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Business The growth in technology takeovers Moving up the stack
商業(yè) 科技公司并購案增多 上移堆棧
Big deals are back, as is an old acquaintance
前幾年盛行的大并購重新回潮
IT MUST feel good to be back.
回來的感覺真好。
Frank Quattrone seemed sidelined for good when the rock-star banker, who had taken dozens of technology companies public during the dotcom boom, was prosecuted for obstruction of justice.
當(dāng)年，網(wǎng)絡(luò)經(jīng)濟(jì)熱得燙手，銀行家弗蘭克?奎特隆將數(shù)十家科技公司運(yùn)作上市，受到了搖滾明星般的擁戴。后來奎特隆遭到妨礙司法的指控，人們以為他再無出頭之日。
Yet after fighting off the charges, he swiftly founded Qatalyst, a boutique investment bank.
然而，奎特隆勝訴，并隨即創(chuàng)立了一家小規(guī)模的專項(xiàng)投資銀行Qatalyst。
In a short time it has become a popular adviser to tech firms angling for the best offer.
很快，這家銀行因能夠提供最優(yōu)報(bào)價(jià)而受到科技公司追捧。
It helped Autonomy, a British software firm, sell itself to HP for buckets of cash (see article).
它曾幫助英國軟件公司Autonomy以高價(jià)把自己出售給惠普。
Mr Quattrone is in the right place at the right time.
奎特隆先生占盡天時(shí)地利。
According to Ernst & Young, an accounting firm, the value of technology mergers and acquisitions, on an upward trajectory since late 2008, has increased by 75% in the second quarter of this year (see chart).
安永會(huì)計(jì)公司表示，自2008年末以來，科技公司購并價(jià)值成上升之勢(shì)，今年2季度，增長率達(dá)75%。
The third quarter has already seen two deals of more than $10 billion:
3季度已有兩項(xiàng)價(jià)值超過百億美元的購并交易：
Autonomy and Motorola Mobility, a handset-maker, which Google bought for $12.5 billion (with Motorola also being advised by Mr Quattrone's Qatalyst).
一個(gè)是Autonomy，另一個(gè)是手機(jī)制造商摩托羅拉移動(dòng)公司，后者被谷歌以125億美元收購(摩托羅拉也接受了奎特隆先生的咨詢意見)。
Mr Quattrone foretold this trend.
奎特隆先生對(duì)這種趨勢(shì)早有預(yù)見。
To him, it is a consequence of the computer industry's shifting geology.
他認(rèn)為，這是計(jì)算機(jī)產(chǎn)業(yè)結(jié)構(gòu)變化的結(jié)果。
For decades, most firms concentrated on one layer of what geeks call the "technology stack": hardware, operating systems, databases and applications.
幾十年來，多數(shù)計(jì)算機(jī)公司都把注意力放在了極客所說的"技術(shù)堆棧"某一層面上：硬件、操作系統(tǒng)、數(shù)據(jù)庫以及應(yīng)用軟件。
But they are increasingly moving onto each other's turf—in search of growth and because customers demand everything in one package.
但這些公司的業(yè)務(wù)日漸重合，這既是為了尋找新的增長空間，也是為了滿足顧客全方位服務(wù)的需要。
Buying a company is the fastest way to add to one's technology portfolio.
購買另一家公司可能是增加自己技術(shù)組合的一條捷徑。
Yet there is more to the picture than this "reverticalisation", says Joseph Steger of Ernst & Young.
安永會(huì)計(jì)公司的約瑟夫?斯迪格表示，在這種背景下，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不止 "重新垂直化"這么簡(jiǎn)單。
Many technology giants have plenty of cash: in the second quarter, the 25 largest had amassed $591 billion.
許多科技巨頭擁有充足的現(xiàn)金，今年二季度，25個(gè)最大科技公司的現(xiàn)金總額高達(dá)5910億美元。
Many also want to ride the big trends in the industry, in particular mobile technologies and cloud computing. More recently, patents have become an important rationale for acquisitions, as was the case with Google's takeover of Motorola.
許多公司也希望能夠借著行業(yè)發(fā)展潮流，特別是移動(dòng)技術(shù)和云計(jì)算，進(jìn)行企業(yè)購并。眼下，專利已成為收購的最基本的條件，比如谷歌收購摩托羅拉一案就是如此。
Is the M&A boom a bubble?
這種購并熱潮是不是一種泡沫？
Some see froth, with Google paying more than $510,000 per patent (if one forgets that Motorola also makes mobile phones) and HP doling out the equivalent of 17% of its own market capitalisation for an extra 1% of revenue.
谷歌為每項(xiàng)專利支付51萬多美元（如果不考慮摩托羅拉還生產(chǎn)手機(jī)），惠普為了獲得1%的額外收入，而支付了相當(dāng)于自身市價(jià)17%的資金，有人從中看出了泡沫的成份。
But the recent stockmarket fall will calm things down.
最近股市下跌，讓這一切重新歸于平靜。
Even Mr Quattrone may welcome this: he has no interest in being identified with another financial craze.
這可能也是奎特隆先生希望看到的，他對(duì)新一輪的金融熱炒沒有什么興趣。
