軟銀旗下千億美元科技基金將大舉收購
The $100bn tech investment fund announced last week by SoftBank is likely to make “one or two” multibillion-dollar acquisitions that match its purchases of Sprint and ARM Holdings, according to chief executive officer Masayoshi Son.
軟銀(Softbank)首席執行官孫正義(Masayoshi Son)表示，上週軟銀旗下一家1000億美元規模的科技投資基金宣佈，可能會實施“一兩個”數十億美元的收購案——足以媲美其對Sprint和ARM控股(Arm Holdings)的收購。
The fund, which has already secured Saudi Arabia as its anchor investor, will also make “several $2bn-$5bn company acquisitions and then a bunch [worth] $1bn”, the SoftBank chief said.
孫正義說，這家已鎖定沙特作爲“錨定投資者”(anchor investor)的基金，還將實施“幾筆20億至50億美元的收購，然後再來一批10億美元的收購”。
Mr Son’s comments mark the first indication of how the giant fund is likely to be invested. The massive size of the investment vehicle has sent reverberations through the tech investment world, where it dwarfs other similar growth-oriented funds.
孫正義的這番話，首次讓我們看到這筆鉅額資金可能的投資方式。該基金的規模之大，給科技投資世界帶來了迴響，令其他類似的增長型基金相形見絀。
“$100bn in my view is the beginning,” said Mr Son. “The information revolution that is coming is such . . . a great opportunity that the money is not enough, even with $100bn.”
“我認爲，1000億美元只是開始，”孫正義說。“正在到來的信息革命……是如此大的機會，即使1000億美元也不夠用。”
SoftBank paid $22bn for US mobile operator Sprint in 2013 in what Mr Son has admitted was a mistaken bet that he could win regulatory clearance for a merger with T-Mobile.
2013年，軟銀斥資220億美元收購了美國移動運營商Sprint，而後來讓Sprint與T-Mobile合併的交易沒有獲得監管批准。孫正義承認，這是一次錯誤的押注。
Speaking ahead of an ARM event in San Francisco on Wednesday, he alluded to rival AT&T’s planned acquisition of Time Warner and said, with a smile: “The US government accept that and reject mine? Where is justice in this country!”
在參加星期三在舊金山舉行的ARM活動之前，孫正義提到了競爭對手AT&T計劃收購時代華納(Time Warner)一事，他微笑着說：“美國政府認可了那筆收購，卻阻止我的收購？在這個國家，哪裏還有正義可言！”
The Sprint deal was topped by this year’s $32bn acquisition of chip design company ARM, which Mr Son described as more similar to the long-term bets he plans to make through his new London-based fund.
今年軟銀以320億美元收購芯片設計公司ARM，金額超過了Sprint收購案。孫正義表示，這次押注類似於他計劃通過在倫敦新社基金實施的長期押注。
SoftBank, which said it would put up to $25bn in the fund, established the vehicle after its debt load crimped its ability to make further big bets.
軟銀表示，它將向這一基金投入至多250億美元。軟銀設立這一投資工具，是因爲債務負擔已導致其無力進行更多的大筆押注。
“Every time there is a paradigm shift, I sell everything I can sell to reinvest in the next paradigm,” Mr Son said. “Once every four or five years I do some sizeable acquisition. And then also every year we make a few hundred million-$1bn dollar acquisitions.”
“每當發生範式轉變時，我都賣掉了所有我能賣的，重新投資於下一個範式，”孫正義說。“每個四五年，我都會進行一次規模相當大的收購。接下來，每年我們都進行幾筆1億到10億美元的收購。”
