What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 524 I will kill myself

When WeChat was developing, it encountered a very real problem of its limitations.

There aren't enough smartphones, and Nokia and other brands can't support them.

Nowadays, there are enough smartphones for short videos. According to research by third-party institutions such as iResearch, the shipment of 4G mobile phones from January to November 2014 reached 140 million units. However, due to the influence of data plans and data charges, the average daily usage time of users is still less than 10 minutes.

Interestingly, according to Douyin's tracking of user behavior, usage is significantly higher during the day and evening, and significantly lower at noon and in the late afternoon. Further analysis shows that users brought in by WiFi Master Key actually have a higher usage rate at noon and in the late afternoon than other users.

The internal assessment of Douyin is that users can use the company's network during the day and their own network at night, but reduce usage during lunch breaks or after get off work in the evening due to concerns about data charges.

As for users of WiFi Master Key, they tend to share Douyin via WiFi during midday and evening.

There is currently a strong call in China for faster internet speeds and lower fees, and we have seen some responses from higher authorities. If this can be effectively achieved next year, and considering the further development of 4G base stations and Wi-Fi networks, Douyin's goal is to increase the average daily usage time of users to 20 minutes.

Yu Xing is quite optimistic about the development of 4G and short videos next year.

This is not only because Kuaishou has "once" succeeded with its strategy of penetrating lower-tier markets, but also because of the special circumstances of the current development of 4G.

Before the official issuance of 4G licenses, China already had more than 90 million 4G users, 9000% of whom were China Mobile users. Because of the need to protect and prioritize the development of its independently developed TD-LTE standard, China Mobile had already taken the lead. With the lifting of the ban on competition, China Unicom and China Telecom will inevitably have to catch up in the 4G race.

With the efforts of telecom operators and the elimination of smartphone brands, the number of 4G users next year is likely to exceed 3 million.

Yu Xing even felt that 3 million was a conservative estimate. Xiaomi had already launched Redmi, and Huawei had already launched Honor. The popularization of 4G next year would largely depend on products priced in the hundreds of yuan range.

Despite the rapid development of smartphones, with brands like Apple, Huawei, Samsung, and Xiaomi offering screens with 720P and even 1080P resolutions, Douyin and its competitors have similar approaches to traffic management this year due to bandwidth limitations.

Platforms like Kuaishou, Miaopai, and Weishi generally use 360P as the default resolution, which allows for smooth viewing at a bitrate of 200-300kbps. A single 15-second video consumes approximately 450-675KB of data. Depending on the device model, a 480P option is also available, with a bitrate controlled at 300-500kbps and data consumption of approximately 675-1.125MB, balancing image quality and cost.

Silicon Carbon Data provides a lot of technical support in this regard. It can adjust the resolution in a timely manner according to the user's network conditions, and it has been continuously optimizing the video compression technology. For example, it has added motion compensation for dance videos to reduce dynamic blur, and it has also adopted AAC encoding and bitrate limiting for audio. It even has the option to keep only mono, which can further save data.

TikTok's assessment regarding resolution is that it can make 480P the default resolution in the second half of next year, and once devices that support H.265 become more widespread, it can further pave the way for high-definition 720P.

Xu Xin listened to General Manager Yu talk about many things, including a summary of the current work and a vision for future development.

When she got home that evening, she pondered the various things she had heard during the day, and then tried out short video apps like Douyin, Weishi, Kuaishou, and Miaopai on her phone, paying attention to many details on each app.

Weishi has 360P as the default, Kuaishou doesn't have an option to turn off the audio channel, and Miaopai doesn't seem to be able to dynamically switch bitrates...

"Hmm? Why is Leyin..." Xu Xin was browsing the various settings as usual when she was playing with Leyin, and suddenly felt strange, "Leyin's default is 480P."

After thinking for a while, she sent her discovery and questions to President Yu via text message.

“Yes, 480P can also be done, but we did A/B testing on different scales, and the 360P day-one retention rate is 10 percentage points higher.” Yu Xing replied quickly, without mentioning Leyin, but only explaining his company’s reasons for this decision.

Xu Xin stared at President Yu's text message for a while, and then experienced Alibaba's music again. She came to a conclusion: Alibaba certainly has the technical capabilities, but whether it can honestly serve users is another matter entirely.

Looking back at Weishi, she felt that Tencent, having already learned from its mistakes in version 1.0, performed better in this regard.

Xu Xin pondered: the issue of matching technology with the market is easily overlooked, but could this become a decisive factor in the competition of short videos?

She suddenly remembered another company, "Jiuzhou," which also placed great emphasis on user experience.

After a long while, Xu Xin muttered to herself, "Arrogance, it's arrogance."

Then, she suddenly heard someone speaking to her from the side.

"What arrogance? Who's arrogant?"

Li Song flipped through the documents and casually asked a question.

Xu Xin was startled: "When did you get back? You're always disappearing without a trace, I wonder what you're up to!"

"Huh?" Li Song felt a little wronged, since he hadn't crawled through the wall to get back.

“It’s Alibaba. To be honest, this is indeed the first time Alibaba has independently developed a content and social platform.” Xu Xin’s attention quickly returned to her own thoughts and judgments. She then talked about her meeting with President Yu today and the details of using the product.

Upon hearing this, Li Song laughed and said, "If I were the world's second-largest internet company, I would be arrogant too. What is Lingang? It's just a grassroots company selling software to make a living. What is Tencent? Half of its instant messaging business has been wiped out. Other companies like Weibo are just my traffic pool. Kuaishou and the like are still digging for food in the dirt. What are they?"

"If I were Alibaba, I would definitely unify the domestic e-commerce market and compete with the likes of Google and Facebook on a global scale."

Xu Xin listened to her husband's slightly exaggerated tone, paused for a moment, and couldn't help but nod in agreement. No company is perfect. Whether it's arrogance or the problems of a big company, judging from Leyin's current performance, although the surface data is not bad, there are indeed questions about its future.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me you were going to Lingang today? If you had, we could have asked him what he thought about 360 and Coolpad's collaboration on making phones." Li Song said with some regret. Although he had been digging into LeEco's situation recently, he still had some lingering feelings for 360, which had initially tried to short it.

Xu Xin glanced at her husband: "Why don't you just ask?"

Li Song shook his head: "Lingang is so busy. The car company is about to go public, and the short video industry is also fiercely competitive. I've bothered him many times before, and now I'm too embarrassed to bother him."

Xu Xin took the phone: "It's okay, I'm fine with it."

Li Song was about to nod when he suddenly realized, "How dare you! You're using your own phone, why are you taking mine?"

But he eventually watched, half-heartedly, as his wife used her WeChat account to send a message to President Yu.

On the 16th of this month, 360 and Coolpad announced the establishment of a joint venture, with the former investing $4.09 million to acquire a 45% stake. The two companies will jointly operate the mobile phone brand "Dazen".

This is seen as a sign that 360 is once again trying to expand into hardware and offline businesses.

This isn't the first time 360 ​​has done this. Back in 2012, it partnered with mobile phone manufacturers like Alcatel and Huawei to produce custom-made phones, but it never really made a splash. So it's not surprising that they're still up to their old tricks.

However, compared to the previous practice of special supply, this time the huge investment in establishing a joint venture seems to better demonstrate the determination.

Li Song was eager to hear President Yu's assessment of the matter.

Yu Xing's reply came quickly.

"It's definitely not going to work out. The competition in the smartphone market is becoming increasingly fierce. One company is in software and the other is in hardware; they're just trying to work together but have different goals. 360 just wants to find a contract manufacturer, and Coolpad certainly won't accept that kind of positioning. This kind of alliance between an internet company and a traditional mobile phone manufacturer is simply impossible to succeed."

Yu Xing gave a decisive assessment in a casual tone. Li Song and Xu Xin exchanged bewildered glances.

Yu Xing sent a second voice message: "Besides, looking at the past attempts by 360, none of them have ever succeeded. There's really no reason to believe that they can make a breakthrough this time. Just wait and see, it's bound to be a complete mess."

As Li Song listened to the latest reply, his mind started racing with thoughts about 360 again.

He wasn't very optimistic about the joint venture in the first place, but now that President Yu's judgment was corroborating, he had more confidence in his own observations and thinking.

After discussing it for a while, Li Song praised, "President Yu has always had a good eye. He can even make a profit from stock trading, which really shows his talent."

Xu Xin laughed upon hearing this, "That's really something to praise. I was chatting with him when I saw him during the day. Tsk, he's really become a little stock market guru in Lingang."

The chairman of the Silicon Carbon Group successfully bought up BYD stock at a low price, which became a topic of conversation both inside and outside the industry. However, many people did not know that the funds actually came from the DLF Foundation, and thought that Yu Xing himself or used company money to speculate on stocks, which brought some controversy.

However, the fact that stock trading can make money means that there are few dissenting voices.

When you're not making money from stocks...

In the last week of December, BYD's stock price, which had been recovering, suddenly came under pressure again in the secondary market after a bizarre plunge, with the latest news interrupting its recovery.

At 10:00 AM on the 28th, an anonymous user on Baixiaosheng, a well-known Chinese internet forum, reported that Biji had obtained national subsidies through forged documents and other means, pointing to the fraudulent subsidy scheme.

600辆K9电动大巴为了赶在今年6月30日前获取行驶证，以便申报每辆100万的补贴，通过几十辆车就完成全部车辆的上牌流程。

The post indicates that this action involves Biji's Green Transportation Division, dealers, and staff from the Jinling Vehicle Management Office.

As a relatively "traditional" internet website, despite the booming development of Weibo and the strong competition between WeChat and Wechat, Baixiaosheng holds an extremely special position on the internet, which also allows certain important content to have extremely wide dissemination.

The post was published at 10 o'clock, and within just 5 minutes, Bi Kee's stock price plummeted by 6%, wiping out more than HK$40 billion in market value. This prompted some media outlets to exclaim that the "know-it-all" was orchestrating yet another short-selling attack on Bi Kee.

The king of short sellers, Guoshanfeng, didn't come, but the king of truth, Baixiaosheng, did.

Half an hour later, the report had spread, and Biji quickly responded, denying the content and calling it unverified material.

Meanwhile, Biji was also contacting various websites and media outlets, hoping to suppress the heat. They were able to reach Weibo, WeChat, and other channels, but to the public relations department's surprise, they ran into a snag with Baixiaosheng.

Why didn't you think of that?

Because... the person behind Bai Xiaosheng must be one of their own in some way.

Whether it's Mr. Yu's visit to Shenzhen for exchanges, the cooperation on patents, or even the broader new energy sector, there should be no obstacles to this.

The public relations department was unable to contact General Manager Yu, so they immediately reported the matter to their superiors. After learning about the situation, Vice President Zhao Kejian took over the task. Instead of contacting General Manager Yu immediately, he contacted Baixiaosheng website again, hoping to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

However, he also ran into a snag.

Considering the recent stock price volatility, Zhao Kejian no longer hesitated and directly dialed President Yu's number.

He briefly explained the situation, hoping that President Yu and Bai Xiaosheng would put the matter on hold for the time being.

Yu Xing listened quietly, and after the other person finished speaking, asked, "What did you say?"

“Ah? This… Mr. Yu, what I mean is, considering the negative impact of such remarks, we hope you can…” Zhao Kejian hesitated for a moment, then reiterated his request.

Yu Xing interrupted, "What I mean is, why are you telling me this? Is it true? Who is involved? How are you going to handle it internally? The stock market won't fluctuate because of a post without any basis. I've already read that post. The content is very detailed, and the chain of evidence is very consistent. If you want Bai Xiaosheng's public opinion to decrease, you'd better just post the fastest possible explanation. Bai Xiaosheng has channels between companies."

Zhao Kejian never expected President Yu to have such an attitude: "President Yu, you, you... this shouldn't be you..."

Seeing the other party's reaction, Yu Xing finally said, "That's all. If there's anything else you want to say, let President Wang tell me himself."

He hung up the phone directly.

Zhao Kejian gripped his phone, his face flushed, a surge of anger rising in his throat.

After much hesitation, he went directly to the boss and explained the whole story.

Seeing his boss fall silent, Zhao Kejian offered his thoughts: "President Wang, we didn't say we wouldn't deal with it, we just hoped to minimize the negative impact while dealing with it. President Yu, this is... this is too inhumane."

He added a speculative comment with a personal bias: "Isn't it possible that President Yu is worried about the impact on the sales of our new car, since it's going to be priced at 30?"

Wang Chuanfu frowned: "Go out, don't look for him anymore, handle it however you need to."

Zhao Kejian was somewhat unwilling, as this was something that Yu Xing could have easily suppressed with a single sentence.

"Investigate the matter thoroughly and issue an announcement no later than tonight." Wang Chuanfu reiterated his proposed solution: "Use Baixiaosheng's channels to clarify the situation and uncover any hidden issues."

Zhao Kejian nodded helplessly, knowing that his boss wouldn't make that call.

However, when he logged back into the Baixiaosheng Forum, he suddenly noticed something: President Yu himself had bought a lot of company stock, and his unwillingness to deal with it this time was actually harming his own interests...

What the hell is he after...?

Zhao Kejian was completely baffled and could only continue to handle the emergency.

Yu Kai of the DLF Foundation shared the same sentiment. He immediately called President Yu to inquire about the previous fund operations.

“Nothing’s been done, it’s still sitting there. The stock price has dropped, hasn’t it?” Yu Xing replied.

Yu Kai was getting anxious: "No, Mr. Yu, are you just going to watch the stock price drop like this... You're killing yourself! You're just going to watch Bai Xiaosheng short your stock! You should control Bai Xiaosheng's public opinion!"

Yu Xing laughed and said, "What's a little short selling? Let things be as they are. Not to mention it, even I would let it be."

Yu Kai's first reaction was that President Yu was bragging, but then he actually began to believe his statement.

Never mind, let it be, let it be.

(End of this chapter)