China’s 360Buy Reportedly Acquires Online Payments Company
360Buy, China’s second-biggest B2C e-commerce sites, looks to have acquired an online payments company. This is indicated by a recent filing with China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) which shows that 360Buy’s founder and CEO, Liu Qiangdong, is now listed as the legal representative of Beijing-based Chinabank Payments.
中国の 360Buyがオンライン決済会社を買収か
中国第2位のB2Cオンラインショッピングサイト360Buyがオンライン決済会社を買収するようだ。中国国家工商行政管理総局商標局（SAIC）が最近提出した文書によると、360Buyの設立者でCEOのLiu Qiandong氏は既に北京を拠点とするChinabank Paymentsの法定代理人に名を連ねている。
The switcheroo (Chinabank Payments’ CEO, Zhao Guodong, was the previously listed legal rep) suggests that 360Buy has acquired – wholly, or in large part – the online payment provider. Sources have told Chinese tech blogs, such as Sina Tech, that 360Buy will soon roll out a third-party payment service of its own. Indeed, rumors late last month suggested the same thing, and that the purchase is “basically complete” and will soon be made official by both sides.
この急展開（Chinabank PaymentsのCEOであるZhao Guodong氏、前法定代理人）は360Buyが全体、もしくは大部分のオンライン決済会社を買収したということを意味する。Sina Tech等の関係者がChinese tech blogsに語った所によると、360Buyはじきに第三者による決済サービスの開始を発表する見込みだ。実際、先月末も同様の噂が流れており、買収は「基本的に完了」済みで、近日両者から公式発表が行われる。
The move is very much aimed at Alibaba, China’s e-commerce titan, which also has its own payment solution, Alipay, which has a staggering 700 million registered users, mostly in China. 360Buy is second to Alibaba’s Tmall site in China. The 360Buy site accepts seven different online payment methods – none of which belong to arch-rival Alibaba. Surely 360Buy has been thinking about having its own payments platform for some time – I’m only surprised it took so long.
これは中国オンライン販売最大手のAlibabaに追随するためであり、Alibabaもまた独自の決済システムAlipayを有し、主に中国で7億人という圧倒的登録ユーザー数を誇る。360Buyは中国でAlibabaのTmallに次ぐ規模だ。360Buyは独自の決済プラットフォームを以前から企画していた。思った以上に構想期間が長かっただけで驚きはしない。
Chinabank Payments is a limited liability company that has RMB 100.5 million (US$16 million) in registered capital, and was started up in 2003. It’s a fairly big player in the industry, though not one of the largest. But the payments company has one thing that is absolutely golden: government-issued approval to operate online payments in the country.
360Buy is also thought to be developing an online ad platform as well. Earlier this month the e-commerce site took a tentative step into overseas markets, shipping some of its items to customers in 35 countries.
Chinabank Paymentsは登録資本金RMB1億50万（US$1,600万）の有限責任会社で、2003年に設立された。業界では割と大きな存在だが、大手ではない。ただし決済会社には絶対的に有利な点がある。中国でのオンライン決済を政府が承認しているのだ。
360Buyはオンライン広告プラットフォームも開発中だとの噂だ。今月上旬、オンライン販売サイトは試験的に海外市場に乗り出した。商品の一部は35カ国に配送可能だ。
