李开复等科技高管联名抗议做空机构

A number of prominent technology leaders in China, including current and former executives from Google Inc. GOOG +0.50% and Microsoft Corp., MSFT +1.65% are mounting an offensive against short seller Citron Research as they protest a spate of what they call unfair and inaccurate attacks on U.S.-listed Chinese companies.

包括谷歌(Google Inc.)和微软(Microsoft Corp.)现任及前任高管在内的数名中国科技领域知名人士正在对做空机构香橼研究(Citron Research)发起攻势。他们认为大批在美上市的中国公司受到了在他们看来不合理和错误的攻击，并对此表示抗议。

Led by Kai-Fu Lee, former head of Google's operations in the country, a group of more than 60 executives, investors and entrepreneurs signed a letter accusing China-focused short sellers─particularly Citron─of 'targeting legitimate companies with either no problems or minimal problems,' manipulating information to write reports that 'boldly tell lies, knowing that their American readers have no way of verifying them.' Mr. Lee is one of the most prominent technology executives in China, and currently runs an incubator for technology start-ups called Innovation Works.

由谷歌前中国区总裁李开复牵头的60多名高管、投资者和企业家联名签署了一封信函，抨击以香橼为主的、主要关注中国的做空机构，指责它们把完全没有问题或问题不大的守法公司作为目标，利用美国读者没有办法去核实真伪的状况，伪造信息撰写厚颜无耻的造谣报告。李开复是中国科技领域最有名的高管之一，目前管理着一家叫做创新工场(Innovation Works)的科技初创企业孵化器公司。

In an interview, Mr. Lee said he fears that what he considers baseless allegations by Citron and others will make it 'harder and harder for Chinese companies to go public in the U.S., which is neither good for China nor the U.S.'

李开复在接受采访时说，他所担心的是，在他看来香橼和其他一些公司毫无根据的指控将会使中国公司越来越难在美国上市，这对中国和美国都不是好事。

The group has created a new website, Citronfraud.com. The focus is in part on Citron's criticism of antivirus software and Internet-services provider Qihoo 360 Technology Co., QIHU +4.33% listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Qihoo 360 Chief Executive Zhou Hongyi is one of the letter's signees.

上述抗议人士建立了一个新网站Citronfraud.com。香橼对反病毒软件和互联网服务提供商、在纽约证券交易所上市的奇虎360科技有限公司(Qihoo 360 Technology)的指责是焦点之一。奇虎360首席执行长周鸿祎也在这封信上签了名。

'Movements only evolve around real threats,' said Andrew Left, founder of Citron, who said Mr. Lee has distorted his reports. 'If what I wrote was false, then you wouldn't need a movement around it ... I am more than happy to defend [my statements] in a court of law.' Mr. Left said he has shorted Qihoo, but didn't disclose the size of his position.

香橼的创始人莱夫特(Andrew Left)说，行动只会伴随着真正的威胁产生。他说，李开复曲解了他的报告。他说：如果我写的内容是虚假的，那么你就不需要据此采取什么行动，我非常乐意在法庭上为我的报告进行辩护。莱夫特说，他已经做空了奇虎，但是没有披露他的头寸规模。

Mr. Left also pointed out that an investor in Mr. Lee's incubator, Sequoia Capital, is also a Qihoo backer.

莱夫特还指出，李开复旗下孵化器公司的投资者之一红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)也是奇虎的支持者。

Mr. Lee, who said he doesn't own Qihoo shares, confirmed that Sequoia is his investor, and added that Qihoo and Qihoo competitors are also investors, but said that didn't have bearing on his decision to take action. 'What Citron and other companies like it are doing is creating a prejudice that makes it difficult for companies we invest in to go public ... that's the agenda.'

李开复说他没有持有奇虎的股票。李开复证实了红杉资本是其投资者的说法，他还补充说，奇虎和奇虎的竞争者也是投资者，但是他说，这与他采取行动的决定没有关系。李开复说：香橼和其他像它这样的公司正在试图形成一种偏见，从而让我们投资的公司难以上市，这就是他们的目标。

The group of signees includes a number of prominent venture-capital and angel investors in China. Such investors provide funding for start-ups and stand to profit heavily if the companies sell shares to the public. Among the notable members is Zhang Ya-Qin, chairman of Asia-Pacific research and development for Microsoft.

签名者中包括中国的一些知名风险资本和天使投资人。这样的投资者为初创公司提供资金，一旦这些初创公司上市，投资者可获得巨大回报。这个团体中的知名成员包括微软亚太研发集团的主席张亚勤。

Short sellers borrow shares to sell them with the hope of buying them back at a lower price and pocketing the difference, so they stand to benefit from causing share prices to drop. Investigations by short sellers have triggered a wave of delistings of Chinese companies by U.S. stock exchanges and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

做空者借入股票并将其卖出，希望能以更低的价格买回来，从而赚取差价。因此，如果能让股价下跌，他们就可以获利。做空机构的调查已经引发了一波中国公司被美国的股票交易所和美国证券交易委员会(U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)摘牌的风暴。

This has cast a cloud over Chinese companies listed in the U.S., and analysts say it is in part the reason why share prices of larger companies have come down as well, including prominent U.S.-listed Chinese Internet firms like online video company Youku Tudou Inc. YOKU -1.18% and Sina SINA -0.71% Corp, owner of the Weibo microblogging service.

这给在美国上市的中国公司蒙上了阴云。分析师说，从一定程度上讲，这也是一些大公司股价下跌的原因。这些大公司包括网络视频企业优酷网(Youku Tudou Inc.)和新浪微博所有者新浪(Sina)等在美上市的知名中国互联网企业。

'Obviously, short selling is good' and these sellers have been 'exposing problems and companies with issues,' said Fan Bao, chief executive of investment bank China Renaissance Partners, who signed the letter. 'But it got to a point where they are very indiscriminating, and are, in our opinion, going after some good companies.'

投资银行华兴资本(China Renaissance Partners)首席执行长包凡也是信函的签署人。他说：显然做空是好事，这些做空机构揭露了问题，揭露了有问题的公司，但做空已经到了不分青红皂白的地步，在我们看来还瞄上了一些优质公司。

The group's assertions will likely renew focus on the state of corporate research in China. In recent months, the Chinese government has made it more difficult to access financial information, including audited reports, for private companies as part of a broad information crackdown. Some investors say that has added to the already difficult task of ascertaining the state of company finances and operations.

信函签署人的说法可能会让人再度关注企业研究活动在中国的现状。近几个月，中国政府在一轮信息整顿活动中加大了获取未上市公司财务信息（如审计报告）的难度。一些投资者说，在这之前，企业的财务和运营状况本来就已经很难调查。

'It's very difficult to get the truth' about Chinese companies, said Mr. Left, whose research group has written about several firms that have been delisted and investigated. 'Many times it's not as transparent as it should be.'

莱夫特说，了解中国公司的真相非常困难，很多时候它们的透明度都达不到应该有的水平。莱夫特团队研究过的好几家公司都已被摘牌和调查。

Among other things, Citron alleges that Qihoo 360 overrepresented average gaming revenue per user and other financial data, and that it lacks the infrastructure and experience to run a successful search business. Mr. Zhou, Qihoo's CEO, denies misrepresenting any numbers, saying that if he did so it would be apparent to Qihoo's dozens of partners who share revenue with the company.

香橼指控的内容之一，是奇虎虚报游戏领域的用户平均收入等财务数据，以及它缺少做好搜索业务所需的基础架构和经验。周鸿祎否认虚报任何数据，他说，如果虚报的话，与奇虎分享收入的数十家合作伙伴很容易就看到了。

As for Citron's assertions about Qihoo's potential in the search business relative to competitors, Mr. Lee says Citron makes erroneous comparisons and lacks a 'basic understanding' of the Chinese Internet market.

李开复表示，在说到奇虎在搜索领域相比竞争对手的潜力时，香橼做了错误的比较，且对中国互联网市场缺乏基本了解。

Mr. Left said he stands by his track record, and added that he has been looking at the Chinese market for years and uses respected third-party research in his reports. Citron says on its website that it has researched and published information on 20 Chinese companies. It says the majority have suffered significant losses in share price and seven have been delisted.

莱夫特说他坚信自己以往的成绩，表示自己对中国市场有多年的研究经验，并在报告中使用了有口皆碑的第三方研究成果。香橼公司在其网站上说，它研究并公布信息的中国公司已有20家，其中多数股价重挫，七家已被摘牌。

'In the beginning, short sellers were serving a very good purpose for the environment because of a lot of fraud that they exposed,' said Mr. Lee. But 'a lot of companies are legitimate, and people are feeling that this speculation has been hurting otherwise innocent companies...as well as the general trust in any Chinese company.'

李开复说，一开始做空机构是在为整个大环境做好事，因为它们揭露了很多骗局，但很多公司是合法的，人们觉得这种投机伤害了本来没有过错的公司，也伤害了人们总体上对中国公司的信任。

Mr. Bao of China Renaissance Partners said some of his clients are already asking about alternative listing options. 'Whereas the U.S. was the default' place to go public for Chinese start-ups, the coming year will 'be the real test' to see where 'some of the [initial public offering] candidates in the pipeline decide to IPO. You'll see a lot more variety of choice.'

华兴资本的包凡说，他的一些客户已经在询问其他上市渠道。他说，虽然美国是中国创业公司的默认上市地点，但接下来一年将真正考验部分拟上市公司决定在哪里举行IPO，到时候的选择将丰富得多。

The signees also include Wang Xiaochuan, chief executive of Sogou, the search unit of Nasdaq-listed Sohu.com Inc. SOHU -0.31%

信函签署人还包括搜狗首席执行长王小川。搜狗是纳斯达克上市公司搜狐(Sohu.com Inc.)旗下的搜索公司。

Sohu.com isn't among the companies criticized by Citron─the short seller actually praised the firm, calling it 'the most compelling investment of any China technology company trading in the U.S.'

搜狐不是香橼批评的公司之一。相反，这家做空机构还赞扬搜狐，说它是所有在美国上市的中国科技公司当中最有吸引力的投资对象。