前高盛副主席引領阿里走向國際化

The chemistry between Jack Ma, the hyperkinetic Chinese billionaire, and Michael Evans, whose friends tend to describe as “low key” and “Canadian”, is unlikely to be the main reason the two struck up a friendship 10 years ago.

一個是精力旺盛的中國富豪馬雲(Jack Ma)，一個是常被友人形容爲“低調”和“加拿大人”的邁克爾埃文斯(Michael Evans)，這二人之間的化學反應不太可能是他們十年前建立友誼的主要原因。

Mr Evans, an Olympic gold medallist in rowing and a former Wall Street executive, was running Goldman Sachs’ Asia operations and the two met for one reason: money. Goldman co-ordinated the initial public offering of , Mr Ma’s first publicly listed company, in Hong Kong.

埃文斯是一名前華爾街高管，曾獲得奧運會皮划艇項目的金牌，他在管理高盛(Goldman Sachs)亞洲業務時結識了馬雲，而促成他們相識的原因是——錢。當時高盛負責協調阿里巴巴網絡()在香港的首次公開發行(IPO)，這是馬雲的首家上市公司。

Fast forward 10 years and this week Mr Evans, who stepped down from Goldman in 2014 after 21 years, was hired by Mr Ma to become Alibaba’s president in charge of its international operations.

一晃十年過去。2014年，在高盛工作了21年的埃文斯宣佈辭職，本週他被馬雲聘爲阿里巴巴總裁，負責該集團國際業務。

“We are turning to a proven international leader who has been connecting China and the rest of the world for most of his career,” said Mr Ma.

馬雲表示：“我們將迎來一位久經考驗的國際化領導者，他的大部分職業生涯都致力於將中國與世界其他地區連接起來。”

Joining Goldman in 1993 and becoming partner in 1994, Mr Evans was originally brought to China in 2004 by Hank Paulson, the bank’s chief executive at the time and who went on to become Treasury secretary in 2006 and has maintained a keen interest in Sino-US relation.

埃文斯於1993年加入高盛，1994年就成爲合夥人。2004年，在高盛當時的首席執行官漢克保爾森(Hank Paulson)帶領下，埃文斯第一次來到中國。保爾森於2006年成爲美國財政部長，對中美關係一直保有濃厚的興趣。

In fact, Mr Evans is the second protégé of Mr Paulson’s to be snapped up by Alibaba — Jim Wilkinson, the group’s senior vice-president for corporate affairs was Mr Paulson’s chief of staff at the Treasury.

事實上，埃文斯是保爾森被阿里巴巴挖走的第二個門生。阿里巴巴負責企業事務的資深副總裁吉姆威爾金森(Jim Wilkinson)曾是保爾森在財政部的幕僚長。

Lucas van Praag, a former colleague at Goldman who now runs the public relations company Fitzroy Communications, says Mr Evans was a “classic Goldman person, very driven, very focused, very determined”.

埃文斯的前高盛同事、現在運營着公關公司Fitzroy Communications的盧卡斯範普拉格(Lucas van Praag)說，埃文斯是一個“典型的高盛人，非常有幹勁，非常專注，非常堅定。”

But “if he wanted a new chapter in his business life, it wasn’t going to be at Goldman Sachs”, he adds.

但是“如果他想開啓商業生涯的新篇章，就不能在高盛”，他補充道。

Based in Hong Kong from 2004, Mr Evans helped many of China’s biggest companies go public and became a key conduit to US capital markets for a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs.

埃文斯從2004年起駐香港工作，幫助多家中國大企業上市，併成爲中國新一代企業家進入美國資本市場的重要渠道。

“Mike has deep experience with China and played an instrumental role in the first wave of landmark Chinese listings such as China Mobile and PetroChina,” says Fred Hu, chairman of investment firm Primavera Capital and a former Goldman economist in China.

前高盛中國經濟學家、投資公司春華資本(Primavera Capital)的主席胡祖六(Fred Hu)表示：“邁克爾有着豐富的對華經驗，而且在中國移動(China Mobile)和中國石油(PetroChina)等中國企業里程碑式的首輪上市潮中發揮了重要作用。”

When he returned to New York in 2011, Mr Evans was seen as a possible successor to Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chief executive, when the company was still reeling from the financial crisis.

2011年埃文斯返回紐約時，被視爲高盛首席執行官勞埃德貝蘭克梵(Lloyd Blankfein)的可能接班人，當時這家公司仍處於金融危機的影響中。

“That’s not a perception that he fought to have people recognise, but he certainly didn’t dissuade people from thinking it,” says one former colleague. “Mike was there as a very strong potential heir apparent, to a throne that was not likely to be given up.”

埃文斯的一位前任同事表示：“他並沒有力求讓人們認識到這種可能性，但他肯定也沒有阻止人們這麼想。當時邁克爾顯然是一個非常強有力的可能繼任者，但他要繼承的是一個不太可能被放手的王位。”

Mr Blankfein stayed on and Mr Evans eventually left at the end of 2013.

貝蘭克梵依然留任，而埃文斯最終在2013年底離開。

“A number of people thought he’d have gone sooner,” says one former colleague.

一位前同事表示：“很多人以爲他會更早離開。”

Mr Evans was almost immediately scoped by Alibaba for an independent board seat which he took up last September.

埃文斯離開高盛後，阿里巴巴幾乎立即向他提供了成爲獨立董事的機會，去年9月他接受了這一職位。

In his new post, he will be the point man in persuading big US brands to open ecommerce stores on Alibaba platforms. He will also be charged with selling Alibaba to Wall Street as the stock price, which sailed to a high of $119 in November after listing at $68 in September, dipped below $80 this week.

升任阿里巴巴總裁後，埃文斯將成爲說服美國大品牌在阿里巴巴平臺上開設電商店鋪的牽頭人。他還將負責向華爾街兜售阿里巴巴的股票。本週阿里巴巴的股價跌破80美元，自去年9月以每股68美元的價格上市後，其股價在去年11月衝到過119美元高點。

“He’s exactly what Alibaba needs,” says Mr Van Praag. “I cant imagine that he was hired for his ability to turn around the stock price, but I think that his understanding of what investors want and how they think about opportunities is probably critical.”

範普拉格說：“他正是阿里巴巴需要的人才。我不覺得他之所以獲得聘用，是因爲他擁有扭轉股價的能力。但我認爲他知道投資者想要什麼，以及他們對機會的看法，這一點可能纔是關鍵。”