Reinventing the Millennium

The Spring Festival has passed and the Year of the Monkey has arrived.

2004, the Year of the Monkey, belongs to the Jiashen Monkey. The Jiazi Na sound table represents the spring water, the heavenly stem is Jia, the five elements should be wood, the earthly branches should be Shen, and the five elements should be metal.

Therefore, this year's fortune will be inexhaustible, and should be stable and developed.

Fang Xingdong, the president of Blog China, believed this, which led many people in the company to believe this too. Everyone's understanding of the company this year is to develop rapidly and steadily.

Since its establishment in 2002, Blog China has developed rapidly. Not only has the number of users increased rapidly, but the company's employee size has also increased from less than 40 to nearly 400 now.

In particular, in January, before the Chinese New Year, an investment intention worth tens of millions was finalized, which made everyone in the company very excited.

President Fang Xingdong delivered a speech with high spirits on the stage of the annual meeting.

"Sina, Sohu, NetEase, their portals are web 1.0."

"Our blog is web2.0! It will open a new era!"

“We will create millions of free blogs and thousands of columnists within a year!”

"Netizens are not just objects on the Internet, they must become subjects. This is the general trend in the future!"

"Just as the people create history, the people should also become the main body online. This is the real new media!"

"Sina is just the online version of traditional media. We must defeat it just like Sina defeated traditional media."

“Catch up with Sina within three years!”

Fang Xingdong’s words at the annual meeting were impassioned and he proposed specific goals for the year and medium-term vision.

——Thousands of columnists and millions of freelance bloggers.

——Catch up with Sina within three years.

All employees at Blog China were encouraged and felt that the president’s judgment on Internet trends was very reasonable.

As a content phenomenon that attracts more and more attention on the Internet, Blog China Fang Xingdong’s words have also reached the ears of the management and employees of other websites and projects. The general feeling is that Blog China is indeed developing rapidly and is very courageous in targeting Sina.

As for the analysis of Fang Xingdong’s speech, many people found it interesting and worthy of analysis after seeing the text version.

As for Sina being regarded as a target, in fact, when I heard such a thing, I didn't feel any fluctuation in my heart. Previously, TOM Network in the wireless market also said that it would catch up with Sina. As a leader in the Internet industry, it is not destined to be overtaken... …

However, as the first day of the Lunar New Year passed, Sina's internal project team, which had been preparing for some time, was officially launched. It worked overtime to launch the Sina Blog, becoming the first portal to launch a professional website.

Along with Sina's brazen launch, an open letter from Sina's internal chairman also spread from the inside out.

Mr. Fang Zhuo, the newly crowned richest man in Mainland China and chairman of Sina, only said one sentence in the open letter.

——Mr. Fang is right, the people should become the main body of the Internet and listen to him.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Sina came and the Blog went online.

The vast majority of Blog China's employees were on annual leave. When Fang Xingdong and the management heard the news from Sina, they immediately began to issue emergency notifications to resume work and actively respond to the challenges from industry giants.

Fang Xingdong also wanted to publish an open letter, but he refrained from posting it because of the bad language that would affect his image.

But he knew clearly that Mr. Xiao Fang had definitely made a lot of preparations in advance, and Sina this time was definitely coming with a fierce force.

…

Sina raided Blog China, and Mr. Fang declared war on Mr. Fang.

Along with Mr. Xiao Fang’s impressive open letter as always, Sina announced its second move on the third day of the new year.

——Formally acquired Foxmail software and related intellectual property rights, and will work with Mr. Zhang Xiaolong, the founder of Foxmail, and 20 Foxmail team members to continue to provide free and easy-to-use email for users.

It is rumored that the purchase price is around 40 million.

Currently, NetEase still occupies the largest market share in the field of email. Sina's efforts in 2003 did not shake NetEase's position. Therefore, industry insiders analyzed that this situation prompted Sina to challenge its old rival NetEase through acquisitions.

The news of the acquisition was released on Sina at nine o'clock in the morning, and the relevant information spread at noon. After all, 21 people from Foxmail were involved, so it was difficult to completely keep the news.

One thing that can be confirmed is that the acquisition of Sina and Foxmail had instructions from Sina Chairman Fang Zhuo.

An employee revealed that the newly-minted richest man in Mainland China personally called Zhang Xiaolong a year ago. The specific content is not known. Judging from the results, it is likely to greatly promote the progress of the acquisition.

The news about the third grade of junior high school was discussed by many Internet people and the blogs of the second grade of junior high school. However, the discussion only lasted one afternoon, and Sina posted a new news in the evening.

——The official acquisition of 263 Mailbox will change the service strategy of 263 Mailbox, from the original fee to free, and continue to provide high-quality services.

Within half a day, another email address was taken down!

263 Mailbox once claimed to have 20 million users, but its users have dropped sharply due to the switch to charging. However, its corporate email service still has a pretty good market, and its brand influence has been retained to some extent.

When 263 announced charges, it was Sina who was the first to respond tit-for-tat with free services. It can be said that Sina was largely responsible for the sharp decline in 263 users.

Therefore, Sina's acquisition of 263 shocked the industry even more.

Two acquisitions in one day!

Get Foxmail first, then 263 mailbox!

At the beginning of the new year, most Internet companies are on normal annual vacation. Sina chose this opportunity to pull the trigger of competition, and the sound of gunshots made all practitioners look at it.

Such continuous action, so ambitious!

Sina, which has been stable for a whole year, seems to have become more impactful with the return of the chairman from Nasdaq!

Sina was so impatient that it did not wait for the third day of junior high school to pass, and immediately posted notifications on the user interfaces of Sina, Foxmail, and 263 mailboxes.

"Sina's mailbox brand has been fully expanded to 2G, and the attachment loading capacity has been expanded to 20M. It will continue to provide the best user experience for the majority of users and will create a new standard in the email market."

One sentence to create a new standard in the email market set off the industry!

The undisputed leader in the email market is NetEase 163. Moreover, NetEase has surpassed Sina in market value due to its outstanding performance in games. Why do you dare to be so radical?

He is the richest man in Mainland China because of the successful listing of Yike, not you Sina!

Many NetEase employees who work temporary overtime are silently complaining in their hearts. They are all old rivals. Why are you making a fool of yourself? There is no suitable way to make money in the email market. What's the point of openly choosing someone in the third grade of junior high school? Might as well take a good vacation...

Despite this, NetEase also announced the upgrade of its own mailbox the next day to fully compete with Sina's new actions. As the leader in the email market, it only needs to keep the same pace as the second place.

On the same day, major email brands expanded their capacity and actively prepared for the war.

The feeling of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year has not faded away yet, and the world of the Internet has become lively.