软银旗下千亿美元科技基金将大举收购

The $100bn tech investment fund announced last week by SoftBank is likely to make “one or two” multibillion-dollar acquisitions that match its purchases of Sprint and ARM Holdings, according to chief executive officer Masayoshi Son.

软银(Softbank)首席执行官孙正义(Masayoshi Son)表示，上周软银旗下一家1000亿美元规模的科技投资基金宣布，可能会实施“一两个”数十亿美元的收购案——足以媲美其对Sprint和ARM控股(Arm Holdings)的收购。

The fund, which has already secured Saudi Arabia as its anchor investor, will also make “several $2bn-$5bn company acquisitions and then a bunch [worth] $1bn”, the SoftBank chief said.

孙正义说，这家已锁定沙特作为“锚定投资者”(anchor investor)的基金，还将实施“几笔20亿至50亿美元的收购，然后再来一批10亿美元的收购”。

Mr Son’s comments mark the first indication of how the giant fund is likely to be invested. The massive size of the investment vehicle has sent reverberations through the tech investment world, where it dwarfs other similar growth-oriented funds.

孙正义的这番话，首次让我们看到这笔巨额资金可能的投资方式。该基金的规模之大，给科技投资世界带来了回响，令其他类似的增长型基金相形见绌。

“$100bn in my view is the beginning,” said Mr Son. “The information revolution that is coming is such . . . a great opportunity that the money is not enough, even with $100bn.”

“我认为，1000亿美元只是开始，”孙正义说。“正在到来的信息革命……是如此大的机会，即使1000亿美元也不够用。”

SoftBank paid $22bn for US mobile operator Sprint in 2013 in what Mr Son has admitted was a mistaken bet that he could win regulatory clearance for a merger with T-Mobile.

2013年，软银斥资220亿美元收购了美国移动运营商Sprint，而后来让Sprint与T-Mobile合并的交易没有获得监管批准。孙正义承认，这是一次错误的押注。

Speaking ahead of an ARM event in San Francisco on Wednesday, he alluded to rival AT&T’s planned acquisition of Time Warner and said, with a smile: “The US government accept that and reject mine? Where is justice in this country!”

在参加星期三在旧金山举行的ARM活动之前，孙正义提到了竞争对手AT&T计划收购时代华纳(Time Warner)一事，他微笑着说：“美国政府认可了那笔收购，却阻止我的收购？在这个国家，哪里还有正义可言！”

The Sprint deal was topped by this year’s $32bn acquisition of chip design company ARM, which Mr Son described as more similar to the long-term bets he plans to make through his new London-based fund.

今年软银以320亿美元收购芯片设计公司ARM，金额超过了Sprint收购案。孙正义表示，这次押注类似于他计划通过在伦敦新社基金实施的长期押注。

SoftBank, which said it would put up to $25bn in the fund, established the vehicle after its debt load crimped its ability to make further big bets.

软银表示，它将向这一基金投入至多250亿美元。软银设立这一投资工具，是因为债务负担已导致其无力进行更多的大笔押注。

“Every time there is a paradigm shift, I sell everything I can sell to reinvest in the next paradigm,” Mr Son said. “Once every four or five years I do some sizeable acquisition. And then also every year we make a few hundred million-$1bn dollar acquisitions.”

“每当发生范式转变时，我都卖掉了所有我能卖的，重新投资于下一个范式，”孙正义说。“每个四五年，我都会进行一次规模相当大的收购。接下来，每年我们都进行几笔1亿到10亿美元的收购。”