俄罗斯互联网投资商Yuri Milner因其独到的投资眼光而远近驰名。最近他要成立自己的社交网站公司Mail.ru的消息一度成为头版头条。在旧金山Web 2.0峰会上，Milner谈论了自己的投资策略。

Yuri Milner

毫无疑问，Milner可谓是社交网络的“牛人”，他的数字天空技术投资集团（Digital Sky Technologies）持有有Facebook公司近10%的股份，同时也在交易网站Groupon和社交游戏公司Zynga占有少量股份。然而，Milner指出自己的投资原则是绝不加入任何公司的董事会，避免遭受各种潜在利益斗争。尽管很难令人信服，Milner声称自己从未向Facebook或Groupon的首席执行官Mark Zuckerberg或Andrew Mason提过任何建议。

实际上，Milner表示反而是人们偶尔会给他建议。“类似不要投资Twitter？”会议主持John Battelle刺探地问，Milner回答“有时候吧”，并指出Zuckerberg和Mason的建议往往“十分重要”。

很显然，Twitter并不在Milner庞大的社交投资组合之中，对此，Milner本人表示社交媒介公司Twitter实际上十分符合自己的投资喜好——社交元素，上亿资产——但他并没有解释自己为什么不投资Twitter。

Milner指出自己的大部分投资都是通过二手交易，购买公司员工或投资商拥有的私人股份。Milner表示通过这类渠道掌握的股票大概占80%，这为Facebook等还未上市的公司保留了一些空间。

Milner表示：“我们主要对公司进行晚期投资，减轻公司的流动性压力，帮助公司继续发展，开发出更好的产品。”

另外，Milner还表示自己“很喜欢”电影《The Social Network 》。这部电影戏剧化地描述了Zuckerberg早年如何创建Facebook，并恰当地展示了这位年轻CEO的形象。

Milner指出自己之所以喜欢这部电影是因为他相信，随着互联网的崛起，像Zuckerberg这样的数学大师未来一定能在全球的舞台上有所建树。他还设想在未来的几年里，Facebook社交网站平台可能还会开发人工智能。

现在，人们在Facebook或Twitter等社交网站互相交流信息。谷歌的搜索技术则利用机器为人们将信息分门别类。Milner认为两大趋势的结合将最终体现在人工智能上，并运用于Facebook。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Russian internet investor Yuri Milner is famous for his splashy investments in social companies and recently made headlines with the public offering of his own social networking company Mail.ru. Speaking on stage at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco just now, Milner talked about his investment strategies.

It’s no secret that he’s bullish on social. Milner’s Digital Sky Technologies holds a near-10% stake in Facebook, and smaller stakes in deal site Groupon and social games company Zynga. But Milner said it’s his principle to never join the boards of any of his investments to avoid potential conflicts of interest. And as hard as it is to believe, he claims that he doesn’t even offer informal advice to Facebook or Groupon’s respective chief executives Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew Mason.

In fact, he said they sometimes advise him. “Like, don’t invest in Twitter?” prodded conference host John Battelle. “Sometimes,” was Milner’s reply, who added that Zuckerberg’s and Mason’s advice was “very valuable.”
Twitter is conspicuously missing from Milner’s social portfolio. Milner himself said that the social media company fits the type of company he would invest in — social, billion-dollar valuation — but would not comment on why he hasn’t invested yet in Twitter.

Milner talked about how his investments are mainly done through secondary transactions, buying privately held shares from employees and investors. He said 80% of his transactions are secondary. This is done to give companies who don’t want to go public yet, like Facebook, some breathing room.

“Our role as a late-stage fund is to come in and take the liquidity pressure off the table so the companies can still grow and develop the product for another few years.”

Another surprise admission from Milner: he liked The Social Network “a lot.” The film tells the fictionalized story of Zuckerberg’s early years of founding Facebook and gives a less-than-flattering portrayal of the young CEO.

Milner explained that he liked the film because he believes that with the rise of the internet and the increasing flow of data, mathematicians like Zuckerberg will become prominent players on the global stage in the future. He even thinks that artificial intelligence could develop out of the Facebook platform over the next few years.

Currently, friends and contacts on Facebook and Twitter filter information for you on social networks, sharing links and content they think is interesting or valuable. Google’s search technology uses machines to sort information for you. Milner thinks a convergence of those two trends, resulting in AI, could emerge on Facebook. （Source：Forbes）