谷歌重組的意義 Google hacking the structure

It is a $29bn org chart. If Googleexecutives mapped out their new corporate structure on something as antediluvian as a white board, they could stick a gold frame around it.

這是一張價值290億美元的組織架構圖。如果谷歌(Google)高管在傳統的白板上畫出新的企業架構，他們可以裱一個金框。

Google’s shares rose by that amount, or 7 per cent, in after-hours trading on Monday when the company revealed it was creating a new holding company called Alphabet, with subsidiaries ranging from the core search and advertising business to Nest, which makes thermostats, Fiber, the high-speed internet provider, and Calico, the biotech company.

谷歌的市值在週一盤後交易期間上漲了上述金額，股價漲幅爲7%，此前谷歌宣佈將創建一家名爲Alphabet的全新控股公司，其子公司包括核心的搜索和廣告業務（即谷歌）、調溫器製造商Nest、高速互聯網提供商Fiber以及生物技術公司Calico。

At first sight, this is absurd. The balance sheet and cash flows will be unchanged. Larry Page, chief executive, calls it “cleaner”. The risk is it creates a mess, particularly in human resources. Even the top team is not exactly streamlined. Mr Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt move from Google to Alphabet, but Sundar Pichai moves from head of Google products to become chief executive of Google, and Ruth Porat, chief financial officer, will be CFO of both Alphabet and Google.

乍一看，此舉非常荒謬。資產負債表以及現金流都不會改變。首席執行官拉里槧吉(Larry Page)稱其“更乾淨”。風險在於，此舉製造了混亂，特別是在人力資源方面。就連最高層團隊也並未真的精簡。佩吉、謝爾蓋布林(Sergey Brin)以及埃裏克施密特(Eric Schmidt)從谷歌移至Alphabet，但是桑德爾皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)從谷歌產品主管升任谷歌首席執行官，而首席財務官露絲波拉特(Ruth Porat)將成爲Alphabet和谷歌兩家的CFO。

Further down the organisation, life gets more compartmentalised. It is not obvious that working in a silo at Company XYZ, “an Alphabet subsidiary”, is as attractive as working on complex issues across today’s Google.

在組織的中下層，日子變得更加部門化。尚不清楚在某家“Alphabet子公司”的小天地工作會不會像在眼下的谷歌解決複雜問題一樣具有吸引力。

There could be benefits to disclosures. At the moment, Google’s are paltry for a $487bn company, with barely any breakdown between lines of business. But the board has stopped short of giving each independent company its own public financials. Each apart from Google, will be contained in the same “non-Google” revenue line. That is hardly a revolution in transparency.

此舉可能對披露有好處。目前，對於一家市值4870億美元的公司，谷歌披露的內容實在不算多，基本上沒有按業務部門劃分的具體細節。但董事會並沒有授權每一家獨立公司公開財務。除谷歌以外，各子公司都將被納入“非谷歌”營收線。這很難說是透明度方面的一場革命。

There is one big advantage. The core Google business may have been relegated to just another subsidiary and it may have lost Mr Page as day-to-day chief executive. But he has seemed more interested in new projects for some time. With a more dedicated management team, the performance of Google could improve. And with separated financials, the market can finally see what are already reputed to be fearsome margins.

此次重組有個重大優勢。核心的谷歌業務或許已被降格爲又一家子公司，其日常CEO或許可能不再是佩奇。但他貌似對新項目更感興趣已經有一段時間了。有了一個更專注的管理團隊，谷歌的表現可能會有起色。同時，藉助分立的財報，市場有望終於看到據稱非常高的利潤率。