们的投资领域难免有重合之处，阿里巴巴和腾讯分别在外卖网站“饿了吗”投资了12.5亿美元和3.5亿美元。
阿里不但没有放弃核心的电子商务，还不断转变商务策略。阿里去年最大的一笔投资是以46亿美元投资了实体电子产品零售商苏宁。苏宁的配送网络将帮助阿里完成订单配送和产品储存。而阿里则将苏宁的在线商城放置在天猫网站的首页。
阿里去年的另一大手笔是在传媒领域，以35亿美元收购了优酷土豆平台，并以20亿美元收购了南华早报集团出版社的全部资产。这个不断壮大的传媒帝国最近还买入了中国最大私人电影公司、在线动漫平台、全资电视电影制作公司以及一家在线音乐平台的股票。
为什么都是传媒领域的投资？因为中国居民可支配的娱乐消费越来越多，截至2020年，中国的“文化产业”将会贡献7%的GDP，约6万亿人民币（合9300亿美元）。阿里认为传媒行业最终也会回归到电子商务领域。举例来讲，消费者可以通过阿里的网站购买电影票，看一场阿里制作的电影，在天猫买几件电影相关的主题产品。
腾讯也在传媒领域站住了脚，斥资一亿美元投资影院购票软件，主攻线下领域。因为缺少“线上线下”的连接，线下业务只能以现实世界的购买服务来吸引线上用户，比如对滴滴快的的投资。2015年，腾讯推出了搭车服务、家政服务以及食品外卖服务。
腾讯更倾向于合作而不是收购，因此达成的交易比阿里还要多，腾讯完成了68笔，而阿里仅有45笔，但腾讯的交易金额却比阿里少了100亿美元。腾讯进入外卖领域是因为有利可图。外卖市场自2010年至2015年已由586亿人民币上涨至2160亿人民币，而在线下单将在2017年达到整体外卖业务的12%，这在2010年仅有0.15%。
百度也加入了送餐行列，不是通过企业收购，而是直接建立了自己的外卖平台“百度外卖”。这是瑞士信贷分析家认证的几个成功的百度战略之一。和腾讯一样，百度的投资大多局限于少数股权收购。百度自2014年以来最大的一笔投资是以30亿美元收购了糯米团购，这使得糯米在线下业务中更具竞争力。百度之所以这样做，是因为它是中国最大的搜索引擎，这是它得天独厚的优势。
互联网巨头们的现金充足，因此瑞士信贷分析家们认为他们会迎着宏观经济的压力逆风而上。至少他们在短期内不会遇到什么对手。消费性支出的增长已经超过了GDP的增长。这对互联网巨头来首是个好消息，只要消费者想买的，他们那里都会有卖的。
China’s New Conglomerates
It’s been decades since conglomerates were the toast of American commerce. Many that formed in the 1960s and 70s broke up in the decades that followed, as the trend of diversification gave way to specialization. But in China in 2016, enthusiasm for the conglomerate form is at an all-time high, particularly among Internet companies. Last year, web titans Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent invested a total of $29 billion in 134 businesses.
Alibaba has been the most aggressive of the three, investing more in 2015 than Tencent and Baidu combined through acquisitions and minority stakes in companies ranging from a language translation site to a home rental service. But they’ve surely bumped into each other outside some conference rooms. Alibaba and Tencent invested $1.25 billion and $350 million, respectively, in minority stakes in the food delivery site ele.me and $2 billion each in Didi Kuadi, China’s largest car-hailing app.
Alibaba isn’t abandoning its core e-commerce business, but its e-commerce strategy is evolving. One of its biggest deals last year was a $4.6 billion investment in the brick-and-mortar electronics retailer Suning. Suning’s distribution network will help deliver Alibaba’s orders and stock some Alibaba products in its stores, while Alibaba will host Suning’s first online store on its Tmall shopping portal.
Alibaba’s other significant 2015 deals were in media: a $3.5 billion takeover of online video platform Youku Tudou, and a $2 billion deal to buy the assets of publisher SCMP Group. The company’s growing media empire also includes recently purchased stakes in China’s largest private film company and an online animation platform, as well as a wholly owned TV and film production company and an online music platform.
Why all the media investments? Because Chinese residents have growing disposable income to spend on entertainment, and the country’s “culture industry” is expected to contribute 7 percent to GDP — about 6 trillion renminbi ($930 billion) – by 2020. Alibaba also sees media as a way to drive business back to its e-commerce sites. Consumers could buy movie tickets through an Alibaba site, watch an Alibaba-produced film, and buy movie-themed merchandise on Tmall.
Tencent also has a foothold in media – including a new $100 million stake in a movie ticket app – but it has devoted the most attention to the O2O space. Short for “online to offline, ” O2O businesses attract online users to purchase services for use in the real world, which includes the above investments in Didi Kuadi and ele.me. In 2015, the company also invested in a ridesharing service, a housekeeping service, and a group deals site with a food delivery subsidiary.
Tencent tends to form partnerships rather than making outright acquisitions. As a result, it completed more deals than Alibaba in 2015 – 68 to Alibaba’s 45 – while spending $10 billion less. Its foray into O2O food delivery may prove particularly lucrative. The food delivery market has grown from 58.6 billion renminbi ($9 billion) in 2010 to 216 billion ($33.5 billion) in 2015, and online orders are expected to account for more than 12 percent of all food delivery in 2017, up from just 0.15 percent in 2010.
Baidu has also entered the food delivery business – not through M&A, but by developing its own platform, Baidu Food. That’s just one of several homegrown Baidu businesses that Credit Suisse analysts say are indicative of a more organic growth strategy. Other examples include an autonomous car business, an education business, and an online bank developed in partnership with a brick-and-mortar bank, China Citic Bank.
Baidu, like Tencent, limited itself to minority stakes last year, its largest being a $1.2 billion investment in Uber China. But Baidu is also pouring money into a major acquisition from 2014: the group-buying site Nuomi. The company announced last June that it would spend $3 billion to make Nuomi more competitive in the O2O space. In doing so, Baidu has an advantage others don’t: it is China’s dominant search engine.
The Internet giants are cash-rich, and Credit Suisse analysts expect their investment boom to continue despite macroeconomic headwinds. They may also face less competition than in recent years. Though the Chinese government directed some $231 billion to venture capital funds last year, Credit Suisse analysts say the funds have grown more cautious. Consumer spending growth, however, is outpacing GDP growth. That’s good news for the Internet giants, who are increasingly prepared to sell just about anything consumers want to buy.
本文翻译由兄弟财经提供
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