Reinventing the Millennium

September 3rd, Monday.

Sina CEO Wang Yan walked into the newly decorated president's office. When he saw President Fang making a phone call, he put down the documents in his hands, sat on the sofa and poured himself a cup of tea.

Wang Yan sipped her tea and looked at the newspaper on the coffee table that had obviously been read, a little funny.

The pages of these newspapers are all about Sina reports.

Some are reviewing the battle for control, some are worried about Sina's future development, some are reprimanding Fang Zhuo for a hostile takeover, and some are speculating on insider trading... Anyway, there are all these, and it's exciting to watch.

"Brother Wang, what's going on?" Fang Zhuo put away his phone and asked the CEO who came in.

Wang Yan was not in a hurry, picked out a newspaper and said with a smile: "Mr. Fang, this report lists you as the Internet representative of the year. You will be attending the China Business Leaders Annual Meeting next week."

Fang Zhuo shook his head: "I saw it, there are Zhang Chaoyang and others, they are all suffering, haha, the market value of the listed companies has dropped by 90%, and the unlisted companies are wondering where to make money all day long."

"The company's situation here may only be as good as a penguin's, but Ma Huateng is under a lot of pressure. His money burning in recent years has left a psychological shadow."

Wang Yan nodded, Penguin is indeed developing very well, and their portal has also gained some scale. This is a future competitor.

"Mr. Fang, you are going to New York in the middle of the year, right?"

"Well, there is an important negotiation with Yi Ke. I'm afraid I will have to stay for ten days and a half. Logically speaking, I have just taken over Sina, so this is not good." Fang Zhuo looked at Wang Yan, "Fortunately, Brother Wang is here , I’m still very relieved.”

Wang Yan slandered a few words and asked about the itinerary: "Are you going to New York after the annual leaders' meeting?"

"After the meeting, I will go back to Shanghai first. Yike has sponsored a scholarship at Jiaotong University. This is the first year for me to show up." After Fang Zhuo said this, a big smile appeared on his face and he said proudly, "My sister did well in the exam this year and was admitted to Jiaotong University. She just happened to go back and give her some advice."

Wang Yan didn't feel anything. He was from the University of Paris, and he was usually surrounded by people who had restored diplomatic relations with the Qing Dynasty. He said in a perfunctory manner: "Congratulations, it's great."

Fang Zhuo laughed "hehe" twice, feeling very happy.

The two chatted for a few more words, and the atmosphere in the office was very relaxed.

Wang Yan felt that the heat was enough, so he mentioned the business of his trip and said as casually as possible: "Mr. Fang, I heard that you asked about the situation of Sina.com and want to make some changes to the website?"

"Yes." Fang Zhuo said, "The company's third-quarter financial report will be released at the end of September, which will basically turn losses into profits. We will also do some new things on our website to see if it can stimulate the stock price in the secondary market."

Three things to do when a new official takes office!

Wang Yan can understand this. He truly realized the power of a CEO after the extraordinary shareholders' meeting, and also made some similar actions in the department. But Fang Zhuo is different. Sina.com is the foundation of Sina...

If this is done randomly...

Wang Yan doesn’t want to be evaluated by future generations as “the CEO who led to the company’s decline after the power struggle at Sina.”

"Mr. Fang, please be careful when making changes to the website," he advised. "Our Sina hotline has been able to inject enough momentum. This is a good thing and a new trend. After all, Sina is the main business that everyone has been accustomed to in the past few years."

Fang Zhuo's face turned serious.

He asked a little sensitively: "Is this what you mean?"

Just as Wang Yan was about to speak, he suddenly realized the second half of the question - is this what you meant or what you meant?

He was shocked and replied: "I heard about this and came to ask, but no one else came to me to respond."

"What kind of company is Sina?" Fang Zhuo nodded slightly and said seriously, "It is a content-driven company. The reason why Sina hotline can develop revenue so quickly is because it can send us messages through the operator's text messages. Push good content to users.”

"The Internet is developing too fast. Let alone a year, it can be completely transformed in half a year or a few months, especially at this stage."

"Content has two sides, one is to obtain good content, which Sina has always been good at, and the other is to receive it from users."

Fang Zhuo explained his intention without saying a word: "I don't want to take a drastic action against Sina, but I want to improve the user aspect."

“When users see the content, their reactions, thoughts, and tendencies, Sina has room for improvement.”

"I talked to a few deputy directors the day before yesterday, and they still agreed with my point of view. Sina is now making a small attempt to change the comment area to a 'post' function."

"If the effect is really bad, we will change it back immediately."

Fang Zhuo has a low profile. Regarding the current portals, he found that they were generally rough before he had any interest in Sina. The once-famous "NetEase Post" has not yet been launched.

However, "NetEase Posts" is not only a functional promotion, but also requires more product design and community adjustments, which should be determined based on the actual situation.

Now, everyone is focusing on the front end, and user experience has not been paid attention to. This is an opportunity to further expand Sina's brand position.

"In this way..." Wang Yan hesitated, hearing Mr. Fang's firm attitude, and had to say, "Mr. Fang, be careful. Many people are watching Sina now."

"That's just a good time to show them Sina's new scene." Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Wang Yan stopped saying anything and started thinking about how to make this change together.

The president and CEO of Sina discussed the issue of mid- and high-level positions for a while. This aspect involved Duan Yongji's original supporters, but this time was different from before. It is better to maintain a conciliatory attitude when the overall situation has been decided.

In the first week of September, Sina's control changed hands and there was not much fluctuation. The outside world's curiosity about this portal and the popular speculation about the power gradually faded away.

Sina's internal structure remains unchanged, and Fang Zhuo still serves as president of Sina Hotline even after taking the position of president of Sina, showing his strong support for this new business.

Sina Hotline is not ashamed either. It has rapidly brought a large amount of revenue to Sina from China Mobile and China Unicom. However, compared to TOM Network, which has a long-established layout, Sina still only ranks second in the market.

At the same time, Sohu and NetEase have also increased their emphasis on wireless value-added services.

On September 13, the day before the China Business Leaders Annual Meeting, Mr. Fang Zhuo, the new president of Sina, published an open letter to all employees within the company.

“During this period, Sina’s internal and external environment has undergone great changes.”

"Externally, the Internet is gradually recovering, new revenue businesses have been vigorously expanded, and good results have been achieved. This quarter is confirmed to turn losses into profits."

"Internally, the company has ushered in a new management team, which will fully cooperate at the strategic and executive levels."

"Sina's goal is to provide users with the best information content and give users the best user experience."

“Let’s not go down the coy cross-media path.”

“We at Sina are the new media in the Internet era.”

"To all Sina employees, I will face the challenges of the new era together with you."

"I firmly believe that together we can make history."

An open letter from the new president spread throughout the company, sparking tremendous discussion and support.

Everyone likes the new president's confidence, passion, and handsomeness, and everyone supports the new president's business, goals, and strategies.

Of course, this has a little to do with the 20% salary increase he announced at the same time.

Why the salary increase?

Sina Hotline is making money.

If you don’t make money to yourself, who else can you give it to?

As for the management's small voices in this regard, Fang Zhuo suppressed them with the promise that "if the options in your hands do not satisfy you by the end of the year, I will resign immediately."

Satisfaction or dissatisfaction is a subjective feeling. No one can take this seriously to force the president to resign. After all, he is still the major shareholder.

But there must be some improvement in the stock price to meet this statement, right?

The release date of Sina's third quarter financial report is not far away, and many people are looking forward to the reaction of the secondary market.

On September 14th, the 2002 China Business Leaders Annual Meeting was held in Beijing. It was organized by China Entrepreneur Magazine.

This is the first year it has been held, and the magazine has put a lot of effort into inviting many important guests to attend.

For example, the famous economist Mao Yushi, the famous economist Wu Jinglian, the dean of Tsinghua SEM Zhao Chunjun, and the president of the China Association for Economic Reform Gao Shangquan.

There are also representatives of domestic enterprises, including Lenovo Liu Chuanzhi, Fosun Guo Guangchang, ZTE Hou Weigui, TCL Li Dongsheng, Alibaba Jack Ma, Wanda Wang Jianlin, China Merchants Bank President Ma Weihua, etc.

As well as foreign guests, Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei, Morgan Stanley Asia Chairman Stephen Roach, Spanish IE Business School Dean Santiago Iniguez de Ozono, etc.

It can be said that the more than 100 confirmed guests are all prominent business leaders in various industries.

Sina had originally determined that Duan Yongji would be the representative to attend. Unexpectedly, Duan Yongji was fired before it was time to hold the event, so it had to be replaced by the new president Fang Zhuo.

However, after the organizer learned of this situation, they called Duan Yongji to ask if he would participate as the president of Stone Group, but the latter declined politely.

Duan Yongji didn't want to see Fang Zhuo's young face for a while.

The China Business Leaders Annual Meeting will be held on the 15th from 15:00 to 22:00 for guest registration. The opening plenary session will be held the next day, and the leadership class and closing keynote speech will be held on the third day.

Because the location is in the capital, Fangzhuo is very convenient.

There was an incident when he was signing in. The receptionist didn't even know the president of Sina, who has been in a whirlwind of public opinion recently. When Fang Zhuo was about to take out his ID card, Ma Huateng came over to sign in and confirmed the identity of the new president of Sina.

"Mr. Fang, belated congratulations."

Ma Huateng walked in the banquet hall, picked up a glass of wine and said with a smile.

"Hey, Pony, do you also know that my sister has been admitted to Jiaotong University?" Fang Zhuo also took a glass of wine, "I'll give you one."

Ma Huateng drank a glass of wine in astonishment.

"Just kidding, it's been a while since the CEO of Sina passed by." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "There's no need to mention it again, and don't ask me what I know or don't know."

Since becoming the president of Sina, Fang Zhuo has received many phone calls and many curious inquiries.

Ma Huateng smiled slightly: "I saw the open letter you sent yesterday. The formulation is very interesting. Is Sina going to become a new media?"

The exploration of the Internet always requires a process. The "cross-media" mentioned in the open letter to be abandoned was the strategy of former president Mao Daolin. Although it was an inheritance of rights on the surface, the original policy was still suspended.

The cooperation between Sina and Sunshine Culture is part of "cross-media" and is a union of the Internet and traditional media.

Now, as the cooperation between the two has failed, Sina has called out the slogan of being a new media in the Internet era. This formulation is quite inspiring.

Many people who follow Sina's situation find it very novel.

"Portals have more information, faster responses, and deeper interactions. There is no need to think that traditional ones are better." Fang Zhuo said eloquently, "Tradition is good as long as tradition is good, and Internet media also has its own advantages. Currently, stage, the latter still needs to expand based on itself.”

Ma Huateng thought thoughtfully, Tencent is also building portals, but its scale and influence are far less than those of the three major portals.

In particular, the current TOM network shouts a slogan, they want to be the fourth largest portal website in the country.

"Pony, what do you think?" Fang Zhuo took a sip of wine and asked.

Ma Huateng nodded immediately: "Mr. Fang is the president of the largest portal website. Of course you are right."

Fang Zhuo smiled: "How about our cooperation?"

Ma Huateng hesitated for a moment and declined without even listening to the content: "Tencent has to focus on its own business now."

He can probably guess what Mr. Fang wants to say about cooperation.

"So decisive? So cautious?" Fang Zhuo was dumbfounded, "Can I still harm you?"

"It's not that I'm afraid that Mr. Fang will harm me, but that I'm afraid that Mr. Fang will tempt Tencent to move in a new direction. The instant messaging business still needs to be consolidated. There will definitely be opportunities for cooperation in the future." Ma Huateng explained seriously.

Fang Zhuo shrugged and asked a meeting question: "What will you say on stage tomorrow? Is it globalization or corporate personality?"

The theme of this year's annual leadership conference is globalization and Chinese corporate identity, and Fang Zhuoyou was invited to speak on the stage.

Ma Huateng shook his head and gave Fang Zhuo an unexpected answer: "I was not invited to give a speech. I will study in the audience tomorrow."

"..."

Fang Zhuo was really surprised.

What do the organizers think? Tencent has developed quite rapidly this year.

Do they decide who takes the stage based on their looks?

That's right.

Fang Zhuo shook his head repeatedly.

Just when he was about to comment, Ma Huateng suddenly indicated with his eyes that something was going on behind him.

Fang Zhuo turned around and saw a group of people surrounding another person walking towards him.

His first reaction was that Lao Duan's brothers had come to seek revenge in person.

After a while, I heard a greeting in English.

"Hi, hello, Mr. Fang, I am Nobuyuki Dei from Sony." The man in the middle walked up to introduce himself and shook hands. It was Nobuyuki Dei, CEO of Sony.

Fang Zhuo was surprised to shake hands with the CEO of a company with a market capitalization of tens of billions of dollars and exchange business cards.

Nobuyuki Idei politely expressed his interest in the Yike player and said frankly that it has brought new vitality to the field of music players.

Fang Zhuo's mentality did not drift. Instead, he quickly changed from the president of Sina to the president of Yike with some vigilance. He talked about the problems encountered by Yike, especially the lawsuit with the RIAA in the United States.

The two had a friendly exchange, and people who came with them looked on.

Penguin's Ma Huateng walked out silently. Only then did he remember Mr. Fang's other identity, and felt emotional in his heart. Sony's Nobuyuki Dei, he is a real industry leader.