What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 521 Chaos
Carbon Silicon Data really likes the differentiated competition between Tencent and Alibaba.

Weishi is making music short videos, and Leyin is learning to do the same. Both of them have no shortage of traffic, and their data looks very good. According to their own disclosures, both apps have more than 2500 million users, which is larger than Douyin's scale. It seems that the situation is very promising.

However, Alibaba changed course first, and then Tencent launched a fierce attack, which suddenly intensified the competition.

Witnessing this situation, Yu Xing couldn't help but sigh at how fierce the competition was in the domestic internet industry.

Regarding WeChat and WeChat's successive blocking of Douyin sharing links, Carbon Silicon Data issued a statement after collecting relevant information, pointing out a clear abuse of market dominance and believing that this violated the Anti-Monopoly Law and constituted unfair competition.

Logically, this should have been stopped by the relevant departments, but...

Carbon and silicon data are not expected to have a significant impact at this level; it's just to clarify the concept first.

However, Tencent did respond. COO Ren Yuxi said in a media interview: "It is thanks to President Yu that Wechat has not gained market dominance, so how can there be any talk of abuse?"

As for why WeChat would follow suit with such a move...

Ren Yuxi also cheerfully pointed out the problem: "It's probably because President Yu taught us well. WeChat isn't software specifically designed for President Yu; it's just still learning from WeChat. President Yu got what he asked for, so what else is there to say?"

When Zhong Zhiling, president of Carbon Silicon Data, heard the response from Tencent's COO, he said in a televised dialogue: "Such a statement that disregards the facts is really meaningless and unbecoming of a giant. Should we talk about why we should use their methods and who the root cause is?"

Ren Yuxi retorted in his WeChat Moments: "Can carbon silicon data also talk about manners? It's not the time for President Yu to come to Shenzhen to cry anymore, nor is it the time for President Yu to instigate Alibaba to make short videos on WeChat Moments."

In response to this statement, Lu Haiying, president of Douyin, posted a short video: "Weishi has learned from this again. Sigh, first they learned from Vine, and if they couldn't learn it, they just dissolved and went bankrupt. We seem to be doing well, but we still managed to learn the wrong thing. They ignored the situation in the domestic market and tried to learn from MusVid. They realized it was wrong halfway through and kept changing it. Does Tencent really believe that they can win by changing things back and forth like this?"

Ren Yuxi responded with a short video from Weishi: "Yes, yes, you guys are so good at learning. Not only are you good at learning, but you're also good at poaching people. You directly poached our Weishi head to build cars. Why don't you let him build rockets?"

Both sides engaged in a war of words, each trying to gain the upper hand in public opinion.

Of course, the onlookers just wanted the two sides to fight even more fiercely.

In contrast, Alibaba is more pragmatic, launching offensives both in terms of business operations and tacitly following Weicha's lead to encircle and suppress Douyin.

Just like the doubts Yu Xing and the investors mentioned, Leyin can almost be considered Alibaba's first important content product. For the past three years, WeChat has basically followed the same rules as Weichat. Although it has achieved great success, Alibaba has always been resentful about this kind of operation.

Regardless of its achievements, WeChat under this model can never escape the name "Yu Xing".

But who is Alibaba?
In the past, it was known as one of the BAT giants, and now it is the world's second largest internet company.

Given such a position, is it not possible for them to independently produce high-quality products?
Yang Baocheng was dissatisfied with this, as was Liu Chunming.

As the chief and deputy in charge of "Music Sound" this time, both of them are very confident that they will eventually take the lead in the short video market.

Yang Baocheng was previously the vice president of Kugou. After joining Alibaba, he became the head of the comprehensive channels of the Digital Entertainment Business Group, coordinating the operation and development of products such as Xiami Music and Tiantian Dongting. Because of this experience, he was given the important task of making music short videos for "Leyin", and continued his responsibilities after the full integration with Douyin.

Although Liu Chunming is Pony's deputy, his resume is more impressive. Before becoming the president of Alibaba Digital Entertainment Group, he served as the head of several departments at Tencent, from the Strategic Development Department to the Corporate Development Department and then to the Online Media Business Group. He can be considered Pony's trusted confidant.

This partnership between Yang and Liu reflects Alibaba's emphasis on the short video business and is also seen by the two as the best stepping stone to achieve success. After all, Yang's music business is at a slightly lower level, and Liu needs a more outstanding business to prove himself after jumping to Alibaba.

Therefore, compared to Tencent, Alibaba's Leyin has more substantial business development, having established an integrated partnership with Weibo and a cooperative relationship with Youku Tudou, involving not only traffic push but also copyright exchanges.

Leyin is learning from Douyin, but more importantly, she is trying to create her own content.

Yang Baocheng believes that Leyin needs to leverage the advantages of the Alibaba ecosystem. For example, Weibo's celebrity resources can be combined with Youku Tudou's video resources to create a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.

As for Liu Chunming, he also commented on the public opinion battle between Silicon Carbon Data and Tencent in his WeChat Moments, believing that the dogfight was a good opportunity for Leyin to seize the top spot in the market.

In the last week of November, Alibaba used its system and Tencent to block Douyin, making the situation very serious.

As a forum with a slight bias, Baixiaosheng discussed the sudden escalation of competition in the short video market and generally believed that Douyin was under the greatest pressure. Even with the traffic from Carbon Silicon Data, it was difficult to compare with the traffic from Alibaba, Tencent, and their affiliated companies such as UC Browser, Youku Tudou, QQ Music, Tencent Video, and Tencent Portal.

Ultimately, while silicon carbon data has indeed achieved success in the mobile internet sector, AI and T remain the dominant giants.

During this review, someone suddenly noticed a problem: Where is B?
Alibaba and Tencent are not only making short videos, but they've also started blocking Douyin's development. Where is Baidu?

Baidu, Baidu... Baidu is carefully studying the group-buying market.

Meituan's move to Tencent is not only a betrayal of Alibaba, but also closely related to Baidu Nuomi.

Previously, the O2O market was dominated by Meituan, Dianping, and Baidu Nuomi, who together held over 90% of the market share. Now, news has surfaced that Meituan and Dianping will merge, leaving Baidu Nuomi with only 17% of the market…

The eldest and second eldest brothers together take more than 7% of the market, how is the third eldest supposed to survive?
Baidu is in a dilemma. If it continues to spend money to expand its market share, Meituan and Tencent will almost certainly declare themselves dominant and will continue to siphon market share from the remaining players. If it stops investing, it has already invested a lot of money in Baidu Nuomi...

To fight or to hold on?
This decision depends to some extent on Alibaba's choice. It is said that Alibaba is in contact with Ele.me, but things may change. If Ele.me can compete with Alibaba, the group-buying market can continue to be played.

As for the emerging short videos...

Seeing the sudden surge in activity and the competition that its own company was absent from, Baidu did indeed hold a meeting to discuss the matter.

Ultimately, Li Yanhong made the final decision, letting the dust settle for a while.

The prospects and future of short videos are not yet clear, so we can wait and see. It's too early to tell which market is the best or worst.

As a result, some people burned money, some blocked channels, some competed, and some were left out.

As December arrived, Yu Xing split himself in two, one half inspecting sales outlets in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai regions, and the other half focusing on changes in the short video market.

He discovered an optimal time: his return journey from each store visit was the best opportunity to communicate with Lü Haiying, Zhong Zhiling, Yang Zhenyuan, and the investors. Yu Xing still found Tencent's attack quite unexpected.

"I miss Liu Chiping very much."

"It seems like Ren Yuxi is the one making frequent statements on Tencent this time, which feels a bit off."

"Ren Yuxi is in charge of the gaming sector at Tencent. He is not in charge of Weishi, nor does he have any business collaboration with Weishi."

Yu Xing sat in the second row of the car in a zero-gravity seat and chatted with Liu Wanying about their opponents.

Liu Wanying understood the implication: "Is there some internal change at Tencent? Surely not. President Liu has been the CEO of Tencent for almost 10 years, surely not?"

"I don't know. I asked President Xiong yesterday, but he didn't have any specific information either," Yu Xing pondered. "I just feel that Ren Yuxi's high profile is a bit abnormal. It's not his place to be high-profile."

After hearing what Boss Yu said, and reflecting on the recent public opinion clashes, Liu Wanying also felt that something was amiss.

Liu Chiping is too quiet, while Ren Yuxi is too high-profile.

Tencent Video suddenly shifted course again, launching a multi-pronged attack.

Liu Wanying became more and more surprised as she thought about it: "If that's the case, well, if we have to guess like this, wait, if Ren Yuxi has the idea of ​​taking over the president's position, then he should hope that Weishi suffers a setback. Assuming that the situation of Tencent in the past few years has accumulated to the present, only if Weishi suffers a setback can Liu Chiping step down and he can take over. How can he fight with you all to protect Weishi?"

Yu Xing pondered for two seconds, then smiled and said, "This depends on your mindset and stance. Only Pony can get the position of president. It's not that if Chiping falls, he will definitely take over. He is going to be the president of Tencent, and he has to act in the overall interests of Tencent. How can there be a president in the world who doesn't protect his own business like Weishi?"

"If he tries to sabotage Weishi in order to get the CEO position, he won't be able to take over the job."

"If it were carbon and silicon data, and I were watching TikTok here, do you think I wouldn't be able to see who's putting in the effort and who's sabotaging us?"

Liu Wanying said from the bottom of her heart, "It's quite subtle; it takes someone like you to consider this kind of thing."

“It’s not me who’s like that. It’s that once you’re in this position, you can think about it from the opposite perspective, and then it becomes much easier to figure out,” Yu Xing said. “But it’s just a guess. Well, if that’s really the case, then I can only send Chi Ping on his way myself.”

Liu Wanying, sensing the complex emotions Ren Yuxi might be experiencing, clicked her tongue in amazement: "Perhaps Ren Yuxi, who criticizes you the most, is actually the one with the most confidence in you..."

Yu Xing laughed heartily, just like how creating WeChat only to be blocked by WeChat itself—the world is indeed full of strange things.

Before the return journey even reached Lingang, a new piece of news added fuel to the fire of the short video battle.

According to a breaking news report, Liu Chun-ning, the vice president of Leyin, has been taken away by the police for investigation!

Upon hearing the news reported by his secretary Zhang Yangxu, Yu Xing immediately ended the call and went online to gossip. Yueyin was also making frequent moves, and Liu Chunming was one of Yueyin's main leaders. His changes might involve more changes.

Soon, more specific rumors emerged: Liu Chun-ning was taken away for investigation because Tencent discovered corruption issues among some employees of its video team during an internal audit. With Liu Chun-ning's former secretary at Tencent also being taken away for investigation, Liu Chun-ning's problems also came to light.

It is said that Liu Chunming had business dealings with his own shadow company during his time at Tencent, and was suspected of signing video copyright agreements, which caused Tencent hundreds of millions of yuan in losses.

At this point, more inside stories about Liu Chunming's move from Tencent to Alibaba have been revealed. It is said that Pony Ma was furious when he learned the news and demanded 2000 million yuan in compensation. However, Lu Zhaoxi of Alibaba assured Liu Chunming that he had nothing to fear and claimed that he would take care of everything.

The two sides are already engaged in a non-compete lawsuit, but that's just an economic dispute. The real issue now is the nature of sending people directly to jail.

Yu Xing was thoroughly enjoying the gossip, feeling that Bai Xiaosheng's claims were generally reliable. He believed that everyone behind these pseudonyms was at least a middle-level manager on either side, and the information they released carried a certain degree of authority.

Even that evening, Yu Xing kept refreshing the forum, hoping to see if there were any new updates.

However, just as he was about to leave work, his secretary, Zhang Yangxu, looked at the message he received on WeChat and sent a message asking a question.

"Mr. Yu, Chang Lingxin, a management trainee who previously worked for us on Douyin, was poached by Tencent. She messaged me asking if she could switch to Weishi."

Chang Lingxin is a management trainee who joined Silicon Carbon Group not long ago. She went to Guangzhou to see an exhibition with Yu Xing because of her outstanding looks. After returning to Lingang, she signed with a third-party MCN company that provides services for Douyin.

Because of her good looks and her active participation in Douyin's content creation, she gained more than 20 followers in just one week, and her future looks very promising.

Yu Xing glanced at his secretary with some surprise, knowing that this was a tactic used by Weishi in competition, and that it was definitely not just Chang Lingxin who had been poached.

He gave a very sincere piece of advice.

Zhang Yangxu sent over the boss's exact words.

Soon, Chang Lingxin, who was struggling with her decision, received a reply from the boss's secretary. Just as she was about to type, she received another call from Weishi.

"Chang Lingxin, if you come here, you will receive comprehensive training from Weishi. Think about it, you are not working for Douyin in Lingang, but just an external company that cooperates with Douyin. Moreover, you have seen that Douyin has been blocked by WeChat and Weichat. What do you think will happen to Douyin in the future?"

"As long as you come, we can handle all the breach of contract fees for you."

Despite hearing the promises made on the other end of the phone, Chang Lingxin still made up her mind to switch jobs.

She ended the call, looked at the four words on the screen, hesitated for a few seconds, and then gave a simple reply.

Zhang Yangxu: It's best not to.

Chang Lingxin: Thank you, Mr. Zhang.

(End of this chapter)