在
中国网络公司面临越来越多的不确定性之际，前谷歌(Google Inc.)大中华区总裁李开复成立的一只新基金显示出投资者仍对中国互联网业抱有希望。
Bloomberg News
李开复向中国一家移动软件制造商和其他11家企业投资，以此来扶持初创公司文化，同时也从不断增长的网络科技需求中获益。
新成立的创新工场发展基金的投资者包括红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)、曾是谷歌、Facebook Inc.和Twitter Inc.最早支持者之一的硅谷投资家康韦(Ron Conway)，以及名下公司Digital Sky Technologies在Facebook、团购网站Groupon Inc.和社交游戏开发商Zynga Inc.有投资的米尔纳(Yuri Milner)。创新工场发展基金周四说，该基金将把资金用于新的中国互联网项目。
创新工场已经帮助九家公司从第三方风险投资基金获得了融资。获得融资的受益公司包括一家智能手机操作系统开发商和一家移动应用程序发送平台。创新工场是李开复于2009年成立的，此前李开复担任了四年的谷歌大中华区总裁。
李开复周四说，这九家公司每家平均筹得资金800万美元，平均估值为4,000万美元。他说，中国互联网无疑将在使用、移动性、货币化、电子商务上实现增长，而且都会比美国市场快。
不过，中国互联网业一直面临投资者对中国科技股可能存在泡沫的不断加剧的担忧、对中国监管环境的担忧，以及更广泛的对中国小企业公司治理行为的担忧。
过去一年来，一批中国互联网公司的上市表现不佳。社交网站运营商人人公司在纽交所的交易价目前为5月份首次公开募股(IPO)发行价的约一半，至于去年12月在纽交所上市的在线视频公司优酷网，其股票曾在交易首日涨了一倍以上，如今却跌破了IPO发行价。
土豆网股票周三收盘较发行价跌了10%。土豆网是优酷网的竞争对手之一，上个月在纳斯达克上市。
这些公司以及百度、腾讯和新浪等中国主要互联网公司的估值达数十亿美元，与一些美国互联网公司不相上下，尽管市场收入要少得多。据研究公司易观国际的数据，去年中国在线广告总收入达43亿美元。而据研究公司eMarketer的数据，去年美国在线广告市场收入达260亿美元。
市场对中国网络公司的热情还因政府对网络信息更严格的监管而减弱。此前，中国电子商务公司阿里巴巴集团进行了所有权变更，在没有获得董事会批准的情况下，将一项重要业务转给了首席执行长。雅虎(Yahoo Inc.)持有阿里巴巴集团约40%的股权。
也曾在微软(Microsoft Corp.)担任高管的李开复说，中国互联网行业仍有很大的潜力。他说，一些上市公司出现了泡沫，但任何地方都有这样的问题；正因为如此，才在较早的阶段、在估值变得过高之前就进行投资。
Loretta Chao
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
As Chinese Web companies face mounting uncertainties, a new fund by former Google Inc. China chief Kai-Fu Lee shows that investors still have hope for the industry.
Mr. Lee has raised $180 million from a group of prominent investors for Innovation Works, his Beijing-based company aimed at helping early-stage Internet start-ups. The investor attention signals continued interest in the sector even as recent challenges have pushed down share prices for Chinese Web companies listed in the U.S.
Investors in the new Innovation Works Development Fund include Sequoia Capital, Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway─who was among the early backers of Google, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.─and Yuri Milner, whose firm Digital Sky Technologies invested in Facebook, Groupon Inc. and Zynga Inc. The Innovation Works fund will use the money for new Chinese Internet projects, the fund said Thursday.
Innovation Works─which Mr. Lee founded in 2009 after four years running Google in China─has helped nine companies obtain funding from third-party venture capital funds. Among the beneficiaries are a smartphone operating-system developer and a mobile application distribution platform.
Mr. Lee said Thursday that the nine companies raised an average of $8 million each and have an average valuation of $40 million. 'The Chinese Internet will undoubtedly grow in usage, mobility, monetization, e-commerce─all faster than the U.S. market,' he said.
But the sector has faced growing concerns about a possible bubble in Chinese tech stocks, worries about the regulatory environment in China and broader concerns over corporate governance practices at small Chinese companies.
A string of Chinese Internet listings in the past year have performed poorly. Shares in social-networking site operator Renren Inc. are trading on the New York Stock Exchange around half their initial-public-offering price in May, and NYSE-listed stock in online-video company Youku.com Inc., which more than doubled on its first day of trading in December, is below the IPO price.
Shares in Tudou Holdings Ltd., a Youku competitor that listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market last month, closed Wednesday 10% below their offering price.
These companies, as well as such top Internet firms in China as Baidu Inc., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sina Corp., have multibillion-dollar valuations comparable with some U.S. Internet companies, despite competing for significantly less market revenue. Total revenue from online ads in China reached $4.3 billion last year, according to research firm Analysys International. The U.S. online-ad market last year reached $26 billion, according to research firm eMarketer.
Market enthusiasm for Chinese Web companies also has been damped by increased government supervision of information online. It follows the handling of an ownership restructure by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., of which Yahoo Inc. owns a roughly 40% stake, in which Alibaba transferred a key business to its chief executive without approval from its board.
Mr. Lee, a former Microsoft Corp. executive, said the Chinese Internet sector still has much to offer. 'Some public companies are bubbles, but the same is true anywhere,' he said. It is 'all the more reason' to invest at an earlier stage 'before the valuation gets too expensive.'
Loretta Chao
Mr. Lee has raised $180 million from a group of prominent investors for Innovation Works, his Beijing-based company aimed at helping early-stage Internet start-ups. The investor attention signals continued interest in the sector even as recent challenges have pushed down share prices for Chinese Web companies listed in the U.S.
Investors in the new Innovation Works Development Fund include Sequoia Capital, Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway─who was among the early backers of Google, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.─and Yuri Milner, whose firm Digital Sky Technologies invested in Facebook, Groupon Inc. and Zynga Inc. The Innovation Works fund will use the money for new Chinese Internet projects, the fund said Thursday.
Innovation Works─which Mr. Lee founded in 2009 after four years running Google in China─has helped nine companies obtain funding from third-party venture capital funds. Among the beneficiaries are a smartphone operating-system developer and a mobile application distribution platform.
Mr. Lee said Thursday that the nine companies raised an average of $8 million each and have an average valuation of $40 million. 'The Chinese Internet will undoubtedly grow in usage, mobility, monetization, e-commerce─all faster than the U.S. market,' he said.
But the sector has faced growing concerns about a possible bubble in Chinese tech stocks, worries about the regulatory environment in China and broader concerns over corporate governance practices at small Chinese companies.
A string of Chinese Internet listings in the past year have performed poorly. Shares in social-networking site operator Renren Inc. are trading on the New York Stock Exchange around half their initial-public-offering price in May, and NYSE-listed stock in online-video company Youku.com Inc., which more than doubled on its first day of trading in December, is below the IPO price.
Shares in Tudou Holdings Ltd., a Youku competitor that listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market last month, closed Wednesday 10% below their offering price.
These companies, as well as such top Internet firms in China as Baidu Inc., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sina Corp., have multibillion-dollar valuations comparable with some U.S. Internet companies, despite competing for significantly less market revenue. Total revenue from online ads in China reached $4.3 billion last year, according to research firm Analysys International. The U.S. online-ad market last year reached $26 billion, according to research firm eMarketer.
Market enthusiasm for Chinese Web companies also has been damped by increased government supervision of information online. It follows the handling of an ownership restructure by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., of which Yahoo Inc. owns a roughly 40% stake, in which Alibaba transferred a key business to its chief executive without approval from its board.
Mr. Lee, a former Microsoft Corp. executive, said the Chinese Internet sector still has much to offer. 'Some public companies are bubbles, but the same is true anywhere,' he said. It is 'all the more reason' to invest at an earlier stage 'before the valuation gets too expensive.'
Loretta Chao
没有评论:
发表评论