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Nipping at LinkedIn's heels
領英身后的追兵
The second-largest professional social network is scrambling to make its mark
世界第二大職業社交網站艱難求勝
LINKEDIN is not the only game in town. With 60m members, Viadeo is the world's second-biggest professional social network. It is strong in its home country, France, and in China. Xing of Germany, the third largest with 14m members, guards the gate of the German-speaking world. Neither is standing still.
領英并不是職場人士可以選擇的唯一一個職業社交網站。世界第二大的職業社交網站是法國的Viaeo，擁有6000萬注冊會員，在法國和中國都頗受歡迎。該領域的老三則是德國的Xing，坐擁1400萬會員，在德語世界市場一家獨大。這兩家公司身上，都看不到止步不前的跡象。
Viadeo has been the more ambitious, adopting a “multilocal” strategy based on different platforms in different markets. Founded in 2005, it has branched out mainly through acquisitions. Today it is the biggest professional network by membership in France and Francophone Africa, has a significant business in Russia and, most important, is in first place in China. It bought Tianji, a Chinese business-networking site, in 2008 and has built its membership to 20m. Viadeo's co-founder and chief executive, Dan Serfaty, moved to China in 2011, a sign of how much the market matters to him.
而Viadeo野心更大，為了針對不同市場中的不同平臺，它采取“多元本地化”的經營策略。Viadeo成立于2005年，主要通過收購其它公司在全球進行擴張。如今，Viadeo是法國和講法語的非洲國家中最受歡迎的職業社交軟件，在俄國的也有大量的用戶，但最重要的是，Viadeo在中國也是NO.1。2008年，VIadeo收購了中國的商務社交網站“天際網”，現在以發展了2000萬會員。Viadeo的聯合創始人兼首席執行官Dan Serfaty于2011遷往中國，這也說明了他有多重視中國市場。
The big problem for Viadeo is making money outside France, which accounts for 95% of its turnover—31m in 2013. Viadeo has yet to turn an operating profit. That is not unheard of for startups, especially those enthusiastic about acquisitions, but investors will be keeping an eye on how much cash it burns.
Viadeo頭疼的問題是要如何才能在法國之外的地區取得更多的收入。2013年Video的總收入為3100萬歐元，其中95%皆來自法國。而且至今Viadeo還未實現營業盈利。即使對初創公司—特別是那些盼著被收購的公司—來說，發生這種情況也是極少見的；但是投資者會繼續關注Viadeo的現金流出量大的。
Things may be about to improve, if Mr Serfaty is right about China. Viadeo has had trouble getting Chinese businesses to pay for its services because no one trusted the profiles that members posted. To overcome this, Viadeo launched a programme of cross-verification, in which members verify line-by-line the information in other members' CVs. Early signs are said to be promising.
如果Serfaty大舉進軍中國的決策是正確的話，這種窘境可能得到改善。過去，由于人們不信任會員們貼出的簡歷信息，Viadeo很難讓中國企業為它的服務買單。為了克服這個問題，Viadeo開發了一個交叉檢驗的程序，使會員們可以互相逐條核實簡歷中的信息的真實性。據說此舉初期的成效不錯。
However, Viadeo stumbled when it went public in July. Unlike most French internet firms, which have listed abroad—especially on NASDAQ in America—the firm launched its initial public offering on Euronext in Paris. Had it gone well, it could have established Paris as a place where sparky French tech startups could get financing. But the shares opened below their launch price and have been sliding ever since.
但是，Viadeo在在7月上市后在股市并不是一番風順。Viadeo并不像大多數法國互聯網公司那樣選擇在國外—特別是在美國納斯達克—上市，而是選擇在巴黎泛歐交易所發起IPO。如果在此次募資順利的話，Viadeo本可使巴黎成為新興法國科技公司集資的勝地。結果Viadeo開盤價就低與招股價，而且自那以后股價不斷下滑。
Viadeo is also under threat from its rivals. Profitable Xing, which had pulled back from foreign ventures, got a new boss in 2012, who is going after business recruitment. LinkedIn, meanwhile, is encroaching on two markets that Viadeo hoped it had sewn up. In France it has fewer members, but more traffic, it claims. And in China it has picked up steam and members since launching a Chinese-language site in February.
Viadeo同樣也面臨著來自競爭者的威脅。目前處于盈利狀態的Xing，已經擺脫了對外國風投的依賴，而且其2012年上任的新老板正在準備進行新一輪企業招聘。而另一邊，領英正在對法國和中國這兩個市場進行入侵，而且自信自己一定能夠成功。領英表示，盡管它在法國的的會員數量不如VIadeo，但是流量更大；而且自從今年2月份中文版網站開啟后，它已重振旗鼓，會員數量也在不斷增長。
