馬雲收購《南華早報》 談判正在進行中大綱

HONG KONG — Jack Ma, chairman of the Internet giant Alibaba Group, is in talks to buy The South China Morning Post, an influential English-language newspaper based in Hong Kong, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions.

香港——直接瞭解有關討論的一位消息人士透露，互聯網巨頭阿里巴巴集團董事局主席馬雲正在就收購《南華早報》(South China Morning Post)一事進行談判。《南華早報》是總部設在香港的一份有影響力的英文報紙。

A deal would echo the purchase of The Washington Post by Amazon’s founder, Jeffrey P. Bezos, in 2013, which gave a major media brand substantial backing at a turbulent time for the business.

如果做成，這筆交易將是亞馬遜創始人傑弗裏·P·貝索斯(Jeffrey P. Bezos)於2013年收購《華盛頓郵報》(Washington Post)的重演。在紙面媒體面臨動盪的時代，貝索斯的收購是對一個主要媒體品牌的重大支持。

Like Mr. Bezos, Alibaba’s founder, Mr. Ma, made his fortune in Internet commerce. Like the Washington Post, The South China Morning Post is struggling to adapt to the changing media environment. And in neither case does the purchase create obvious business advantages for the buyer.

阿里巴巴創始人馬雲與貝索斯一樣靠互聯網電子商務發了財。而《南華早報》與《華盛頓郵報》一樣在努力適應不斷變化的媒體環境。同樣，這兩筆交易都不給買家帶來明顯的業務優勢。

It has not yet been decided whether the buyer would be Mr. Ma or Alibaba, the person said on Tuesday.

該消息人士週二表示，買家是馬雲還是阿里巴巴尚未確定。

Any deal for the Hong Kong newspaper will have a political dimension.

任何有關香港報紙的交易都會涉及政治層面。

The prospective takeover is raising concerns that the newspaper’s editorial independence could be compromised by a corporate owner whose market position depends in large part on the good will of the Chinese government. Unlike the rest of China, Hong Kong guarantees freedom of the press, a right enshrined in the laws that have governed the former British colony since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.

這個即將發生的收購引發了人們對該報的編輯獨立性可能會受影響的擔憂，因爲該報將由一個企業人士擁有，而該企業的市場地位在很大程度上取決於中國政府對其有多友善。與中國內地其他地區不同，香港保障出版自由，這一權利莊嚴地載入了香港於1997年迴歸中國之後用來管理這個英國前殖民地的法律之中。

Mr. Ma “needs support from Beijing to continue his dominance of the Internet transactional world, and therefore he’s going to be careful in what he does in the publishing world,” said Andrew Collier, a former Beijing-based reporter for the newspaper who now runs a China-focused financial research firm in Hong Kong.

馬雲“繼續他在全球網上交易的霸主地位需要有北京的支持，因此他在出版界做事會小心翼翼，”曾任《南華早報》駐京記者的安德魯·科利爾(Andrew Collier)說，科利爾目前在香港經營一個關注中國金融的研究公司。

A deal could be weeks or even months away, said the person with knowledge of the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations were private. The talks could also fall apart.

交易做成可能還需數週、甚至數月的時間，那位瞭解談判情況的人士表示。此人要求不具名，因爲談判一事尚未公開。談判也可能會失敗。

Nevertheless, talks between the two sides have made “significant progress” in recent days, the person said.

然而，雙方之間的談判近日來取得了“顯著的進展”，該人士說。

Alibaba declined to comment. Benson Chao, a spokesman for The South China Morning Post, said the company did not comment on “market rumors.”

阿里巴巴拒絕置評。《南華早報》發言人本森·周(Benson Chao)表示，公司不對“市場傳聞”發表評論。

A deal has been the subject of media speculation for much of the past month after news of the possible acquisition was reported in China Daily, an official mainland Chinese newspaper, on Nov. 9.

11月9日，大陸官方報紙《中國日報》報道了可能的收購之後，媒體在過去一個月的大部分時間裏對這筆交易做出各種猜測。

In the past, Mr. Ma’s deal-making style has come under scrutiny for purchases that seemed out of line with Alibaba’s strategy. For example, the company bought into a soccer team in 2014.

此前，馬雲的交易作風吸引了公衆的密切關注，因爲那些收購交易似乎不符合阿里巴巴的一貫戰略。比如，公司曾於2014年買入一支足球隊的股份。

Having Mr. Ma make the investment personally would mean that only one company board, the newspaper’s, would need to approve it. “For him, it’s like pocket change,” the person said.

如果交易是馬雲個人投資的話，那意味着他只需要得到一家公司、也就是這家報社的董事會的批准。“對他來說，這筆投資就像是口袋裏的零用錢，”該消息人士說。

A deal for The South China Morning Post, the person said, would fit in with Alibaba’s broader holdings. The company owns stakes in Chinese Internet sites with a media bent, like Youku Tudou, which is similar to YouTube, and Sina Weibo, akin to Twitter. The person said that The South China Morning Post had a good brand and that the takeover “might lead to some synergy.” Any such advantages would be easier to realize if Alibaba were the buyer, the person said.

該人士表示，買下《南華早報》與阿里巴巴更廣泛的持股相符。在媒體方面，阿里巴巴已經持有一些中國互聯網網站的股份，比如類似YouTube的優酷土豆集團，和類似Twitter的新浪微博。該人士說，《南華早報》是一個良好的品牌，收購“可能會產生一些協同效應”。如果阿里巴巴是買家的話，會更容易實現這種組合優勢，該人士說。

But the companies have drastically different audiences. Despite having a Chinese-language service, The South China Morning Post is primarily focused on the limited English-speaking market in Hong Kong, although its coverage of China is read globally. Content on Youku Tudou and Sina Weibo is overwhelmingly in Chinese.

然而，這兩家公司有着非常不同的客戶羣。儘管《南華早報》有一箇中文網站，但這家報紙的主要目標是香港有限的英語市場，雖然該報有關中國的報道在全球都有讀者。優酷網、土豆網及新浪微博上的內容絕大多數都是中文的。

Under an agreement announced this month, copies of The International New York Times for Hong Kong and China will be printed by The South China Morning Post beginning in February.

據本月初宣佈的一項協議，從明年2月起，《國際紐約時報》(The International New York Times)的香港版和中國版將由《南華早報》印刷廠印刷。

The main concern among some people who study the Chinese and Hong Kong press is that ownership of the newspaper by Mr. Ma or Alibaba could further erode media independence in Hong Kong. Mainland Chinese enterprises have been deepening their stakes in the local industry, and journalists here say they are feeling increasing pressure to soft-pedal issues deemed provocative by the governing Communist Party in Beijing.

關注中國和香港出版界的一些人的主要擔心是，該報由馬雲或阿里巴巴擁有，可能會進一步削弱香港媒體的獨立性。中國內地企業已在加強對香港當地企業的控股，這裏的記者說，他們在報道被視爲是挑釁北京的執政黨共產黨的問題時，已感到有越來越大的壓力迫使他們低調處理。