Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., teased the audience at an investment conference Wednesday with a typically playful reference to the Chinese e-commerce giant’s widely expected initial public offering.
阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)的创始人马云在周三举行的一个投资者会议上撩拨了一下在场听众，他以典型的开玩笑口吻提到了阿里巴巴广受人们期待的首次公开募股(IPO)。
Alibaba has never officially said that it is preparing to list its shares, but many bankers and investors expect the company is gearing up for a potential multibillion-dollar IPO, in part because its share buyback agreement with Yahoo Inc. last year created an incentive for such a move.
虽然阿里巴巴从未正式表示它准备上市，但许多银行家和投资者都预计，这家公司正在加紧准备一桩募集金额可能达数百亿美元的IPO，这一定程度上是因为阿里巴巴去年与雅虎公司(Yahoo Inc.)签署的股份回购协议为阿里巴巴进行IPO创造了理由。
Alibaba earlier this month named Jonathan Lu as its new chief executive to succeed Mr. Ma, who said in January that he would step down as CEO.
阿里巴巴本月早些时候任命陆兆禧接替马云担任首席执行长，马云今年1月份表示，他将辞去首席执行长一职。
In a rare public appearance since stepping back from Alibaba’s day-to-day operations, Mr. Ma delivered a keynote speech at the Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong. Addressing investors, Mr. Ma said that Alibaba, which runs websites that work as platforms for businesses selling their products, is not an “e-commerce company” like Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +0.34% but “a company that helps others do e-commerce.”
马云周三在香港举行的瑞士信贷亚洲投资大会(Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference)上发表了主题演讲，这是他脱离阿里巴巴日常管理工作后难得一见的公开露面。马云对现场的投资者说，阿里巴巴不是一家像亚马逊公司(Amazon.com Inc.)那样的电子商务企业，而是一家“帮助其他人做电子商务的公司”。阿里巴巴经营的数个网站承担着为其他企业出售自身产品提供平台的工作。
While Alibaba wants small and midsize enterprises that rely on its e-commerce platforms to make money, the owners of those businesses also want Alibaba to make money, Mr. Ma said.
马云说，虽然阿里巴巴希望那些依赖其电子商务平台的中小企业挣到钱，但这些企业的所有者也希望阿里巴巴赚钱。
“They say, ‘please make money because if you don’t make money we go bankrupt,’” Mr. Ma said. “I say, ‘don’t worry about us, we are making money. I think when we IPO you’ll know the numbers.’” The audience, surprised by an unexpected reference to an IPO, burst into laughter.
马云称，他们说，请赚钱吧，如果你们不赚钱，我们会破产；我说，别担心我们，我们正在赚钱；我认为当我们进行IPO的时候，你们就会知道我们赚了多少钱。现场听众对马云出乎他们意料提到IPO的事感到诧异，并哄堂大笑起来。
During the speech, Mr. Ma, a former English teacher who founded Alibaba from his apartment in 1999, also talked about the future of e-commerce in China. E-commerce in China has grown rapidly in recent years, and Alibaba’s online platforms, such as Taobao and Tmall shopping sites, have also seen robust growth.
马云在演讲中还谈到了电子商务在中国的前景。电子商务近年来在中国发展迅速，阿里巴巴的网上平台，如淘宝和天猫等购物网站，也实现了强劲的业务增长。曾当过英语老师的马云1999年在自己住的单元房里创办了阿里巴巴。
With more people gaining constant Internet access through mobile devices, Mr. Ma said that growth will accelerate. “I told the prime minister that the next five years will be the golden period of e-commerce and Internet in China.” Today, Alibaba Group alone accounts for about 5% of China’s retail sales, Mr. Ma said. In five years, about 30% of the country’s retail sales will be online, even based on a conservative view, he added.
马云说，由于有更多的人能够通过移动设备上网，电子商务的增长将加快。他说，我告诉总理，今后五年将是电子商务和互联网在中国的黄金期。马云称，如今仅阿里巴巴一家企业就实现了中国5%的零售额。他还说，即使保守地估计，五年后中国也将有约30%的零售是在互联网上实现的。
In the U.S., e-commerce is like “dessert” after a meal, supplementing firmly-established traditional business, Mr. Ma said. “It’s very difficult for e-commerce in the U.S. to grow and surpass traditional businesses.” In China, on the other hand, e-commerce becomes the “main course” because the infrastructure for running traditional business is so poor, he said.
马云说，在美国，电子商务就像是正餐后的“甜点”，只能对地位牢固的传统商业模式起补充作用，电子商务在美国是很难成长并超越传统商业模式的；而在中国，电子商务将成为“主菜”，因为中国传统商业模式的基础设施非常差。