Two years ago, it looked like Wang Shi would be able to retire on his own terms.
两年前，王石似乎本可以功成身退。
Back then, the founding chairman of China Vanke, the country’s most valuable property company, could look back on an almost 30-year career with few regrets. In addition to building one of China’s most admired corporate brands, he had attained an almost rock-star-like popular following for his personal exploits, which have included summiting the highest mountains on all seven continents and trekking to both the North and South poles.那时的王石，作为中国最有价值的房地产公司万科(China Vanke)的创始人兼董事长，回顾近30年的职业生涯，几乎可以毫无遗憾。除了创建了中国最受尊敬的企业品牌之一，他还以个人壮举——包括成功登上七大洲最高峰，以及徒步抵达北极点和南极点——赢得了摇滚明星一般的大众支持。Uniquely among his China Inc peers, Mr Wang built a business that could not be slotted neatly into either the state or private spheres. While Vanke’s shareholders included large state and private-sector enterprises, until late 2015 none held more than 12 per cent of the company and all were content to let Mr Wang’s management team run it as they saw fit.王石创建了一家不能完全归类为国有或民营的企业，这在中国企业界是独一无二的。虽然万科的股东包括大型国企与民企，但直到2015年底，其股东持股比例无一超过12%，而且全都愿意由王石的管理团队按照其所认为合适的方式来运作万科。Last week Mr Wang, 66, confirmed that he would be leaving Vanke, whose shareholder register now includes a state-owned mass transit group with a 29 per cent stake: Shenzhen Metro, which builds and operates subway systems, will henceforth be Vanke’s dominant owner.上周，66岁的王石证实自己将离开万科。万科现在的股东名册包括持股29%的国有轨道交通集团深圳地铁(Shenzhen Metro)，这家主营建设和运营地铁系统的集团今后将成为万科占主导地位的股东。Vanke’s journey from management-led champion to de facto ward of the state in less than two years was, for Mr Wang, the best of some pretty bad options. He had been on the verge of having to surrender control of his company to an upstart rival who he dismissed as a “barbarian”. But for a corporate boss who appeared to revel in his reputation as a maverick, it is a humbling outcome.万科在不到两年的时间里，从管理层领导的冠军企业，变成实际上受国家监护，对王石来说算是一些糟糕选项里最好的选择。他曾险些不得不将公司控制权交给一个被他鄙弃为“野蛮人”的暴发户竞争对手。但对一个似乎醉心于特立独行者名声的企业老板来说，这是一个屈辱的结果。It is also an outcome that demonstrates, for all the Chinese government’s talk of giving market forces an ever freer hand in the world’s second-largest economy, the still very real limits of Beijing’s tolerance. Vanke is a listed company operating in a sector that is not considered particularly “strategic”, compared to telecommunications or energy. Its shares should be worth whatever a willing buyer is prepared to pay for them. But when just such a buyer emerged intent on acquiring control of Vanke, government regulators decided to intervene.这一结果也表明了北京方面的宽容仍十分有限，尽管此前中国政府一再表示让市场力量在这个全球第二大经济体中越来越自由地发挥作用。万科是一家上市企业，与电信或能源行业相比，其所在行业并不被认为特别具有“战略性”。只要买家愿意出价，其股票就应该值这个价。但就当这样一位买家出现、意图收购万科的控制权时，政府监管机构却决定出手干预。The disappointing denouement of Mr Wang’s career began in the second half of 2015 with the appearance of a then 44-year-old nemesis, Yao Zhenhua, who was as little known as Vanke’s chairman was famous. Mr Yao’s Baoneng Group acquired more than 20 per cent of Vanke’s shares. It was the most dramatic hostile takeover ever attempted in corporate China. In just three weeks in December 2015, Vanke’s share price shot up 71 per cent.王石职业生涯的结局令人失望，这一切始于2015年下半年一位强硬对手的出现，当时44岁的姚振华还远远不如王石那样有名。姚振华的宝能集团(Baoneng Group)收购了万科20%以上股份。这是中国企业史上最戏剧性的敌意收购尝试。万科股价在2015年12月的短短三周内上涨了71%。Like Vanke, Baoneng is based in Shenzhen, the special economic zone bordering Hong Kong, and began life as a property developer. That is where the similarities between the two groups and their warring chairmen end. Vanke stuck to its core business. Baoneng diversified, most notably into the insurance sector, where looser regulations were allowing asset managers to raise enormous sums of money. In the four years through 2015, the premium income of Baoneng’s insurance arm soared 30-fold, from Rmb272m ($38m) to Rmb78bn.与万科一样，宝能也位于毗连香港的经济特区深圳，而且也起步于房地产开发。这是两家集团以及它们相互敌对的董事长之间仅有的相似之处。万科坚持其核心业务。宝能则更为多元化，尤其是进入保险行业，该行业较为宽松的监管使资产管理者能够筹集大量资金。在截至2015年的四年里，宝能旗下保险业务的保费收入增长了近300倍，从2.72亿元人民币（合3800万美元）涨至780亿元人民币。Mr Yao also kept a tight grip on his group. Baoneng’s wealth was his wealth, which the Hurun Report estimated at $1.9bn in 2015 and $17.2bn just a year later.姚振华也牢牢把持着他的集团。宝能的财富就是他个人的财富，《胡润百富榜》(Hurun Report)估计，2015年姚振华个人财富为19亿美元，而仅一年后就达到172亿美元。Mr Wang never parlayed his position as Vanke’s founding chairman into a sizeable — let alone controlling — stake as its business took off in the 1990s. Had he done so, he would have become one of China’s biggest billionaires. So when Mr Yao decided to take a run at Vanke, Mr Wang could only resort to rhetoric and politics. He dismissed Baoneng as “barbarians” and sought government protection.万科的业务在1990年代就已起飞，王石从来没有将自己作为万科创始人兼董事长的地位转化为可观的股份，更不要说控股股份。如果王石这么做了，他应该已成为中国最大的亿万富豪之一。因此，当姚振华决定收购万科股份时，王石只能诉诸于言论和政治。他鄙弃宝能是“野蛮人”，并向政府寻求保护。Vanke’s fate hung in the balance for a year until December 2016, when China’s securities regulator borrowed Mr Wang’s “barbarian” rhetoric in criticising highly leveraged insurance companies and their hunger for acquisitions at home and abroad. Luckily for Mr Wang, his interests had dovetailed with the government’s growing concern about the financial risks building in the insurance industry. Mr Yao was subsequently banned from the sector for alleged violations by Baoneng’s insurance unit, and Shenzhen Metro paid $9.4bn to acquire its blocking stake in Vanke.
万科的命运悬而未决了一年，直到2016年12月中国证券业监管机构借王石“野蛮人”的说法，批评保险公司的高杠杆以及它们对国内外收购的饥渴。王石很幸运，他的利益与政府对保险业金融风险日益增长的担忧相吻合。姚振华随后因宝能旗下保险部门存在违规行为而被禁止从事这一行业，深圳地铁以94亿美元赢得在万科的第一大股东地位。In the end, Mr Wang got the politics right. Unfortunately for his legacy, he will be remembered as much for that as for the business he built.最终，王石正确利用了政治——遗憾的是，就他留下的遗产而言，人们既会记住是他创建了万科，也会记住这一点。