新华网2月24日电 据美国科技博客Gizmodo报道，你可能觉得，为了一笔160亿美元的生意而改变旅行计划没什么，那么亿万富翁会怎么做呢？WhatsApp联合创始人简·库姆说，与Facebook在19日签订协议是因为他用里程换的机票无法改签。
Beacon Reader在热门旅行论坛Flyertalk上发现了这个神奇的小故事：库姆说他老早就用里程积分换了一张去巴塞罗那参加移动世界大会的机票。“如果能给公司省钱，我是会用里程换机票的。”
但是上周WhatsApp和Facebook的交易被宣布的时候，他意识到有可能无法在航班起飞之前签订协议：
当延期签字的风险变成现实的时候，我说：“如果我们不在星期三签字，那么交易可能就没法完成了。我有一张用里程换的机票，周四飞往巴塞罗那，这张机票基本没法退票，改签也不太可能。所以要么在周三签字，要么什么都没有。”
……因此科技史上最大的一笔并购交易就围绕一张M&M公司的奖励机票而展开了。
我们想着，完成这么一大笔交易，库姆肯定会大肆庆祝一番，结果没想到他只想着不给汉莎航空交改签费而已。
译者：林杉
百度新闻与新华网国际频道合作稿件，转载请注明出处。
The $16 Billion WhatsApp Sale Was Planned Around a Reward Miles Flight
You'd think that a $16 billion business deal would be a good reason to change your travel plans—after all, what's it to a billionaire? But according to WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, finalizing the Facebook sale was organized around a plane ticket he couldn't change because it was booked with rewards points.
In an amazing little anecdote on the popular travel forum Flyertalk—uncovered today by Beacon Reader—Koum explains that he had booked his ticket to Mobile Congress Week in Barcelona far in advance using miles. "I prefer to fly using miles when I can to save company money," he reasons.
But when the deal between WhatsApp and Facebook was announced last week, he realized there was a chance he wouldn't be able to sign the contract before his flight to Spain departed:
When the risk of the delay became real, I said: "if we don't get it done on wednesday, it probably wont get done. I have tickets on thursday to fly out to Barcelona which I bought with miles and they are not easily refundable or even possible to change. this has to be done by wednesday or else!!!"
... And so one of the biggest deals in tech history had to be scheduled around my M&M award ticket :)
So while we might have imagined Koum celebrating the deal by driving into a pool of golden coins or swimming around in a vat of Moet, he was actually just trying to avoid getting needled with a Lufthansa change fee.
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