阿里巴巴遭美国证交会调查

Alibaba Faces U.S. Accounting Inquiry
阿里巴巴遭美国证交会调查

HONG KONG — The Alibaba Group, the e-commerce giant, said Wednesday that it was under investigation by United States securities regulators over its accounting practices, a potential setback for a company long seen as a symbol of China’s growing technological might.

香港——周三，电子商务巨头阿里巴巴集团披露自己正在接受美国证券监管部门的调查，内容涉及其会计行为。对于这家长期被外界视为中国技术实力不断增长象征的企业而言，这或许是个挫折。

The investigation — disclosed in a stock filing — appears to focus on how Alibaba deals with a web of companies in which it owns stakes or has some say in the operations. The company said the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating how Alibaba accounts for affiliated companies, including a logistics venture, and how it treats related-party transactions.

此次调查通过证券备案的形式向公众披露，似乎针对的是阿里巴巴如何处理自身拥有股份或掌握了一定发言权的一系列公司。阿里巴巴表示，美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission)正在调查它对旗下一些公司的会计方式，以及它对关联方交易的处理。这些公司包括一家物流企业。

It also puts under scrutiny Alibaba’s handling of Singles Day, a one-day shopping event in China that the company says gave it the world record for most online sales volume in a day. Alibaba said it had provided the commission with information about how it reported data from that event.

此外，调查内容还涉及阿里巴巴对“光棍节”的数据通报。“光棍节”是中国的单日购物活动，而阿里巴巴宣称这让它创下了24小时网络销售额的世界纪录。阿里巴巴称，公司向证券交易委员会提供了此次活动数据通报方式的相关信息。

Alibaba said that it was voluntarily cooperating with the commission, and that the investigation was not an indication it had violated any law.

阿里巴巴表示，正在主动配合委员会的调查，而调查本身并不说明它有任何违法行为。

Still, the disclosure risks tarnishing a rare Chinese company that has won global fame for its business acumen. Two years ago, Alibaba raised $25 billion in the world’s largest initial public offering. Its executive chairman, Jack Ma, rubs elbows with global technology and political leaders. Last week, he attended a private lunch with President Obama at the White House.

不过，这一事实仍然可能让这家罕见地以其业务能力赢得全球知名度的中国企业形象受损。两年前，阿里巴巴上市时筹集了250亿美元，成就了世界上规模最大的首次公开募股。集团董事局主席马云与全球的科技业与政坛领袖交游往来。上周，他与奥巴马总统在白宫共进私人午餐。

But as Mr. Ma’s profile has risen, Alibaba has grappled with challenges, including allegations from the owners of famous brands that it takes a lax stance on counterfeit goods on its sales platforms — a charge it denies.

然而，随着马云知名度的提升，阿里巴巴也在面临诸多挑战，包括不少知名品牌的拥有者指责它对其销售平台上的假货持宽容态度。对这样的指控，阿里巴巴予以了驳斥。

Its shares have also seesawed over investor concerns about China’s slowing economic growth and Alibaba’s enormous shopping spree to try to cater to the growing legions of Chinese consumers who order everything from taxis to in-home massages on their smartphones. The company has spent billions of dollars on services as varied as logistics, food delivery and film production.

公司的股价也在投资者的担忧中起起落落：一方面是中国经济增长在放缓；另一方面，阿里巴巴在大肆收购，试图以此满足不断壮大的中国消费者的需求。这些消费者在智能手机上订购各种服务，从打车，到上门按摩。阿里巴巴花费了数以十亿美元计的资金投入到跨度巨大的服务中，从物流、食品运输，到电影制作。

It is unclear whether the investigation will have an impact on Alibaba. Asked for comment, an Alibaba spokeswoman reiterated the company’s statement to the commission.

目前尚不清楚此次调查是否会对阿里巴巴产生影响。接到置评请求时，阿里巴巴的一名女发言人重申了公司对证券交易委员会的声明。

Alibaba’s share price has stabilized in recent months.

近几个月里，阿里巴巴的股价逐渐稳定下来。

In the most recent quarter, the company had strong revenue growth despite the broader worries about China’s slowdown.

在最近的一个季度，尽管宏观层面上存在对中国经济放缓的担忧，但阿里巴巴交出了强劲的收入增长数据。

Alibaba is at the center of a complicated web of companies in China that broadly touch the lives of Chinese consumers.

阿里巴巴以自身为中心在中国构建了一个复杂的公司网络，广泛地介入到中国消费者的生活当中。

Mr. Ma also controls the parent company of an electronic payment service called Alipay. Alipay is a giant in its own right, with a financial smartphone app widely found on Chinese handsets and with offerings including money-market-like investments and easy money transfers. Chinese consumers often use Alipay to buy merchandise from Alibaba’s platforms.

马云还控制着名为“支付宝”的电子支付服务的母公司。支付宝本身也是巨头，它的金融智能手机应用在中国的移动设备中随处可见，可以提供类似货币市场的投资和轻松转账等服务。中国消费者通常使用支付宝来购买阿里巴巴平台上的商品。

Alipay, which was valued at about $60 billion in its last fund-raising round, was once part of Alibaba but was peeled off into a separate company in 2011 in a move that spurred acrimony with Yahoo, then a major investor in the Chinese company.

在上轮融资中，支付宝的估值达600亿美元左右。它本来是阿里巴巴集团的一部分，但在2011年分离为独自的公司。此举惹恼了阿里巴巴当时的一个大投资方：雅虎(Yahoo)。

Alipay’s parent company says that, to date, it has lent more than $100 billion, mostly to small businesses. Those businesses could spend that money on marketing on Alibaba’s e-commerce sites, which would in turn become Alibaba revenue.

支付宝的母公司表示，迄今为止借出了逾1000亿美元，其中多数贷给了小业主。这些业主或许会将这笔钱用于在阿里巴巴的电商网站上进行营销活动，从而又转化为阿里巴巴的收入。

According to data from Dealogic, Alibaba has also spent $25.5 billion since its listing in September 2014 to broaden its services to compete with Tencent and Baidu, fellow Chinese Internet giants that are scrambling to make money from a shift to mobile devices. Its key investments and acquisitions include its purchase of Youku Tudou, once a YouTube-like service that now streams movies and TV shows, and an investment in Koubei, a food-ordering app in which Alipay’s parent company is also an investor.

根据Dealogic公布的数据，阿里巴巴自2014年9月上市以来花费了255亿美元来扩大服务版图，目的是与腾讯和百度竞争。这两家公司同样是中国互联网界的巨头，正在竞相从消费者向移动设备的转移中赚钱。阿里巴巴的主要投资与收购交易包括购入优酷土豆和入股口碑。前者曾经类似YouTube，如今提供影视节目的流媒体服务。后者则是外卖应用，还接受了支付宝母公司的投资。

One focus of the S.E.C. investigation appears to be Alibaba’s investment in logistics, which itself signaled a shift in its business approach. In its filing, Alibaba said it had provided information to the commission about its logistics arm, Cainiao.

证券交易委员会调查的一个侧重点似乎是阿里巴巴在物流领域的投资。这一投资本身就标志着它在生意手法上的转变。在备案文件中，阿里巴巴表示向委员会提供了有关旗下物流公司菜鸟的信息。

Alibaba has long eschewed building a logistics network to keep down costs. That approach has increased profit margins but made it more vulnerable to competitors with better control over delivery channels, which are underdeveloped in China.

为了压低成本，阿里巴巴一直没有打造自己的物流网络。这种做法提高了利润率，但让阿里巴巴在面对更好地掌控了送货渠道的竞争对手时处境不利。目前，中国的送货业务尚不发达。

As Chinese e-commerce rivals offered fast delivery, Cainiao was created in 2013 as a way to make Alibaba’s logistics more efficient. Cainiao is jointly owned by Alibaba and a number of the logistics companies that deliver the bulk of the goods ordered on Alibaba’s sales platforms, like Taobao and Tmall. At the time, Alibaba said Cainiao would spend up to $16 billion in developing smart logistics in China in the coming years.

在中国的电商竞争者提供快速送货服务的背景下，菜鸟在2013年成立了，旨在提升阿里巴巴的物流效率。拥有菜鸟的除了阿里巴巴，还有多家物流公司。这些企业运送了阿里巴巴的淘宝和天猫等销售平台上的大量订购商品。当时，阿里巴巴表示，菜鸟将在未来投入至多160亿美元来开发中国的智能物流。

Mr. Ma was named as chairman when Cainiao was created, Alibaba holds a 47 percent stake in the company, and a number of companies Alibaba has invested in have since worked with Cainiao. Still, Alibaba does not consolidate Cainiao’s results with its own.

菜鸟成立时，马云被任命为董事长，阿里巴巴持有该公司47%的股份。阿里巴巴投资的很多公司也纷纷与菜鸟合作。但阿里巴巴依然未将菜鸟和自己的业绩合并在一起。

That relationship has been questioned by some short-sellers and researchers. In a 40-page report released to its clients in October, Pacific Square Research, a market analysis firm, argued that Alibaba did not disclose enough information about its large number of investments. It said that at times Alibaba used that web of investments to control companies like Cainiao without taking their losses onto its balance sheet.

这种关系受到了一些卖空者和研究人员的质疑。去年10月，市场分析公司太平洋广场研究(Pacific Square Research)向客户发布了一份长达40页的报告，称阿里巴巴对自己的大量投资披露的信息不够。报告称，阿里巴巴有时会用投资网来控制像菜鸟这样的公司，而又不用将它们的亏损计入自己的资产负债表中。

The Alibaba spokeswoman said that the company had provided disclosures about Cainiao’s financials in its most recent annual report. That “is exactly the kind of robust and transparent information that will address the underlying issues in the S.E.C.’s inquiry,” she said.

阿里巴巴的发言人称，公司在距今最近的年报中公布了和菜鸟有关的财务信息。她说，那些“正是那种强有力的、透明的信息，将解决证券交易委员会的调查涉及的那些根本问题”。

Alibaba recorded losses of about $60 million over the past two years in connection to Cainiao, according to the filing.

相关文件显示，阿里巴巴记录了过去两年里和菜鸟相关的大约6000万美元亏损。

The Pacific Square report also described instances that it said showed Alibaba did not disclose related-party transactions. For example, it said that Alibaba had failed to disclose the amount it had spent in advertising on Weibo, the Chinese social-media service, even though at that time Alibaba had made a $1 billion investment in Weibo. By comparison, Weibo, also a listed company, disclosed the amount it had received from Alibaba.

太平洋广场的报告还给出了一些例子，称它们表明阿里巴巴未公布关联方交易。比如，报告称阿里巴巴未公布自己花在中国社交媒体新浪微博上的广告费用，尽管当时阿里巴巴在微博上投资了10亿美元。相比之下，同为上市公司的微博就公布了自己从阿里巴巴收到的资金。

In its most recent filing, Alibaba disclosed that it had spent about $230 million on Weibo marketing in the past three years.

在距今最近的文件中，阿里巴巴透露在过去三年里，其在微博营销上花了大约2.3亿美元。

“We haven’t seen anything quite as difficult to untangle as this in our respective careers,” Herb Greenberg, a managing partner of Pacific Square, wrote in an email. “In our view, Alibaba is like a big ball of wet knotted yarn.”

“我们在各自的职业生涯中，从未遇到像这么难理清的情况，”太平洋广场的任事股东赫布·格林伯格(Herb Greenberg)在电子邮件中写道。“在我们看来，阿里巴巴就像是一大团湿乎乎、打着结的纱线。”

Asked about Pacific Square’s assertions, the Alibaba spokeswoman said the company did not comment on market speculation.

被问及太平洋广场的说法时，阿里巴巴的发言人称公司对市场猜测不予置评。