阿里巴巴雄心勃勃进军视频业

Alibaba fancies itself the eBay, Amazon.com and PayPal of the Chinese Internet. Now it wants to add YouTube and Netflix to the list.

阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group)把自己比作中国互联网世界的eBay、亚马逊(Amazon)和贝宝(PayPal)，现在它想再加入一点YoutTube和Netflix的成份。

In the latest in a string of entertainment industry acquisitions, Alibaba said Monday it will jointly take an 18.5% stake in New York-listed Youku Tudou for $1.22 billion, alongside an investment vehicle linked to Chairman Jack Ma.

阿里巴巴集团周一宣布，阿里巴巴将与马云(Jack Ma)创立的一家基金联手斥资12亿美元收购纽约上市公司优酷土豆18.5%的股权。为进军文化娱乐产业，阿里巴巴展开了一连串的并购活动，入股优酷土豆是其最新举措。

In March, Alibaba acquired a majority stake in ChinaVision Media, a film and television production studio. Earlier this month, a separate investment vehicle owned by Mr. Ma and another Alibaba co-founder took a 20% stake in Wasu Media, an Internet television company with a small cable network. Add the three deals together, and that is a $3 billion spending spree.

今年3月份，阿里巴巴收购了影视剧制作公司文化中国传播集团有限公司(ChinaVision Media)的多数股权。本月早些时候，马云和阿里巴巴的另一位创始人通过旗下另一个投资平台购入互联网电视公司华数传媒控股股份有限公司(Wasu Media) 20%的股权。这三桩交易加在一起的总投资约为30亿美元。

As Alibaba gears up for a massive initial public offering, a picture is emerging of an ambitious, vertically integrated video strategy encompassing content creation, broadband distribution and online streaming. Just how the pieces fit together, including the role played by Mr. Ma's investment vehicles, remains unclear.

在阿里巴巴正在为大规模的首次公开募股(IPO)做准备之际，一幅雄心勃勃的整合策略蓝图逐渐形成：阿里巴巴打算对视频产业进行垂直整合，涉足内容创作、宽带平台建设以及线上流媒体等领域。目前还不清楚阿里巴巴将如何把这些资产（包括马云的投资工具所扮演的角色）整合在一起。

Youku is one of China's top Internet video sites, combining user-generated and professional content. But it faces intense competition from search engine Baidu's video unit, as well as diversified Internet giant Tencent Holdings and New York-listed portal Sohu.com, both with their own video services.

优酷土豆是中国顶尖的视频网站之一，是将用户自创内容与专业内容相融合的一个平台。不过该公司正面临激烈的市场竞争，竞争对手包括搜索引擎百度(Baidu)旗下的视频子公司、综合性互联网巨头腾讯控股有限公司(Tencent Holdings Ltd., 简称：腾讯控股)以及纽约上市的门户网站搜狐公司(Sohu.com Inc.)，其中腾讯控股和搜狐公司都有自己的视频业务。

The next logical step in China's Internet deal frenzy could be a video tie-up between Tencent and Sohu, since the two companies are already allied in search. Tencent was earlier in talks with Youku over a possible investment and will want to keep toe-to-toe with Alibaba.

按照逻辑，中国互联网交易热潮的下一步可能是腾讯控股与搜狐公司视频业务的整合，因为这两家公司已经在搜索业务上展开合作。腾讯早些时候与优酷土豆就潜在投资进行了谈判，预计将与阿里巴巴直面交锋。

Regulatory risks hang over the entire sector. Chinese censors recently pulled four popular U.S. television shows from the Web, including one, 'The Good Wife,' which Youku had the rights to. Last week, Beijing stripped portal site Sina Corp. of some publishing licenses over pornographic material, sending shares down 10% over two days.

监管审查是整个视频行业面临的一大风险。中国审查机构最近将四部美剧从国内视频网站下架，优酷土豆拥有其中《傲骨贤妻》(The Good Wife)的播放权。上周，中国政府吊销了新浪公司(Sina Co., SINA)的《互联网出版许可证》和《信息网络传播视听节目许可证》，导致其股价在两天内下跌10%。

Nor is Youku coming cheap. The deal will be done at $30.50 per share, 26% higher than Youku's closing price on Friday. But because Youku will issue new shares in the transaction, this understates the premium that Alibaba is paying. Youku as a whole will be valued at $6.6 billion, 63% above its Friday market cap, or 13 times 2013 sales for the loss-making company.

优酷土豆的售价并不便宜。阿里巴巴将以每股30.50美元收购优酷土豆股权，较优酷土豆上周五收盘价高出26%。但由于优酷土豆将在交易中发行新股，因此溢价幅度有所降低。优酷土豆的整体估值将为66亿美元，较上周五市值高出63%，相当于这家亏损企业2013年销售额的13倍。

Alibaba is already asking investors to support what could be the biggest IPO in U.S. history. Now it will also ask them to invest in a hastily agglomerated video strategy. Alibaba needs to make the case why.

阿里巴巴已经请求投资者支持可能是美国历史上最大规模的IPO，现在又希望投资者赞成一个仓促成形的视频战略。阿里巴巴需要做出解释。