This director lacks vision.

Chapter 5: The Roc Didn't Fly, But I Fly First
Jiang Yifeng arrived at the Human Resources Department and saw seven new colleagues.

February includes the Chinese New Year holiday, so the company didn't hire many new employees.

Those eight are all there are.

Everyone took the elevator together and, led by the chairman's assistant, arrived at the top floor of the building.

The top floor was decorated very luxuriously, but there were hardly any people on the entire floor.

Only Zhang Chaoyang and the chairman's office work here.

The employees in the chairman's office are mostly beautiful women.

Jiang Yifeng glanced around and saw four or five tall, beautiful women standing together chatting.

He recalled an internet rumor he had seen in his previous life, saying that Zhang Chaoyang was partying every night on the top floor of the Sohu Building.

The media jokingly remarked that the glass facade on the top floor of the Sohu Building could reflect the brilliance of 100 suns.

Now it seems that all of this may not be unfounded.

Zhang Chaoyang's carefree life is truly enviable.

Jiang Yifeng had assumed that all eight people would enter the chairman's office together, exchange a few perfunctory words, and then leave.

Unexpectedly, they went in one by one, one by one.

Jiang Yifeng was ranked 5th.

He couldn't understand Zhang Chaoyang's thoughts and was prepared to just observe and leave.

After the four people in front of him finished talking, Jiang Yifeng walked into the chairman's office and saw Zhang Chaoyang leaning back in his large office chair, staring blankly at the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling window, lost in thought.

His eyes were bloodshot and his face was a bit sallow, clearly indicating that he hadn't had enough rest.

Noticing Jiang Yifeng's scrutiny, Zhang Chaoyang asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid of me? The people before you were all timid and hesitant."

Jiang Yifeng was of course not afraid of Zhang Chaoyang. He was reborn with a cheat code, so he was not afraid of anyone.

When you have a strong sense of confidence, you naturally feel relaxed.

Jiang Yifeng said calmly, "My dad once said that the most degrading thing a man can do is not to be broke or to dress sloppily."

Instead, he is timid in front of important people, awkward in grand occasions, and feels inferior when around beautiful women.

This is a classic line from the movie The Godfather.

Zhang Chaoyang got it. He laughed and asked in return, "Is your father Corleone?"

“My father was a farmer who farmed the land his whole life, but he supported my education. In my heart, he was more powerful than my godfather.”

Zhang Chaoyang was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "Interesting. Today I finally met an interesting newcomer."

sit!"

Jiang Yifeng sat down on the sofa.

Zhang Chaoyang stood up, sat down opposite him, and asked, "Do you know why I suddenly had the urge to chat with the new employees?"

"Because you're anxious and can't find new sources of enjoyment, you're wondering if a new employee can bring you new excitement?"

Upon hearing Jiang Yifeng's answer, Zhang Chaoyang was taken aback; this was not his answer.

He had two purposes in talking to the new employees.

Firstly, we want to ask new employees about their experience after joining the company, and through their perspective, identify any shortcomings and areas for improvement in the company's management system.

Secondly, he had a work problem and wanted to ask the new employees for their opinions.

New employees, despite their lack of work experience, are often able to think outside the box and offer interesting perspectives.

This might offer Zhang Chaoyang some inspiration.

However, Jiang Yifeng's answer inexplicably aligned with his own thoughts.

The result exceeded expectations.

Many netizens in later generations said that Lei Jun's life was like a cheat code, but compared with Zhang Chaoyang, Lei Jun still has to take a backseat.

Zhang Chaoyang was admitted to Tsinghua University from Shaanxi Province at the age of 17. He excelled in his studies and won a scholarship to study abroad at MIT, where he pursued a postdoctoral degree in physics.

After graduation, he used the investment given to him by his teacher to start his own business in China.

The entrepreneurial journey was also smooth sailing. Sohu became one of the three major portal websites and was listed on NASDAQ in 2000. Zhang Chaoyang was then respectfully called the godfather of the Internet and lived a life of financial freedom.

He doesn't get married, he has a lot of fun, and he's tried all sorts of hobbies.

Unfortunately, human beings have diminishing returns.

Without the cheat codes, Zhang Chaoyang found the game boring after playing for a while and began to contemplate life.

As a result, he became depressed and uttered the famous line: "Having money doesn't equal happiness. I have everything, but I'm still so miserable." Zhang Chaoyang already showed signs of depression in 2009.

He was genuinely feeling anxious and couldn't find joy in anything he did.

Jiang Yifeng's answer truly resonated with Zhang Chaoyang, making him look at him with new respect.

But Zhang Chaoyang didn't agree verbally. Instead, he said, "It's not a new stimulus, but a new perspective."

The company planned to join forces with several video websites to form an anti-piracy alliance, but encountered obstacles, as the top-ranked video websites were unwilling to cooperate with us.

I'd like to ask you new employees, what are your thoughts on anti-piracy?
Do you have any good suggestions for promoting the establishment of an anti-piracy alliance?

Sohu can be considered the Whampoa Military Academy of the domestic video industry.

Gu Yongqiang of Youku, Gong Yu of iQiyi, Li Shanyou of Ku6, and Wang Jianjun of 56.com—all of these were found through Sohu.

Zhang Chaoyang occasionally displays a strange kind of self-confidence.

He believed that with his position and the country's anti-piracy policy, as long as he raised his voice, his former subordinates would respond and unite under his command to form an anti-piracy alliance.

Together, we will compete against Tudou.com, which has the highest market share.

However, reality is cruel.

No video websites paid any attention to Sohu. Gu Yongqiang of Youku even joked about it during a media interview.

"Zhang Chaoyang is still so naive."

These words provoked Zhang Chaoyang, making him extremely angry. He is now determined to form an anti-piracy alliance.

Upon hearing Zhang Chaoyang's question, Jiang Yifeng decided to offer some useful advice.

On the one hand, it can make Zhang Chaoyang pay more attention to him and give him better development opportunities. On the other hand, he is now preparing to shoot a web series on Sohu. If Sohu Video develops well, it will help enhance the influence of the web series.

After sorting out his thoughts, Jiang Yifeng said, "To build an anti-piracy alliance, we must let everyone see the benefits."

This is actually a very simple matter.

I suggest that the company allocate a large sum of money to acquire the copyrights of films and television dramas in bulk, and then distribute and sell them to other websites at a lower price.

Once these video websites have access to legally licensed movies and TV shows, they will spontaneously combat piracy in order to protect their own interests.

Zhang Chaoyang frowned and asked, "Does this mean the company is losing money?"
We buy copyrights at high prices, then sell them to other websites at low prices, thus cultivating competitors.

What's the point of this?

Upon hearing Zhang Chaoyang's question, Jiang Yifeng was completely disillusioned with him.

What kind of big shot is he? Although he has extraordinary abilities, he is just standing at the forefront of trends.

I can't even figure this out.

Jiang Yifeng explained: "First, we can buy the permanent copyright of TV dramas and sell the broadcasting rights to these video websites for three to five years."

Even after the broadcasting rights expire, the copyright will still be in our hands.

By then, legitimate content will have become the industry standard, and our advantage of holding the copyright will be immense.

Moreover, with our large-scale acquisition of film and television copyrights, the prices of these copyrights are bound to rise in the future.

Buying an episode now for a few thousand yuan, with future copyright increases, will be a huge profit.

This is a blatant, overt conspiracy.

Seeing Jiang Yifeng's confident demeanor, Zhang Chaoyang retorted, "Then why don't other companies do the same?"

Jiang Yifeng shook his head and said, "Because they have no money."

Boss, you know perfectly well that the reason Sohu is focusing on legitimate content is because we have money and hope to use copyrights to build a moat around our video website.

Anti-piracy efforts are also for the purpose of making money.

But you're too conservative; you're so stingy when it comes to buying TV shows.

That's too stingy; after buying the rights, they hoard them without understanding how to distribute them or cultivate the legitimate market first.

Zhang Chaoyang: "..."

Zhang Chaoyang was silent for a moment, then said to Jiang Yifeng, "You go out first, let me think about it."

Seeing that Zhang Chaoyang's expression was not good, Jiang Yifeng realized that he had been too excited and his tone was inappropriate.

It's like I'm scolding the boss.

"Damn it, I'm floating before the roc has even floated away."

(End of this chapter)