風(fēng)投家重回MySpace舊夢成空
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????昨天我和紅點創(chuàng)投（Redpoint Ventures）和合伙人杰奧夫?楊一起共進(jìn)了午餐。杰奧夫?楊曾是MySpace的投資人，直到MySpace被賣給新聞集團(tuán)（News Corp）的前幾個月，他還在對它進(jìn)行投資。事實上昨天只有我一個人吃了東西，楊只是喝了一點冰茶（他已經(jīng)吃過了）。這真是一舉兩得，因為這樣一來，他就有了更多的時間講話，我也有更多的時間傾聽。 ????先給那些不了解背景的讀者簡單科普一下：MySpace曾經(jīng)是一家名叫Intermix的公司的子公司，2003年MySpace從優(yōu)點資本（VantagePoint Venture Partners）手中募得一筆風(fēng)險投資，又于2004年12月從紅點創(chuàng)投那里獲得另一輪投資。2005年2月，紅點創(chuàng)投向MySpace追加了400萬美元投資，購入了一支特別股份。2005年7月，Intermix決定以5.81億美元的價格將公司出售給新聞集團(tuán)，這意味著優(yōu)點資本將為其1，530萬美元的初始投資收到1.39億美元的回報，而紅點創(chuàng)投也將因其1，550萬美元的投資而收獲4，450萬美元的回報。 ????再把目光投向上周。新聞集團(tuán)上周同意以3，500萬美元的白菜價，將MySpace賣給一家由私募基金投資的在線廣告網(wǎng)絡(luò)Specific Media. ????看了本周的新聞報道，你可能會想，楊和其他投資人在2005年斷然將MySpace出手，他們可真是天才。不過楊卻不這么想。他認(rèn)為這是一次機(jī)會的流失。事實上，楊當(dāng)年強(qiáng)烈反對將MySpace賣給新聞集團(tuán)，因為他認(rèn)為MySpace的價值被嚴(yán)重低估了。要知道在2005年的時候，MySpace的用戶還是Facebook的4到5倍。 ????“我對別人說，MySpace可能成為一家價值10億美元的公司，10億美元在當(dāng)時算是一大筆錢了。”他說。 ????但是楊最終未能力排眾議，MySpace也被新聞集團(tuán)接手了。楊認(rèn)為，在新聞集團(tuán)接手后的6年里，MySpace從里到外沒有發(fā)生任何明顯的變化。“它現(xiàn)在看起來基本上和當(dāng)時是一樣的?！彼f。唯一的區(qū)別就是MySpace現(xiàn)在更注重音樂了。 ????不過楊仍然認(rèn)為MySpace還是有價值的。一年前他找到新聞集團(tuán)，建議由紅點創(chuàng)投幫助新聞集團(tuán)進(jìn)行一次無成本交易，將MySpace剝離出去。這樁交易允許新聞集團(tuán)保留一部分股權(quán)。它多少可以給新聞集團(tuán)留點面子（新聞集團(tuán)仍將擁有部分所有權(quán)，如果MySpace的業(yè)績好轉(zhuǎn)，新聞集團(tuán)也可以分一杯羹），而且還能給一個對MySpace有深厚感情的人一個令MySpace起死回生的機(jī)會。但新聞集團(tuán)拒絕了他的提議，而是雇了一名銀行家籌備出售事宜，一年后就將MySpace甩賣了出去。售價之低，只相當(dāng)于新聞集團(tuán)資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表上的一個零頭。 ????大多數(shù)人在回憶起一筆凈賺了近3倍的短期投資時都會很開心，但是楊看起來似乎頗為沒能再次入主MySpace而感到惋惜。 ????譯者：樸成奎 |
????Yesterday I had lunch with Redpoint Ventures partner Geoff Yang, who had invested in MySpace just months before it was sold to News Corp. Actually, I had lunch and Geoff had iced tea (he had already eaten). Pretty good deal, since it gave him more time to talk and me more time to listen. ????For the uninitiated, MySpace used to be the subsidiary of something called Intermix, which had raised VC funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners in 2003 and round from Redpoint in December 2004. Redpoint also invested another $4 million in February 2005 for a specific stake in MySpace. When Intermix chose to sell to News Corp. in July 2005 for $581 million, it meant: A return for VantagePoint of $139 million on $15.3 million invested, and a return of $44.5 million on $15.5 million invested for Redpoint (according to Bill Burnham). ????Fast forward to this past week, and News Corp. (NWS) agreed to sell MySpace to a PE-backed online ad network called Specific Media for a paltry $35 million. ????From reading press reports this week, one might think Yang and others were geniuses to sell back in 2005. But Yang doesn't see it that way. He sees it as opportunity lost. In fact, he strongly opposed the original sale to News Corp., believing that MySpace was being severely undervalued. Remember, these were in the days when MySpace still had 4x or 5x more users than did Facebook. ????"I told people it could be a $1 billion company, which was a lot of money at that time," he says ????But Yang lost that battle, and News Corp. took over. In the intervening six years, Yang believes that News Corp. destroyed the asset's value by not making significant changes on either the front or back end. "It still basically looks the same today as it did back then," he says. The only real difference was a more concentrated focus on music. ????But Yang still believed there was value in MySpace, and one year ago went to News Corp. with a proposal: Redpoint would help spin MySpace out of News Corp., in a no-cost deal that would allow News Corp. to retain an ownership stake. It would have let News Corp. save some face (still a part-owner, able to capitalize on any upside), while giving a longtime MySpace admirer the opportunity to turn things around. But News Corp. turned him down, hired a banker and one year later got what amounts to an accounting error on the media giant's balance sheet. ????Most people would be happy to reminisce about a short-term investment that returned nearly 3x. But Yang still seems to regret that he wasn't able to be in it for the long haul… |
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