You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 372 Backhand knife
"Zhang Chaoyang is against piracy?" Zhang Pingyi thought this was unbelievable. "Why should he be against piracy? This has nothing to do with him, right?"

"It will be related soon." Qin Shaoyan said meaningfully, "I talked to him about so much valuable information today, and at the end I specifically mentioned the issue of piracy, and also mentioned that genuine products are cheaper. Do you think I just said that casually?"

"I have told him the right path. Whether he listens or not, he will definitely follow the same model as Qvod, adopt the PGC model, and purchase genuine film and television resources to attract users."

"But before that, he had to solve a problem: the rampant piracy on hundreds of video websites."

Zhang Pingyi was still puzzled. "We don't have to solve the piracy problem of our peers if we follow the model of Qvod.com. We haven't done anything, have we?"

"How can they be the same?" Qin Shaoyan smiled. "Qvod started early and has accumulated a large number of users. They are also willing to spend money on content. In addition to uploading various Japanese and Korean resources, they also copy directly from YouTube servers. Spending money on domestic legitimate resources is just a side effect."

"We have a lot of interesting content, and users come for the content, regardless of whether it's genuine or not."

"If Sohu were to develop a video website, it would be different."

"When we launched Qvod, we had no competition. When Sohu Video launched, it faced hundreds of video sites, large and small. They couldn't copy resources from YouTube like we did, and they couldn't follow us and use pirated content."

"How can the content of those video websites with pirated resources be compared with the genuine resources I bought by myself?"

"If Sohu wants to surpass these competitors, it cannot compete with them in filling the content library. It must bring other competitors to the same level as it, and then rely on the traffic of portal websites and the funds of listed companies to defeat its competitors."

"Anti-piracy is a good banner. No matter how many peers there are, every one of them relies on pirated film and television resources to fill their content."

"Once the pirated content is wiped out, these competitors will basically be crippled. How can they compete with Sohu Video?"

"Either you try your best to improve the quality of user-generated content, or you compete with well-funded big websites to bid for legitimate resources."

"Both of these are obviously impossible. They don't have the ability to do so. So as long as Sohu can succeed in fighting piracy, our peers will just have to wait for death."

After listening to Qin Shaoyan's words, Zhang Pingyi finally understood, "According to what you said, if Sohu wants to join the game, it must fight against piracy."

"But there's one thing I don't understand. According to you, if we just fight piracy, we can kill all those competitors. Then why don't you do it?"

Zhang Pingyi found it very strange. Apart from desperately buying genuine products, Qin Shaoyan had never said anything like piracy was damaging his interests, nor had he ever mentioned anti-piracy to anyone else.

But today when Zhang Chaoyang came, Qin Shaoyan talked to him about anti-piracy and told him without reservation about this method of killing his competitors.

"Their piracy does not affect my position as the leader of Qvod, let alone my listing, so why should I worry about it?" Qin Shaoyan said confidently, "The most important thing is that you seem to be right in fighting piracy, but it is easy to offend people. Why should our Qvod be the bad guy?"

Zhang Pingyi was very surprised. "What are you talking about? You are almost becoming the public enemy of the industry. People have even formed an anti-Qvod alliance. Are you still afraid of offending people? This is not like your character."

"I'm not afraid of offending my peers. I don't care if those guys die." Qin Shaoyan sighed, "I'm afraid of offending users."

At that time, the Internet was dominated by piracy, and users generally liked to get things for free and would not spend a penny at all.

What about eMule and Thunder? Everyone is posting "May the author of this post be safe all his life" in exchange for seeds.

Internet users have implemented the spirit of sharing very well and are accustomed to free things, which is why various free models can quickly rise to become mainstream.

Fighting against piracy and supporting paid versions of genuine products will naturally make netizens disgusted, and if someone fan the flames, the company's reputation will be ruined.

Word of mouth may seem intangible and useless, but it is actually very important. However, many large companies are used to being arrogant and never take word of mouth seriously.

Besides, as the leader of the industry, Qvod is naturally under siege. If it continues to use the anti-piracy approach to target its peers, it will no longer be able to gain a foothold among the masses.

Moreover, the anti-Qvod alliance is only opposing it as the industry leader in snatching users, not a life-and-death fight.

The fight against piracy is really about taking drastic measures. These colleagues will do anything when they are pushed to the limit.

The naked hatred is between colleagues, and since they are all colleagues, they know your weaknesses and shortcomings better. When the time comes, just reporting to the administrative department will be enough to make you suffer.

Before Qvod and Campus Network grew into Internet giants, the chances of being hit by the iron fist were greater and the damage was higher.

Zhang Pingyi was shocked. "No wonder you encouraged Zhang Chaoyang to fight against piracy. You are indeed the one, Mr. Qin. I thought you were up to no good, and it turns out you were up to no good."

"You are really good at killing someone with a borrowed knife." Zhang Pingyi then said, "It seems that Zhang Chaoyang's anti-piracy efforts will not be successful."

"I didn't expect him to succeed." Qin Shaoyan said calmly, "But he can still make some noise."

"After all, fighting piracy and respecting intellectual property rights are politically correct in the administration, and will definitely receive official support."

"As long as Sohu can get official support, it can use legal weapons to sanction its peers one by one."

"Anti-piracy is a means, not an end. Zhang Chaoyang doesn't have to kill every one of his peers. He just needs to find a few typical ones to make an example of."

Zhang Pingyi nodded. "Getting involved in a lawsuit is enough to make those video websites suffer. Regardless of whether they win or lose, they can forget about going public if they don't delete the pirated copies."

Qin Shaoyan sneered, "If I were Zhang Chaoyang, I would sue all those clients who placed advertisements on video websites!"

"Is this possible?" Zhang Pingyi was dumbfounded.

"Why not?" Qin Shaoyan said proudly, "They are supporting piracy by placing advertisements on websites with pirated resources. It's not unfair to sue them."

"It doesn't matter if we win or lose, as long as we can scare off advertisers, if no one places ads, video websites will have no income at all, and they will have no other choice but to wait for death."

Zhang Pingyi was completely convinced and gave a thumbs up.

"It has to be President Qin. No one else can come up with such a bad idea except you."

"Then you are complimenting me. I also learned it from others." Qin Shaoyan declined repeatedly.

Zhang Pingyi didn't believe what Qin Shaoyan said. He had been with Mr. Qin for several years and knew this boss too well.

"If Zhang Chaoyang really did what you said, the video industry would be reshuffled." Zhang Pingyi sighed, "Zhang Chaoyang went through a lot of trouble and offended a lot of people, but in the end, all of it was done for Qvod."

“Will websites with genuine resources be able to emerge in the future?”

"That's not necessarily true," Qin Shaoyan said helplessly. "When users watch content, they only care about whether it's good, and then the clarity and smoothness. They don't care whether it's pirated or not."

Zhang Pingyi frowned, "According to you, genuine products cannot beat pirated ones?"

"The current market is a situation where bad money drives out good money. Besides, Internet users' income is still very low, and they haven't developed the habit of paying. Their awareness of genuine products is weak." Qin Shaoyan said in a flat tone, "It is impossible to succeed by relying solely on genuine products."

Not to mention now, even in twenty years, the video websites iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video will share the market to three parts, and they will still suffer huge losses every year.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with the video websites' own messing around.

Over the years, they have spent so much money, employed so many people, invested in a lot of bad dramas, and often use tricks to deceive users.

For example, advanced screenings and those flashy advertisements.

"The video website project is really difficult." Zhang Pingyi sighed.

There is no money in making pirated products, and there is even less money in making legitimate products. He now begins to believe Qin Shaoyan's original assertion about the video website.

Video websites are money-losing. "You know clearly that video websites don't make money, so why do you still run them?" This is the most difficult thing for Zhang Pingyi to understand.

"You don't understand." Qin Shaoyan sighed, "At first I wanted to go public and make some money, but then I thought it would be better to just run the video website."

"Because video websites are content output platforms, this involves ideological issues."

Ideology?
Zhang Pingyi was even more confused. He didn't expect that Mr. Qin, who was full of evil intentions and always trying to cheat people, could have such a big picture.

"Qin Shaoyan..." Zhang Pingyi looked at him warily, "You are not planning a rebellion, are you? I warn you, if you have any evil thoughts, don't blame me for killing my own relatives for the sake of justice."

"What are you thinking about?" Qin Shaoyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You're so full of shit that you become a rebel."

"Selfishly speaking, the wealth we have gained and everything we have now are tied to the national strength. Only when the country gets better and better can our business grow bigger and bigger."

"Without any foundation at all, yet still dreaming of rebelling and taking advantage of the chaos to gain benefits, isn't that pure idiocy?"

Some capitalists think they can become president after rebelling, but in fact, the greater possibility is that they will be slaughtered like a fat sheep.

Zhang Pingyi thought about it and it made sense. It was impossible for someone like Qin Shaoyan to do such a thing.

Qin Shaoyan suddenly reminded: "Let's just talk about today between the two of us. Don't tell anyone else, especially if you act too red and professional."

"Why?" Zhang Pingyi was very surprised.

"This will make you look out of place." Qin Shaoyan spread his hands, "Besides, since you are patriotic, you have no value in united front work."

"Fuck!" Zhang Pingyi cursed, "They are just like the underground party."

"What a situation this is right now," Qin Shaoyan sighed.

The two fell into silence.

Qin Shaoyan suddenly said, "There is one more thing that needs to be done quickly."

"What's the matter?" Zhang Pingyi immediately became serious.

Qin Shaoyan said with a serious expression: "I heard that Sohu wants to get the qualification of Internet content sponsor for the 08 Olympic Games. We can't let him take it away. We must act quickly and completely stop his idea."

"Ah?" Zhang Pingyi was stunned.

"What?" Qin Shaoyan urged, "We have cooperated with the Olympic Committee for several times. If this qualification is snatched away by others, how can we live up to the name of the Olympic Public Welfare Promotion Network?"

“This is the foundation of our business!”

Zhang Pingyi was not surprised by this. He was surprised that Qin Shaoyan had just met with the CEO of Sohu and was already thinking about how to stab him in the back.

I knew it, why would Qin Shaoyan be so generous to give the other party free lessons.

He also taught me everything he knew.

If I don’t peel off your skin, I won’t be Qin Shaoyan anymore.

Zhang Pingyi also started to think, "Where should we start? Should we look for Director Zhang Wanli?"

"Don't bother Brother Zhang with such a small matter. Let's go find Director Hao." Qin Shaoyan thought for a while. "Doesn't he know a guy named Director Meng? That guy is also very powerful. Let's ask him about it."

"Okay." Zhang Pingyi thought for a moment, "Will Edward be asked to come forward this time?"

"No, Edward doesn't need to show up this time." Qin Shaoyan waved his hand, "It's not appropriate for him to show up now."

"Then I'll go?" Zhang Pingyi asked tentatively.

Qin Shaoyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Who are their status? Are they worthy of you going there in person? You are a person of status after all, Mr. Zhang."

"Let Senior Brother Chen go. He has nothing to do now."

"Ah?" Zhang Pingyi was even more confused. "Let Senior Brother Chen go?! Are you serious?"

Chen Guangxia is no longer Mr. Qin's subordinate, so what's the point of asking him to discuss this?
Besides, what is his identity? He can’t represent Qvod.com, let alone the campus network.

"It's because he has no status that we can talk. If the talk goes well, we can continue." Qin Shaoyan said calmly, "If the talk doesn't go well... Chen Guangxia is not our employee anyway, so his words are not binding."

"..."Zhang Pingyi felt that Qin Shaoyan's behavior was a bit unethical.

"I had no choice." Qin Shaoyan sighed, "I had thought before that we could just hold this international summer camp for one term just for the sake of showing off. Now that it's become such a big deal, I can't just say we won't hold it next year."

"We have already discussed it with Director Meng. The second phase will involve people with connections."

"Look, these students this year are all pretty good, why did you change them?"

"Can those people with connections participate in a debate? I'm afraid they can't even speak a few words in English. They don't have the ability at all."

"So the second phase must not be replaced by all relatives. I spend money to help college students gain experience, not to gild relatives."

"It's appropriate to let Senior Brother Chen handle it. Let him talk freely. He doesn't have to take any responsibility anyway. But there is only one thing. The conditions discussed before are not valid. The number of people with connections must be controlled below one quarter."

"More price!"

Zhang Pingyi hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded, "Then let Edward make the final decision?"

"Mr. Zhang is becoming more and more like a general, and his ideas are getting more and more reasonable." Qin Shaoyan praised, "Edward is really useful. It's time to give him a generous bonus this year."

Zhang Pingyi deeply agrees with this. Edward, this odd foreigner, looks more like a Chinese inside except for his white skin.

He is indeed a rare talent who is hardworking and willing to take blame.

Zhang Pingyi and Qin Shaoyan discussed the relevant details, then hurriedly left to find Chen Guangxia for instructions.

Less than five minutes later, Secretary Xiao Chen began to knock on the door. "Boss Qin, Manager Zhou from the Operations Department is back. He wants to see you and report to you. Do you have time?"

Qin Shaoyan was overjoyed, "Do I have any appointment this afternoon?"

"There are several. Qvod.com is coming to discuss next year's operation plan. Campus Network has two regular meetings. Mr. Liu, the coal boss, wants to have dinner with you..."

Qin Shaoyan felt a headache after hearing this. "Okay, those meetings will be postponed. As for the coal bosses, please thank them for me. There's no need to have a meal. If you have something to say, just talk about it directly."

"Okay, Mr. Qin."

"Let Zhou Yuan in." Qin Shaoyan waved his hand.

Soon, Zhou Yuan, exhausted, walked into the office.

(End of this chapter)