What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 598 Center of Gravity (4k)

The collaboration between Carbon Silicon Data and Sohu has not yet been finalized, but a senior executive from the other side of the coin has suddenly appeared.

When Zhong Zhiling informed his senior about this, Yu Xing felt somewhat embarrassed, but after thinking it over, he agreed to the request and tried to call Zhang Chaoyang again to eliminate the potential competition risk.

As Lingang's presence in the mobile internet sector grows stronger, especially with the addition of the former president of Tencent, Carbon Silicon Data Company has been added to the scope of non-compete agreements.

Non-compete agreements can still be circumvented through third-party consulting firms, but...

Yu Xing made the call and explained his purpose.

After much deliberation, Zhang Chaoyang agreed. This wasn't the first time Sohu had lost a business in recent years, so he was quite indifferent to it. Moreover, he felt that this was a small, potential condition for the cooperation between Douyin and Sohu Video, and it wouldn't cause any major problems.

However, since Zheng Xuan has switched jobs and left, it means that Lingang is aware of Sohu's considerations regarding the short video market.

This time, Zhang Chaoyang directly informed Yu Xing of his company's consideration to create short video news.

Instead of immediately giving his opinion, Yu Xing countered by asking, "Does Sohu intend to place this kind of short video information at a strategic level?"

With Zhang Chaoyang's recovery, he has now returned to the front lines and is determining the future direction of Sohu.

Zhang Chaoyang was silent for a moment, then said, "It's not about strategic importance. Sohu Video is a key focus, and portal profitability is a key focus. Mr. Yu, you know Netflix, right? I hope Sohu can become China's Netflix."

Netflix is ​​a globally renowned streaming media website that primarily offers online subscriptions for film and television content.

Upon hearing this, Yu Xing seemed to realize something and then said, "This is quite difficult in China."

“That’s why this model has value,” Zhang Chaoyang said ambitiously. “Sohu Video has the foundation for this.”

Yu Xing disagreed, and said half-jokingly, "Mr. Zhang, if you put it that way, then Douyin will have to ask for more money."

For a fleeting moment, Zhang Chaoyang regretted his decision, but immediately smiled and flattered, "President Yu, your Lingang is a large and powerful company, how could you be so lacking? The industry is all waiting to see you and Alibaba clash."

Yu Xing feigned surprise and said, "Alibaba is famous all over the world, what kind of war are we fighting?"

"The internet is all about advertising or selling goods. The latest trend has made advertising a success, and Douyin is desperately attracting users. What else can it do? E-commerce is just a matter of time," Zhang Chaoyang said with great certainty. "You've even gotten your own payment license, so you're just waiting for this."

Advertising and selling goods have been the two main themes of the internet in recent years. Although Alipay has the potential to charge transaction fees in the financial sector, it is destined to be only a supplement.

From PC to mobile, Baidu has fallen behind among the three giants, Tencent has suffered heavy losses, and Alibaba is the most powerful. In recent years, companies such as JD.com, Meituan, and Didi have been developing rapidly. However, with Lingang taking the lead in the short video market, it is regarded by many observers as a very challenging entity.

This is precisely why Sohu hopes to cooperate with Douyin. Lingang's traffic is already very strong, and Douyin focuses on short videos, so from a format perspective, it will not naturally pose a competition.

Yu Xing scoffed, "We're all just trying to make a living. We're figuring out how to get ads from Taobao and JD.com."

"Mr. Yu, please don't waste your talent on Douyin." Zhang Chaoyang was willing to join in the banter. "I'm just waiting to support you on Douyin."

Seeing that Mr. Yu didn't seem too keen on discussing this, he added, "So you don't think we're a good fit for short video news? Are you guys on Douyin going to do this too? Just say what you want to say, like you did with other people's new energy projects."

Zhang Chaoyang had also heard about Mr. Yu's approach in the new energy field.

Yu Xing thought about it for a while and said, "I think this is even more difficult than what Sohu Video is doing with Netflix."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chaoyang paused in surprise.

When Yu Xing saw that there was no sound from the phone, he advised, "Mr. Zhang, you went through such a thing a couple of years ago, what else is there to be upset about? Just live happily."

"I want to bring Sohu back to the center stage of the internet," Zhang Chaoyang said.

What else could Yu Xing say but offer his blessings?

He has rarely interacted with his peers in the internet industry recently, and it seems they all have excellent judgment, but there hasn't been much of a reaction from Alibaba...

Yu Xing thought about it again. Alibaba is a large and powerful company, and its confidence in its e-commerce business is probably the same as Tencent's confidence in instant messaging a few years ago.

Alibaba started with e-commerce and is now an industry leader. With its targeted layout in the short video market, how could it not be confident?
This confidence is also reflected in its attitude towards Pinduoduo. This year, Pinduoduo's development speed has been astonishing, whether on WeChat or Wechat. It finally attracted the attention of Alibaba executives in July, and the sporadic comments that followed revealed Alibaba's internal attitude.

Pinduoduo is a low-end platform, and its current development is merely cultivating users for Alibaba.

This judgment is certainly related to the remarks made by investors such as Xu Xin and Liu Wanying on different occasions, but the most important factor is Alibaba's own strategic direction.

Alibaba's choices this year are particularly clear: its homepage has significantly reduced the exposure of low-priced clearance items and 9.9 yuan shipping included items, and most resources have been allocated to quality stores, brand direct sales, and Tmall stores, which has quickly diverted traffic from Taobao's C2C merchants.

At the same time, Tmall is ramping up its efforts in the light luxury, international brands and mid-to-high-end domestic products, and is using "Tmall Global" to promote imported goods, all in order to increase the average order value and improve the platform's gross profit margin.

Most notably, Alibaba stated in its financial report for the first time that the Chinese consumer market is undergoing a quality upgrade, and Alibaba will continue to develop high-quality consumption scenarios.

Alibaba's strategic trend is already very clear.

Yu Xing guessed that Alibaba might soon come up with an even more iconic slogan or positioning.

This year has seen continued explosive growth in smartphones, coupled with the efforts of carriers in building 4G networks. The mobile internet is now vastly different from previous years, and tech giants are also expanding into other sectors.

Compared to Alibaba and Tencent's expansion into social networking, gaming, finance, group buying, and travel, Carbon Silicon Data focuses on only two core areas, even selling its "Master Key" product.

Yu Xing felt that Zhong Zhiling and Zhai Yifei's work was quite good. Once the repurchase of Douyin is completed this year, their lead in short videos will be further increased next year, and they may reach the stage of cutting off the competition.

Although it's not the end of the year yet, Yu Xing recently summarized the year in preparation for his speech at the Internet conference next month, expressing overall satisfaction with the development of the two carbon silicon companies in Lingang.

On October 20, the tripartite transaction involving Silicon Carbon Data, 360, and Blackstone passed the final approval process in Beijing.

Carbon Silicon Data received $12.8 billion, 360 acquired a 50%+1% stake and domestic operating rights, Blackstone and Boingo Wireless jointly acquired a 50% stake, and the data from Universal Key remained in China.

Thus, Silicon Carbon Data, which previously touted its software matrix strategy, has once again streamlined its app, which is seen by the industry as a move to further intensify competition in the short video field and potentially maintain its leading position. As of mid-October, Douyin's user base reached 1.5 million. While not the highest among similar products in China, Alibaba, Tencent, Kuaishou, and third-party research institutions generally acknowledge Douyin's leading position in user activity.

However, because recent data on carbon and silicon has not been released, there are significant differences in everyone's estimates.

Third-party research institutions like iResearch generally conclude that Douyin has a total user base of 1.2-1.7 million and a daily active user base of 2500-3500 million.

As for the attitudes of companies like Alibaba and Tencent...

Alibaba: We can still catch up.

Penguin: Not easy to catch, but I'll give it a try.

Baidu: Can we go in now?

Kuaishou: That's impressive, but the data we got from penetrating lower-tier cities isn't bad either.

Discussions within Carbon Silicon Data suggest that companies like Alibaba's Leyin and Tencent's Weishi are already in a state of slow death, while 360's Kuaishou and Sohu's news videos are unlikely to prevent the future giant from turning around. Kuaishou's strategy of targeting lower-tier markets, on the other hand, seems quite viable. The two companies may need to compete on the revenue generation of their e-commerce businesses, with Douyin having an advantage in this regard.

Lingang Dual Carbon Silicon's work priorities for the end of this year are very clear: one company is striving for an IPO, and the other is completing internal integration.

From February to October, with the official sale of the universal key, Yu Xing felt a sudden sense of relief, and his whole body was no longer so tense.

Just as he had a moment to spare, Liu Wanying's research on alfalfa yielded its first cross-validation result.

A company from Hong Kong commissioned two mainland institutions to conduct a survey on the self-sufficiency rate of alfalfa in China, and Liaoning Province was selected as a key research subject. Naturally, this included the alfalfa planting areas claimed by Huishan Dairy.

Although there was no overt, direct investigation into Huishan Dairy, the problems were revealed through this scope of research.

For example, Huishan Dairy's alfalfa base in Changtu is its largest planting area. However, after investigation, it was found that although the area has sandy soil suitable for mechanized operations, it is prone to flooding nine out of ten years. Every time the Liaohe River rises, the harvest is lost, and Huishan has suffered losses many times as a result.

Therefore, this largest alfalfa planting base actually has serious defects.

Both independent institutions mentioned this situation to varying degrees, and this cross-verification can serve as a small piece of evidence.

Most importantly, when Houderui Trading Company in Beijing, acting as an agent for overseas alfalfa manufacturers, cites Huishan Dairy as evidence of a long-term partnership when faced with inquiries from people posing as potential customers.

The implication is clear: even a large listed company like Huishan purchases our alfalfa hay, so our quality and stability are definitely reliable.

“This verification of alfalfa is interesting. I really want to take people to see it in person.” Liu Wanying was very happy that the goal could be achieved so quickly. “They purchase from outside, and the various packaging in the factory cannot be handled so properly.”

In a company of this size, even if the upper management is aware of the situation and the middle management is paying attention, the lower-level staff will not manage it completely without leaving a trace. More likely, they will not even pay attention to this aspect at all.

Yu Xing dissuaded him from this impulse: "There's no need. You're a well-known investor. If you suddenly go there, you might not notice it when nothing's going on, but you might remember it after something happens. Since there was flooding in Changtu, there must be official records. The foreign alfalfa suppliers can also directly send someone to verify their export routes. That's about it."

Past cases have shown that as long as a corner is uncovered, the entire forgery will collapse.

“We also need an overall assessment of the scale of the fraud, and we have to frequently change investigative agencies to provide corroborating evidence from the perspectives we want.” Liu Wanying is already thinking about how to construct a more convincing short-selling report.

Yu Xing naturally wouldn't object. Although with his reputation as the "King of Short Sellers," a single report might achieve the same result, it was still better to do the work thoroughly.

Just as he and Liu Wanying were considering another move by Shanfeng, Zeng Yuqun of CATL led his team to Lingang earlier than the agreed time.

Along with CATL, their second-generation ternary lithium batteries, which are about to enter mass production, are also arriving.

Silicon Carbon Group and CATL conducted a secret test with a small number of participants.

As for the results, as Yu Xing said, Ningde is certainly good, but silicon carbon is striving for even better.

Therefore, on that very evening, Yu Xing and Zeng Yuqun discussed the establishment of a joint venture.

Zeng Yuqun was in low spirits and showed little interest in divesting or licensing his company's technology in lithium iron phosphate, but the Silicon Carbon Group does indeed have a strong market influence.

Moreover, it is foreseeable that this influence will become even stronger in the next two or three years.

Zeng Yuqun expressed her position tactfully, still hoping to persuade President Yu.

Yu Xing listened silently, and finally gave a simple reply: "President Zeng, Guoxuan High-Tech has invited me to visit their facilities."

Zeng Yuqun was an extremely intelligent person. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "President Yu, we have been cooperating very well. It doesn't have to be like this."

Yu Xing replied with a single word: "Hey."

Zeng Yuqun frowned as he considered the entire business and market impact, and then said, "President Yu, Guoxuan High-Tech's technology is absolutely inferior to ours, and their subsequent R&D investment will not be as high as ours."

Yu Xing replied with two words: "Hehe."

"Mr. Yu, you're not thinking of using this to finalize our cooperation on lithium iron phosphate, are you?" Zeng Yuqun made it clear. "I understand you, and you have to understand me too. We each have our own difficulties."

Yu Xing lit a cigarette, said nothing, and just laughed: "Hehehe."

Seeing this, Zeng Yuqun looked at President Yu across from him for a full two minutes before giving four words: "Cooperation benefits both sides."

Yu Xing stubbed out his cigarette, stood up to shake hands, and repeated the other man's words: "Cooperation benefits both sides, cooperation benefits both sides."

Cooperation benefits both sides, while disagreement leads to defeat. Why go to such great lengths when a wise person can achieve this?

Zeng Yuqun's expression wasn't particularly good, but his handshake was very firm. CATL's financing was imminent, so there was no need to create a huge uproar over this matter. While they could certainly make a fuss about production capacity, the Silicon Carbon Group, which was now focusing on new energy, had a greater initiative.

Zhang Yangxu silently poured tea and water in the president's office. He was completely stunned by what he saw. The three bosses had agreed to cooperate. The intentions of both sides were much smoother than he had imagined.

(End of this chapter)