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Nipping at LinkedIn's heels
领英身后的追兵
The second-largest professional social network is scrambling to make its mark
世界第二大职业社交网站艰难求胜
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.
领英并不是职场人士可以选择的唯一一个职业社交网站。世界第二大的职业社交网站是法国的Viaeo，拥有6000万注册会员，在法国和中国都颇受欢迎。该领域的老三则是德国的Xing，坐拥1400万会员，在德语世界市场一家独大。这两家公司身上，都看不到止步不前的迹象。
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，为了针对不同市场中的不同平台，它采取“多元本地化”的经营策略。Viadeo成立于2005年，主要通过收购其它公司在全球进行扩张。如今，Viadeo是法国和讲法语的非洲国家中最受欢迎的职业社交软件，在俄国的也有大量的用户，但最重要的是，Viadeo在中国也是NO.1。2008年，VIadeo收购了中国的商务社交网站“天际网”，现在以发展了2000万会员。Viadeo的联合创始人兼首席执行官Dan Serfaty于2011迁往中国，这也说明了他有多重视中国市场。
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头疼的问题是要如何才能在法国之外的地区取得更多的收入。2013年Video的总收入为3100万欧元，其中95%皆来自法国。而且至今Viadeo还未实现营业盈利。即使对初创公司—特别是那些盼着被收购的公司—来说，发生这种情况也是极少见的；但是投资者会继续关注Viadeo的现金流出量大的。
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大举进军中国的决策是正确的话，这种窘境可能得到改善。过去，由于人们不信任会员们贴出的简历信息，Viadeo很难让中国企业为它的服务买单。为了克服这个问题，Viadeo开发了一个交叉检验的程序，使会员们可以互相逐条核实简历中的信息的真实性。据说此举初期的成效不错。
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风顺。Viadeo并不像大多数法国互联网公司那样选择在国外—特别是在美国纳斯达克—上市，而是选择在巴黎泛欧交易所发起IPO。如果在此次募资顺利的话，Viadeo本可使巴黎成为新兴法国科技公司集资的胜地。结果Viadeo开盘价就低与招股价，而且自那以后股价不断下滑。
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同样也面临着来自竞争者的威胁。目前处于盈利状态的Xing，已经摆脱了对外国风投的依赖，而且其2012年上任的新老板正在准备进行新一轮企业招聘。而另一边，领英正在对法国和中国这两个市场进行入侵，而且自信自己一定能够成功。领英表示，尽管它在法国的的会员数量不如VIadeo，但是流量更大；而且自从今年2月份中文版网站开启后，它已重振旗鼓，会员数量也在不断增长。
