Ofo是全球最大的共享單車獨角獸公司之一，也是業(yè)界的領跑者。目前正在急速擴張海外業(yè)務的Ofo卻停止了在美國的運營。這是出行類公司全球競爭故事出現(xiàn)的最新波折。在這個故事里，中國科技巨頭阿里巴巴和騰訊以及拼車行業(yè)先鋒Uber和Lyft都是核心角色。

總部設在北京的Ofo于去年夏天進入美國，1000輛小黃車率先擺在了西雅圖街頭。這一年里，Ofo在美國的30座主要城市投放了4萬輛自行車。就在今年6月，該公司還表示希望在年底前進入100座美國城市。

因此，當7月下旬Ofo宣布美國業(yè)務將進入“休眠模式”時，就難免讓人感到意外。雖說是休眠，但由于多個城市的業(yè)務都陷入停滯，估計Ofo的100名美國員工中將有70人失去工作，三名Ofo美國高管則已經離職。

Ofo將撤出美國的主要原因歸咎于當?shù)胤ㄒ?guī)。該公司發(fā)表聲明稱：“Ofo已經開始重新評估那些給新的綠色出行解決方案設置障礙的市場，并將優(yōu)先在那些支持替代性出行方式，并允許我們繼續(xù)服務于顧客的切實可行的市場發(fā)展業(yè)務。”

在國內，Ofo及其對手摩拜單車可以在監(jiān)管相對寬松的環(huán)境中快速擴張，通過大量投放自行車來確保自己的主導地位。官方最初對此持默許態(tài)度，但兩家公司的自行車很快就淹沒了大街小巷，這讓地方政府開始傾向于出手干預。

對要進入美國的共享單車來說，自行車在中國城市里“占領”人行道或堆積如山的畫面并不是什么好的宣傳。美國議員對率先在中國流行的“無樁”共享單車模式也一直較為謹慎。

大多數(shù)引進無樁共享單車的美國城市都采用了試行的辦法，并且嚴格限制共享單車公司投放自行車的數(shù)量。在華盛頓，Ofo的投放量被限制為僅僅400輛，該公司表示這使它無法實現(xiàn)規(guī)模效益。

美國的共享單車出現(xiàn)的比中國早，美國地方官員更習慣于傳統(tǒng)租賃模式帶來的整潔市容。這種模式下自行車從存放點借出，最終還要歸還到存放點。

Uber和Lyft的兩輪之爭

在美國，共享單車行業(yè)的領軍者是Motivate。Lyft最近斥資2.5億美元收購了這家公司，并將把這個品牌重新包裝為Lyft Bikes。Motivate掌握著美國約80%的自行車出租業(yè)務，而且經常和贊助企業(yè)合作以提升收入。在紐約，Motivate的自行車得到了花旗的贊助；在舊金山，冠名這些自行車的是福特汽車。

總部設在紐約的Jump采用了另一種單車共享模式，而且有望在將來和Motivate抗衡。Jump是第一家在舊金山拿到牌照的無樁共享單車公司，此前很多年舊金山一直和Motivate簽有獨家運營合同。

Jump的腳踏電單車（便于在舊金山灣區(qū)的山丘道路上行駛）上裝有固定式自行車鎖，但也可以配備U型鎖，這樣就能把自行車鎖在欄桿等固定物體上。這項功能避免了Jump和芝加哥監(jiān)管部門發(fā)生沖突，因為后者要求停放自行車時必須鎖在欄桿上。正是這項規(guī)定讓Ofo在今年7月初帶著些許不滿退出了芝加哥。

Uber在今年4月收購了Jump，出價估計為2億美元。Motivate的有樁單車模式的成本遠高于Jump的無樁模式，許多人認為這是Jump的競爭優(yōu)勢所在，對此Uber也展示出了信心。現(xiàn)在還不清楚在Lyft的治理下，Motivate頗有價值的贊助協(xié)議還能否繼續(xù)生效。

Uber和Lyft還打算涉足去年風靡全美的電動滑板車，這個領域的主要龍頭企業(yè)是加州共享單車公司Lime。Uber最近參與了Lime的一輪融資。這家公司是最早將無樁共享單車移植到美國的公司之一，比Ofo和摩拜單車登陸美國早了幾個月。籌集了4.67億美元后，Lime表示自己已經成為美國無樁共享單車服務行業(yè)的領軍者。

共享單車獨角獸

對Ofo以及摩拜的迅速擴張來說，資金自然是關鍵。按照中國科技行業(yè)的“慣例”，它們成了騰訊和阿里巴巴之間對抗的代理人。騰訊支持的是摩拜，Ofo背后則是阿里巴巴。

今年3月，阿里巴巴開始力挺Ofo——牽頭為其籌集了8.66億美元資金，并成為了Ofo的主要投資人。阿里巴巴旗下的螞蟻金服以及大型拼車服務公司滴滴出行也參與過Ofo此前的幾輪融資。

去年Ofo表示自己的價值達到了20億美元。但摩拜看來走在了Ofo的前面——今年4月，美團以27億美元的價格收購了摩拜（同樣得到了騰訊的支持）。今年7月，Ofo的首席執(zhí)行官戴威曾經拒絕了滴滴的類似收購提議。戴威曾表示他認為Ofo應一直是個獨立品牌，但這個目標看來很難實現(xiàn)了。

今年5月，戴威推出了“勝利”計劃，旨在提升員工士氣。這項計劃的目標是實現(xiàn)1元（約0.15美元）的利潤。為此，Ofo匆忙退出了除美國以外的多個海外市場，包括以色列、澳大利亞、德國、印度絕大多數(shù)地區(qū)和英國的一些城市。

Uber已經發(fā)現(xiàn)同時在亞洲市場和美國國內運營的目標過高，與之相似，中國出行類公司或許也沒有做好腳踏兩個半球的準備。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

Ofo, one of the world’s largest bike-sharing unicorns and an industry pioneer, is significantly scaling back its global operations, including cutting down services in the U.S. The move is the latest twist in a story of global competition among mobility companies—one in which Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent and ride-hailing pioneers Uber and Lyft are all central characters.

Ofo, a Beijing-based start-up powered into the U.S. last summer, debuting 1,000 of its bright yellow bikes on the streets of Seattle. In the year since it has deployed 40,000 bicycles across 30 major cities. As recently as June, Ofo said it hoped to enter 100 U.S. cities by the end of the year.

So it was a surprise when late July Ofo announced its U.S operations would be entering “sleep mode” instead. While it’s dozing, an estimated 70 of its 100 U.S. staff will lose their jobs as services stop in a number of cities. Three of its top U.S. executives have already left.

The company has placed heavy blame for its withdrawal on local legislation. In a statement the company said, “Ofo has begun to re-evaluate markets that present obstacles to new, green transit solutions, and prioritize growth in viable markets that support alternative transportation and allow us to continue to serve our customers.”

In China, Ofo and its rival Mobike were able to expand rapidly in a relatively unregulated environment, racing to secure dominance by flooding the streets with their bicycles. Authorities quietly acquiesced at first, but before long city streets were so inundated with bicycles that local governments were inclined to intervene.

Pictures from China of bikes cluttering sidewalks or piling up in dumps didn’t make great advertising material for their arrival in America, and U.S. lawmakers have been more cautious about welcoming the “dockless” bike-share model pioneered in China.

Most cities in the U.S. that have introduced dockless bikes have done so under pilot schemes, strictly limiting the number of bikes any company can deploy. In Washington, D.C., Ofo was limited to a fleet of just 400, which it claims was preventing it from achieving economies of scale.

America has a longer history of bike-sharing than China does, and local officials are more accustomed to the tidiness offered by traditional rental schemes where bikes are collected from and returned to designated docking points.

Uber vs. Lyft on two wheels

Here, the industry leader is a company called Motivate, which was recently acquired by Lyft for $250 million and will be rebranded as Lyft Bikes. The company is responsible for some 80% of bike rentals in America, often partnering with corporate sponsors to drum up revenues. In New York, its bikes are sponsored by Citi, and in San Francisco, the bikes are branded by Ford.

One company offering a different model of bike-sharing that could rival Motivate’s in the future is New York-based Jump. It was the first dockless bike-sharing scheme to obtain a license from San Francisco, which for years had offered Motivate an exclusive contract.

Jump’s pedal-assisted e-bikes (handy on Bay Area hills) have an integrated wheel lock, but also come with an optional U-lock, so that the bikes can be secured to stationary objects such as railings. This feature has saved it from falling afoul of regulators in Chicago, who mandated that bikes needed to be secured to railings when not in use ?– a decision that prompted Ofo to withdraw from the city earlier in July, with some resentment.

Uber bought Jump in April for an estimated $200 million. Uber was showing faith in what many see as Jump’s competitive edge: Motivate’s docked bicycle model is far more expensive than the dockless versions offered by Jump, and it’s not clear if the former’s valuable sponsorship deals will continue under Lyft’s ownership.

Uber and Lyft are also seeking to expand into e-scooters – a craze that has boomed in America over the last year, primarily led by Californian bike-share company Lime. Uber recently joined a fundraising round for Lime, which was one of the first to transplant the dockless bike model into the U.S., months before Ofo or Mobike arrived on its shores. With $467 million in funding, it claims to be the leading dockless bike share provider in the U.S.

Bike-sharing unicorns

Funding, naturally, has been vital for the rapid expansion of Ofo and Mobike too. Typical of tech in China, the two companies became proxies for the battle between Tencent and Alibaba, with the former backing Mobike and the latter championing Ofo.

Alibaba put its weight behind Ofo in March, leading an $866 million fundraising round and becoming a major investor. Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Financial and ride-hailing giant Didi had joined in previous rounds.

Ofo claimed to be valued at $2 billion last year, but Mobike appears to have pulled ahead in April when it was acquired by Meituan (also backed by Tencent) for $2.7 billion. Ofo CEO Dai Wei turned down a similar buyout bid from Didi the same month. Dai has said that he’s determined that Ofo should remain an independent brand, but the situation looks dire.

In May, Dai attempted to raise staff morale by launching the Victory initiative – an ambition to achieve just Rmb1 of profit, or around $0.15. To achieve that goal, Ofo has hastily retreated from a number of its overseas markets besides America, including Israel, Australia, Germany, most of India and locations in the U.K.

Much as Uber found tackling the Asian market as well as its home territory to be too ambitious, Chinese mobility companies might not be ready to occupy both hemispheres either.