Restart life

Chapter 282 0279 [The Big 50 Cent Party Member Comes to HaiNei.com]

After the purchase contract was signed, both parties agreed to officially transfer the property after the National Day holiday.

Watching Liu Jianguo drive away, Bian Guanyue asked curiously, "Since he was one of Baidu's earliest employees, he should have stock options, right? Why would he sell his house to start a business?"

“He doesn’t have options, he has shares from the beginning,” Chen Guiliang estimated. “If converted to RMB, Liu Jianguo’s Baidu shares are worth at least two or three hundred million. But this year is not a good time to cash out.”

Even after the dilution from the IPO share issuance, Liu Jianguo still holds a substantial 0.9% stake in Baidu.

According to stock market rules, he could have started cashing out in February of this year.

However, venture capital firms like IDG, as well as employee shares and options, immediately began a concentrated sell-off. At the height of the sell-off, the stock price plummeted by 40% within a week.

After Baidu's stock price recovered, the "price gouging scandal" broke in May, with many institutions taking the opportunity to short sell and incite panic selling among investors. In July, the "layoff scandal" also impacted Baidu's stock price.

With the second lock-up period ending in August, venture capitalists and employees launched another wave of selling.

They're still dumping them.

In the first nine months of this year, Baidu's stock price fluctuated wildly. It reached a low of $43 and a high of $86, going back and forth, high and low.

Liu Jianguo is probably still observing the situation and won't touch his Baidu stock in the short term.

Chen Guiliang drove Bian Guanyue back to school, and they talked about the house along the way, focusing on whether or not to renovate it.

According to Liu Jianguo, he owns many properties in Beijing, including three in Huaqing Jiayuan alone. The one he sold to Chen Guiliang was acquired from a property speculator last year, and he originally planned to renovate it and live in it himself.

The house was just renovated two months ago and is still airing out when it was sold to Chen Guiliang.

It's like a brand new house, but I haven't lived in it for even a day.

"We'll see," Bian Guanyue said. "Since no one has lived here before and it was just renovated, I don't think it's necessary to go through all that trouble."

Chen Guiliang said, "He said the decorating style is more Chinese, which might seem a bit old-fashioned to young people. The rooftop garden is also Chinese-style with small bridges and flowing water. I'm afraid you won't like it."

Bian Guanyue laughed and said, "You forgot that I studied Sichuan Opera when I was a child, and I like those ancient gardens."

“Then let’s get a traditional courtyard house in Beijing when we have time,” Chen Guiliang said.

"Great!" Bian Guanyue was even happier; she had no idea how valuable courtyard houses were in the capital.

The prices of courtyard houses in Beijing are currently experiencing a period of rapid increase, but they are still relatively cheaper than after 2010.

But they are hard to buy.

Most courtyard houses in Beijing have unclear property rights, and it's easy to fall into a trap if you're not careful. There's even a possibility that after the transfer of ownership, a "original owner" will suddenly appear, or the property might be reported as a protected cultural relic.

Chen Guiliang didn't have the time to get involved in troublesome matters.

After dropping Bian Guanyue off at the school gate, the two kissed goodbye in the car and exchanged sweet words for a while before Bian Guanyue got out of the car and waved goodbye.

Chen Guiliang drove back to the company.

Huang Xinyuan, head of ByteDance's SP business department, had been waiting for him for a long time and immediately followed up in the office to report on his work.

"The online original music competition is going very well. The results will be announced after National Day. I've already picked out a few of the entries," Huang Xinyuan said. "In the past two weeks, I've flown to several provinces and been drinking with leaders from China Mobile and China Unicom every day. I've basically re-established those relationships. 'Wait a Minute' is about to see a surge in ringtone downloads."

Chen Guiliang comforted and praised, "You've really worked hard, flying around drinking must be quite a hardship."

Huang Xinyuan lamented, "We've encountered a very bad period. The government has taken real action, cracking down on internet chaos this year, including the SP (Service Provider) business. And SPs are a top priority."

Chen Guiliang asked, "What exactly happened?"

"I learned all this while drinking with leaders from China Mobile and China Unicom," Huang Xinyuan said. "In June of this year, the higher authorities officially issued a document. But because it concerns the interests of China Mobile, China Unicom, and many internet companies, everyone was trying to delay as much as possible. Now they can't delay any longer. The higher authorities have given a final deadline: the policy must be implemented by December! I estimate that all companies involved in SP business will be interviewed in turn in October. Or, they might be collectively interviewed at a symposium."

Chen Guiliang asked, "Is it just the measures mentioned in the documents?"

"Yes, everything needs to be implemented." Huang Xinyuan nodded.

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Anyway, our principle is to avoid trap-like consumption. If the policy can be implemented, then no one can do it anymore, which is actually fair to us."

Huang Xinyuan looked worried: "This affects more than just scam-driven consumption; normal consumption will also be disrupted by the secondary confirmation process."

The most important aspect of the rectification measures introduced by the central government is that SP services must undergo "secondary confirmation".

Many users make purchases on their phones without even realizing it, often without even knowing what they've spent. This happens so frequently that the complaint hotline is overwhelmed with calls every day.

Implementing a "secondary confirmation" system in the future will prevent accidental purchases.

But there is an even more serious impact: some impulsive consumers regret their purchases when they confirm them again and cancel their impulsive actions.

A central government policy of "secondary confirmation" can directly halve the revenue of many internet companies, especially mobile portal websites like Kongzhong.

Moreover, there's a 24-hour refund policy, which theoretically could even create a group of people who want to get something for free. When China Mobile and China Unicom implement this, they will definitely obstruct it in every way possible, resorting to all sorts of tricks to renege.

Three months have passed since the policy was issued, but everyone has been dragging their feet on implementing it. Finally, the relevant central departments are setting a deadline.

As consumers, we would definitely give it our full support.

But one's position determines one's perspective. No matter how much of a bottom line Chen Guiliang had, he still felt a little uncomfortable—he didn't support entrapment-based consumption, but he did support impulsive consumption!
Chen Guiliang said, "In any case, the central government's rectification of the internet is beneficial to the long-term healthy development of the industry. Just follow the policies."

Huang Xinyuan was both amused and exasperated, and casually flattered, "The boss is truly enlightened."

At a time like this, a lack of awareness is useless; we can't exactly go against the central government. Huang Xinyuan finally got to the point: "Boss, I think HaiNei.com's WAP website still lacks content. I'd like to add a games section."

"Mobile games?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Huang Xinyuan nodded and said, "Kongzhong.com's mobile games are particularly profitable."

JAVA and BREW games from the feature phone era were truly outside Chen Guiliang's knowledge.

He had never seen it, and had hardly ever even heard of it.

Huang Xinyuan said, "I've inquired about it. Most of the mobile games on Kongzhong are licensed from older mobile games overseas. We can also license those; the cost isn't too high. Alternatively, we can develop our own mobile games, or have the boss's Youke Company develop them for us."

"Is it really that profitable?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Huang Xinyuan said, "About 25% of Kongzhong's revenue comes from various mobile games."

Chen Guiliang immediately made the decision: "We'll do it your way. We'll directly distribute most of the games, and I'll have Youke develop a few."

Youke's mobile games are sold to ByteDance's WAP website, and naturally, they get paid for them.

Hire some more people for Youke to specialize in mobile games.

The graphics quality of mobile games these days is somewhat similar to that of the old NES and classic PC games.

Chen Guiliang had already thought of his first project: to make a mobile version of "My Own Swordsman".

This is certainly different from the online game Feng Ji was planning; the mobile version simply presents scenes from the TV series "My Own Swordsman." Players control pixelated characters, using various buttons on a feature phone to move around, accept quests, and fight monsters.

……

Chen Guiliang donated his copy of "A Record of River Defense Experiences" to Peking University on a weekday.

It wasn't anything important or valuable; we just went through the normal procedures and even received a donation certificate.

Director Zhu called Chen Guiliang over: "Do you need the school's help to resolve your conflict with Li Yanhong? If so, I can help you contact Li Yanhong."

Chen Guiliang felt puzzled, then laughed and said, "No need."

"I was just saying it casually, don't blame me for being nosy," Director Zhu quickly explained.

Chen Guiliang thought to himself: You know so much, yet you still speak up?
Director Zhu said, "Last time, Principal Xu said he would recommend you for this year's Capital Youth Award. You were originally only eligible for the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award, but recently we received a notification that you have been selected as one of Beijing's Top Ten Outstanding Youths. That's very rare. It may be related to the fact that your activities were featured on CCTV's 'News Broadcast'."

Chen Guiliang asked, "When will we receive the award?"

Director Zhu said, "There's still one month left."

"Thank you very much for the school leaders' recommendation," Chen Guiliang said, offering a compliment.

Director Zhu said, "The school's recommendation is just fulfilling its duty. Whether you can win any awards depends on your own merits. Especially for the Top Ten Outstanding Youths of Beijing, young people from all walks of life are required. The pie is divided very fiercely, and there are so many young entrepreneurs in Beijing. You've taken the only entrepreneur spot this year."

"So, it's just a selection so far?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Director Zhu said, "Since the school has been notified, there will basically be no changes."

After leaving Director Zhu's office, Chen Guiliang rushed to class.

In the blink of an eye, it's already National Day.

The annual campus beauty pageant, held once again on the campus networks of universities across the country.

This year is quite interesting; some high school students have also started doing it on their own.

"Mr. Chen, the expert nemesis has registered on our HaiNei.com."

"Who?"

"Shuimu Zhouping, one of the top ten bloggers on Sina Blog. He's also from your hometown of Longdu."

"Damn, it's him."

The term "brick expert" finally appeared this year, and it seems that the inventor was none other than Shuimu Zhouping.

In ten years, we'll have to add "comrade" after his name.

Known as China's chief "50 Cent Party" member.

This man, a former tank mechanic stationed in Tibet, recently resigned from his position as marketing director at Sohu Changyou and is about to join the China Original Music Base as vice president (a subsidiary of China Mobile). He also regularly contributes to more than ten columns in major newspapers and websites.

They've really crossed boundaries quite a bit.

His remarks were extreme and naive, but he maintained a positive outlook on life.

Chen Guiliang was quite pleased; HaiNei.com had finally found a big 50-cent party member, and the ensuing verbal battles would surely be particularly exciting.

However, the editor-in-chief of Haiwainet said, "Shuimu Zhouping's first article after joining Haiwainet was a scathing critique of Fang Zhouzi, so the two are probably going to have a fight. If Fang Zhouzi loses a fight badly, he'll find another platform to rant about. He did that before when he worked at a print newspaper."

"Let him be, let him curse if he wants." Chen Guiliang has no shortage of people who want to criticize him.

(End of this chapter)