Reinventing the Millennium

The aroma of tea lingers in the CEO office of Yike 23.

Zhang Chaoyang drank half a cup of tea and looked at the vigorously written "Heng Lung Hero" on the wall for a while. After a long time, he said his first words when he entered the office.

"Is it okay for you to hang this up?"

Fang Zhuo looked back and said with a smile: "Although Henglong is no longer here, Henglong is always in my heart. Those are my lost years."

This calligraphy was brought with it after the headquarters moved from Hang Lung Tower to Lujiazui.

Zhang Chaoyang shook his head and said, "I'm not talking about the front, I'm talking about the two words behind."

Fang Zhuo deservedly said: "Apart from me, who do you know in the industry who is better than me and more worthy of this title?"

Zhang Chaoyang was stunned for a moment, and really thought about it carefully. It seemed that he was better than worse, but in fact he was worse than worse. When he asked...

He looked at Mr. Fang's calmness and said, "Mr. Fang, how does your brain work? You are so smart, why do you need Qi He to be your mouthpiece?"

"There is no evidence and you are going to convict me based on suspicion, right?" Fang Zhuo asked back.

"There was a meeting in your company. It was your general who urged Sogou to cut its business, and it was you who dragged me to the conference room. What do you think I should think?" Zhang Chaoyang laid out what he saw.

"Then you didn't say it face to face in the conference room just now, but now you're in my office?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Zhang Chaoyang was silent for a moment: "What Qi He said is also true, and 'I know' is also true."

"Qi He is in charge of YMS. He is the senior vice president. He has his own ideas. Now I focus more on the final result." Fang Zhuo said, "I'm not like you. Just say Yes or No on Sohu and everything will be settled." Once it’s decided, I won’t give any personal reasons.”

Zhang Chaoyang walked a few steps and said dissatisfied: "You are changing the topic. Fortunately, I am feeling much better now."

Fang Zhuo took a sip of tea and smiled: "Congratulations, the swordsman is back."

Zhang Chaoyang was stunned for a moment when he heard this nickname. "Swordsman" must have happened more than ten years ago. At that time, the "Three Musketeers of the Internet" included himself, Ding Lei, and Wang Zhidong.

It was hard for him not to sigh with emotion: "The Three Musketeers of the Internet, Wang Zhidong has long been submerged in the times, Ding Lei is raising pigs, I stay in Shanghai and don't care about worldly affairs, life is like a dream..."

"Aren't you much better now? And when you ask about world affairs, you deny the decision of the CEO of Sogou. You are so majestic." Fang Zhuo joked.

Zhang Chaoyang ignored the ridicule and thanked him: "I have to thank you and Zhou Xin for this time."

Fang Zhuo replied: "Just thank Zhou Xin. I didn't even know you were still in Shanghai until I came to see you."

Zhang Chaoyang: "..."

He felt that his condition was about to relapse.

After a while, Zhang Chaoyang walked to the floor-to-ceiling window: "Okay, thank you Zhou Xin, he is such a good person."

"What's a good idea?" Fang Zhuo asked casually.

"He is very focused on what he does, he is contented, his family is very happy, his daughter is very cute, he seems to have a lifelong career, and he still has enough money to pursue his own hobbies." Zhang Chaoyang became a little envious as he spoke .

He was in Shanghai during this time, walking around the campus from time to time and hanging out at the Yike Research Center. He also made friends with Zhou Xin and became good friends who went fishing together. His mental state really improved a lot.

Fang Zhuo thought about it and realized that Zhou Xin was indeed a winner in life and said, "Verbal thanks are too pale. He has a charity fund named after his daughter. Please express your gratitude."

"Mr. Fang, it's not easy for you to ask for money so directly." Zhang Chaoyang mentioned another point, "The yacht he uses for fishing still belongs to me."

"Being happy alone is not as good as being happy with everyone. If you achieve it, you can help the world. I think, brother Chaoyang, you are willing to let Sogou encourage Duji this time. This is a kind of benefit." Fang Zhuo spoke highly of Zhang Chaoyang's work. The first thing I said was, "Brother Chaoyang, you are a good person."

Zhang Chaoyang walked a few steps to his desk, casually opened a document from the pile, and said, "He's just a good person, not a good CEO, right?"

"If we talk about this, Mr. Zhang, you are a good man." Fang Zhuo changed his title and added another word.

To be honest, he had heard a lot about Zhang Chaoyang's management style at Sohu. The Yes/No he just said was a reaction to his actions. Sohu's decision-making for a long time required Zhang Chaoyang's approval. Those who followed his words were A good person is a bad person.

Including Wang Xiaochuan's dismissal and appointment, it also reflects the problems existing within the company in disguise.

However, in the past few years, he has become a shadow CEO again, saying that he will not ask questions anymore.

The transition from the Internet to the mobile Internet is a very critical time, and the absence of this moment is probably an important reason why Sohu is absent in the industry.

"Good old man, it's easier for you to control Sogou from the air, right?" Zhang Chaoyang still had some emotion in his words.

"Mr. Zhang, I have always been a very honest person. This time, Qi He is responsible for leading the competition for Du Ji. I only look at the final result." Fang Zhuo emphasized again and said, "Just like you saw before No matter what is in front of you, I will also look at what is in front of me and then make a decision."

He continued: "The search business model where Sogou is located is a very mature business model. From this point of view, Qi He's words are very reasonable. If it is not broken, it will not be established."

Zhang Chaoyang put down the document in his hand, picked up the second document, and said, "When I first walked into your office, I thought to myself, you guys are really unreasonable. You are fighting against your opponents as well as against your own people."

"But I have learned one thing, to reconcile with myself. Therefore, Sogou is probably not one of your own, so it is not surprising to take action."

Fang Zhuo smiled and said: "Mr. Zhang, Qi He mainly wants to promote competition with Duji. This is not just related to Sogou, but Duji has had a lot of friction with us during this period. To capture the thief first, capture the king. Don’t think too much, um, just pay attention to your mentality.”

"You just said you were honest, but you just go round and round when talking." Zhang Chaoyang said dissatisfied.

Fang Zhuo didn't answer immediately. After taking two sips of tea, he said, "Hey, hey, Mr. Zhang, stop scrolling down the documents. The one below is for your Sogou."

Zhang Chaoyang's hand, which was about to go down to take the document, stopped in the air.

He glanced at Mr. Fang and questioned: "You are a person who can't tell the truth from lies."

Fang Zhuo shrugged: "It's easy. If you take it down now, open it and take a look, you will know whether I am telling the truth or not, and you will know whether I am being honest or not."

Zhang Chaoyang didn't put his hand down for a long time.

In the end, he gave up, took back his hand, shook his head and said, "Forget it, it doesn't matter if it's true or not, and it doesn't matter if it's honest or not. The world is so bad, so just let it be, Hero Henglong."

Fang Zhuo smiled and said: "You are such a sensitive person, so let's just do it. Break what should be smashed, cooperate where there should be cooperation, and push forward where there should be. If Sogou really cannot become a mobile app, I think let it be Taking shelter under a giant is also a good way out."

Zhang Chaoyang drank the last of the tea in one gulp and felt it was time to return to the capital.

That evening, the head of Sohu and the CEO of Sogou took a plane together. On the way, they continued to listen to the suggestions and desired competition from Yike. No matter how hard they pushed, since they had chosen a direction, they would naturally move forward.

Sogou's movements are an important part of Yike's counterattack against Duji.

As the leader this time, Qi He decided to delay the ignition of public opinion after much consideration, because Sogou needed to correct the next promotion, and because the special investigation by the media still took time.

It’s not that the media doesn’t have enough time to find things, but… there are too many things that can be found.

A simple search will fill the table with cases.

Upon closer inspection, the barbaric growth of the industry is shocking.

Correspondingly, local protection may also be involved, so this kind of special report requires even more attention and rigor.

After sorting out the relevant situation, Qi He reported it to his boss again, intending to push the time to the end of October, but received a clear instruction - to push it to after November 7.

He was a little puzzled, and speculated whether the boss had other arrangements. When they met, he asked for answers in person, and then learned the answer.

"It's been postponed anyway. I want to see the results of this election in the United States."

Qi He immediately felt ashamed. The boss's concerns were different from his own. He really didn't seem to care much about the outcome of his competition with Duji this time.

But then I thought about it, maybe it was because the boss was very confident in himself.

Qi He arranged many things and only waited for a serious exchange with his friends and businessmen.

…

With the company becoming the default search engine for Samsung, Apple and other brands, Duji is very satisfied with the competition in the mobile market.

Although a lot of money was spent, the results were smooth.

At the same time, since the action against Sogou has been stepped up, of course it must be completed in one battle.

As one of the people in charge this time, Vice President Lu Zhendong even persuaded Robin to participate in cooperation negotiations with UC Browser, the largest mobile browser.

UC Browser also competes with Yike, because the latter launched its own "Jianyou" browser, which has been well received by many users.

Different from the mainstream browser styles on the current market, "Jianyou" does not add, but subtracts. It only returns to the essential entry functions, and there are even no ads.

It is unclear whether advertisements will appear in the follow-up of "Jianyou", but according to Yike's family and business, if this situation continues, it will be really stressful.

Thanks to the competitive relationship between Yike and UC, Duji negotiated very smoothly with the other party and finalized the main cooperation on the default search engine and the hidden Sogou option.

After concluding the negotiation with UC, Li Yanhong couldn't help but lament the success of this time: "It's also because Yike has too much business. This time it was all because of the conflict between UC and it that the cooperation was quickly promoted."

This year, UC Browser has captured 51.2% of the domestic market share, followed closely by the sudden rise of Yike “Jianyou” with 21.9%.

The gap between the two is very big, but the latter has only been launched for more than a year and is growing very fast.

In addition, there is another point that irritates UC. Yike and the YMS mobile phone manufacturers it leads have ended their software pre-installation cooperation with UC and switched to installing "Jianyou". This is also a major reason for its rapid growth.

Software pre-installation is the main tool for many software promotions. It means paying mobile phone manufacturers to install the apps in advance when they leave the factory. The effect is very good.

The Yike department cut off this cooperation, and UC was both angry and shocked. Therefore, it also loved Sogou and was willing to fulfill Duji's move.

Just as Li Yanhong sighed, he suddenly discovered a problem. It's not right. Just saying that Yike has too many businesses, Duji also launched a mobile browser last year, which also competes with UC.

Duji Browser was launched in June last year.

He glanced at the people next to him and found that their faces were a little strange. They probably felt embarrassed when they heard that "we have a lot of business, but we just don't have a sense of presence."

Lu Zhendong saw that the situation was a little cold and quickly said: "Yike, under the banner of 'simple and beautiful', often pushes us here and there. This finally has a backlash. As long as we pretend to compete with Yike, most of us will cooperate." It’s all going well.”

Duji's mobile strategy not only targets hardware manufacturers, but also naturally involves a large number of software manufacturers, which involves the unique positioning of YMS.

In addition, advertisers are also quite disgusted with the existence of Yike, which is also a resource point for Duji to exert influence on the industry.

From hardware to software to financial sponsors, Lu Zhendong's contact and cooperation feel quite smooth.

Li Yanhong nodded. He attached great importance to this competition against Yike Ecology.

Although the company's strategic transformation is considered, search revenue is a cash cow. Only when the source of funds is healthy enough can it support the attempts and development of many businesses.

Lu Zhendong said confidently: "Yike has made public outrage. Mobile phones are its core business and cannot be touched. At the very least, as long as we put our efforts into this search, its defeat will be over."

As soon as the giant exerts its strength, defeat is imminent.

The industry is one-stop, so how can we lose?

…

On November 6, Meilijian re-elected its leader.

The result this time was not unexpected. The original leader defeated his opponent with a high vote of 303 electoral votes.

At a time when many media outlets were reporting on this important current news, Bingxin, which had suspended its listing on Nasdaq in the middle of the year, quietly submitted a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and announced that it would restart the listing process.

Austin, a good friend of Meilijian and a close friend of many people, immediately called Mr. Fang after learning the news to ask about the situation.

"16 billion! 16 billion! This time there is only a valuation of 16 billion US dollars, let alone 210, let alone 200, not even 180!"

"Who's the reason? Think about it!"

"Losing money, I have invested so much money for so long, and now this is the result! You people are really ungrateful!"

“When I’m sharing money, I stretch out my hand, but when I’m trying to lend my strength, it’s useless!”

Fang Zhuo did not act like a good guy this time, and chose to announce the valuation figures of this listing on this phone call, angrily scolded his good friends for their incompetence, and lamented the huge losses caused by such a long investment.

In the middle of the year, Bingxin was expected to be listed on Nasdaq with a valuation of US$21 billion. In less than half a year, the target was adjusted to US$16 billion, a shrinkage of US$5 billion.

This figure is not as high as Bingxin’s last round valuation of US$18 billion, and it is undoubtedly a bleeding listing.

Anyway, if you make less, you will lose. Some people must think so.