注：机翻，未校对。
In Silicon Valley, Mergers Must Meet the Toothbrush Test
By David Gelles August 17, 2014 9:22 pm
Credit Liz Grauman/The New York Times
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — When deciding whether Google should spend millions or even billions of dollars in acquiring a new company, its chief executive, Larry Page, asks whether the acquisition passes the toothbrush test: Is it something you will use once or twice a day, and does it make your life better?
在决定谷歌是否应该花费数百万甚至数十亿美元收购一家新公司时，其首席执行官拉里・佩奇（Larry Page）会问，收购是否通过了牙刷测试：它是你每天使用一次还是两次，它能让你的生活变得更好吗？
The esoteric criterion shuns traditional measures of valuing a company like earnings, discounted cash flow or even sales. Instead, Mr. Page is looking for usefulness above profitability, and long-term potential over near-term financial gain.
这个深奥的标准避开了传统的公司估值指标，如收益、贴现现金流甚至销售额。相反，佩奇先生更看重的是实用性而不是盈利能力，长期潜力而不是短期的财务收益。
Google’s toothbrush test highlights the increasing autonomy of Silicon Valley’s biggest corporate acquirers — and the marginalized role that investment banks are playing in the latest boom in technology deals.
谷歌的牙刷测试凸显了硅谷最大的企业收购者的自主权日益增强，以及投资银行在最近的科技交易热潮中扮演的边缘化角色。
Many of the biggest technology companies are now going it alone when striking large mergers and acquisitions. Companies like Google, Facebook and Cisco Systems are leaning on their internal corporate development teams to identify targets, conduct due diligence and negotiate terms instead of relying on Wall Street bankers.
许多最大的科技公司现在在进行大型并购时都单打独斗。谷歌、Facebook 和思科系统公司等公司正在依靠其内部企业开发团队来确定目标、进行尽职调查和谈判条款，而不是依赖华尔街的银行家。
“Larry will look at potential deals at a very early stage,” said Donald Harrison, Google’s vice president of corporate development. “Bankers can be helpful, but they’re not necessarily core to the discussions.”
“拉里将在很早的阶段就考虑潜在的交易，” 谷歌企业发展副总裁唐纳德・哈里森（Donald Harrison）说。“银行家可以提供帮助，但他们不一定是讨论的核心。
Deals with unadvised buyers are increasing rapidly. The acquiring company did not use an investment bank in 69 percent of American technology acquisitions worth more than $100 million this year, according to Dealogic. That number was 27 percent 10 years ago.
与不知情的买家的交易正在迅速增加。根据 Dealogic 的数据，今年 69% 的美国技术收购中，有 69% 的公司没有使用投资银行。10 年前，这个数字是 27%。
Above, executives from Beats Electronics and Apple, after Apple bought Beats this year in a $3 billion deal conducted without Wall Street’s help.Credit Paul Sakuma/Apple
When Apple bought Beats Electronics for $3 billion this year, it eschewed the help of professional deal advisers. When Facebook spent $2.3 billion for the virtual reality company Oculus VR in March, it did so without the help of bankers. And when Google acquired the mapping company Waze for $1 billion last year, no bank got a cut of the fees.
当苹果今年以 30 亿美元收购 Beats Electronics 时，它避开了专业交易顾问的帮助。今年 3 月，Facebook 斥资 23 亿美元收购虚拟现实公司 Oculus VR，但并没有得到银行家的帮助。当谷歌去年以 10 亿美元收购地图公司 Waze 时，没有一家银行能从中分得一杯羹。
In June, one of the largest-ever deals with an unadvised buyer was announced when Oracle, known for its refusal to use investment bankers, acquired Micros Systems for about $5 billion. The biggest such deal came in 2011, when Microsoft, acting alone, bought Skype from Silver Lake Partners for $8.5 billion.
今年 6 月，以拒绝使用投资银行家而闻名的甲骨文公司（Oracle）以约 50 亿美元的价格收购了 Micros Systems，这是有史以来与不知情买家达成的最大交易之一。2011 年，Microsoft 以 85 亿美元的价格从 Silver Lake Partners 手中收购了 Skype。
The diminished reliance on investment banks comes as technology deal-making is booming. More than $100 billion in such deals have been announced in the United States this year, the most since 2000, according to Dealogic.
随着技术交易的蓬勃发展，对投资银行的依赖程度降低。根据 Dealogic 的数据，今年美国已宣布超过 1000 亿美元的此类交易，是自 2000 年以来的最高水平。
At the heart of the disconnect between technology companies and banks is the belief among many tech executives that some advisers simply do not know what companies like Google and Facebook are looking for.
科技公司和银行之间脱节的核心是许多科技公司高管认为，一些顾问根本不知道谷歌和 Facebook 等公司在寻找什么。
“Bankers do two things well: financial evaluation and negotiation,” said Richard E. Climan, a partner at the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges who often works with companies to complete deals where no banks are involved. “But there’s a feeling that investment bankers might not be so important on the evaluation of early-stage tech companies.”
“银行家有两件事做得很好：财务评估和谈判，”Weil， Gotshal & Manges 律师事务所的合伙人理查德・E・克莱曼（Richard E. Climan）说，他经常与公司合作，完成没有银行参与的交易。但有一种感觉是，投资银行家在评估早期科技公司时可能并不那么重要。
Amin Zoufonoun, Facebook’s vice president for corporate development, said some bankers would come in and pitch acquisition candidates, like the user reviews site Yelp or the payment network PayPal. But instead of trying to swallow already established Internet brands, Facebook uses acquisitions to make big bets on the future and plug technical holes. And in Silicon Valley’s relatively small circle of elite entrepreneurs, executives and venture capitalists, connections are easy and ample.
Facebook 负责企业发展的副总裁 Amin Zoufonoun 表示，一些银行家会进来推销收购候选人，比如用户评论网站 Yelp 或支付网络 PayPal。但是，Facebook 并没有试图吞并已经建立的互联网品牌，而是利用收购对未来进行大赌注并填补技术漏洞。在硅谷相对较小的精英企业家、高管和风险投资家圈子里，人脉是容易和充足的。
Facebook’s most recent big deal, the acquisition of Oculus VR, came as a surprise to even seasoned technology watchers. But Marc Andreessen, a Facebook board member, was also on the board of Oculus VR, paving the way for the deal. The move had nothing to do with improving the social network’s main site or increasing sales. Instead, it was a bet that virtual reality would emerge as a new operating system of sorts.
Facebook 最近的一笔大交易，即对 Oculus VR 的收购，甚至让经验丰富的技术观察家也感到惊讶。但 Facebook 董事会成员马克・安德森（Marc Andreessen）也是 Oculus VR 的董事会成员，为这笔交易铺平了道路。此举与改善社交网络的主网站或增加销售额无关。相反，它打赌虚拟现实将作为一种新的操作系统出现。
While other companies focus on deals that will bolster their earnings per share, “we haven’t done a single deal like that, where we are looking at a target with that being a rationale,” Mr. Zoufonoun said.
虽然其他公司专注于能够提高每股收益的交易，但 “我们还没有做过这样的交易，我们正在寻找一个以此为理由的目标，” 祖弗诺恩说。
Deals Struck Without Banking Advice 在没有银行建议的情况下达成的交易
Many of the most well-known recent technology acquisition deals have been made without the buyer being advised by a banker, a trend that seems to be increasing.
最近许多最著名的技术收购交易都是在没有银行家建议的情况下进行的，这一趋势似乎正在增加。
The same dynamic was true when Google acquired Nest, the home monitoring company, for $3.2 billion this year. Nest’s current sales are a drop in Google’s ocean of profit, but the deal gave Google an entry to a potentially huge new market.
谷歌今年以 32 亿美元收购家庭监控公司 Nest 时也是如此。Nest 目前的销售额只是谷歌利润汪洋大海中的一滴水，但这笔交易让谷歌进入了一个潜在的巨大新市场。
Big tech companies sometimes struggle to explain such unconventional deals to investors. When Facebook spent $19 billion to acquire WhatsApp, assisted only by the boutique bank Allen & Company, shareholders tried to square the enormous price with WhatsApp’s small team of engineers and minuscule revenue.
大型科技公司有时很难向投资者解释这种非常规交易。当 Facebook 斥资 190 亿美元收购 WhatsApp 时，只有精品银行艾伦公司（Allen & Company）的协助，股东们试图用 WhatsApp 的小型工程师团队和微薄的收入来平衡巨大的价格。
“It’s more art than science at times,” said Sanjay Kacholiya, head of corporate development at Eventbrite, a ticketing start-up. “That can make it difficult for an investment banker who’s familiar with earnings per share and discounted cash flow.”
“有时这更像是艺术而不是科学，” 票务初创公司 Eventbrite 的企业发展主管 Sanjay Kacholiya 说。“对于熟悉每股收益和贴现现金流的投资银行家来说，这可能会变得困难。
Not all unadvised deals go well. Google spent $228 million on the social games company Slide without the help of a bank, then unceremoniously shut it down. Cisco didn’t work with a bank when it paid $590 million for the maker of Flip video cameras, and it wound up shuttering the unit quickly. But thanks to tech companies’ enormous war chests, such mistakes rarely have long-term consequences.
并非所有未经建议的交易都顺利进行。谷歌在没有银行帮助的情况下斥资 2.28 亿美元收购了社交游戏公司 Slide，然后毫不客气地将其关闭。思科在向 Flip 摄像机制造商支付 5.9 亿美元时没有与银行合作，并最终关闭了该部门。但是，由于科技公司拥有巨额资金，此类错误很少会产生长期后果。
While traditional investment banks might not be comfortable suggesting that clients pay such startling prices for relative unknowns, many big tech companies have built up robust corporate development departments designed to do just that. The teams are largely staffed by former bankers who have abandoned pinstripes and wingtips for T-shirts and sneakers.
虽然传统投资银行可能不愿意建议客户为相对未知的事物支付如此惊人的价格，但许多大型科技公司已经建立了强大的企业发展部门，旨在做到这一点。这些团队主要由前银行家组成，他们已经放弃了细条纹和翼尖，转而穿 T 恤和运动鞋。
Cisco, which has acquired more than 170 companies, decided it was more efficient — and more economical — to hire its own full-time bankers rather than pay millions of dollars in fees each time it struck a deal.
思科已经收购了 170 多家公司，它决定雇用自己的全职银行家比每次达成交易都支付数百万美元的费用更有效，也更经济。
“Our heritage has been embracing M.&A. as a way to enter new markets,” said Hilton Romanski, Cisco’s head of corporate development, who started his career as a JPMorgan banker. “It makes sense to build a relatively scaled effort around M.&A. with teams and talent that understand the market.”
“我们的传统是将并购作为进入新市场的一种方式，” 思科企业发展主管希尔顿・罗曼斯基（Hilton Romanski）说，他的职业生涯始于摩根大通银行家。“与了解市场的团队和人才一起围绕并购建立相对规模的努力是有意义的。”
Facebook has hired bankers away from Credit Suisse and Jefferies, among other companies, and gives them more responsibility than they would have at a bank. “They can run a deal from beginning to end,” Mr. Zoufonoun said. “As an analyst, they were doing one part of a pitch deck.”
Facebook 已经从瑞士信贷（Credit Suisse）和杰富瑞（Jefferies）等公司聘请了银行家，并赋予他们比在银行更多的责任。“他们可以从头到尾达成协议，” 祖弗农说。“作为一名分析师，他们正在做一个推销平台的一部分。”
At Google, Mr. Harrison has an employee looking after the deal needs of each of the company’s 12 product areas, like ads, YouTube and search. That person goes to all meetings held by the senior members of that group, staying attuned to possible acquisition needs.
在谷歌，哈里森有一名员工负责公司 12 个产品领域的交易需求，比如广告、YouTube 和搜索。该人参加该小组高级成员举行的所有会议，密切关注可能的采购需求。
But the hours are not necessarily any better than on Wall Street, said Mr. Zoufonoun, who stayed up several nights in a row working to close the WhatsApp deal and fell asleep at the office the day it was announced.
但时间并不一定比华尔街好，祖弗诺恩说，他连续几个晚上熬夜完成 WhatsApp 的交易，并在宣布交易的那天在办公室睡着了。
Once a target is identified and it is time for an approach and negotiations, corporate acquirers working on their own often diverge from the standard advice given out by bankers.
一旦确定了目标，就到了进行方法和谈判的时候了，企业收购方自己工作往往会偏离银行家给出的标准建议。
Mr. Zuckerberg developed friendships with the chief executives of Instagram and WhatsApp before Facebook went on to buy them. Only after the men knew one another well and began discussing integrating the products did discussions about actual transactions begin. Even then, much of the focus was on how autonomously the target company would operate once acquired.
扎克伯格在 Facebook 收购 Instagram 和 WhatsApp 之前，就与这两家公司的首席执行官建立了友谊。只有当这些人彼此熟悉并开始讨论整合产品后，才开始讨论实际交易。即便如此，大部分的焦点都集中在目标公司被收购后的自主运营方式上。
“It’s very easy to treat M.&A. transactionally, to not put the target company first. Are we aligned? Do we want the same thing post-acquisition?” Mr. Zoufonoun said. “I always use the marriage example. You should spend a lot of time dating first. It takes two to dance.”
“以交易方式对待并购很容易，不把目标公司放在第一位。我们是否一致？我们想要收购后的东西吗？“祖弗农说。“我总是用婚姻的例子。你应该先花很多时间约会。跳舞需要两个人。
Once a deal is made, the real work of merging corporate cultures begins. “The success or failure of deals is really determined by the success or failure of the integration,” Mr. Harrison said, adding that Google closely monitored new acquisitions for two years.
一旦达成交易，融合企业文化的真正工作就开始了。“交易的成败实际上取决于整合的成败，” 哈里森说，并补充说，谷歌对新收购进行了两年的密切关注。
The trick is to strike the right balance of blending teams while also allowing for a measure of autonomy.
诀窍是在混合团队之间取得适当的平衡，同时也允许一定程度的自主权。
“The last thing you want to do as an acquirer is go in there and start changing things around,” Mr. Zoufonoun said.
“作为收购方，你最不想做的就是进入那里，开始改变现状，” 祖弗农说。
Tech companies emphasize that they maintain good relationships with many banks and use them on big deals when financing or fairness opinions — independent justifications of a deal — are needed. When Google acquired Nest, for example, Lazard provided a fairness opinion to Google’s board.
科技公司强调，他们与许多银行保持着良好的关系，并在需要融资或公平意见（交易的独立理由）时将其用于大宗交易。例如，当谷歌收购 Nest 时，Lazard 向谷歌董事会提供了公平意见。
But often, when big tech companies are looking to grow through acquisitions, it is the culture and vision, not the earnings and revenue, that are of paramount importance. And for the likes of Facebook and Google — shareholder darlings that are flush with cash and run by well-connected entrepreneurs — it is easier than ever to get by without bankers.
但通常，当大型科技公司希望通过收购实现增长时，最重要的是文化和愿景，而不是收益和收入。而对于像 Facebook 和谷歌这样的股东宠儿来说，这些股东的宠儿现金充裕，由人脉广阔的企业家经营，没有银行家，他们比以往任何时候都更容易过日子。
“The most important thing is that soft stuff,” Mr. Zoufonoun said. “And that soft stuff is more challenging for a bank or an adviser to tap into.”
“最重要的是那些柔软的东西，” 祖弗农说。“对于银行或顾问来说，这些软性的东西更具挑战性。
A version of this article appears in print on 08/18/2014, on page B1 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Rise of the Toothbrush Test.
本文的一个版本于 2014 年 8 月 18 日刊登在纽约版的 B1 页，标题为：牙刷测试的兴起。
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In Silicon Valley, Mergers Must Meet the Toothbrush Test - The New York Times
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