Alipay Shifted to Jack Ma’s Private Company To Speed Up Getting Government License
According to a SEC filing, Alipay, the payment business of Alibaba Group was restructured so that it is now controlled by a separate company, owned mostly by Alibaba Group Chief Executive Officer Jack Ma. Yahoo said the shift was necessary to expedite getting a license for Alipay.
Last year, Chinese government started to formally regulate its online payment industry. Last December, the Chinese central bank, People’s Bank of China, announced the details for third party payment licences.
SECのファイリングによると、Alibabaグループの支払いビジネスは再編成されて、現在ではAlibabaグループの代表取締役のJack Ma氏がほとんどを所有する別個の会社が統率している。YahooによるとAlipayの認可を得るために急ぐことが必要だったのだ。
去年、中国政府はオンライン支払い産業を正式に管理し始めた。去年の12月、中国中央銀行と中国人民銀行は、第三機関の支払い認可の詳細を発表した。
And following the announcement, the first batches of online payment companies started to apply for the licences. They included Alibaba’s Alipay, Tencent’s Tenpay and government back China Unionpay, etc.
To get a license from the People’s Bank of China to operate its payment business, Alipay was restructured as a Chinese domestic company to speed up the process. And the company is mostly owned by Alibaba Group Chief Executive Officer Jack Ma.
The news cause Yahoo to dropped 7.3% yesterday, as Yahoo owned about 40% of Alibaba Group. The shift of Alipay to Jack Ma’s private company sound like a dilution of value for Yahoo’s investors.
中国人民銀行から認可を得て支払い業務を稼動させるために、Alipayは中国の国内企業として編成し直され、その過程をスピードアップさせた。その会社はほとんどがAlibabaグループの代表取締役であるJack Ma氏が所有する。
そのニュースは昨日Yahooが7.3%落ち込む原因となった。というのは、YahooはAlibabaグループの40%の株を所有していたからである。AlipayのJack Ma氏が民間企業へ移行したことはYahooに投資している人にとって価値の希釈のように聞こえる。
However, many Chinese internet companies are structured as domestic companies to get the necessary licenses. But, their profits are transfered to off-shore vehicles for listing in overseas market. If you look carefully into company structure of Sina, Sohu, etc, you would find there is a local company doing all the work and controlled by its founder or CEO. But its profit is transferred to an offshore vehicle, which is listed in the U.S.
In my view, if Jack Ma’s private company will be transferring all its profit back to Alibaba Group, and therefore to Yahoo, there is nothing for investors to worry about. But, if this is not the case, I think investors should consider firing the management of Yahoo, as they allow a valuable asset to shift out of the company right before their eyes.
And accroding to Shao Yibo, former founder of EachNet(acquired by Ebay for US$ 150 million in 2003 ), such move could
be a compromise among Yahoo, Softbank and Alibaba for getting Alipay a license. All three parts involved would make
further arrangements to make sure no one’s cake gets ravend.
そしてEachNet（2003年にEbayから1億5千万USドルを得た）の以前の創立者であるShao Yibo氏によると、そのような動きは
Yahoo、Softbank、Alibabaが和解してAlipayに認可を与えることになるだろうということである。その3社はさらなる合意をして
誰の獲物も獲得できないことを確認することになるだろう。
SoftBank, the second biggest stakeholder of Alibaba, said that the three parts are still negotiating.
A Credit Suisse report remarks that, the Alipay restructure is a particular event, which will not reflect badly on Tencent or Tenpay, a Tencent online payment solution similar to Alipay. Credit Suisse believes that it’s the most conservative way to transform Alipay to a completely domestic company.
