評論
打印
Business
商業報道
Ad space for equity
為股票做廣告
Air for shares
股票時間
Could an unusual venture-capital model be taking off?
一項不同尋常的風險投資模式能夠起飛嗎？
IN AMERICA, venture capital is plentiful.
美國風險資金十分豐富，
Not so elsewhere.
但是并非所有地方都是這樣。
In Europe, a handful of companies are helping struggling start-ups with an unusual model:
在歐洲，一些公司正以非同尋常的模式幫助那些掙扎的新成立的公司：
investing advertising space in them instead of money.
投資廣告版面而非直接投錢。
Start-ups usually get their initial seed funding—a few tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars—from family or friends.
新成立的公司通常從家人或朋友那里獲得初始的種子資金，通常是數萬或數十萬美元。
A venture-capital firm won't step in until the firm is ready to raise maybe ten times that amount.
只有公司籌集到了數百萬的資金時，風險投資才會介入。
In America, intermediate sums tend to come from informal angel investors,
在美國，過渡的資金通常來自于非正式的天使投資者，
typically entrepreneurs who have made a decent bit of money from their own start-ups and want to invest some in projects they like.
特別是由新成立的公司發家且希望投資一些中意項目的企業家。
But outside America's technology hubs, such people are rare.
但是在美國科技中心之外，這樣的人少之又少。
However, start-ups of that size are often making their first baby steps into the market and need publicity.
然而，這樣規模的新成立的公司通常會邁著嬰兒步進入市場并需要廣告宣傳。
Aggregate Media Funds, a Swedish firm started in 2002,
2002年成立的瑞典媒體公司媒體公基金集合了15家瑞典媒體提供的廣告版面，
pools excess advertising space provided by 15 Swedish media companies that are shareholders in the fund,
并且以交換股權的形式給予新成立的公司。
and gives it to start-ups in return for an equity stake.
這15家媒體都是該基金的股東。
If the firms do well, they buy back the equity in cash, which goes to the shareholders, with a cut for the fund.
如果公司運作良好，他們就會用現金買回股權給予股東，并給基金一份利潤。
Patrik Rosen, Aggregate's boss, says it has made some 120 investments—in both start-ups and established firms that want to advertise a new product or a stock offering—and completed around 80 exits,
公基金的老板帕特里克·羅森表示給公司已經做大約120筆投資，都是投在需要為新產品或發行股票的新成立的公司或已成型的公司，并完成了大概80個公司的退市，
though he won't disclose how much money has been made.
但是他并不會透露賺了多少錢。
Similar models have taken hold in Germany.
德國也興起了同樣的模式。
ProSiebenSat.1, a television company, has been offering other firms advertising in return for equity or revenue shares since 2009, and reported making more than 40m in the past year.
德國衛星電視頻道ProSieben衛星一臺在2009年就開始以交換股權或股份的形式為公司提供廣告，去年盈利超過4千萬歐元。
A newer fund, German Media Pool, founded a year ago, combines a range of shareholders,
成立于一年前的德國媒體基金像媒體公基金一樣聯合了一批股東。
as Aggregate does, so it can offer its start-ups ads anywhere from billboards to TV.
從廣告牌到電視的任何地方，它都能夠為新成立的公司投放廣告。基金創始人尼科·華思車的目標是使投資者的錢翻倍。
So why is the model not more widespread?
為什么這個模式并沒有更廣泛的應用呢？
It may have a bad reputation.
可能是這個模式名聲不好。
Media firms that negotiate barter deals directly don't always do well:
協商直接易貨交易的媒體公司通常盈利狀況不佳：
they tend to lack the expertise to invest in start-ups, and the deals may not be transparent.
他們通常缺乏投資新成立的公司的專業知識，并且協議可能不透明。
India's largest media firm, the Times Group, which publishes papers such as the Times of India, also owns a media-for-equity firm called Brand Capital, with stakes in around 400 companies.
印度最大媒體公司時代集團在發行諸如印度時報之類的報紙的同時也擁有一家媒體換股權的公司，名叫品牌資金，該公司擁有大概400家公司的股份。
In 2009, under the name Times Private Treatie s, it got embroiled in controversy after India's stockmarket regulator censured a group of people for conspiring to bump up the share price of one of its portfolio companies, and a Times Group journalist for midwifing media coverage.
2009年，該公司以時代財產轉讓契約的名義卷入了一場爭議。這場爭議源于印度股票市場管理機構嚴厲指責一幫人串通抬高其中一家成員企業的股價和一位時代集團記者為媒體報道推波助瀾。
Critics say it is still hard to tell when Indian papers have financial links to firms they write about.
批評者稱目前仍然很難確定事情根底，因為印度報紙和其報道的公司有經濟聯系。
Hence, Mr Rosen argues, the need for independent, diversified media funds to act as middlemen.
所以羅森先生主張獨立多樣的媒體基金作為中間人。
Even then, not all start-ups need ads—some are happy with social media—and many others would rather have cash instead.
即使是那是也不是所有新成立的公司都需要廣告，有些公司樂意使用社交媒體，而許多公司寧愿獲得資金。
Still, for some it is just what they need.
然而對于一些公司來說這正是他們所需要的。
And for the media firms, since the ads would otherwise go unfilled, any return is pure profit.
對于一些媒體公司來說，若不投給新成立的公司，一些廣告版面也會空白，所以一切收益都是純利潤。
