What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 441 Long and Short
Xing Hongyu accepted the job assignment without hesitation.

He had already foreseen the future of Silicon Carbon Data Company and preferred to work as a temporary employee at Silicon Carbon Group. Now that he had the opportunity to showcase his talents, he naturally felt obligated to take it upon himself.

However, Xing Hongyu really didn't expect that Carbon Silicon Data Company's foray into short videos would start from overseas markets.

In his excitement, he didn't forget to raise this question just before leaving President Yu's office.

“In the past, foreign internet companies always led for a long time, but Vine was born at the beginning of last year, and Tencent’s Weishi came in the middle of the year. The speed of synchronization between the two has become faster. We felt that Vine and Instagram were just explorations and not mature yet. We could do it in overseas markets as well, and the competition was not that fierce.”

"Moreover, domestic operators are still expanding their infrastructure, and the same goes for the data traffic of Carbon Silicon Data Company, so it can be slower."

Yu Xing provided the answer.

With mixed feelings, Xing Hongyu bid farewell to President Yu. Instead of immediately going to find Lü Haiying, who was in charge of MusVid, he first tried out the "silicon carbon data version of MusVid" himself.

Single-column video, 15 seconds long, with differentiated music, one-click content templates...

Xing Hongyu noticed the similarities and differences between the products.

He arrived at Lü Haiying's office with a burning desire, and the first thing he blurted out upon seeing her was, "President Lü, you've really tricked me!"

No wonder I thought this senior vice president of Silicon Carbon Data was very capable. You can only truly appreciate his logical reasoning and practical thinking by leading people to do things yourself.

Lu Haiying smiled and ended the conversation with a single sentence: "It's all President Yu's fault."

Xing Hongyu couldn't agree more; all the responsibility lay with President Yu…

Mr. Yu not only smeared his own Weishi platform, but also dragged the Silicon Carbon Group into the mess...

By provoking Alibaba in that way, he eliminated the potential threat from Tencent in the short video field. As for Alibaba, it's not that he looks down on that giant. If it weren't for Mr. Yu laying a solid foundation for WeChat and guiding it down a path similar to that of Murong Fu, the competition between the two companies in instant messaging would not be what it is today.

Short videos are definitely a huge market. This time, no one is laying the foundation for Alibaba. Let's see if it can make a name for itself in this mobile wave.

Xing Hongyu was filled with emotion, and the images of Liu Chiping and Pony still lingered in his mind. But being in Lingang, he ultimately had only one thought in mind—I want to make good short videos!

He inquired about the specifics of MusVid: "Mr. Lü, Mr. Yu said the software already has 40 overseas users?"

"To be more precise, they are mostly American users," Lu Haiying said succinctly. "At this stage, we are only focusing on the American market, and then we will expand to Europe. Our user base is targeted at teenagers under 24 years old. Facebook's current user targeting is further narrowed to teenagers aged 13-17."

She paused for a moment, then said, "I will be going to the United States after the New Year to try to reach a licensing agreement with the music companies there. We are already hiring and working in New York and Los Angeles. If you are willing, Mr. Xing, you can also go to the United States to advance the work. We will have a considerable budget for the US market this year."

Xing Hongyu quickly grasped the information in the two sentences: strategic direction, user positioning, and current work.

He didn't answer immediately, but thought for a while before continuing to ask about MusVid.

Xing Hongyu had actually led the Weishi team and knew very well how Weishi allocated resources. Now, from his perspective in this office, he subconsciously put himself in that position, trying to figure out the real situation of Carbon Silicon Data Company's overseas trial.

When he heard about the under-24 and 13-17 age groups, he thought there would be similar celebrity resources access that Vine, Instagram, Weibo Miaopai, and Tencent Video are all using now. Unexpectedly, he soon heard a completely different approach: attacking from the bottom up.

Xing Hongyu's brows furrowed as he listened to General Manager Lü's explanation of how the carbon silicon data algorithm technology was meant to empower this approach, but he remained somewhat skeptical.

Lü Haiying accurately read the meaning in General Manager Xing's expression and revealed a powerful support: "Carbon Silicon Data achieved break-even in 2013 with its information flow advertising, which was supported by this latest technology. It originated from Twitter's open-source Apache Storm distributed real-time computing system, and now, after being further developed by General Manager Yang and his team, it is becoming more and more suitable for our content system."

Xing Hongyu was suddenly taken aback.

As a former Tencent executive, he certainly knew the nature of Carbon Silicon Data. All three of its software products relied on advertising revenue to survive, but this path had long been proven by the industry to be difficult to sustain in a virtuous cycle. How could it possibly be possible to do it now?
The sample data from Silicon Carbon Data Company is not small...

Xing Hongyu asked in surprise, "Breakeven? How did Carbon Silicon Data Company break even?"

"As for Mr. Xing's question, a proper answer would take a long time," Lu Haiying smiled. "To put it simply, the CTR of Carbon Silicon Data's information flow ads is between 2.15% and 9.55%, while the CTR of banner ads on Sina, NetEase, and even Tencent is generally below 1%."

“Carbon Silicon Data’s information flow ads are controlled by dynamic ad load rate, which is currently generally 8%, lower than the industry average of 12%, but a more precise algorithm allows our ARPU to reach 5 cents per day.”

CTR is the click-through rate of an ad, and ARPU is the average revenue per user.

Our carbon and silicon data are far ahead of our competitors.

As Xing Hongyu processed this comparative information, a thought popped into his mind: technology-driven...

If that's the case, then let's look at short video strategies using this kind of technology...

Xing Hongyu let out a breath and said sincerely, "President Lü, Carbon Silicon Data Company is not quite what I imagined."

"Welcome to Silicon Carbon Data Company..." Lü Haiying extended her right hand, "Our sister company, Silicon Carbon Group."

Xing Hongyu shook hands. Well, he couldn't go directly to Carbon Silicon Data Company right now.

He said in a deep voice, "Mr. Lü, I am willing to go to the United States, to the place where MusVid needs people the most."

Xing Hongyu has realized that Singapore is just a transit point for Carbon Silicon Data Company, while the US market is the front line. If he wants to achieve better results in the short video field, he must think about it in the practice of the front line.

Lu Haiying smiled slightly and replied simply, "Mr. Xing, no problem."

Yu Xing soon learned of Xing Hongyu's choice.

He wasn't too surprised by this, but simply reiterated his previous assessment: "I think President Xing is a good talent; he just doesn't have an easy time showcasing his abilities at Tencent."

Lu Haiying, who came to report, nodded seriously: "Yes, carbon and silicon data have great potential."

"Don't be sarcastic. He has a non-compete agreement, and there should be room for maneuver for him to become a technical consultant, especially since he's going to the US," Yu Xing said while sipping his tea. "But you still need to be careful when making the arrangements."

“Senior brother, I understand.” Lu Haiying smiled. “When President Xing returns from his experience in the United States, he will be able to come and do the work in China. Hmm… We have raised our user target for this month. After more accurately targeting users, our day-two retention rate has improved significantly.”

Mus's initial day-two retention rate was only 30%, which was far from ideal. However, after recent ad spending, this rate has exceeded 40% and is still rising.

Judging solely from the performance of short music videos like MusVid, its inflection point among teenage users hasn't been as severe as previously anticipated. However, if the scope is expanded further, this might still present challenges. Yu Xing nodded slightly, discussed Mus's data performance for a few moments, and finally said, "The Lunar New Year is approaching. Let's recruit some people in the US. Let's enjoy the New Year first before getting busy."

Lu Haiying nodded, then suddenly asked, "Has Sister Ying been talking about investment projects lately? She seems very busy."

Yu Xing gave a nonchalant "hmm": "Yes, she found a good project and is very busy."

Without giving it much thought, Lü Haiying took the documents and left the president's office.

As the Spring Festival approaches, the festive atmosphere grows stronger.

The festive red hues in offices and the regular Spring Festival promotions on various software programs have become a symbol of the Chinese New Year for many users.

Liu Wanying was so busy that she didn't even see Yu Guosheng and Chu Qiying when they came over before the Lunar New Year.

"Where is Xiaoying?" Chu Qiying asked, somewhat puzzled.

"She was in Japan the day before yesterday, and she should be in Hong Kong today," Yu Xing said, revealing Liu Wanying's itinerary while eating dumplings made by his mother.

Chu Qiying exclaimed in surprise, "Xiaoying, you're so busy? You seem even busier than me. Aren't investment firms supposed to be busy only on certain days of the year?"

Yu Xing looked up and smiled: "Now is the busy time. Yes, there are many projects this year, so everyone should be quite busy."

Chu Qiying didn't say anything more. After a while, she suggested, "Since Xiaoying is so busy, and you used to travel back and forth between Haiyan and Jinling every year, why don't you invite her brother's family over this year so we can all celebrate the holiday together? It's fine here in Lingang. If it were in Haiyan, the relatives would definitely ask the same questions over and over again."

Yu Xing was taken aback: "Not going back to Haiyan for the New Year? I'm fine with that, but what are you guys thinking?"

Chu Qiying sighed: "I didn't think about it much. I was just worried that you would get tired. There are advantages to living in Haiyan and to living in Lingang. There is peace and quiet in Lingang. You can see big trucks every day, but the truck drivers won't gossip about you behind your backs."

Yu Xing couldn't help but burst into laughter.

As he was laughing, he happened to see the message Xiaoying sent. It didn't name anyone, just a set of data.

This is a batch of aluminum alloy materials that underwent mixed inspection in Hong Kong. Among them, the material properties of materials from Kobe Steel showed a 15% difference.

Yu Xing stared at the data and thought that perhaps it was this 15% difference that caused the problem with the die-casting machine of the Lijing Group.

He put down his phone and said to his mother with a smile, "Mom, even big cars will grumble behind your back."

Yu Guosheng, who was quietly eating dumplings nearby, then made the final decision: "Let's just say we'll spend this year in Lingang. Anyway, the two places are close, and it won't interfere with tomb sweeping during the Spring Festival."

Yu Xing had no objection and planned to discuss the matter with Liu Wanying, who was returning the next day.

On January 25, Liu Wanying returned to Shanghai from Hong Kong.

She didn't return to Red Falcon Capital; instead, she came directly to Lingang to study the first action of Mountain Peak in 2014.

Vania Pharmaceuticals, Volkswagen, Renault, Nissan, and Kobe Steel.

These are the attack targets that Guoshanfeng has identified so far. Because of the differences in size and difficulty, and the need to consider the use of funds and profit, they need to be allocated accordingly.

When Liu Wanying arrived at the president's office of the Silicon Carbon Group, she took the tea handed to her by her secretary Zhang Yangxu and joked, "Little Zhang's dark circles are too heavy. Boss Yu should hire a few more secretaries."

Zhang Yangxu just smiled and didn't say anything.

“We need to assign a secretary to President Zhang,” Yu Xing said casually. “Gold prices have fallen recently, and many institutions have been making moves.”

Gold prices plummeted in 2013, a decision that drew considerable disagreement between bulls and bears, and was actively pursued by many hedge funds.

As an unofficial staff member of Guoshanfeng, Zhang Yangxu still received an extra salary. He could have stopped doing this kind of work, but it had become a habit, and he felt that it had cultivated his perspective on observing international trends, so he continued to provide emails intermittently.

After the secretary left, Liu Wanying said, "Have you looked at the data from Kobe Steel? It's pretty much confirmed."

Yu Xing remained calm: "Let's keep testing. I think these companies have been exploiting loopholes for years. We can consider gathering more information on this."

Liu Wanying agreed with this point, but today the focus was on alerting Vania Pharmaceuticals.

She took a sip of tea, got up and walked to the whiteboard, where she wrote the words "Pershing Square" on it.

"Pershing Square is a well-known American hedge fund founded by William Ackman."

"Now there's a good opportunity to stir things up. This hedge fund is the largest shareholder of the pharmaceutical company Allergan, and it seems to be pushing Vania to acquire Allergan."

"This acquisition could be worth tens of billions of dollars and will certainly attract a lot of attention in the industry."

"If we raise questions at this time, the spread of public opinion will be greatly amplified."

Liu Wanying described an opportunity to launch a counterattack: Allergan Pharmaceuticals has made great achievements in the fields of ophthalmology and medical aesthetics, and has core products such as Botox. If Vania Pharmaceuticals can aggressively acquire Allergan, it will surely boost the stock price once again.

Guo Shanfeng believes that there are problems with the business model of Vania Pharmaceuticals, but he has never been able to find suitable negative information from the publicly available data.

Yu Xing pondered for a moment and said, "Such a big merger and acquisition deal? If we jump in and ruin their plans, the resistance will be considerable."

Overshoot can now be called a well-known short seller. Similarly, Pershing Square is a globally renowned hedge fund. With such endorsements from both bulls and bears, the market will inevitably lean towards the former in the absence of solid negative news.

Even though it's like stirring up trouble, crossing a mountain peak still requires investment. If stirring up trouble doesn't stir up trouble and no further evidence is obtained, the initial short-selling capital intended for further fundraising will be weakened.

In addition, if this strategy fails, the reputation accumulated over the mountain peak will inevitably be damaged.

“Pershing Square will definitely protect this potential deal; they have already invested a lot of money,” Liu Wanying said. “I’ve considered switching to Kobe Steel, but Kobe Steel has a lot of raw materials, and the problems detected so far are probably not enough to cause a huge negative impact. Nissan’s models also have similar problems.”

Yu Xing rested his chin on his hand, pondering the situation. Aside from practical considerations, he also enjoyed the feeling of poking him.

(End of this chapter)