The protagonists did not give a positive response to this merger. Many media reports and M&A's eloquence seem to prove that the so-called M&A is not groundless. Ali's acquisition of Netease koala is in progress, and the only thing missing is the final official announcement. Although the outside world is quite critical of this merger, it seems reasonable to think about it carefully.
Back to M&A News itself: According to many media reports, Ali is planning to acquire Netease koala, and the negotiations are basically finalized. Specifically, Ali will buy Netease koala with $2 billion in pure cash, and the details are under negotiation. Pinduoduo, a rising star in the e-commerce industry, also appeared in this round of rumors.
The outside world still judges whether the news itself is true or not. What is certain is that no matter whether the news of Ali's acquisition of Netease koala is true or not, the general trend of reshuffle in the e-commerce industry is still unstoppable. At the moment when many new concepts such as new retail and social new retail are raging, Netease koala, which focuses on sea purchase, will inevitably experience a more passive situation in the future market if it does not transform rapidly.
From this perspective, Ali's acquisition of Netease koala seems to be inevitable by accident.
However, judging from many news such as Ma Yun's absence from Ding Lei dinner, there seems to be some estrangement between Ali and Netease, which makes the outside world have a lot of uncertainty about Ali's acquisition of Netease koala. From this perspective, there seems to be some variables in the handshake between Ali and Netease.
So, what is the drama about Ali's acquisition of Netease koala?
E-commerce shuffled into the deep water area, why Netease koala?
Undoubtedly, new retail has become a brand-new outlet in the post-Internet era. E-commerce, which originated in the internet age, is a bit old-fashioned, and shuffling is inevitable. Whether it is the active transformation of the head e-commerce platform or the forced transformation of small and medium-sized e-commerce platforms, we can all see that a deep reshuffle of the e-commerce industry is being staged.
Ali's acquisition of Netease koala this time may be a continuation of this deep reshuffle. With the deepening of shuffling, perhaps new players will join in.
For the reshuffle of the e-commerce industry itself, we will not go into details. What we need to think about is, why did Ali buy Netease koala at this moment? And what about Netease koala, which is famous for Haitao?
Netease koala has never found a perfect way to integrate with new retail. The Internet dividend peaked, and the e-commerce model based on information matching and information docking began to encounter more and more challenges. Increasingly quiet users and the not-so-popular online shopping festival are showing us the fatigue of the e-commerce industry.
Finding substitutes for e-commerce and reactivating users has become an important issue for every e-commerce platform, and the head e-commerce platform represented by Ali and JD.COM is also inevitable.
As an e-commerce platform focusing on sea purchase, Netease koala seems to have been unable to find an excellent way and means to support the new retail concept.
Although we have also seen Netease koala's offline stores, social distribution and other related attempts before, the diversity and comprehensiveness of new retail demand can not be solved by relying solely on concepts. So in this process, what we see is that the test of Netease koala is not smooth.
Whether it is the integration of online and offline, or the application of new technologies on the e-commerce platform, Netease koala, which started with games, seems to have never found a way to leverage.
When the voice of new retail is getting louder and louder, the ecological layout of new retail begins to deepen, and Netease koala has never found a perfect way to integrate with new retail, which has become the main problem restricting its development.
Under the influence of the big environment, Netease koala, which focuses on sea purchase, is facing a severe policy impact. As we all know, Netease koala pays attention to the mode of overseas purchase and overseas suppliers to meet the overseas shopping needs of domestic users. With the outbreak of trade war in the international market, overseas purchasing, overseas direct mining and other modes are actually experiencing profound influence at the policy level.
For Netease koala, which is in the period of relatively free trade, it can bring high-quality products and price advantages to users with its own platform. However, with the increasing trade barriers, especially the continuation of the trade war, Netease koala is undoubtedly suffering from the profound impact of the policy environment.
In this context, what Netease koala needs is a rapid transformation and a way to adapt to the current policy environment. However, on the issue of transformation, Netease koala seems to be always slow, unable to really keep up with the pace of policy, and finally lost many development opportunities.
From this point of view, the influence of the policy environment on Netease koala seems to be becoming the key point for it to take into account the transformation of e-commerce and new retail.
Backed by Netease, there seems to be "several mountains" between games and e-commerce. Netease koala is called Netease koala because its traffic, capital and operation are all around Netease's ecology. However, Netease is a game-oriented company. Although Netease is still the leader of the domestic game industry, it seems that there are always "several mountains" between games and e-commerce.
When the development of the e-commerce industry began to enter a period of deep adjustment, especially in the context of the great adjustment of the development of the Internet industry, Netease Koala's support in terms of traffic and technology from the parent company that mainly plays games will never be immediate, which makes it a big gap with other companies or other competitors with e-commerce genes, and finally makes Netease Koala suffer a lot in the competition.
For the e-commerce industry that needs rapid response and adjustment, the characteristics of the parent company behind Netease koala determine whether its response is fast enough and correct. From this perspective, it is not a good thing for Netease to rely on big trees.
With the end of the traffic dividend, especially the traffic portals represented by Netease News and Netease Mailbox are carved up, the cost of obtaining traffic from Netease koala is increasing day by day.
Therefore, it is undoubtedly a good choice to find a company with e-commerce characteristics and genes to make up for the slow response of Netease koala during the e-commerce transition period.
As the development of the e-commerce industry begins to enter the deep water area, the adjustment rhythm of the e-commerce industry will be faster and faster in the future, and even some e-commerce platforms backed by big trees will not be spared.
Netease koala may be just the beginning.
Fundamentally speaking, the adjustment that the e-commerce industry is undergoing is still an extension of the deep layout of new retail head companies represented by Ali, Tencent and JD.COM. After the earlier surface reshuffle, the adjustment of the e-commerce industry will be more in-depth and diversified.
The new retail battlefield continues to wrestle, why Ali?
Although the new retail market has long passed the era of close combat between giants, the wrestling between giants in the capital market will never end. Ali's acquisition of Netease koala is a proof. But the reason why the outside world is wrong about Ali's acquisition of Netease koala is because two seemingly "sweet" companies have come together. Faced with many buyers such as Ali, Tencent, JD.COM and Pinduoduo, why did Netease Koala choose Ali?
Ali's deep pockets or root causes. After experiencing the barbaric growth in the Internet era, the domestic Internet market has basically formed a pattern with BAT as the head and TMD as the rising star. In BAT, Ali is undoubtedly the best. Alibaba is one of the internet companies that have done a good job in new retail layout and improving the ecosystem.
Ali's acquisition of Netease koala can be said to be a continuation of Alibaba's new retail layout. Perhaps the strong financial strength behind Ali's economy is the key to Netease koala's commitment.
According to media reports, Ali's acquisition of Netease koala was completed in the form of $2 billion in pure cash. Looking at the current domestic Internet market, perhaps only Alibaba has such financial resources.
For another wrestler, Pinduo, although it also appeared in the merger case of Pinduo, perhaps its function is just a show. It may be unrealistic to ask Pinduoduo to come up with $2 billion in pure cash. From this perspective, Alibaba's deep pockets may be the reason for this transaction.
Ali's e-commerce genes and new retail features may be the key. As an intensive e-commerce company, Alibaba has not only accumulated e-commerce for many years, but also took the lead in laying out new retail. What Netease koala really needs may be the complementarity of this e-commerce gene and new retail features, which can make up for what it lacks in Netease.
Whether in the e-commerce industry or the new retail industry that has arrived, we have all seen the deep layout of Alibaba. In addition to the capital market mentioned above, Alibaba's own e-commerce genes and new retail features may be unmatched by other wrestlers.
Netease koala is not only looking for a buyer, but also needs a collaborator who can integrate his business into the buyer's business. On this issue, whether buyers have e-commerce genes and can bring their own imagination of new retail is also the key to decide whether Netease koala chooses.
In addition, Alibaba's unshakable position in the field of e-commerce, huge market share, and deep layout of new retail all occupy a quite favorable position.
In the face of these advantages besides funds, we can almost be sure that Alibaba is the best receiver of Netease koala.
Ali's overseas strategy and Netease koala's overseas purchase have a natural complementary relationship. Earlier, the news that Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong visited Yiwu was reported in newspapers. It can be said that this is a reflection of Alibaba's overseas strategy. In addition, Ali International Station is also laying out cross-border trade in depth. From the data of the past three years, the digital reconstruction of cross-border trade is bringing new growth points to small and medium-sized enterprises. The data of payment buyers, payment numbers and transaction volume of Ali International Station have all achieved more than three-digit growth.
It is worth noting that Ali International Station cooperates with Ant Financial to build a new digital payment financial network.
Ali International Station supports transactions in 22 currencies, which can realize local payment and settlement in 56 countries and regions, while the exchange cost is reduced from 2%-3% to 1%. Ali's deep layout in cross-border trade is undoubtedly the key reason for attracting Netease koala.
When Alibaba's overseas strategy continues to exert its strength and Netease koala is facing difficulties, they may be able to achieve a certain degree of deep integration, complementary advantages and coordinated development through this merger. For other buyers besides Ali, although they are also making overseas layout, the speed and depth of Ali's overseas layout are undoubtedly more comprehensive and diverse. From this perspective, Netease koala can also become an important pawn of Ali's future overseas strategy.
The difficulty of e-commerce development makes it inevitable for Ali to acquire Netease koala, and the relationship between Ali and Netease makes this merger variable. But in the capital market, money seems to be the most convincing existence compared with the grievances between companies and individuals. From this perspective, Ali's acquisition of Netease koala may be a seemingly accidental necessity.