Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 532 The Worst Result I Can Imagine (Thanks to the patron [My Son is Erdan] for being the top contributor)

Let's turn our attention to the domestic business landscape of this era. What are the current states and strengths of the parties embroiled in fierce competition?

Although the concept of "Internet+" was first proposed in 2012, Wenjie has carried the noble genes of an "Internet+" film company since its inception, perfectly matching the future development path of the cultural and media industry.

With more than ten subsidiaries, starting from Lu Kuan himself as the core of cash flow and content output, it has built a complete film industry chain in seven or eight years, making full strategic reserves in production, marketing, distribution, derivative copyright development and the future "three screens in one".

Entrepreneur Lu Kuan insists on focusing on the internet and film culture media industries, and he won't do things he doesn't have connections to, nor will he get involved in things he doesn't understand, even if he does.

DJI is the only exception. It was in order to complete the historical tasks of the Olympics and disaster relief during these special periods that it "created an unexpected obstacle," but it will obviously become one of the future unicorns.

The industrial landscape that unfolds based on the depth and breadth of such an industrial behemoth will inevitably infringe upon the interests of other competitors; the survival of the fittest is a normal business ecosystem.

Thus, cinemas faced off against Wanda, e-commerce platforms against Ali, Google, which holds shares overseas, against Baidu, and Chairman Liu, who has always coveted a stake in them, forming a confrontation with the axis of evil.

Wenjie has actually been quite restrained, because its ally Shanda's game division has never ventured into the game industry; it has only contributed its IP to reach a cooperation agreement.

In fact, the gaming industry is also one of the best channels for monetizing IP.

This time, "Wenjie Farm" was only responsible for connecting the various sectors of Wenjie and effectively organizing industry collaboration. Unexpectedly, the competition with Penguin has become so fierce.

Wenjie Ticketing needed this game to accumulate funds and acquire customers for online movie ticketing in the second half of the year, and Tencent could not refuse such a social casual game that was almost tailor-made for them.

Lu Kuan is able to make movies as he pleases and strive to realize his grand ambition of cultural export and Chinese films going global because of this self-sufficient business empire and allies from the government such as China Film Group.

Did our opponents just give these away for free?
These achievements were made through struggle!
Let's go back to May 2009:

Wenjie is also part of Damai.cn, which is comprised of Wanda, Ali, Lianxiang, and Baidu.
And Tencent and the Hunan-Taiwan alliance are engaging in commercial competition in different fields.

Such a fascinating situation has generated a great deal of discussion among media professionals at specialized magazines like Caijing.

Renowned columnist Lang Xianping used a very interesting analogy to analyze the current situation, which quickly went viral online and became a hot topic on Weibo.

The Ambition of the Realm Empire —

In 2009, the Chinese business arena was witnessing a capital game comparable to the power struggles in 19th-century Europe.

The expansion speed and ambition of Wenjie, a cultural and media empire with internet genes since its inception, are reminiscent of Napoleon sweeping across Europe.

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte established the First French Empire, replacing the First French Republic.

In eight years, Wenjie has achieved pioneering leadership in the internet and film industries. Taking the "Wenjie Farm" business case this year as an example, the effective connection between the two fully demonstrates the collaborative combat capability of a giant aircraft carrier.

If the question mark represents the once invincible "Napoleon Empire," then its adversaries were forced to form a delicate "anti-French alliance."

Lu Kuan's leadership of Wenjie has a core competitive advantage in the dual-engine approach of "full industry chain + traffic monetization". From movie ticket revenue accumulation to the closed loop of celebrity economy, from social game traffic diversion to IP ecosystem development, every step has accurately hit the industry's key points.

This tactic is reminiscent of Napoleon's Continental System:
By controlling key resources such as traffic and content, they squeeze out their competitors' living space.

What's even more frightening is that Wenjie also has the backing of partners such as China Film Group, much like Napoleon leveraging the popular support of the French Revolution to gain a double advantage in policy and the market.

Of course, an over-expanded empire will always attract allies from its enemies.

With one of LinkInfo's branches testing the waters, companies like Wanda, Ali, and Baidu bear a striking resemblance to the Fourth Coalition against France formed in 1806 by Prussia, Austria, Russia, and Great Britain.

Despite their differing agendas, they were forced to temporarily set aside their differences in the face of a common threat.

Wang Jianlin of Wanda is like the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, which is struggling to defend its homeland. Its cinema chain advantage is being gradually overtaken by Wenjie.

Ali's Ma Yun is like Britain, which is good at maritime power games. She tries to maintain her leading advantage in the e-commerce field, but is met with strong resistance from Wenjie Mall B2C and its self-built logistics.

What's most intriguing is that Chairman Liu, this veteran IT godfather, only sent Damai.cn, an investment of his company Legend Capital, but he himself was more like a Tsar Alexander.

Considering today's outbreak of the "Han Geng SM contract termination incident," and the bankruptcy crisis facing Tencent and Hunan TV's previous Korean wave strategies, I think the current "anti-French alliance" should be ecstatic, right? (Chapter 532)
When we turn our attention to Penguin and Hunan TV, which have become competitors by imitating "Ask the World Farm," what role do they play?

I think it's Spain.

The current euphoria of companies like Ali and Wanda is just like the European powers' discovery after Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 that this stubborn kingdom could continuously wear down the main force of the French army!
Ma Yun and others realized that the penguin, which had been somewhat embarrassed by the questioning world, had finally transformed from a distant bystander into an ally that they had to win over.

The strategist's smile that might appear on Wang Jianlin's lips subtly echoes Metternich's "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" struggle logic at the Vienna Conference.

Will the "Spain" of the Penguin and Hunan-Taiwan alliance join the "anti-French alliance"?

let us wait and see.

Of course, while congratulating Mr. Lu Quan, the leader of the "First Napoleonic Empire," on welcoming a prince or princess, we must also learn from history:
Napoleon's act of deposing the Spanish monarchy instead sparked a lasting resistance from the Iberian people.

If Tencent's social portal, Ali's payment system, and Wanda's offline scenarios converge, and if the technology and policy resources of the LinkInfo Group provide the "last fuel" for the alliance, will we be fortunate enough to witness another "Battle of Waterloo"?
There are no eternal winners in business history, as Napoleon's fate foreshadowed:

When a hegemon touches the survival red line of its opponent, even the most ingenious tactics cannot withstand the overwhelming trend.

Can the world avoid repeating the same mistakes?

The answer may lie in the choice of Lu Kuan, or perhaps in the choice of the penguin.

To find out what happens next, stay tuned for the next installment!
Whether Spain will join the "anti-French coalition" is something Spain itself doesn't know yet.

One week after Xiao Liu gave birth, and nearly a week after the "Han Geng contract termination" incident broke out, on the evening of the 16th, at the Penguin headquarters in Nanshan Science and Technology Park, Penguin City.

The core management team is meeting to discuss the potential adverse effects of the "Han Geng contract termination" incident and possible solutions.

The meeting did not start until 6:30 p.m., in accordance with Ma Huateng's instructions, all heads of business units and business lines were required to attend and participate in the meeting.

Whether Penguin Ranch succeeds or fails is a relatively minor issue; it's just a game after all. While it has significant strategic importance, it's not indispensable.

But this time, Little Ma is really serious. He needs to assess whether his company has the necessity and strength to wage a full-scale war against the world.

Nobody is made of clay. Even though Boss Lu's warning to him about the "broken string" was still ringing in his ears, this time the penguin had indeed suffered an unprecedented defeat. (Chapter 521)
What no one at Tencent expected was that, despite QQ's massive social user base, mature game operation system, and the rapid development capabilities of "Penguin Ranch," it was unable to gain an overwhelming advantage over Wenjie in the social casual game field.

What caught them off guard was the sudden outbreak of the Korean Wave scandal, especially the chain reaction of Han Geng's contract termination incident, which directly led to the collapse of Tencent's carefully laid "celebrity partner" mechanism, resulting in a serious loss of users and a sharp drop in game data.

Before considering victory, he worried about defeat. What Ma Huateng was concerned about was:
Tencent's current foundation is undoubtedly the gaming industry, and there will be no strategic changes in the foreseeable future. However, it is remarkable that Wenjie, which has never ventured into the gaming industry, has been able to gain the upper hand so skillfully.

This made him think deeply.

In 2009, the previous era, Tencent surpassed Shanda to become the largest game company in China, with game revenue reaching 53.9 billion yuan, which was the company's highest source of profit.
In this life, while Little Ma was amazed and wary of the terrifying industrial synergy capabilities of the game industry, how could he not think that if the game industry were to venture into the gaming field, it might pose a threat to him?
Moreover, Lu Kuan has an ally like Chen Tianqiao's Shanda. If they want to make games, the two companies can definitely form a joint venture, especially now that Shanda is gradually declining. Anything is possible.

Little Ma's thoughts were quickly interrupted by Liu Chiping, who arrived last: "Mr. Ma, everyone's here."

"Okay, let's start the meeting."

Ren Yuxin frowned and, without waiting for his superiors to speak, proactively reported: "The situation is not optimistic. Affected by the ongoing Korean Wave scandal and the Jang Ja-yeon incident, our Korean Wave IP ecosystem, which we are cooperating with Hunan and Taiwan, has suffered a severe blow."

"Super Junior's concert was forced to be canceled due to the contract termination lawsuit with Han Geng, and celebrities such as Girls' Generation who endorsed games also suspended large-scale promotions due to public pressure. Looking at the data from just this week, the daily active users of 'Farming' plummeted by 35% year-on-year, and the revenue from paid items shrank by nearly 30%..."

He paused, his tone somewhat helpless: "Wenjie didn't do much marketing, but the hot topic of Liu Yifei giving birth has strangely become an emotional amplifier for fans' consumption. Moreover, the 25th of this month is their first celebrity open day event, and the data snowball is now incredibly fast."

Liu Chiping caught the key point: "Han Geng is the celebrity who buys the most paid items in the ranch. I want to know if the industry is qualified to invite him to endorse the ranch after he terminated his contract with SM Entertainment?"

"When we initially collaborated with Hunan and Taiwan to introduce the Korean Wave, was the contract signed with SM Entertainment or with individuals?"

Ma Huateng nodded secretly, acknowledging the logic behind Liu Chiping's words.

Fan Bingbing of Wuyue Culture clearly follows Lu Kuan's lead, and she herself is also a strong advocate for "Wenjie Farm".

Now that there's a rare opportunity to poach the wildly popular celebrity Han Geng, it's only natural to hand him over to the industry for discovery and monetization of his talent.

The legal professionals present explained, "This involves the issue of the contractual parties. In our cooperation framework with Hunan TV, the endorsement rights of K-pop stars are granted through a package deal by SM Entertainment, which is a 'management contract binding model.' As an artist under SM Entertainment, Han Geng's personal commercial activities must comply with SM's exclusive agency terms."

"But if Han Geng ultimately succeeds in terminating his contract, we will be unable to stop him from driving traffic to 'Wenjie Farm' because no non-compete agreement was signed."

As for the non-compete agreement regarding the endorsement of the game, who could have imagined that Penguin Ranch would find Super Junior to be its spokesperson?
Besides, who could have imagined that Han Geng would part ways with the sweatshop SM Entertainment?
In practice, companies usually have to pay economic compensation when signing non-compete agreements with valuable employees.

A silence fell over the meeting room. Although the usually taciturn Zhang Xiaolong was no longer there, everyone present today seemed to have transformed into him.

It wasn't that he was reserved and unassuming, but rather that he was somewhat bewildered by Wenjie's modern, multi-industry collaborative warfare tactics.

After all, Tencent is the only combined behemoth in China's internet and cultural media industry. Like Ali and Wanda, this is the first time they have encountered such a "monster".

Of course, the birth of this "monstrosity" was also based on the fact that Wenjie Holdings had been struggling financially for many years.

It wasn't until this year, with the return of CDS revenue and the collective listing of future subsidiaries after the financial crisis, that it will evolve from a "conventional-powered aircraft carrier" to a "nuclear-powered aircraft carrier," initially possessing long-range strike capabilities.

Liu Chiping pondered, "Regarding the public opinion scandals and related issues involving K-pop artists, Tencent does indeed lack the ability to control the entire entertainment industry chain, including film, television, and music."

"Liu Yifei's childbirth can become a national topic, and the Jang Ja-yeon incident can be precisely pushed to the trending searches. We can't even find a handle for 'crisis public relations,' so we can't just let QQ pop-ups push 'Korean Wave is innocent,' can we?"

He turned to look at Ma Huateng: "Boss, your ideas and approaches for creating a microblogging product like Taotao were correct, but it was indeed too far behind Weibo and there was no possibility of catching up. Otherwise, we wouldn't be in such a passive position now."

This statement both praises the boss's strategic vision and finds a scapegoat for Tencent's structural deficiencies in content ecosystem development.

Ma Ge waved his hand calmly: "As for this matter alone, no matter how many Weibo posts you make, it won't make a difference. The source of the scandal is in South Korea. It was Lu Kuan who did this by using his South Korean allies. No one can stop this kind of scandal from spreading."

"Alright, that's the situation." Ma Huateng looked around, his tone slightly stern. "I'm not criticizing anyone, but this incident should have taught us a lesson deep enough, right?"

"To be honest, the biggest lesson and realization I learned from the failure of 'Ranch' is not that there was a problem with Penguin's original advantages, but that we should increasingly realize that modern corporate competition is no longer the era of millet and rifles, and we should have a more complete understanding of industrial synergy."

"In this respect, Wenjie has taught us a lesson. What we need to do is not only reflect, but also learn."

Ma Ying-jeou's composure and aura were still on point, and he didn't resort to smashing cups and bowls in anger over the recent Waterloo.

He concluded, "The fervor of K-pop fans is built on the 'idol persona,' and now with SM Entertainment's contract disputes and the collapse of artists' images, the fan economy has directly collapsed."

"But what about the boundary? Through the collaborative efforts of Weibo, Liu Yifei's personal marketing, Focus Media, and Zhijie Video, the cultural conflict between the Korean Wave and the Chinese Wave can be transformed into user stickiness."

Ma Huateng said with self-deprecation, "Speaking of which, I'm out of touch. I only learned about the existence of Diba a few days ago. The guidance and hype from Wenjie can make Diba netizens spontaneously charge forward. I think other companies probably can't even hire an army of this size, right?"

Ren Yuxin, from the Penguin Games division, nodded emphatically: "In the end, what we're selling is 'Korean Wave skins,' while what Wenjie is doing is called 'cultural warfare.'"

"If this were placed in a game, it wouldn't be a game mode of the same level. Skins can be changed, but the outcome of the battle is related to user recognition, and that's the most critical issue."

"Although Mr. Lu's main job is as a director, he really understands public opinion, the Internet, and user psychology."

"How can a movie be a box office hit if you don't understand users and audiences?" Little Ma looked around. Perhaps because Zhang Xiaolong wasn't there, he had no one to confide in, and he seemed unusually eager to express himself today.

"Now, President Liu of the Taishan Club has once again extended an olive branch to us, following Ma Yun's last visit—"

"Regarding Tencent and companies like Wanda, Ali, Baidu, and LinkInfo, can they jointly address future industry risks in their respective fields based on a sufficient foundation of cooperation?"

shock!
A heavy silence fell over the meeting room, with core members of Tencent, including Liu Chiping, staring in disbelief.

The oxygen in the air seemed to have been sucked out, and tiny dust particles floated in the projector's beam of light, reflecting on everyone's tense faces.

The secretary in charge of taking meeting minutes occasionally made a few unconscious taps on her keyboard, like some kind of uneasy nervous twitch.

The shock was not unfounded; everyone remembered Ma Huateng's resolute attitude last time:

Penguins don't stand on any hilltop.

Faced with the olive branches extended by the Taishan Society and Ma Yun, he simply brushed them off lightly, remaining unmoved and determined to "stay in his corner" and not interfere in the affairs of the capital.

What does it mean to bring this up again in public now?
Even though Pony Ma maintained a calm demeanor, Liu Chiping glanced at the ecosystem collaboration data from Wenjie over the past month on the projector and could understand his boss's change of heart.

Those red arrows not only pierced through the operational data of "Ranch," but also outlined a terrifying future:

When Askworld used the various gameplay elements of "Farm" to verify the game's monetization capabilities, and used similar marketing events to create a closed loop from entertainment traffic to the game platform, it is fully capable of making a full-scale entry into the game industry in the next step.

Lu Kuan holds not only the entire industry chain based on the film industry, but also a complete system for IP development, traffic acquisition, and user retention.

The gaming sector and social networking with acquaintances are strategic strongholds that Tencent can never challenge or covet.

The business world is like a battlefield; there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.

Ma Huateng's change of mindset at this moment is just like Stalin shaking hands with Churchill during World War II. When Napoleonic-style borders began to sweep across Europe, even the most stubborn isolationists had to seek allies.

The problem is, you, Brother Ma, were worried about the ruthlessness of a certain mastermind and the deep-rooted political and business influence in Beiping before. Are you no longer afraid now?
Or have you glimpsed a better strategic option?

His next words still surprised Liu Chiping and the others. It seemed that today, this usually refined and low-key penguin boss had transformed into a stand-up comedian, with every sentence a joke.

"I refused outright."

Ma Huateng calmly said, "Whether this business is viable or not, those who rush into it are not truly in a good business. It's true that we are at a disadvantage right now, but are they having an easy time?"

"The impact of 'Wenjie Farm' is not only on us and Hunan TV, but also on the movie ticketing war with Damai.cn, which is about to begin next month. With such a large amount of funds tied up, the situation for Chairman Liu, Ma Yun and their group will not be too optimistic."

"I'd like to observe from the sidelines for a while before we talk, but how we talk then is something we've gathered here to discuss today."

Asking for prices all over the place and paying back the money on the ground.

Tencent now certainly has the motivation to take sides, but without sufficient leverage and necessity, Ma Huateng will still not wade into these murky waters. This necessity either requires Tencent to continue its aggressive expansion into gaming and social media, forcing Ma Huateng to climb to the top and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Liu Qiangdong;

Either Damai.cn is declining, and the shareholders, unwilling to give up their current favorable situation, are willing to offer enough leverage, for example...

"Boss, let's take a stake in Ali! Let's see if we can achieve our goal indirectly and also enter the e-commerce and payment industry!"

Before Liu Chiping could finish speaking, several senior executives in the conference room already wore wry smiles.

Penguin's obsession with e-commerce and payment was foreshadowed as early as 2005.

In 2006, Tencent launched Paipai.com, a C2C platform, leveraging QQ's 8 million users. It directly competed with Taobao. With its QQ pop-up traffic redirection and one-click migration tool, it attracted 250 million sellers within three months, and its market share once reached 9% in 2007.

However, due to a lack of logistics and supply chain support, the platform has become a "distribution center for counterfeit goods".

While Taobao and Wenjie established a trust system by using payment tools to guarantee transactions, Paipai.com was frequently plagued by counterfeit goods disputes and was dubbed a "Q-version street stall" by users. As it has developed to this point, it can only be described as barely surviving and is completely ignored by Ali and Wenjie.

Since Wenjie Mall started as a B2C platform, it has nothing to do with Boss Lu.

Tencent's payment tool, Tenpay, is even more of a case of starting early but finishing late.

When Alipay and Zhifutong were vying for the national municipal water and electricity payment market, Tencent, due to geographical reasons, could not leverage Lu Kuan's personal connections and political resources to influence the situation like Tencent did, nor could it use Ma Huateng's connections with the Taishan Club to connect various parties.

So the plot of the eldest and second eldest fighting and the third eldest dying in battle occurred once again.

In the previous life, until the launch of WeChat Pay's red envelope feature in 2013, Tenpay's market share was less than 1/10 of Alipay's. In this life, its space for survival has been completely squeezed out.

Tencent's ambition to enter the payment field is undeniable and quite resolute, and it ultimately found a good opportunity on WeChat.

That's why the air in the conference room seemed to freeze when Liu Chiping said those words.

All eyes were focused on Ma Huateng's calm and composed face.

Everyone has read Lang Xianping's article, which views the world as "Napoleon's First Empire" and other competitors as "Anti-French Alliance".

The executives' hearts pounded in their chests as they clearly realized that they were witnessing one of the most decisive strategic decisions in the history of the Chinese internet.

This level of business competition transcends ordinary market competition; it is a pinnacle showdown that will determine the industry landscape for the next decade.

Just like standing at a watershed moment in history, every decision could rewrite the business landscape of the mainland.

“To put it bluntly—” Ma Huateng began, “in some ways, Chairman Liu and Lu Kuan are the same kind of people.”

"They have enough means to profit from legitimate business resources without breaking any taboos, thus protecting the legitimate and 'illegal' development of enterprises."

“We are worried that Wenjie’s influence in Beiping is too strong, but the background of Taishan Society and Liu Chuanzhi—I will not say it outright, but I will tell you that they should not be underestimated.”

"So whether we are afraid that the industry will take advantage of our local dominance to target us, just like it has done to other humiliated companies, is not a question worth considering."

Today, Pony Ma really opened up: "Now, I'd like to ask everyone to help me, and also for our common company, think about two questions."

"First, how can we get Ali to willingly open up equity participation in a way that Ma Yun would never have agreed to in the past, so as to achieve our own strategic goals?"

"Secondly, this is a question I've been pondering for almost a month, and I still haven't found a definite answer to..."

Ma Huateng's eyes darkened slightly, as if he were thinking of Zhuang Xu: "What exactly does Lu Kuan want Zhang Xiaolong to do? It's been a month and there's been no movement, no new projects, no new developments. What exactly is he planning?"

"The problems and situation we are facing now are quite complex, but I think that if we can figure out even one of these problems, it will help us make the right strategic decisions."

Penguin co-founder and CEO Chen Yidan also attended the meeting today. She said in a deep voice: "Regarding the first question, to put it bluntly, Ali is currently facing a life-or-death situation. Although the market share of the mall is still in a leading position, the payment channels and logistics channels have been lost, and the situation is extremely precarious."

"Who can he rely on now? Masayoshi Son is one, but everyone knows the situation in China. Money doesn't guarantee success. Otherwise, how did Lu Kuan manage to capture the municipal toll collection market in Shanghai and Northeast China?"

"Therefore, I believe that if we want to force Ma Yun to submit, in addition to maintaining strategic composure and watching the tigers fight from the sidelines, we must maintain close contact with Liu Chuanzhi!"

Liu Chiping raised his hand in agreement: "Damai.com's funding largely comes from the Taishan Club behind it. If Ma Yun wants to continue relying on Damai.com to keep her Alipay afloat, she has no choice but to comply."

"Ma Yun is the biggest beneficiary among Damai.cn's shareholders, but when Damai.cn faces pressure from Wenjie and Chairman Liu, he is also the one who suffers the most. I think there's something to make of this." These words were spoken by Xiong Minhua, co-CTO.

The ruthlessness of business competition was on full display at this moment.

Poor old Ma, he hasn't completely lost power yet, but just because he's fallen into a strategic disadvantage, he's already been targeted by the rivals he wanted to unite with.

In this war without gunfire, there are no permanent allies, only permanent interests:
For Tencent, fighting against the world is profitable, but seizing the opportunity to take over Ali's shares is also profitable.

Ma Yun's predicament perfectly illustrates this point. Just as he was trying to unite with Penguin to fight against Wenjie, Penguin was already plotting how to take advantage of his weak position to acquire Ali's shares.

The ruthlessness and speed of this strategic shift are the norm in top-level business competition.

“Let’s wait and see how their subsidy war goes on,” Ma Huateng said in a deep voice. “I’ll make time to go to Beiping.”

The words were not fully spoken, but the meaning was already clear.

However, the problem that kept troubling him was Zhang Xiaolong's departure.

Little Ma looked up, hoping that someone present today could give him an answer, or at least agree with the terrifying conjecture in his heart:

"Second question, what's your take on this? Why did Wenjie poach Xiaolong at this particular point in time?"

Chen Yidan scoffed: "Mr. Ma, as you just mentioned, we actually only have two main pillars right now: games and social networking."

"He went to great lengths to poach talent from Tencent, so how could he possibly escape these two things?"

"Zhang Xiaolong can make games?"

The meeting room instantly tensed up, and everyone except Ma Huateng's expression became serious.

Social interaction is the foundation of penguins and their most crucial competitive advantage.

If Wenjie really targets this field, even a tentative move would be enough to make Tencent feel threatened.

Ma Huateng sighed inwardly. He had sighed countless times in his own office, but he didn't want to tell outsiders.

Like the astute Chen Yidan, he harbored malicious suspicions from the very beginning:
Wen Jie went to great lengths, taking seven or eight detours, using the farm game as "bait" to lure him in, all in order to use Zhang Xiaolong to attack the penguin's advantageous territory.

It's not a game, it's just a social interaction!

Socializing with acquaintances!

However, going any further, Pony Ma really couldn't determine what kind of "familiar social networking" Wenjie wanted to do.

But even this conjecture was enough to make Ma Huateng's heart pound.

Why did he suddenly call this meeting today and throw the questions to the company's core senior management?
Even if "Ranch" is great, it's still just a game.

In my previous life in 2009, the monthly revenue I generated for the penguin was around 5000 million RMB, and the total annual revenue was only 6 to 7 million RMB. The amount was not small, but it was not enough to cause serious damage.

But social interactions are different.

However, judging from the suspicious actions of Zhuang Xu and Lu Kuan of Wenjie, and the speculation and considerations about the former's true business motives triggered by Zhang Xiaolong, this is far more important than a social game.

This is like digging up the ancestral graves of penguins in Nanshan!
Chen Yidan tapped the table lightly, his eyes sharp: "Simply copying QQ is a dead end. Lu Kuan isn't that stupid. I'm wondering—could Wenjie be targeting Fetion?"

"Although Fetion relies on SMS, it has proven that there is a market for cross-platform instant messaging. Wenjie has a traffic base, celebrity resources, and product managers like Zhang Xiaolong. They can create a 'mobile-first' social product and directly bypass the moat of QQ on the PC."

Ma Huateng nodded: "Fetion is gaining momentum now, and it's possible that it has its eyes on the mobile communications market."

Liu Chiping disagreed, saying in a deep voice, "Fetion is the operator's private domain; they don't need to get involved. Social networking is nothing more than a few types—"

"In terms of business models, there are social networking tools for acquaintances and social networking for strangers. In fact, Wenjie already has a social networking tool for strangers like Weibo, which is far ahead of the competition in the industry. Is it meaningful to poach Zhang Xiaolong and add icing on the cake?"

"In terms of terminal type, it's nothing more than computer and mobile. I heard that Weibo's mobile version is about to be launched. The iPhone 3GS has just been released, and Lu Kuan also has shares in Android. I think we should be especially careful about this."

He paused, then looked at Ma Huateng and Chen Yidan: "The worst outcome I can imagine is that Wenjie will try to replicate QQ's format on mobile devices and create their own social networking software for acquaintances."

In 2009, the arrival of the mobile era was a consensus in the industry.

Not only did Apple's new products and App Store ecosystem redefine smartphones, but Google's Android system also launched through early Android devices such as the HTC Dream, and through its open-source strategy, it quickly gathered hardware manufacturers such as Samsung and Motorola to build a mobile ecosystem.

Even Tencent itself will launch a mobile QQ 2.0 version in the second half of this year, but it is just a port of the PC version and does not have the characteristics of a mobile app.

It's not surprising that he could think of this. In his previous life, Liu Chiping, as the president in charge of the company's strategic direction, was directly responsible for three products that were vying for core resources internally:

The Mobile QQ team, the Q-Message team, and WeChat.

His words served as a wake-up call for everyone.

With its stake in the Android system, Wenjie can deeply optimize the underlying user experience.

With the added traffic of Weibo and the social elements of the game "Farm," it's entirely possible to create a lighter, more mobile-friendly social product.

At that time, QQ 2.0, a PC port that doesn't even have the characteristics of the mobile era, will be a joke.

From the early days of the "Penguin Five Tigers" founding team, Penguin has always held high-level meetings where everyone speaks freely, making it quite democratic.

You can play the role of a low-key hermit like Zhang Xiaolong, or you can emulate the bold and unrestrained Liu Chiping.

But the two questions raised by Ma Huateng today—

How can we leverage the battle between Wenjie and Damai.cn to acquire shares in Ali or even Baidu?

How should we view the strategic intent behind Wenjie's poaching of Zhang Xiaolong?

Everyone present stared intently at Pony Ma's expression, anticipating his answer and decision.

This is the charisma of a business leader and the support of the people. At critical moments, when making major strategic decisions for the company, we need a leader who has always led everyone to victory.

Even though Pony Ma is usually refined and low-key, he is the core soul of Tencent.

However, the words spoken by the core soul below made everyone's hearts sink even faster, as if there was no bottom in sight.

"Whether Yidan guesses it's a software like Fetion, or Chiping says it's a mobile version of QQ."

“Including what Chi Ping just said—this is the worst outcome you can imagine.”

Ma Huateng looked at everyone with a somber expression: "I don't have a standard answer, but I'll also play the role of Director Lu today and show you a clip from a movie."

"Perhaps after 'watching' this movie, you will feel the same way I do now and will never think that copying QQ is the worst outcome."

Little Ma gave the group, whose faces had suddenly turned cold, no chance to catch their breath and think. He vaguely recalled his conversation with Zhang Xiaolong before they parted that day:
“I asked him, ‘What did Lu Kuan say to you that made you decide to leave?’ Xiaolong said—” (Chapter 521)
"Yahoo created the portal, Google restructured search, and we need to carve the interactive aesthetics of the Chinese people onto the blank canvas of the mobile internet. This is the 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' of the digital age, and every user is a brushstroke in the painting."

Ma Huateng had practically etched these words into his mind. Looking at the office staff, lost in thought or seemingly absorbed, he spoke up to remind them:
"By the way, Xiaolong said this product is called... WeChat."

A brief silence fell over the meeting room as the Penguin executives were unanimously struck by this poetic product vision.

Despite being on opposing sides, the image of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival in the digital age" still resonates with them.

That was not only a precise insight into the mobile internet, but also contained the ultimate pursuit of perfectly integrating technology and humanities. This product philosophy that transcended the commercial level left everyone present with mixed feelings.

They suddenly understood Zhang Xiaolong's choice:

When an idealist encounters a concept that combines aesthetic excellence with a sense of mission for the times, any practical considerations pale in comparison.

Lu Kuan's artist-like language outlines not only the product form, but also an ambition to reshape digital civilization.

This grand, romantic narrative has a fatal attraction for true product managers.

But after the brief shock, a deeper worry spread through everyone's hearts, because they all discovered a terrible truth!

Fetion is merely a replacement for SMS, and QQ is still a product of the PC era; neither of them is worthy of the description in this text!
Everyone present was in the same predicament as their boss, Pony Ma, experiencing the frustration of "growing thinner with age":
What exactly are the boundaries and road widths for?
At this moment, Ma Huateng suddenly felt like an outsider, looking at the different expressions on his subordinates' faces in the meeting room, unsure whether he should be happy or sad.

He chose to articulate what he considered to be the worst possible outcome.

This expectation was also a key reason why he wanted to try to cooperate with Liu Chuanzhi rather than Damai.cn on the basis of obtaining huge benefits.

"Game developers all like to add features, and they wish they could turn all players into paying users."

“But I know Xiaolong better than any of you. He has been simplifying things ever since we started our email business.”

Ma Huateng's voice was tinged with bitterness: "I'm thinking, what if Wenjie asked him to create a social tool stripped of QQ's redundant features, purely based on phone contacts and interest groups..."

He glanced around the room, noticing the faces of the crowd quickly darkening:

"This is the biggest killer move that cuts off Tencent's chances in the mobile internet era, and it's the very foundation that will destroy our competitiveness in this new era!"

"Comrades, the most dangerous moment has arrived!"

(End of this chapter)