What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 454 Talent Vortex
Li Yanhong is serious.

Yu Kai's clear intention to leave had a profound impact, and his frankness could even be said to have provoked Li Yanhong.

“Robin, I promised Andrew Ng that I would stay at the company until they have settled in before I leave.”

Yu Kai considered himself to value relationships, but this expression left Li Yanhong speechless on the surface, though she was quite upset inside. What was even more frustrating was that the whereabouts of former Baidu talents such as Zhai Yifei and Yang Zhenyuan were now fully and clearly revealed to her for the first time.

In Li Yanhong's position as the head of this giant company, since the founding of Baidu, some employees have gone out to start their own businesses, some have jumped ship to competitors, and some have simply disappeared. It is very common for people to come and go. The company has always been expanding rapidly, but the growth rate of middle and upper management positions is not so fast. When one person leaves, there are instantly more people who want to take their place.

At the same time, Baidu is relatively open in this regard and does not impose many restrictions on resignations, yet it has still developed to the scale of monopolizing the industry today.

They're gone, so what's the big deal?

But... you don't know until you check, and what you find is shocking.

This talent drain needs to be monitored.

Search deputy director, chief architect, chief architect of infrastructure... the hand reaching out from the Lingang direction is a bit too fierce!
Although the industry regarded the WeChat battle with Wechat as the beginning of the mobile wave, Baidu only established its strategy of shifting from "PC search is king" to "mobile first" last year. Subsequently, it made several organizational restructurings, splitting off more business units to consider a major competition in the mobile field.

Li Yanhong believes that a major factor is that this adjustment has given Carbon Silicon Data the opportunity to poach talent.

In the era of mobile internet, with the increasing number and specialization of competition, there is a greater need for talents with diverse abilities.

Baidu's mobile transformation has been somewhat slow, and it should place greater emphasis on talent to support the advancement of its new strategy.

Once the leader made up his mind, the company took action. On the one hand, someone directly contacted mid-to-senior level employees who had recently expressed their intention to leave. On the other hand, the scope and intensity of non-compete agreements were also increased.

Even Li Yanhong himself took the opportunity of attending events to express his dissatisfaction in front of the media without naming names, believing that it was excessive for his peers to poach people.

Yu Xing didn't take Li Yanhong's call to heart at first, assuming it was because Yu Kai's position was higher, which made him dissatisfied. However, a week later, after hearing Zhong Zhiling's report, he realized that the other side was exerting more effort.

To be fair, Baidu has really good talent.

The fact that silicon carbon data has such good algorithms today is largely thanks to the two teams led by Zhai Yifei and Yang Zhenyuan. Both of them, as well as some members of the team, had experience at Baidu.

"Baidu is supplementing the non-compete agreements, and 12 people who were originally going to come changed their minds this week," Zhong Zhiling said regretfully. "They were all talents we had vetted and interviewed."

Yu Xing nodded quite seriously: "This matter deserves attention. Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and talent is the primary productive force of science and technology. Without talent, the Silicon Carbon Group cannot build good cars, and Silicon Carbon Data cannot develop good algorithms. This matter needs to be addressed."

Needless to say, Silicon Carbon Group, and Silicon Carbon Data, have already used last year's profits to verify the importance of technology-driven development.

Both companies focus on content creation, but Sina and NetEase haven't profited from this area. Carbon Silicon Data has improved the traditional business model through technology, which is a significant breakthrough.

Needless to say, whether it's MusVid, which is already underway, or domestic short video platforms that are in the works, both require talent and technology.

After much deliberation, Yu Xing felt that Carbon Silicon Data was relatively low-profile in Lingang, so it should make its presence known more and talk about the achievements of its current software matrix. At the same time, it should also push forward with the new round of financing and the attractiveness of stock options.

Only in this way can we continue to attract talent from companies like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, after all, they are truly formidable giants.

He made up his mind and immediately called Red Falcon, Zhejiang Investment Group, IDG, and many other institutions to seek a new round of rapid financing.

However, Yu Xing felt that Baidu was very attractive, and Li Yanhong was also surprised by the number of resignations within a week.

What kind of company is Baidu?
It is a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $798 billion, and a search engine giant that is hailed as one of the BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) triumvirate.

Li Yanhong thought that adding non-compete agreements to the company and reducing the number of employees leaving for Lingang should be a piece of cake, but... how come just this week when the agreement was being amended, dozens of new employees suddenly resigned?
"I want to go out and see the world."

"Maybe I'll take a break for a while."

"I'm not sure. I might start my own business, or I might look into Alibaba or silicon carbon for good opportunities."

Although there are many reasons for the surge in resignations, Li Yanhong always felt that there were many cover-ups, most likely because Carbon Silicon Data had increased its efforts to poach talent.

If the sect leader is dissatisfied, the subordinates will naturally follow suit.

As Baidu's youngest vice president and the youngest member of the decision-making committee, Li Mingyuan expressed his strong opposition by directly criticizing Carbon Silicon Data Company in front of the media.

Furthermore, Li Mingyuan also mentioned Baixiaosheng Company, believing it to be an accomplice in poaching talent from Carbon Silicon Data.

Baixiaosheng is innocent. It does have a headhunting business, but as Carbon Silicon Data Company has grown in size, it is basically done by its own people. Moreover, many of the employees at Carbon Silicon Data are former Baidu employees, and to a large extent, they are internal referrals.

As the president of Silicon Carbon Data, Zhong Zhiling responded informally to the criticism on his WeChat Moments: "Silicon Carbon Data did not violate any agreements in hiring people. I don't understand what Mr. Li from Baidu means by this. We are willing to hire, and they are willing to come. Isn't this normal? If Baidu is dissatisfied with this, shouldn't it reflect on what problems it has?"

He didn't actually have Li Mingyuan as a WeChat friend, but he did have another high-ranking Baidu executive who commented directly below.

"Who poachs talent like Carbon Silicon Data? Is Carbon Silicon Data rich? If they're so rich, they might as well just acquire Baidu."

Even without Zhong Zhiling's reply, people from Baidu responded to these comments.

"It's not about the money. The incubation project I was in charge of was canceled, and the team was laid off. Can't I even leave? Do I need to elaborate on Baidu's bloat? You guys keep working on the Phoenix Nest advertising system. Can't I just not continue working on this part?"

Zhong Zhiling's WeChat Moments became very lively.

This direct response from afar triggered a chain reaction. Some people remained silent, unwilling to discuss changing jobs, while others were very direct and even wrote a lengthy open letter of over 10,000 words to their former employer on Baidu's official social media platform, directly criticizing Baidu's current corporate culture.

Bai Xiaosheng is the kind of person who enjoys watching a good show, and this time it was another job-hopping incident that easily attracted attention. Soon, things were brewing up, and even Yu Xing himself received interview calls from the media.

Yu Xing didn't hesitate much, expressing his welcome to the talent before mentioning the development of silicon carbon data.

"The prospects of the mobile internet are self-evident. Carbon Silicon Data Company is developing rapidly and has a great demand for talent. We are very generous in terms of compensation, including stock options."

“Carbon Silicon Data will definitely go public in the future, and its rapid development at this stage is a great opportunity for one’s career.”

"Like the latest hotspots, it now has 1.2 million users, WiFi Master Key has nearly 2 million users, and the karaoke app I often use has tens of millions of users. It can be said that the opportunities in Lingang are really good."

"By the way, Silicon Carbon Data started making a profit last year. I believe people in the industry should understand what this means. I have a lot of confidence in the company, even more so than I did with WeChat."

"After all, I'd rather sell WeChat than sell silicon carbon data."

From interviews to Weibo, WeChat Moments, and even online commentators, from the youngest vice president to the CEO of Silicon Carbon to the person involved in the job change, it's certainly been a lively affair. But what truly captures the industry's attention is the information revealed by Yu Xing.

Silicon Carbon Data Company was profitable last year? How did it manage to be profitable?

This kind of news shouldn't be appearing in the news aggregation category!

The business model of news aggregation has no future; this is almost a consensus among internet professionals, as numerous companies have already proven it through their own life-and-death struggles!

The dead companies can't speak anymore, but the companies that came back to life can!

Yu Xing has a good reputation for operations, but this reputation cannot eliminate doubts in the face of industry consensus.

Sohu Vice President Chu Qi was initially just watching the drama unfold, but after seeing the information revealed by President Yu, he directly spoke out on Weibo: "President Yu is just bragging. Carbon Silicon Data can't possibly be profitable. If you're going to poach people, so be it. It's not a big deal. But don't poach people while bragging. That's not fair."

He was convinced of this and posted on Weibo: "It's like Mr. Yu bragging to me with his name, and I believed him, so I quit my job and went to Lingang. When I got there, he told me it was all fake. Isn't that disgusting?"

After being reminded by his secretary, Yu Xing noticed this questioning and directly forwarded Chu Qi's Weibo post, giving two comments: "Really."

Chu Qi didn't believe it: "That's just bragging."

Yu Xing: "We broke even in Q2 last year, and the annual profit was nearly 2000 million. If you don't believe me, you can come to Lingang to see the data."

Chu Qi still didn't believe it, but seeing how President Yu explained it, he didn't continue to speak out on Weibo. Instead, he flew to Lingang to visit Carbon Silicon Data Company and see for himself how this mobile internet company operated.

Sohu tried to support itself with advertising many years ago, and almost went bankrupt as a result. Although there was a change in form from PC to mobile, he did not feel that the change was significant.

Chu Qi posted his doubts on April 7th.

On April 10, after two days of silence, Chu Qi spoke out again, saying that everyone has their own dreams and can live a wonderful life. He published a long article, expressing his heartfelt gratitude to Sohu for nurturing him and his deep appreciation for Zhang Chaoyang's decision to let him go. He then expressed his excitement about joining Carbon Silicon Data.

Yu Xing reposted the Weibo post and added six words: "Welcome to Lingang."

In just two days, before the gossip was even finished, the name of the story had already changed.

The onlookers: ? ? ?

No, does Silicon Carbon Data really have such magic?
This is a bit confusing.

On April 12, a new message was released directly.

Carbon Silicon Data has completed a new round of financing of US$200 million with five institutions: IDG, Today Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Zhejiang Industrial Investment Group, and Red Falcon Capital. The company will continue to promote the development and expansion of its mobile internet business.

The number of users has been made public, the business model has proven successful, and institutional funding has been secured; the meaning is clear.

No, that's not obvious enough. Zhong Zhiling, using the verified account of CEO of Silicon Carbon Data, announced a new message on Baixiaosheng and his WeChat Moments: Silicon Carbon Data will launch a new round of company stock option distribution within the year, and welcomes talents from all walks of life to join.

At the same time, recruitment companies, including Baixiaosheng, have received a new round of job openings, hoping to acquire talent in areas such as search, algorithms, deep learning, and infrastructure.

This is quite targeted; at least, there is currently only one deep learning research institute in China.

Multiple approaches are being taken simultaneously: some institutions are swiftly demonstrating their optimism with monetary gains, former employees are already venturing into Lingang, and the boss's reputation for issuing stock options on WeChat projects in the past is also being leveraged...

Baidu's supplementary agreement has not been fully implemented yet, so some people have decided to take advantage of this period to try their luck in Lingang.

Li Yanhong was quite shocked and furious about this.

Baidu is already implementing a mobile strategy, has Nuomi's group-buying business, acquired 91 Wireless for distribution, and is also undergoing structural flattening adjustments. He can truly be called the head of a "family"...

Why are we leaving again?
……

The buzz surrounding Baidu and Silicon Carbon Data is attracting attention not only from the outside world but also from within.

Andrew Ng, who had just come from the United States, was very curious, but he never expected that such a talent vortex would affect him.

"I'm leaving in three months, Dr. Wu. Take care of yourself." Yu Kai and Andrew Ng were longtime friends, so he naturally had to give them proper instructions.

"You're leaving? Wasn't it supposed to be a year? How come it's only three months?" Andrew Ng was very surprised.

Yu Kai then talked about his trip to Lingang, mentioning the joint research and development between Linggang Company and Silicon Carbon Group.

"Is it possible for LiDAR to be successfully developed in China? I think it's unlikely. Stanford and Google already have established partners." Andrew Ng felt it was unreliable.

“They already have products and are confident that they can reduce costs by 30% to 40%, which will be a good competitive advantage, and there will be similar orders in China in the future.” Yu Kai was quite confident. “At least, the Silicon Carbon Group will use it.”

Andrew Ng said helplessly, "What will I do if you leave? What about the people I invited?"

Yu Kai could only say, "Baidu still has a good environment. If all else fails, I can show you around Lingang. No matter how many non-compete agreements Baidu puts in, they won't really restrict you much."

However, to his surprise, Baidu's supplementary agreement was also submitted to Andrew Ng.

This immediately enraged Yu Kai. He had worked hard to persuade Andrew Ng to come to Baidu. Ng was a top talent in the relevant field who had returned to China. If he hadn't come to Baidu, there would have been plenty of companies that wanted him. Moreover, in a sense, the salary he received was only offered because of Yu Kai's influence.

Yu Kai went to see Vice President Li Mingyuan and argued with him for a long time without any results. He then went directly to Li Yanhong and finally got the matter rectified.

"Mr. Yu, can you not leave?" Li Yanhong's attention was still on Yu Kai, who wanted to leave, and she was a little defiant. "Carbon Silicon wants to invest in you? Baidu can also invest. We can do incubation."

Yu Kai was silent for a moment: "You are different, and silicon carbon and Baidu are different too."

Li Yanhong asked, puzzled, "How are they different?"

Yu Kai spoke his mind: "I don't think Baidu can incubate it; the motivation is different."

"President Yu, do you have some misunderstanding about me?" Li Yanhong was not satisfied with this answer.

"Let time prove it, Robin. I'm no longer a good fit for Baidu." Yu Kai updated his decision. "I'll leave after handing over my work this month. I hope that Deep Learning will do even better under your leadership."

Li Yanhong took a deep look at Yu Kai, who was determined to leave. If President Yu was like this, and so were many employees, did everyone misunderstand her...?

(End of this chapter)