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雅虎梅耶爾到了危機時刻

梅耶爾承認雅虎遇到挑戰復興大計前景渺茫

雅虎對于激進投資者的言論可謂是言聽計從。

早前，對沖基金Starboard Value曾建議雅虎停止出售其阿里巴巴和雅虎日本股份的計劃，并銷售其核心業務。如今，雅虎董事會竟真的在考慮此事了。

據CNBC報道，雅虎不會再考慮將阿里巴巴的股權分拆成為一家獨立公司，而是考慮有關其門戶業務的其他交易選項。至于其搜索引擎和門戶頻道在內的核心資產，到底是變賣還是分拆成一家獨立運營和上市的公司，目前不得而知。

如果公司出售了雅虎核心業務，那么雅虎股份就失去了經營性公司的支撐。股東將持有的是一部分阿里巴巴的股份、一部分雅虎日本的股份，以及約50億美元的現金。

人們廣泛認為，這家21歲的互聯網公司可以以50億-60億美元（不計留存現金）的價格出售給私募股權公司，但實際上，股東們早就認為公司已經一文不值。在人們心目中，雅虎已是一位步履蹣跚、步入暮年的互聯網巨人，一旦上述交易發生，它將為雅虎畫上句號。

在過去十年，雅虎幾乎嘗遍了所有辦法來回歸增長：它啟用了一位媒體行業的首席執行官（特瑞?瑟莫爾）、一位回歸的創始人（楊致遠）、口氣強硬的成本削減者（卡羅爾?巴茨）、一位首席技術官（斯科特?湯普森），以及一位產品夢想家（梅麗莎?梅耶）。然而，所有的努力都以失敗告終。

私募股權可能是最后可行的手段。雅虎核心業務2014年的運營現金流達到了近9億美元，仍在全球網站中排名第五。行業觀察家曾呼吁梅耶削減更多成本，裁減更多員工。然而，她卻反其道而行之，收購了50家公司，在昂貴的內容交易領域做出了虧錢的投資。不過，削減成本倒是私募股權公司的專長。

然而，有以下幾個重要方面值得注意：私募股權公司并不擅長讓消費者互聯網公司起死回生。它們倒是有一批精通“六西格瑪”企業管理戰略的隊伍，這些人對于如何去削減成本并開展精益運營了如指掌，但卻并不知道如何開發出人們喜聞樂見的新型創新產品。

在我的記憶中，倒是有一個大型消費者互聯網公司的成功收購案例。它就是Skype。2009年，Silver Lake Partners從eBay手里收購了這家公司，然后兩年后以三倍的價格賣給了微軟。參與這項交易的有一家名為Andreessen Horowitz的風投公司，eBay自身在這家公司也擁有少數股份。因此，這種帶有私募股權背景的消費者網站東山再起的案例很少見，但也并非不可能。

另一個值得注意的地方是債務：大型收購交易很難為其債務找到買家。鑒于雅虎的營收在不斷萎縮，而且面臨信用評級繼續下調的風險，它的債務就更難處置了。盡管與戴爾670億美元收購EMC的天價相比，雅虎50億-60億美元的收購價格可能算不了什么，但也會讓金融買家們猶豫不決。

當然，私募股權也并非就是唯一的最后出路。戰略收購公司，例如Comcast、AT&T和Verizon，可能也看到了雅虎資產的價值。Verizon已表示有意收購這家步履蹣跚、年事已高的互聯網巨頭。此前，Verizon僅以40億美元的價格收購了美國在線公司。美國在線曾一度達到1640億美元的市值峰值，但那又如何呢？（財富中文網）

譯者：馮豐

校對：詹妮

When activist investors say jump, Yahoo jumps.

Just a week after Starboard Value recommended that Yahoo stop the planned spin-off of its Alibaba and Yahoo Japan shares and sell its core business, Yahoo’s board is considering exactly that, according to reports.

Yahoo has reversed its decision to spin off its huge stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba into a separate company and is instead considering selling its core business, according to CNBC.

If “core Yahoo” sold, Yahoo stock would consist of no operating company. Shareholders would own some Alibaba stock, some Yahoo Japan stock, and around $5 billion in cash.

The loudest speculation is that the 21-year-old Internet property, which shareholders now value at less than nothing, could be sold to a private equity firm for between $5 billion and $6 billion range (net of cash on hand). But if a deal happens, it would mean the end of Yahoo as we know it: a struggling, aging Internet giant.

Over the last decade, Yahoo has tried just about every possible approach to return to growth: It tried a media CEO (Terry Semel), a returning founder (Jerry Yang), a tough-talking cost-cutter (Carol Bartz), a CTO (Scott Thompson), and a product visionary (Marissa Mayer). None have worked out.

But private equity could be a viable last resort. “Core Yahoo” had nearly $900 million in operating cash flow last year, and remains the fifth-largest website in the world. Industry watchers have called on Mayer to cut more costs and lay off more employees, but instead she’s acquired 50 companies and made money-losing investments in expensive content deals. Cutting costs, on the other hand, is private equity’s specialty.

There are a few big catches, however: Private equity isn’t known for turning around consumer Internet properties. They have armies of Six Sigma ninjas that know how to cut costs and run lean operations, but they don’t know how to dream up new, innovative products that people will love.

There’s only one large consumer Internet buyout I can think of, and it was a big success: Skype, which Silver Lake Partners bought from eBay in 2009 and sold to Microsoft two years later for three times its money. That included the involvement of a venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, with eBay itself retaining a minority stake. So a PE-backed consumer Web turnaround is rare, but not impossible.

The other big catch is the debt: big buyout deals are having a hard time finding buyers for their debt. With shrinking revenue and threats that its credit rating will be cut further, Yahoo debt would be even harder to place. A $5 billion to $6 billion deal doesn’t compare to Dell’s crazy $67 billion buyout of EMC, but it may give financial buyers pause.

Private equity isn’t the only last resort. Strategic buyers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, may also see value in the asset. Verizon already has shown interest in snapping up struggling old-Internet stalwarts, having earlier this year acquired AOL, worth $164 billion at its peak, for just $4 billion.