“

孙正义，日本首富，马云的金主，阿里巴巴最大的股东，六十岁时却认为自己的事业刚刚开始，这是为什么呢？

”

Sonic boom

孙声夺人

Masayoshi Son, a Japanese technology tycoon, begins a $100bn shopping spree

孙正义，日本科技巨头，将展开无节制的千亿美元大采购

【1】IF YOU want to find aspectacularvision of the future, Silicon Valley is not the only place to look. In Tokyo Masayoshi Son, the boss of Soft Bank, a Japanesetelecomsgroup, is starting an investment fund worth $100bn which, he hopes, will make him the Warren Buffett of technology. “Masa” is no stranger to risky bets: Soft Bank was an early investor in Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce company, and has sunk $22bn in Sprint, a struggling American telecoms firm. Now he has been seized by the kind ofUtopianfever that would make the Sage of Omaha choke on his Cherry Coke.

tycoon：大亨，巨头，大实业家

spree：毫无节制，纵情，狂欢

spectacular：惊人的；场面富丽的，壮观的；引人注意的；惊动一时的

[例句]They have revamped the business with spectacular success

他们成功地调整了业务，成绩斐然。

telecoms：电信

utopian：乌托邦的; 空想的; 不切实际的

[例句]He was pursuing a utopian dream of world prosperity

他怀揣着一个实现世界繁荣的乌托邦之梦。

要寻找壮阔的前景，硅谷并非唯一的着眼之地。在东京，日本电信集团软银的老板孙正义正在启动一个1000亿美元的投资基金，希望藉此成为科技界的巴菲特。“马沙”【译注：孙正义的昵称】并不是高风险投资的门外汉：软银是中国电子商务公司阿里巴巴的早期投资者，也曾向深陷困境的美国电信公司Sprint砸进220亿美元。如今，他已陷入一种乌托邦式的狂热梦想之中，恐怕人称“奥马哈圣人”的巴菲特听到后都会呛出一口樱桃可乐。

【2】Mr Son, who is 59, believes that the world will soon encounter what is known as theSingularity, the point at whichartificialintelligence exceeds the human kind. The brains of people and machines will becomeenmeshed. Every person will have over 1,000 devices linked by aseamlessglobal network, with the data analysed by machines in the cloud. As well as smart glasses, people will wear smart shoes and every car and washing machine will link up to the web. This internet revolution, says Mr Son, will be moremomentousthan the first.

Singularity：奇点; <正>异常; 奇怪; 奇特

[例句]The bifurcation problems with trivial solution is discussed by using the methods in singularity theory.

artificial：人工的，人为的，人造的

enmeshed：使陷入（网中）( enmesh的过去式和过去分词 )

[例句]All too often they become enmeshed in deadening routines.

他们时常陷入枯燥的日常事务之中。

seamless：无缝的; 无漏洞的

[例句]It was a seamless procession of wonderful electronic music.

这是一曲优美流畅的电子乐曲。

momentous：重大的，重要的

[例句]The past three years have been among the most momentous in world history.

过去的3年是世界历史上最重要的时期之一。

现年59岁的孙正义相信世界将很快来到人工智能超越人类智慧的所谓 “奇点”。人类大脑将与机器融为一体。到那时，每个人都会拥有超过1000台电子设备，通过全球网络无缝连接，产生的数据由云端计算机来分析。除了智能眼镜，人们还将穿上智能鞋，每一台汽车和洗衣机都将连接到网络上。孙正义表示，这场互联网革命将比第一次网络革命更为意义重大。

［3］He has begun makingacquisitions. Last year he spent $31bn buying Britain’s ARM Holdings, which designs the chips in mobile devices (it will be owned jointly by Soft Bank and the fund). He also invested a total of $2bn in One Web and Intelsat, two satellite-technology firms that aim to launch thousands ofmicrosatellitesto orbit the Earth providing high-speed internet access. Tech firms around the world are bracing for moreswoopsby Mr Son, who says his aim is to build a businessempirelasting 300 years. What he doesn’t mention is that he also wants to prove beyond all doubt that his fortune is due to skill, not one lucky deal.

acquisitions：收购; 获得; 购置物; 获得物

[例句]How did you go about making this marvellous acquisition then?

那么你是怎么买到这一绝品的？

microsatellites：微卫星

swoops：俯冲，猛冲，突然搜查，突然袭击

[例句]The terror ended when armed police swooped on the car

武警突袭了这辆车从而制止了这起恐怖活动。

empire：帝国

他已展开收购之旅。去年，他以310亿美元买下了为移动设备设计芯片的英国安谋控股公司（ARM Holdings），该公司将由软银集团和孙正义的投资基金共同拥有。他还向卫星科技公司One Web和Intelsat总共投资了20亿美元，这两家公司计划向地球轨道发射数以千计的微型卫星来提供高速互联网的接入。全球各地的科技公司都在准备迎接孙正义的 进一步收购，而他表示，自己的目标是打造一个300年屹立不倒的商业帝国。他没提及的一点是，他还想证明自己的财富确实是源于能力，而非某宗幸运的交易。

［4］Mr Son believes he hasanticipatedsuccessiveparadigmshifts in technology. The son of an ethnic-Korean pig farmer, whose childhood was spent in ashackin southern Japan, Masa wept joyfully when, as a teenager, he first saw a picture of amicrochip. He learned programming while at the University of California,Berkeley, then in the 1980s sold software in Japan. He was an earlyinvestor in internet firms, buying a share of Yahoo in 1995 and the Alibaba stake in 1999. Later he invested in mobile telecoms, first in 2006 with his purchase of Vodafone’s Japanese mobile arm and then of Sprint in 2013. Now SoftBank is huge, with an enterprise value (its market value plus its net debt) of$193bn.

anticipate：预期，预见，预料

paradigm：样板，范例，典型

[例句]He had become the paradigm of the successful man.

他已经成为成功人士的典范。

shack：棚屋，简陋的小屋

[例句]They have since knocked down the shack.

从那以后他们拆掉了简陋的棚屋。

microchip：微晶片，芯片，微型集成电路片

Berkeley：伯克利（美国加利福尼亚州西部城市）

孙正义认为自己预见到了科技界一连串的范式转变。他出身自韩裔猪农家庭，童年生活在日本南部的一间棚屋里。十几岁时，他第一次看到微芯片的照片，高兴地哭了起来。之后他在加州大学伯克利分校求学期间学习了编程。到上世纪80年代，他在日本销售软件。他是几家互联网公司的早期投资者，在1995年买入雅虎的股份，1999年又入股阿里巴巴。后来，他开始投资移动通讯业，先是在2006年购入沃达丰在日本的移动业务，之后又在2013年收购了Sprint。现在的软银规模庞大，企业价值（市值加上净负债）达1930亿美元。

［5］Yet Mr Son’s career is still defined by Alibaba. In 1999 he was visited in Tokyo by Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai,co-foundersof afledglingwebsite in Hangzhou. Mr Sontappedon a calculator as theyhaggledand agreed that SoftBank would buy 30% of the young firm for $20m. The deal was “based on my sense of smell”, Mr Son said later. Now Alibaba’s market value is $270bn, and,after selling some shares last year, SoftBank still owns 28%.

co-founder：联合创始人，共同创办人

fledgling：刚开始的，无经验的

[例句]Iran also helped to set up Sudan's fledgling arms industry, now the third-largest in Africa.

伊朗也帮助苏丹建立了年轻的军火产业，目前它的规模在非洲排名第三。

tapped：轻打，轻拍，轻叩

haggled：讨价还价，争论不休

[例句]Ella taught her how to haggle with used furniture dealers

埃拉教她如何和旧家具经销商砍价。

但孙正义事业的关键还是阿里巴巴。1999年，杭州一家刚起步的网站的创始人马云和蔡崇信来到东京拜访孙正义。孙正义按着计算器与他们讨价还价，最终同意软银将以2000万美元购买这家年轻公司30%的股份。孙正义后来表示这宗交易是“基于我的嗅觉”。现在阿里巴巴的市值为2700亿美元，在去年出售一部分股份后，软银仍持股28%。

［6］About 95% of SoftBank’s market value is accounted for by the Alibaba stake, so the rest of what it does, from telecoms toventurecapital, may be worth little, once debts arededucted. Mr Son says that SoftBank has made an internal rate of return of 43% on all its other investments, excluding Alibaba, but the basis of his calculations is unclear. There have beentriumphs—SoftBank made $5bn buying and selling Supercell, aFinnishgaming firm, between 2013 and 2016. But the group has produced little cashflow, and Mr Son’s deals have left it with $110bn of net debt.

venture：风险，冒险

deduct：扣除，减去

[例句]The company deducted this payment from his compensation

公司从他获得的赔偿金中扣去了这笔付款。

triumphs：特胜利; 巨大的成就; （成功的） 典范

[例句]The championships proved to be a personal triumph for the coach, Dave Donovan

事实证明，在这次锦标赛中教练戴夫·多诺万取得了非凡的个人成就。

Finnish：芬兰的

软银集团约95%的市值都来自阿里巴巴的股份，因此除去债务后，集团旗下从电信到风险投资在内的其他业务可能价值无几。孙正义表示，不算阿里巴巴，软银其他所有投资的内部收益率达43%，但这番计算的根据并不清楚。佳绩还是有的，比如软银在2013年至2016年间收购然后出售芬兰游戏公司Supercell，以此赚得50亿美元。但集团的现金流很少，而且孙正义的多项交易给集团带来了1100亿美元的净负债。

［7］So Mr Son has a minority investment in a great firm, but has yet to build one himself fromscratch. And SoftBank’s poor finances areimpedinghis ambitions. Because his stake is only19%, he cannot raise cash by selling shares without weakening hisgripon the firm. He could sell the rest of the Alibaba stake, but appearsreluctantto let go altogether. Or he could try tobrokeramergerof Sprint with T-Mobile, another American telecoms firm, allowing SoftBank to rid its balance-sheet of Sprint’s $31bn of net debt. Until nowantitrustregulators have opposed a deal. But Mr Son hopes that the Trump administration will be moreamenable.

scratch：从零开始，从头做起，白手起家

imped：阻碍，妨碍，阻止

[例句]Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers.

坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。

grip：掌握，支配，控制

reluctant：不情愿的，勉强的

broker：（国家或政府作为中间人）协调，安排

merger： (公司、组织等的)合并，归并

antitrust：反垄断的，反托拉斯的

[例句]The jury found that the NFL had violated antitrust laws.

陪审团裁决全国橄榄球联盟触犯了反垄断法。

amenable：易控制的，经得起检验（或考查）的，可用某种方式处理的

[例句]The Jordanian leader seemed amenable to attending a conference

约旦领导人似乎愿意参加会议。

所以说，孙正义拥有对一家伟大企业的少数股权投资，却还未能从头打造出自己的成功大企业。软银的财务状况不佳也阻碍了他施展抱负。由于仅持有19%的股份，他无法在不削弱自己对公司控制权的前提下通过出售股份来筹集资金。他可以出售余下的阿里巴巴股份，但似乎又不甘心全部脱手。或者，他可以撮合Sprint和美国另一家电信公司T-Mobile合并，令软银摆脱资产负债表上Sprint高达310亿美元的净负债。到目前为止，反垄断监管机构一直反对这项合并。但孙正义希望特朗普政府能更宽松一些。

［8］The alternative is partially tobypassSoftBank, which is what the new $100bn fund achieves. Mr Son will have morediscretionover what to buy, free ofgrumblingpublic shareholders. Outside investors will give him huge firepower. Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, for example, has promised to give himbucketsof cash. The fund and its debts will be kept off SoftBank’s books.

bypass：（通常为更快地实现某事）越过，避开，绕开

discretion：慎重; 考虑周到; 判断力，辨别力; 自行决定的自由

[例句]Larsson sometimes joined in the fun, but with more discretion

拉森有时会和大家一起玩乐，但是显得更加矜持。

grumbling：喃喃鸣不平的，出怨言的

[例句]Nothing pleased him. He was always grumbling.

没有什么能使他满意，他总是发牢骚。

bucket：大量

一个替代方案是在一定程度上绕过软银，新设的1000亿美元投资基金正可以达到此目的。孙正义在收购项目上将拥有更大的自甶裁量权，而无需面对公众股东的牢骚。外部投资者将为他提供强大的火力。例如，沙特阿拉伯公共投资基金已承诺为其提供大笔资金。该投资基金及其债务将不纳入软银集团的账目。

［9］Investors in the new vehicle and owners of SoftBank shares should have three worries.

First, while Mr Son’s ideasstand outfor theirintensity, they are not entirely original. Others in tech share his vision ofubiquitous, web-linked devices with their datacrunchedby machines, so the values of firms involved in these areas aresky-high; SoftBank paid 71 times earnings for ARM.

Second, Mr Son can lose focus. Some of thestartupshe particularly admires, such as Uber and Airbnb, are onlylooselyrelated to hisnotionof the internet. Others are even moretangential. On March 20th SoftBank bought a $300m stake in WeWork, a trendy office-rental firm with adizzyingvaluation.

The third worry is governance. Mr Son’s mindskipsfrom oneobsessionto the next. In 2014-15 he was brieflyinfatuatedby India’s tech scene, for example, and appointed Nikesh Arora, an Indian-born former Google executive, as his heir apparent, only to ease him out a year later, in 2016. It is clear that one man with amessianicstreakwill dominate the fund as well as the running of SoftBank. Mr Son’sdualrole also produces conflicts of interest: if there is ajuicydeal, who benefits—the fund or the firm?

stand out：突出，显得重要

intensity：强度，烈度，强烈，（感情的）强烈程度

[例句]Speech is made up of sound waves that vary in frequency and intensity.

语音是由不同频率和强度的声波组成的。

ubiquitous：无所不在的，普遍存在的

[例句]In the US, the camcorder has become ubiquitous

便携式摄录机在美国随处可见。

crunched：（快速大量地）处理信息

sky-high： (价格)极高的，昂贵的

startup：新兴公司（尤指新兴网络公司）

loosely：松散的，不相连的

notion：看法，观念，概念

tangential：<正>间接相关的，次要的，外围的，略为触及题目的

[例句]Too much time was spent discussing tangential issues

太多的时间花在了讨论那些无关紧要的问题上。

dizzying：令人昏乱的，灿烂的

[例句]Today, technology offers a dizzying number of choices for entertainment, information, and communication.

今天，科技在娱乐，信息和交流方面为我们提供了令人晕眩的选择。

skip：跳过，悄悄溜走，快速转移

obsession：使人痴迷的人（或物）

infatuated：冲昏头脑

[例句]He was utterly infatuated with her

他完全被她迷住了。

messianic：救世主的，以救世主自居的，救星

[例句]The cult leader saw himself as a Messianic figure.

这个异教团体的领袖把自己看作救世主一般的人物。

streak：（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）

dual： 两部分的，双重的

juicy：报酬多的

新基金的投资者及软银的股东会有三大忧虑 。

首先，孙正义的想法虽然壮志可嘉，但并非全新创想。他认为未来联网设备将无处不在，所产生的数据会由机器来计算分析，而其他科技业人士也有同样的愿景，所以这些领域里的公司市价往往上冲云雷：软银就是以71倍的市盈率收购了安课。

第二，孙正义可能会迷失焦点。他尤为倾慕的一些创业公司，如优步和Airbnb，其实跟他的互联网理念只是稍有关联，而其他的一些就更不相干了。3月20日, 软银以3亿美元投资了估値令人目眩的时尚办公空间租赁公司wework。

第三个忧虑是公司治理。孙正义的痴迷没有长性。例如，在2014年至2015年，他短暂地迷上了印度科技界，并指定出生于印度的谷歌前高管尼科什·阿罗拉(NikeshArora)为自己的接班人，但仅仅在一年后也就是2016年就把他打发走了。显然，这位有着救世主情结的人物将主宰该投资基金及软银的运作。孙正义的双重角色也会产生利益冲突：假如存在利洞丰厚的交易，该让谁获益一一是投资基金还是软银？

［10］For Mr Son, these arequibblesthat willfadeintoirrelevanceover his 300-yearhorizon. He has said that, looking back on his first six decades, he regrets that he “focused too much on the daily routine and didn’t really think big.” So far only 3% of his brain power has been devoted to big investment decisions, he believes. Now more than half of his mental capacity will be directed at fulfilling hisdestiny. Masa is just getting started.

quibble：吹毛求疵的反对意见或批评，遁词，模棱两可的话

[例句]Council members spent the day quibbling over the final wording of the resolution

委员会成员一整天都在为决议的最终措词争论不休。

fade：变得不为人注意，变得无关紧要

irrelevance：有害的，不利的

[例句]The government's policy of high interest rates is having a detrimental effect on industry.

政府的高利率政策正对工业产生不利影响。

horizon：地平线，范围，界限，眼界

[例句]A grey smudge appeared on the horizon. That must be Calais, thought Fay

一个模糊的灰影出现在地平线上。那里一定是加来，法伊心想。

destiny：命运，天命，天数，主宰事物的力量

[例句]We are masters of our own destiny

我们是自己命运的主宰者。

对于孙正义来说，在他300年的展望里，这些都是终将变得无关紧要的小口角 。他曾经说过，回顾人生前六十年，他的遗憾是“过分注重日常事务，还没做过真正宏大的构想。”他自认为到目前为止只把3%的脑力用到了重大投资决策上。现在，他要把一半以上的心思用于实现自己的使命。马沙之旅才刚刚启程。

孙首富认为自己目前的成绩只用了3%的脑力，这让我想起王健林那个容易达到的小目标：我先挣它一个亿。富人的衡量标准和我们果然是不一样的。

至于马沙之旅前景如何，让我们继续观察吧~

英文原文：

http://www.economist.com

讲解：霞姐 / Tiassa / Angel

编排 / 校对：Angel

本次文章翻译来源于经济学人商论

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