►Business: Chinese internet firms Clubbing together
商業:中國互聯網公司合并
The merger of Meituan and Dianping could herald a bigger consolidation.
美團外賣和大眾點評的合并可能預示著更大的合并。
GROUP buying—in which discounts are offered on goods and services once a certain number of consumers have signed up—may be falling out of fashion in many countries, with even America's pioneer, Groupon, slashing over 1,000 jobs last month, but it is still doing well in China.
According to Analysys International, a research firm, bargain hunters there rang up 77 billion yuan ($12.1 billion) in sales through group-buying websites in the first half of this year.
Even more striking is news this week of a merger between the two biggest Chinese firms in the business, which may herald a broader consolidation in China's internet sector.
最讓人吃驚的本周中國兩個最大的團購公司的合并,這有可能預示著中國互聯網行業更廣泛的合并。
Groupon has flopped in China, just as many other Western internet firms have done.
高朋團購在中國失敗了,就像其他許多西方互聯網公司一樣。
This has left the field clear for local businesses.
這給本地貿易留下了縫隙區域。
On October 8th two Chinese companies which between them have about four-fifths of the local group-buying market said that they would combine.
10月8日,兩個中國公司宣布他們將合并,它們占有中國團購市場的4/5份額。
Meituan, with about half of the market, will join forces with Dianping, which has about 30%.
有大約市場一半份額的美團外賣將加入有市場30%份額的大眾點評。
The combined business will be worth perhaps $15 billion.
這個合并企業也許將市值150億美元。
It will quash competition on one front of a costly proxy war now being fought by China's big three internet firms—Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent.
Alibaba has a stake in Meituan, while Tencent backs Dianping.
阿里巴巴在美團有股份,而騰訊支持大眾點評。
The merged entity would dwarf Nuomi, which has a mere 14% share of China's group-buying industry.
合并實體將打壓僅占有中國團購行業14%份額的糯米網。
It is fully owned by Baidu, which said in June that it would invest $3.2 billion over the next three years in this sort of e-commerce business.
它完全屬于百度,6月宣布在未來三年將投資32億美元在電子商務行業。
The deal marks an escalation in what seems to be an effort by Alibaba and Tencent to squeeze out Baidu and turn the Chinese internet's big three into a big two.
這次交易似乎標志著阿里巴巴和騰訊逐步擴大影響力來擠出百度,將中國互聯網三大公司變成兩大公司。
They have already joined up to try to create a dominant company in the online taxi-hailing business.
他們已經聯合起來在在線打車行業創立了一個統治地位的公司。
At first each had backed a different startup in this area, but when Baidu gave financial backing to Uber, an American taxi-app giant, to expand its presence in China, Alibaba and Tencent merged their proxies into a firm now called Didi Kuaidi.