Toko-Tok
Will TikTok’s GoTo gambit save its Indonesian business?
TikTok联姻GoTo能否拯救其印尼业务？
How the video app is navigating around a digital shakedown
这个视频应用如何应对数字业监管震荡
The more the world’s youngsters love TikTok’s viral videos, the more their elected elders hate the app. They decry it for supposedly corroding young minds and, worse, for its links to China, home to its parent company, ByteDance. Many in America want to ban it. India already has. In October Indonesia, another big and promising market, shut down TikTok’s fledgling but lucrative sideline of selling goods via its videos, by requiring social-media firms to obtain an e-commerce licence—with no guarantee of success.
全球年轻人越爱看TikTok上的爆红视频，他们国家掌权的长辈们就越憎恶这个应用。他们谴责它可能侵蚀年轻人的思想，更严重的是，还谴责它与中国的关联，因为其母公司字节跳动来自中国。美国的许多政客想把它禁掉。印度已经这样做了。去年10月，另一个潜力大市场印尼规定社交媒体公司须获得许可（并不保证能成功获批）方可开启电子商务交易，从而叫停了TikTok新生但利润丰厚的视频带货业务。
- decry （公开）谴责，（强烈）批评
- fledgling 本义指“（刚会飞的）幼鸟”，引申指“初出茅庐的人、无经验的组织、新体系”
- lucrative 表示“赚大钱的、获利多的”，强调生意、交易、职位或活动等带来大量回报或利润，或者企业、事业等的成功超出最初的期望（拓展学习：小词详解 | lucrative）
- sideline 表示“副业、兼职工作”，尤指为了赚取额外收入而在主职以外开展的活动（拓展学习：单词双拼 | 这份 sideline 很赚钱）
Such obstacles have forced TikTok to act strategically, for instance by moving its global headquarters to Singapore and hiring a Singaporean chief executive, which has put distance between it and its Chinese parent. In another canny move, on December 11th it announced that it was paying $840m for a 75% stake in Tokopedia, the e-commerce arm of GoTo, an Indonesian tech conglomerate. It has also pledged to invest $1.5bn in the tie-up.
这些障碍迫使TikTok采取战略行动，例如将其全球总部迁至新加坡，并聘请了一位新加坡籍的首席执行官，从而与中国母公司拉开距离。它还使出了另一个精明的招数，于12月11日宣布将支付8.4亿美元收购印尼科技企业集团GoTo旗下电商平台Tokopedia75%的股份。它还承诺将在这次合作中投资15亿美元。
- canny 表示“精明谨慎的、老谋深算的”，主要指在商业、政治、金融、财务等方面思维敏捷、细心谨慎并具有或表现出良好的判断力的，不容易上当受骗，有时含有自私甚至是狡诈的意味（拓展学习：小词详解 | canny）
- conglomerate 联合大公司、企业集团；合成物、组合物、聚合物；砾岩
The deal is something of a shotgun marriage, but it benefits both sides. GoTo, which has struggled to turn a profit in recent years, will no longer need to subsidise its loss-making retail arm. TikTok, for its part, will be allowed to restart its e-commerce operations. Sales on TikTok’s app will be fulfilled by Tokopedia’s logistics network (though, like all e-merchants in Indonesia, it must now charge minimum prices for products made abroad).
这笔交易有点像是一场无奈的联姻，但对双方都有利。近年来一直难以盈利的GoTo将不再需要贴补亏损的零售业务。而TikTok将获准重新启动其电商业务。TikTok平台上的销售将由Tokopedia的物流网络履行（尽管与印尼的所有电商一样，它现在必须对国外制造的产品限定最低价格）。
