阿里巴巴还是阿里拜拜？

 Alibaba
阿里巴巴

Alibyebye?
阿里拜拜？

China’s leading internet entrepreneur, Jack Ma, springs a surprise
中国互联网领军企业家马云语惊四座

Jan 19th2013 | SHANGHAI |From the print edition

“FELLOW Aliren,” begins the memo sent on January 15th by Jack Ma, the boss of Alibaba, using his pet name for his staff. “The internet belongs to young people…at 48, I am no longer ‘young’ for the internet business.” With those words Mr Ma, the founder and chief executive of China’s biggest e-commerce firm, announced he would step aside in May.
“诸位阿里人，”1月15日，阿里巴巴的老板马云在他的笔记中用他对员工的爱称作为开头写道，“互联网是属于年轻人的…48岁的我，在互联网行业里已经不属于‘年轻人’的行列了。”伴随着这些文字，中国最大的电商企业的创始人兼CEO，宣布自己将在5月离任。

Alizila, the firm’s official newsletter, declared that the news was “bound to send a shock through the e-commerce industry.” Indeed it has. Some worry about Mr Ma’s health, though he shows no sign of illness.Others suspect a greater financial game is under way, and expect more surprises. All are puzzling over the timing of this, coming ahead of the firm’skeenly awaited flotation.
该公司的官方新闻站点Alizila表示，这条消息“一定会震动整个电商行业。”确实如此。虽然马云看起来很健康，但是有些人担心是因为他的身体出了状况。还有人怀疑更大的金融震动会随之而来，并且等待着更多令人震惊的消息。马云辞职的时机不免引人遐想，其中最让人注意是公司正在热切期盼着上市。

Alibaba is privately held, and will not comment on when a public placement might happen. However, a deal struck last year to buy back half the40% stake in the firm owned by Yahoo!, an American internet-search giant, gives powerful financial incentives for it to do so before the end of 2015.
作为私人企业，阿里巴巴是不会就何时进行公募做出评论的。然而去年雅虎（yahoo，一家美国互联网搜索引擎巨头）所持阿里巴巴40%的股票被阿里回购了一半，这一举措确实给了阿里巴巴带来了强烈的财政刺激，促使其在2015年底前上市。

A charitable view is that a fellow internet tycoon,Bill Gates, inspired Mr Ma’s move. The Microsoft founder also stepped back fromday-to-day running of his firm in his prime, keeping a hand in but mostly devoting himself to his philanthropy. The official story suggests Mr Ma will do something similar.
另一种慈善角度的看法是，马云受到了另一位互联网巨头，比尔盖茨的影响。微软的创始人比尔盖茨也是在巅峰时期，从每天为公司奔波忙碌的的日子中退居二线，虽然有时还会插手公司事务，但更多的是致力于慈善事业。官方的说法认为马云也会做类似的事情。

He will become “executive chairman”, remaining involved instrategy and talent development, while pursuing his interests in innovative education and corporate do-gooding. To give young managers more responsibility,the firm announced a restructuring this month that splits Alibaba into 25 groups.An insider is likely to be named as the new CEO by May. All of this, say some,helps prepare for an eventual flotation.
他将成为公司的“执行主席”，继续参与公司政策制定和人才提拔，同时把个人兴趣集中在创新型教育和联合慈善方面。为了赋予年轻管理人更多责任，阿里巴巴宣布将在本月进行重组，将公司拆分成25个事业部。接任的CEO可能来自内部，将在5月被任命。有人认为，所有这些都是在为最终上市做准备。

Perhaps. But not everyone is persuaded. Imagine howmuch messier Facebook’s IPO would have been if Mark Zuckerberg had stood aside on the eve of flotation. When Alibaba does go public, a big part of what punters will be overpaying for is the Jack Ma magic. Will they still do so ifhe is in the back seat rather than firmly in control of the wheel?
也许吧，但也有人不认同这种说法。想象一下，如果马克·扎克伯格在Facebook上市前夕撒手不管了，Facebook的IPO工作会乱成什么样。而当阿里巴巴真正上市时，投资人愿意多掏钱买股票很大程度上就是因为马云的出色表现。如果到时候他不再牢牢掌控公司的船舵，而是退居二线了，投资人还会愿意掏钱吗？