約會應用企業Match Group開拓亞洲市場
Online dating app expands in Asia hiring spree
《金融時報》漢娜•墨菲 舊金山報導
Match Group, which owns dating apps such as Tinder and Hinge, is planning to expand headcount in Asia by 40 per cent this year and overhaul its executive team, as part of a push into the region's flourishing online dating market.
旗下擁有Tinder和Hinge等約會應用的Match Group計劃今年將亞洲員工人數增加40%,並對其管理團隊進行大洗牌,以進軍亞洲地區蓬勃發展的在線約會市場。
顧名思義就是「人頭數」,表示「某一處(或某公司)的人數」,英文解釋為「the number of people who are in a place, at an event, or employed by a company」舉個🌰:
The company was unwilling to increase the headcount (= employ more people).
公司不願意增加僱員。
表示「全面改革,修訂」,英文解釋為「to change a system or method in order to improve it」舉個🌰:
All the community’s decision-making institutions need to be overhauled.
社區的所有決策機構都需要進行徹底改革。
Mandy Ginsberg, chief executive, told the Financial Times that the Dallas-based company planned to invest 「tens of millions of dollars」 a year on a hiring spree as well as additional marketing in the region.
Match Group的總部位於美國達拉斯(Dallas),其執行長曼迪•金斯伯格(Mandy Ginsberg)向英國《金融時報》表示,該企業計劃每年在亞洲地區投入「數千萬美元」來招聘大量員工,並開展更多營銷活動。
spree本身表示「作樂,狂歡(尤指花錢或喝酒)」,英文解釋為「a short period of time when you do a lot of one activity, especially spending money or drinking alcohol」,如:a shopping spree 瘋狂購物,a drinking spree 狂喝一通,此處on a hiring spree即瘋狂招人的意思。
The bet on Asia comes as Match, which has a market capitalisation of $15.9bn and about 8m subscribers across its digital dating brands, faces competition from social media group Facebook, which announced its own dating service last year.
在Match Group押注亞洲市場之際,該企業正面臨來自社交媒體集團Facebook的競爭,Facebook去年宣布將推出自己的約會服務。Match Group的市值為159億美元,旗下在線約會品牌共擁有約800萬訂戶。
But the company reported better than expected quarterly results in February, driven by strong growth in subscriptions on Tinder, the app that popularised the swipe-right, swipe-left method of sorting potential matches.
但在Tinder訂用量強勁增長的推動下,今年2月份Match Group公布了好於預期的季度業績。Tinder推廣了在屏幕上左右滑動以接受或拒絕潛在配對對象的模式。
The dating app market in Asia has grown rapidly in recent years, spawning Tinder clones such as Singapore-based Paktor. Last year, Tantan, China's most popular dating service, was bought by Nasdaq-listed social media app Momo for $760m.
近年來,亞洲的約會應用市場發展迅速,催生了許多類似Tinder的產品,如新加坡的Paktor。去年,在納斯達克(Nasdaq)上市的社交媒體應用「陌陌」(Momo)以7.6億美元收購了中國最受歡迎的約會服務「探探」(Tantan)。
表示「引發;使大量出現,使大量產生;釀成」,英文解釋為「If something spawns something else, it causes it to happen or to be created.」舉個🌰:
New technology has spawned new business opportunities.
新技術創造了大量新的商機。
spawn還可以指魚或蛙「大量產卵」(if a fish or frog spawns, it produces eggs in large quantities at the same time)。
But Ms Ginsberg said there were still untapped opportunities in the region: there were about 400m singles outside of North America and Europe, two-thirds of which have never used a dating app, she said.
但金斯伯格表示,亞洲還有尚待發掘的機遇:北美和歐洲以外約有4億單身人士,其中三分之二的人從未使用過約會應用。
表示「(資源、市場或天賦)未開發的,未利用的」,英文解釋為「an untapped supply, market, or talent is available but has not yet been used」舉個🌰:
We believe there is untapped potential.
我們相信還有潛力沒有挖掘出來。
Growing mobile usage and cultural changes — such as a shift in India away from arranged marriage — mean dating apps are becoming more mainstream in the region.
不斷提高的手機普及率與文化的變遷(例如印度逐漸摒棄包辦婚姻)使約會應用日益成為亞洲地區的主流。
「Initially there was a personal embarrassment around it . . . [But] it's the stigma — the stigma's really eroding,」 she said.
金斯伯格表示:「起初說起約會應用,人們會感到尷尬……(但是)這是一種汙名,而這種汙名正在真正褪去。」
表示「恥辱,羞辱,見不得人的感覺」,英文解釋為「a strong feeling in society that being in a particular situation or having a particular illness is something to be ashamed of」舉個🌰:
In the US, smoking carries a stigma.
在美國,吸菸是不光彩的。
表示「降低,削弱」,英文解釋為「If the value of something erodes or is eroded by something such as inflation or age, its value decreases.」舉個🌰:
Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.
金融市場的競爭降低了利潤。
還可以指「(氣候)侵蝕,腐蝕;(巖石、土壤)風化」等(if the weather erodes rock or soil, or if rock or soil erodes, its surface is gradually destroyed),如:soil erosion 水土流失。
The company is shaking up its leadership team, she added. In particular, several directors for individual brands in Asia will now become general managers across all the Match apps, in a move that will cement the company's portfolio of apps further together, for example.
她補充稱,Match Group的領導層正在變動。特別是,原本負責Match Group在亞洲的幾個品牌的經理將成為主管Match Group全線應用的總經理,此舉將使該企業的多個應用更緊密地聯繫在一起。
替換了上文的overhaul一詞,此處shake up表示「整頓,重組」,英文解釋為「If someone shakes up something such as an organization, an institution, or a profession, they make major changes to it.」
作名詞表示「水泥」,如:a cement floor 水泥地板,也可以指「膠合劑;膠接劑;黏固劑」(a soft substance that becomes hard when dry and is used for sticking things together or filling in holes),作動詞可引申為表示「加強,鞏固(關係)」,英文解釋為「to make a relationship between people, countries, or organizations firm and strong」,如:cement a relationship/alliance,舉個🌰:
The President's visit was intended to cement the alliance between the two countries.
總統的訪問是為了加強兩國的聯盟。
portfolio /pɔːtˈfəʊliəʊ/表示「(公司或機構提供的)系列產品,系列服務」,英文解釋為「the range of products or services offered by a particular company or organization」,如:a portfolio of wines 系列葡萄酒。
此外,portfolio還有多個不同含義:
1) 表示「公事包,文件夾;畫夾」(a large flat case used especially for carrying pictures, documents etc)
2) 表示「(藝術家、攝影師等的)作品選集」(a set of pictures or other pieces of work that an artist, photographer etc has done)
3) 表示「(某人或某公司持有的)有價證券組合,投資組合」(a group of stock s owned by a particular person or compan),如:an investment portfolio 投資組合;
4) 表示「部長(大臣)的職責」(the work that a particular government official is responsible for),如:the foreign affairs portfolio 外交部長職責。
「We are making jobs broader. We're going from a brand perspective to a regional perspective,」 Ms Ginsberg said.
金斯伯格稱:「我們正在擴大工作範圍。我們正從品牌視角轉向區域視角。」
Match shares fell more than 25 per cent last year after Facebook said it was launching its own dating service, but have since rallied more than 60 per cent. Ms Ginsberg said the group had not seen any impact on its user base so far, arguing that people tended to use multiple dating apps at once.
去年,在Facebook宣布將推出自己的約會服務後,Match Group的股價下跌逾25%。但自那以來已回升逾60%。金斯伯格表示,到目前為止,Match Group還沒有發現其用戶基礎受到任何影響。她認為這是因為人們傾向於同時使用多款約會應用。
熟詞僻義,尤指股票價格或貨幣「價格回升;跌後回升」,英文解釋為「( especially of share prices or a country's money to increase in value after falling in value」舉個🌰:
The company's shares had rallied slightly by the close of trading.
這家公司的股票價格在收盤前略有回升。
Revenues, coming largely from premium subscriptions rather than advertising, grew 21 per cent in the final quarter of 2018 to $457m, while earnings per share stood at 39 cents, compared with losses per share of 3 cents in the same quarter in 2017.
Match Group的收入主要來自付費訂用而非廣告。2018年第四季度,該企業收入增長21%,至4.57億美元,每股盈利為39美分,而2017年同期每股虧損3美分。
stand at表示「達特定水平(或數量、高度等)」,英文解釋為「to be at a particular level, amount, height, etc.」舉個🌰:
Interest rates stand at 5%.
利率為5%。
The world record then stood at 13.14 metres.
當時的世界紀錄是13.14米。
In the past two years, the company has opened offices in South Korea, Japan and Indonesia, and continued to expand its presence in India. Ms Ginsberg said the company also had plans to open an office in Singapore in the coming months.
過去兩年間,Match Group在韓國、日本和印度尼西亞都開設了辦事處,並繼續擴大其在印度的業務。金斯伯格表示,該企業還計劃未來數月在新加坡開設一家辦事處。
But it does not operate in China. Ms Ginsberg said the company was hunting for opportunities for either 「incubating or buying」 a Chinese dating app.
但Match Group沒有在中國開展業務。金斯伯格表示,Match Group正在找機會「孵化或收購」一款中國的約會應用。
作動詞,本義是指「 孵(卵),孵化」,英文解釋為「When a bird, etc. incubates its eggs, it keeps them warm until the young come out, and when eggs incubate, they develop to the stage at which the young come out.」
百度百科:企業孵化器,英文為incubator,本義指人工孵化禽蛋的專門設備。後來引入經濟服務,指導這些企業能夠不用或很少借用其它幫助將他們的產品或服務成功地打入市場。
譯者/何黎
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