優步得到的並非只是安慰獎
Two years ago, a fateful meeting between Cheng Wei, who today is chairman of China’s car-hailing hegemon Didi Chuxing, and Travis Kalanick, chief executive of San Francisco-based Uber, set the tone for a rivalry that would shake China’s internet industry. While Uber described the meeting as “super friendly”, Mr Cheng had a different take.
如今是中國叫車市場霸主——滴滴出行(Didi Chuxing)的董事長的程維，和總部設於舊金山的優步(Uber)的首席執行官特拉維斯•卡蘭尼克(Travis Kalanick)，在兩年前舉行了一次影響深遠的會談。那次會談爲後來震動中國互聯網行業的兩家公司之間的對抗定下了基調。優步描述那是一場“超級友好的”會談，程維則有不同看法。
According to him, Mr Kalanick issued an ultimatum: sell Uber 40 per cent of Mr Cheng’s company, known as Didi Dache at the time, or else face “embarrassing defeat” in an expensive price war.
他表示，卡蘭尼克對他發出了最後通牒：要麼把程維的公司（那時稱爲“滴滴打車”(Didi Dache)）的40%股份賣給優步，要麼在代價高昂的價格戰中面臨“尷尬的失敗”。
That meeting set the tone for two years of intense competition, intermingled with extended haggling. It ended on Monday, when Uber got exactly half of the stake that Mr Kalanick, in his hubris, had originally envisioned: 20 per cent in Didi Chuxing, the company which has come to dominate car hailing in China, and has just seen off its latest opponent.
那次會談設定了未來兩年激烈競爭的基調。競爭中間還夾雜着進一步的討價還價。本週一，兩者的爭鬥結束了。優步恰好實現了卡蘭尼克當初傲慢設想的目標的一半：拿到滴滴出行20%的經濟利益。滴滴出行已逐漸在中國叫車市場佔據了主宰地位，剛剛送別了這位最新的對手。
Uber, meanwhile, became the latest in a succession of US internet companies that have tried to conquer the China market, and walked away with much less than they had hoped for.
另一方面，優步成爲了曾努力征服中國市場、但帶着較所希望目標低得多的成果離開的一系列美國互聯網企業中的最新一家。
Some, like Google, Facebook and Twitter, have fallen foul of Chinese censors and been blocked.
有些美國互聯網公司，比如谷歌(Google)、Facebook和Twitter，與中國審查機構發生衝突，受到屏蔽。
Ebay stumbled badly a number of times when the auction site took on up-and-coming ecommerce giant Alibaba, whose founder and chairman Jack Ma famously said: “Ebay may be a shark in the ocean, but I’m a crocodile in the Yangtze River.” eBay’s main mis-step, according to analysts, was a failure to assimilate local business practices into its model.
拍賣網站eBay在與蒸蒸日上的中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴(Alibaba)對抗時，多次犯下嚴重錯誤。阿里巴巴創始人、董事長馬雲發表過著名言論：“eBay是海里的一條鯊魚，可我是揚子江裏的鱷魚。”分析師認爲，eBay的主要失誤是未能把中國本土實踐吸納到其經營模式中。
Yahoo ended its foray into China by selling its failing China business to Alibaba, but also wound up fortuitously owning a 40 per cent stake in the ecommerce giant, which has since shrunk to 15 per cent, in 2005. Yahoo was later embroiled in a dispute with Mr Ma over his decision in 2010 to take Alipay, Alibaba’s PayPal-like service, and transfer it to his personal ownership.
雅虎(Yahoo)把衰敗的中國業務賣給了阿里巴巴，結束了中國佈局，但也曾在2005年幸運地獲取了這家電商巨頭40%的股權，現在其持股比例已降至15%。後來，由於2010年馬雲決定拿走阿里巴巴旗下類似PayPal的服務支付寶(Alipay)，轉入他個人控股的公司，引發了他與雅虎之間的爭端。
Apple, while enjoying success with the launch of the iPhone 6 in China in 2014, ran into a series of setbacks this year, facing a ban on its iTunes video service, because of restrictions on foreign publishing, as well as a lawsuit from a leather-goods company claiming to own the iPhone trademark.
隨着2014年iPhone 6在中國上市，蘋果(Apple)連續獲得成功。今年蘋果卻遭遇了一連串的挫折，比如外資企業網絡出版限制導致其iTunes視頻服務被禁止，以及在與一家聲稱擁有iPhone商標的皮具公司的商標大戰中敗訴。
In Uber’s case, despite spending $1bn subsidising journeys last year in China, it was outdone by the local champion with a home-court advantage and deep-pocketed investors such as Alibaba, Tencent and Apple. Didi Chuxing raised a total of $8.5bn from a series of funding rounds in the past year, compared to $1.2bn for Uber China.
至於優步，儘管去年花費了10億美元補貼出行服務，但業績仍不如擁有本土優勢和阿里巴巴、騰訊(Tencent)和蘋果等財大氣粗的投資人的國內冠軍企業。去年，滴滴出行進行了數輪融資，總融資額達85億美元，而優步中國融資額爲12億美元。
“There have been very few happily ever after cases of US internet companies in China,” said Zhang Yi, head of Guangzhou-based consulting company iMedia. Uber’s result “is probably the best exit from China that any US [company] has gotten yet”, he said.
“美國互聯網公司在中國很少有‘從此過上幸福的生活’的結局，”廣州諮詢公司艾媒諮詢(iiMedia)首席執行官張毅說。優步的結局“很可能是迄今所有美國（公司）在退出中國時的最好結局”，他說。
While Uber estimates that it has 30-35 per cent of the car-hailing market in cities where it operates, the company and its Chinese investors in Uber China wound up with 20 per cent of the “economic interest” in Didi, and a mere 5.89 per cent in terms of a voting stake.
優步估計，其在開展業務的城市的叫車市場佔據30%至35%的份額。優步以及優步中國的中國投資人最終獲得滴滴20%的“經濟利益”，和僅僅5.89%的投票股權。
Uber, according to Didi president Jean Liu, “has done better than any Silicon Valley company in China” she said in a flowery internal email announcing the deal: “Uber has been a grand rival and we have had an epic battle . . . We raged an earth-shaking war, and when we join hands, our love will last till the end of time.”
滴滴總裁柳青表示，優步在諸多方面都是歷史上硅谷公司在中國做到過最好的。她在一份辭藻華麗的內部郵件中宣佈了這筆交易：“偉大的對手，史詩般的對決……打則驚天動地、‘合’則恩愛到底。”
In getting the hang of China, Uber clearly learned from the mistakes of others, analysts said.
分析師表示，在摸索中國市場的過程中，優步明顯從其他公司的錯誤中吸取了教訓。
For example, Uber gleefully battles local governments in other countries, famously campaigning against New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s efforts to cap the service in 2015. But it has steered clear of local politics in China, a red line for the Chinese government.
比如，優步愉快地跟其他國家的地方政府進行較量，2015年反抗紐約市市長比爾•德布拉西奧(Bill de Blasio)限制優步便是一個著名案例。但是，優步在中國遠離地方政治，這是中國政府設下的一條紅線。
Uber also decided to go local very early on. Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA, the technology consulting company in Beijing, credits Uber with shrewdly bringing in a number of local partners as investors in Uber China, which was registered as a Chinese company and hired Chinese leadership.
優步也在很早就決定實行本地化。北京科技諮詢公司博達克諮詢公司(BDA China)的董事長鄧肯•克拉克(Duncan Clark)，讚賞優步聰明地引入大量本地合作伙伴入股優步中國。優步中國是一家註冊於中國的公司，並聘用了中國領導層。
It even appointed Jean Liu’s cousin, Liu Zhen, as strategy chief of Uber China. Mr Clark said that may indicate that Uber had its eye on a merger very early on. “For many US companies, their best bet is getting bought out,” he said. Uber’s 20 per cent interest in Didi “is more than a consolation prize. They actually did quite well.”
優步中國甚至任命柳青的堂妹柳甄擔任自己的戰略負責人。克拉克說，這可能意味着，優步從很早就考慮合併。“對很多美國公司而言，最好的結果就是被收購，”他說。優步獲得的滴滴的20%經濟利益“並不僅僅是一份安慰獎。他們確實做得非常棒。”
Mr Kalanick himself alluded to the chequered past of US companies in China. “Most US technology companies struggle to crack the code there,” he said in a statement issued by Uber on Monday, adding that Uber China and Didi Chuxing “have invested billions of dollars in China and have yet to turn a profit there”.
卡蘭尼克自己提到了美國公司在中國市場的曲折歷史。“大多數美國科技公司無法破解那裏的密碼，”他在優步週一發佈的聲明中說。他接着說，優步中國和滴滴出行“已在中國市場投入了數十億美元，但尚未實現盈利”。
“I have no doubt that Uber China and Didi Chuxing will be stronger together,” he said.
“我堅信，優步中國與滴滴出行合併之後，將變得更強大，”他說。
