????上周一晚間，谷歌拋出了一個重磅炸彈，宣布重組，最初人們認為這只是一個笑話。甚至有人在評論谷歌CEO拉里·佩奇的博客文章時，懷疑網站被黑了。

????但第二天，商界的評論家、分析師和講解員們卻對此次重大變動達成共識：《紐約時報》稱，新成立的控股公司Alphabet，將使谷歌放開手腳，“追求搜索之外的遠大夢想。”彭博社解釋稱，Alphabet就像是“21世紀的伯克希爾哈撒韋公司”。網絡雜志《Slate》認為，此次更名顯示，Alphabet“在根本上是一家‘探月’工廠，并將始終堅持這樣的使命。”

????我也參與了討論，我認為拉里·佩奇不希望成為一家廣告公司的CEO，不論這家廣告公司有多成功，因為廣告既不是新銳行業，也不足以改變世界。因此，谷歌現在成了一系列創新業務的組成部分。

????在谷歌總部Googleplex（是否會更名為Alphaplex？）以北8英里的地方，有另外一家非常成功的基于廣告的科技公司。這家公司的高管們肯定在思考，他們是否應效仿谷歌的作法？

????正如《時代》雜志所說，谷歌一直在向其他公司輸出它的文化。現在，谷歌的新公司結構成了“現代科技公司未來進化的模板”。在硅谷那些規模龐大、不斷發展的科技公司當中，最適合這種新模板的當屬Facebook。

????與谷歌類似，Facebook也是以網頁服務起家，通過廣告賺錢。兩家公司的收入大部分來自其旗艦產品的廣告收入。

????與佩奇一樣，相較于紛雜的廣告重新定位優化，Facebook的CEO馬克·扎克伯格也對能夠改變世界的創新更感興趣。按照佩奇與扎克伯格的設想，各自公司的所有分支項目未來都將為公司帶來利潤。

????Facebook旗下已經匯集了多家迥然不同的公司，這些公司獨立運營，互不干擾。Facebook網站目前擁有15億每月活躍用戶，除此之外，公司還有照片分享應用Instagram，每月活躍用戶3億人；消息應用WhatsApp，每月活躍用戶8億人，還有公司自己的消息應用Facebook Messenger，每月活躍用戶7億人。Facebook還收購了虛擬現實頭戴設備制造商Oculus Rift，其產品預計將在明年第一季度上市。此外，Facebook一直在通過Internet.org項目努力使全世界更多人可以訪問互聯網，為此，公司還投入大量資源，開發太陽能互聯網飛機和激光技術。

????除了結構和前景方面的相似之處，重組還可作為一個有效的招聘工具。你很難讓工程師們對廣告感到興奮。有一句話總結了硅谷工程師對廣告的感受，在業內廣為流傳（說這句話的人正是一位Facebook早期員工）：“我這代人中最優秀的人才都在思考如何吸引用戶點擊廣告，真是弱爆了。”如果他們不創建自己的公司，硅谷的優秀人才可能寧愿去開發一些尖端的創新產品，比如虛擬現實。

????除了招募新的人才，投資者們也可能歡迎控股公司的結構。華爾街對谷歌的重組反響熱烈，谷歌市值在盤后交易中上漲了200億美元。這是一種不同尋常的反應。正如我的同事史蒂夫·甘德爾所說，投資者通常不喜歡綜合性大企業。這類公司往往被認為效率低下。即使是伯克希爾哈撒韋公司的價值，也因此被許多人低估。

????但谷歌卻憑借其專注于長期投資的前瞻性創新者形象，吸引了投資者。除此之外，谷歌也不需要擔心維權投資者們迫使公司拆分，因為基于其雙層股權結構設計，佩奇和公司總裁謝爾蓋·布林擁有多數投票權。

????Facebook也有類似的保護機制。馬克·扎克伯格擁有Facebook大量所有權股份，并且全部為“B級股”，而B級股的投票權是A級股的十倍。

????Facebook上市僅三年時間，現在便全盤照搬Alphabet的作法仍為時尚早。但像谷歌一樣，該公司最終也會認為這樣的作法是合理的。Facebook已經在朝著這個方向發展，新增了越來越多“探月”型部門。重組只是將公司的所有創新，展示給新的人才、投資者和全世界。（財富中文網）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

????審校：任文科

????When Google GOOG -0.14% dropped its bombshell restructuring announcement Monday evening, it was initially seen as a joke. Commenters on CEO Larry Page’s blog post suspected the site had been hacked.

????But over next day, the business world’s commentators, analysts and explainers banded together to create a consensus about the shake-up: Alphabet, the new holding company’s name, frees up Google to “dream big beyond search” the New York Times announced. Alphabet is like “a 21st century Berkshire Hathaway,” Bloomberg explained. The name change signals that Alphabet “is fundamentally a moonshot factory, and always will be,” according to Slate.

????I joined the chorus, arguing that Larry Page doesn’t want to be the CEO of an advertising company, no matter how successful said advertising company is, because advertising not a very cool, world-changing business to be in. Ergo, Google is now one part of a portfolio of innovative businesses.

????Eight miles north of the Googleplex (will they change it to Alphaplex?), executives at another very successful advertising-based technology company are likely wondering whether they should be doing the same thing.

????As the Times argued, Google has always exported its company culture to the rest of the corporate world. Now, the company’s new corporate structure is “a template for the next evolution of a modern tech firm.” Out of all the big, evolving tech firms in Silicon Valley, Facebook is best suited for this new template.

????Like Google, Facebook FB 0.61% started as a web service that makes money through ads. The majority of both companies’ revenue comes from advertising through their flagship products.

????And like Page, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is more excited by world-changing innovations than the intricacies of ad retargeting optimization. Both Page and Zuckerberg see a future where all of their companies’ side projects contribute to the bottom line.

????Facebook Inc. has already amassed a portfolio of somewhat disparate companies operating independently of one another. Beyond its namesake product, which has 1.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook owns photo sharing app Instagram, which has 300 million monthly active users, messaging app WhatsApp, which has 800 million monthly active users, and it’s own messaging app, Facebook Messenger, which has 700 million. Facebook acquired virtual reality headset maker Oculus Rift, which is set to go on sale in the first quarter of next year. And Facebook is spending considerable resources developing solar-powered Internet drones and laser technology, in line with its efforts to increase Web access around the world through its project, Internet.org.

????Beyond similarities in structure and outlook, restructuring works as a great recruiting tool. It’s not easy to get engineers excited about advertising. There’s a famous quote that sums up how Silicon Valley engineers feel about advertising (uttered by an early Facebook employee, no less): “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks.” If they’re not starting their own company, the Valley’s top talent would rather work on cutting-edge, innovative products like virtual reality.

????Beyond new recruits, investors are also likely to embrace the holding company structure. Wall Street applauded Google’s re-organization, adding $20 billion to Google’s market cap in after-hours trading. It was an unusual reaction, since, as my colleague Steve Gandel noted, investors usually dislike conglomerates. They’re seen as less efficient. Even Berkshire Hathaway is considered undervalued by many.

????But Google has wooed investors on its image as a forward-thinking innovator focused on long-term investments. Beyond that, the company has the luxury of not having to worry about activist investors pressuring it to split up, because the company’s dual-class share structure gives Page and President Sergey Brin majority voting power.

????Facebook has similar protections in place. Mark Zuckerberg’s sizable ownership stake in Facebook is all “class B” stock, and that gives him ten votes for every class A vote.

????Just three years into its life as a public company, it may be too early for Facebook to go full-Alphabet. But the company may eventually decide, like Google, that such a move makes sense. Facebook is already moving in that direction by adding more and more moonshot-style divisions. Restructuring would only highlight those innovations to new recruits, investors, and the world.