优步得到的并非只是安慰奖

 　　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 1 that would shake China’s internet industry. While Uber described the meeting as “super friendly”, Mr Cheng had a different take.

　　如今是中国叫车市场霸主——滴滴出行(Didi Chuxing)的董事长的程维，和总部设于旧金山的优步(Uber)的首席执行官特拉维斯?卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)，在两年前举行了一次影响深远的会谈。那次会谈为后来震动中国互联网行业的两家公司之间的对抗定下了基调。优步描述那是一场“超级友好的”会谈，程维则有不同看法。
　　According to him, Mr Kalanick issued an ultimatum 2: 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，卡兰尼克对他发出了最后通牒：要么把程维的公司（那时称为“滴滴打车”(Didi Dache)）的40%股份卖给优步，要么在代价高昂的价格战中面临“尴尬的失败”。
　　That meeting set the tone for two years of intense competition, intermingled with extended haggling 3. It ended on Monday, when Uber got exactly half of the stake that Mr Kalanick, in his hubris 4, 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.
　　那次会谈设定了未来两年激烈竞争的基调。竞争中间还夹杂着进一步的讨价还价。本周一，两者的争斗结束了。优步恰好实现了卡兰尼克当初傲慢设想的目标的一半：拿到滴滴出行20%的经济利益。滴滴出行已逐渐在中国叫车市场占据了主宰地位，刚刚送别了这位最新的对手。
　　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，优步成为了曾努力征服中国市场、但带着较所希望目标低得多的成果离开的一系列美国互联网企业中的最新一家。
　　Some, like Google, Facebook and Twitter, have fallen foul 5 of Chinese censors 6 and been blocked.
　　有些美国互联网公司，比如谷歌(Google)、Facebook和Twitter，与中国审查机构发生冲突，受到屏蔽。
　　Ebay stumbled badly a number of times when the auction 7 site took on up-and-coming ecommerce giant Alibaba, whose founder 8 and chairman Jack 9 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 10, was a failure to assimilate local business practices into its model.
　　拍卖网站eBay在与蒸蒸日上的中国电商巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)对抗时，多次犯下严重错误。阿里巴巴创始人、董事长马云发表过著名言论：“eBay是海里的一条鲨鱼，可我是扬子江里的鳄鱼。”分析师认为，eBay的主要失误是未能把中国本土实践吸纳到其经营模式中。
　　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 11 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)把衰败的中国业务卖给了阿里巴巴，结束了中国布局，但也曾在2005年幸运地获取了这家电商巨头40%的股权，现在其持股比例已降至15%。后来，由于2010年马云决定拿走阿里巴巴旗下类似PayPal的服务支付宝(Alipay)，转入他个人控股的公司，引发了他与雅虎之间的争端。
　　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 12 on foreign publishing, as well as a lawsuit 13 from a leather-goods company claiming to own the iPhone trademark 14.
　　随着2014年iPhone 6在中国上市，苹果(Apple)连续获得成功。今年苹果却遭遇了一连串的挫折，比如外资企业网络出版限制导致其iTunes视频服务被禁止，以及在与一家声称拥有iPhone商标的皮具公司的商标大战中败诉。
　　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 15 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.
　　至于优步，尽管去年花费了10亿美元补贴出行服务，但业绩仍不如拥有本土优势和阿里巴巴、腾讯(Tencent)和苹果等财大气粗的投资人的国内冠军企业。去年，滴滴出行进行了数轮融资，总融资额达85亿美元，而优步中国融资额为12亿美元。
　　“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.
　　“美国互联网公司在中国很少有‘从此过上幸福的生活’的结局，”广州咨询公司艾媒咨询(iiMedia)首席执行官张毅说。优步的结局“很可能是迄今所有美国（公司）在退出中国时的最好结局”，他说。
　　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 16 5.89 per cent in terms of a voting stake.
　　优步估计，其在开展业务的城市的叫车市场占据30%至35%的份额。优步以及优步中国的中国投资人最终获得滴滴20%的“经济利益”，和仅仅5.89%的投票股权。
　　Uber, according to Didi president Jean Liu, “has done better than any Silicon 17 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 18 battle?.?.?.?We raged an earth-shaking war, and when we join hands, our love will last till the end of time.”
　　滴滴总裁柳青表示，优步在诸多方面都是历史上硅谷公司在中国做到过最好的。她在一份辞藻华丽的内部邮件中宣布了这笔交易：“伟大的对手，史诗般的对决……打则惊天动地、‘合’则恩爱到底。”
　　In getting the hang of China, Uber clearly learned from the mistakes of others, analysts said.
　　分析师表示，在摸索中国市场的过程中，优步明显从其他公司的错误中吸取了教训。
　　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 19 clear of local politics in China, a red line for the Chinese government.
　　比如，优步愉快地跟其他国家的地方政府进行较量，2015年反抗纽约市市长比尔?德布拉西奥(Bill de Blasio)限制优步便是一个著名案例。但是，优步在中国远离地方政治，这是中国政府设下的一条红线。
　　Uber also decided 20 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.
　　优步也在很早就决定实行本地化。北京科技咨询公司博达克咨询公司(BDA China)的董事长邓肯?克拉克(Duncan Clark)，赞赏优步聪明地引入大量本地合作伙伴入股优步中国。优步中国是一家注册于中国的公司，并聘用了中国领导层。
　　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 21 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 22 prize. They actually did quite well.”
　　优步中国甚至任命柳青的堂妹柳甄担任自己的战略负责人。克拉克说，这可能意味着，优步从很早就考虑合并。“对很多美国公司而言，最好的结果就是被收购，”他说。优步获得的滴滴的20%经济利益“并不仅仅是一份安慰奖。他们确实做得非常棒。”
　　Mr Kalanick himself alluded 23 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”.
　　卡兰尼克自己提到了美国公司在中国市场的曲折历史。“大多数美国科技公司无法破解那里的密码，”他在优步周一发布的声明中说。他接着说，优步中国和滴滴出行“已在中国市场投入了数十亿美元，但尚未实现盈利”。
　　“I have no doubt that Uber China and Didi Chuxing will be stronger together,” he said.
　　“我坚信，优步中国与滴滴出行合并之后，将变得更强大，”他说。