What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 676 Help (4k)

Lin Yuanqing has left Baidu.

The departure of three directors from Baidu Research Institute in just over a year has caused considerable anxiety among company employees, especially those in the research institute. Coupled with the current implementation of supplementary non-compete agreements, the atmosphere is truly restless.

According to rumors, the company's leader, Li Yanhong, slammed the table at a senior management meeting, extremely angry and anxious, as the frequent loss of mid-to-high-level talent made it difficult for him to have a solid foundation for the company's transformation.

What deep learning can bring to the internet and to Baidu is still a difficult question to quantify.

However, the fact that companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft all attach great importance to research and development in this area undoubtedly proves the huge potential of this direction. And Baidu, being a US-listed company, will certainly have no problem moving in this direction.

If we disregard international examples, emerging domestic silicon carbon companies are also supporting deep learning frameworks, and Yu Xing, known for his operational expertise, undoubtedly believes that this direction will generate a surge of innovation.

Soon, there was no need for rumors to circulate within Baidu anymore, because Li Yanhong directly criticized Yu Xing's poaching of employees in her WeChat Moments, and also questioned the professionalism of "Bai Xiaosheng," a US-listed company.

On one hand, Lingang is poaching people from Baidu on a large scale, and on the other hand, Baixiaosheng is mainly engaged in recruitment, headhunting and other businesses. With such entangled interests, he angrily announced that he would never cooperate with Baixiaosheng again.

The fact that Baidu's CEO publicly criticized Yu Xing, who is still embroiled in a short-selling controversy, naturally spread quickly.

However, Bai Xiaosheng had to raise a question mark.

This is truly a case of injustice.

Whether it's DLF or silicon carbon data, the talent from Baidu is basically sourced directly from these two companies. In the early days, the latter did try to poach talent through Baidu's "Baixiaosheng" (a talent recruitment platform), but recently there has been virtually no need for that, and they handle everything themselves.

Liu Hao, the current CEO of Baixiaosheng, feels that this matter does need to be explained. After all, even if Baidu does not cooperate in the future, it did have some business with them before, and other clients are also watching the current situation.

After much deliberation, although he was affected, he still posted a message on his WeChat Moments in response to Mr. Li's criticism, explaining that Baixiaosheng had not accepted headhunting business from DLF and Silicon Carbon Data.

In addition, to emphasize the truthfulness of his statement, he also listed the recent departures of talents from Baidu.

Liu Hao is a specialist in this business, and it was only after he sorted things out that the outside world noticed that Baidu was indeed in a state of turmoil.

However, to his surprise, Li Yanhong's outburst led to the American media reporting on Baixiaosheng's conflict of interest with its clients, causing the stock price to drop somewhat.

After reading foreign media articles, Liu Hao was dismayed to find that Bai Xiaosheng was still mentioned only as a decorative element in the ecosystem of the major short sellers.

Seeing that President Yu hadn't made a move, he carefully sent a message to his boss, thinking it would be better for him to respond.

Yu Xing read Liu Hao's message and gave a very concise reply: "Okay."

Then, he also gave Li Yanhong an explanation on his WeChat Moments.

"You blame everything on others, and always look for reasons in others first. Do you also blame medical advertisements on others for insisting on giving you money, without any problems of your own? As long as they don't violate the contract, they can go wherever they want. This one leaves Baidu, that one leaves Baidu. I only have two words for you: you deserve it."

Yu Xing's reply was blunt, instantly diverting public attention away from Bai Xiaosheng.

Liu Hao had just seen the reply when he saw his boss's WeChat Moments and the comments below. He couldn't help but feel complicated. President Yu's way of solving problems was really brutal...

Li Yanhong was already anxious and angry, otherwise she wouldn't have acted so out of character and directly attacked others. Seeing Yu Xing's retort, she spoke up again: "President Yu, you probably forgot about being sued by Tencent. Oh right, you definitely don't take this seriously. After all, you can even poach Tencent's president, so what can't you do? Everyone else deserves it, so do you deserve being investigated by BaFin?"

Pony Ma was originally invited to watch the drama unfold with great interest, but unexpectedly, she discovered that her own story was also involved.

After thinking for a moment, he refrained from commenting and pretended not to see it.

Yu Xing didn't mince words and replied bluntly, "That's the former president. Tencent has also withdrawn the lawsuit, which means it realized that the lawsuit was wrong. You deserve it, and so do I. There's no problem with that."

Seeing this "penguin mentality," Pony couldn't help but comment with a "smiling" emoji. It used to be a friendly gesture, but it has become increasingly disliked by people.

Yu Xing didn't forget to interact with Pony, tagging Li Yanhong under this comment and pointing out: "Look, Pony is smiling. He's smiling as he agrees with my point of view. Tencent deserved to be besieged back then, but at least they knew how to reflect and invite others to look at the problem together. When will you realize that other people's opinions and criticisms are helpful to you? When will Baidu be saved?"

Li Yanhong suddenly didn't know how to debate with President Yu from afar. It seemed that this kind of person who had worked his way up from the bottom didn't care much about saving face.

At this point, a call came from Baidu's public relations department, advising the boss to follow the proper procedures regarding the job change and not to further fuel public opinion, since... Baidu's reputation is indeed not as good as Lingang's now.

He's a major short seller, but one who largely stands on the moral high ground. Meanwhile, the public outcry against our side had barely died down when he directly admitted he deserved it; sincerity became his killer move…

Li Yanhong took the opportunity to back down, and her WeChat Moments fell silent, but she did not delete or hide her previous posts.

The feud between Baidu and silicon carbon naturally generated a lot of buzz, and Yu Xing's wording even created a new trending topic on Weibo.

—The world is a giant wretch.

Despite facing various lawsuits, troubles with listed companies, and pessimism from international institutions, the big short seller did not wallow in self-pity. Instead, he frankly believed that he deserved it. So what reason is there for him not to face the problems directly?
Seeing that Li Yanhong had stopped making a move, Yu Xing also gave up and had no intention of dwelling on the matter. In any case, Baidu's attractiveness was indeed declining, and the outflow of talent was a fact, which was indeed an effective way to weaken the other party's competitiveness.

The DLF Foundation's global expert meeting was scheduled for June 10th.

After learning the specific time, Yu Xing simply consulted with Silicon Carbon and Silicon Carbon Data and put the meeting that had been delayed due to the exposure of the mountain peak at the same time, and directly named it "Silicon Carbon Technology Day".

Silicon Carbon Group was going to open-source its vehicle infotainment system, something that was to be announced at the end of last year. Later, the official website was indeed launched and the system was made public, which is a factual step forward, but it does lack a larger-scale publicity campaign.

This year, taking advantage of the opportune moment, we'll revisit some of these changes and discuss them again, specifically focusing on the homology of carbon and silicon.

Kyushu's in-vehicle infotainment system currently lacks a lot of software, which is a point of criticism from users. Carbon Silicon Data has developed its own software and included it, but due to their respective relationships, Tencent Video, although also having a version, is not actively maintained or updated.

Silicon Carbon hopes to embrace the industry's strengths with a more open attitude. Of course, if that doesn't work, they'll have to either do it themselves or acquire it. Currently, car owners don't have a particularly high demand for this, so it can be managed to meet their needs.

At the end of May, the sales figures for Silicon Carbon Group for the month were not yet fully released, but it was almost certain that they would set a new record. Sales for the first three weeks had already been announced, totaling 1.09 vehicles. In addition, due to the reduction of subsidies in Shanghai and Zhejiang Province, Silicon Carbon's stores and online channels once again received a lot of small and large orders.

The industry is paying close attention to the sales figures of silicon carbon, and naturally uses these sales figures and popularity to judge the general situation of this month.

The summary Yu Xing received from the company indicated that this month's production could exceed 1.5 vehicles, which is undoubtedly an encouraging figure. Moreover, the recent buzz can lock in some production capacity for the second half of the year. If they continue like this, they can almost connect with the buzz surrounding the Q3 or Q4 launch event this year.

The five-seater version of Kyushu is a more mainstream positioning. As long as comprehensive marketing continues, this will create a positive cycle of popularity and will definitely continue to drive the more targeted six-seater model.

Yu Xing pondered the gains and troubles of the first half of the year, considered his speech for the Carbon Silicon Technology Day, and prepared to write a draft himself.

He had just come up with a starting point when he received a congratulatory text message from He Xiaopeng.

He Xiaopeng congratulated Carbon Silicon Kyushu on its May sales figures, and expressed his envy, saying that Carbon Silicon's production capacity and supply this year can continue to maintain its position as the top domestic manufacturer.

After considering the situation on the other end, Yu Xing exchanged a few polite words and, as expected, received a call from the other party.

He Xiaopeng first offered his congratulations as usual, and then made an unreasonable request.

"Mr. He, you said, as long as I don't have to persuade Mr. Ma to let you go back to be the president of the mobile business group, there won't be any other problems," Yu Xing joked.

He Xiaopeng's departure from Alibaba was somewhat complicated; he only gained his freedom after losing a considerable amount of assets.

He has devoted himself wholeheartedly to the new energy industry, originally thinking that he would be like a dragon entering the sea and conquering all, but the more he does it, the more uncertain he feels.

Is this design feasible? Can that kind of battery meet market demand? Will there be any problems with using this kind of chip? All these questions eventually turned into sleepless nights, ultimately coalescing into an ultimate question in his mind.

—Was my choice to pursue new energy the right one?
XPeng Motors has already set up its operations, and this frustration is naturally something he can't express to his colleagues, but the pressure building up inside is indeed immense.

He Xiaopeng bought a Kyushu carbon silicon car and often drives it to and from get off work. After seeing the bickering between President Yu and President Li these past two days, he decided to contact them when the sales volume of carbon silicon this month was basically confirmed.

“Mr. Ma definitely doesn’t want me anymore. I’ve been thinking lately that if I can’t make it here, I’ll just go for silicon carbide,” He Xiaopeng said self-deprecatingly. “Mr. Yu, we’ve already made one model of our car, but I’m not very confident about it. I’d like to ask you for your advice.”

He wanted Mr. Yu to take a look at the car's pros and cons.

He Xiaopeng learned from attending the auto show that General Manager Yu had visited BYD to look at and test drive their cars and offer his opinions, and General Manager Wang had also praised the suggestions made by General Manager Yu.

He was thinking about President Yu's broad vision in the industry, which is why he made this impolite request.

However, He Xiaopeng also knew that President Yu had a lot on his plate recently. The overseas lawsuits were a headache to think about. Normally, he wouldn't want to cause trouble for others, but if the car continued to be pushed forward and finalized, it would be particularly troublesome to modify.

Unexpectedly, he received an immediate response as soon as he spoke.

Yu Xing laughed and said, "Sure, that's fine. I'll fly over and take a look whenever it's convenient for me."

He Xiaopeng said with delight, "No need, no need, President Yu, you don't need to fly over. I'll deliver the car to you to try it out. We're using a different car exterior now, but the interior is all our own."

“Oh, I thought it wouldn’t be that fast. It’s a mule cart, right? Then send it over. I’ll drive it for a few more days to try.” Yu Xing understood. “We have a company technology day press conference on the 10th. You can come then, or you can come a few days earlier so we can meet and talk.”

"Mule cart" is a common term in the industry for development and testing vehicles, which are generally made by assembling brand-new core components under development using the body shell of a mass-produced vehicle.

He Xiaopeng muttered the word to himself, and after hanging up the phone, he found it intriguing. He even discussed the precise meaning of the word with his colleagues, only to be told that it was an industry term, a direct translation of "Mule Car," where "Mule" means mule.

He appeared calm on the surface, but felt a little embarrassed inside, comforting himself that he hadn't fully committed himself to the task for long enough.

The following day, Lingang Carbon Silicon received a mule cart from XPeng Motors.

Yu Xing spotted the pure electric vehicle that XPeng internally named G3.

He examined it for a moment, then asked Cui Zhiyu, who had also come to see what was going on, "Which Haima Automobile model does it look like?"

Cui Zhiyu circled around and nodded, saying, "It should be the Haima S5, which was launched the year before last. Hmm, since it uses its design, its positioning should be similar. Oh right, it seems that Xiaopeng's factory is going to cooperate with Haima."

XPeng is collaborating with Haima to renovate Haima's factory in Zhengzhou. This is due to considerations of cost and experience, as well as production qualification issues.

Yu Xing asked for the keys and let Cui Zhiyu come along to try out the car that embodies XPeng's expectations for the market.

He had only driven around twice before he had to offer a comment: "These car windows, they're so hot! It reminds me of that BYD car without ventilated seats. Isn't XPeng and his team in Guangzhou? It must be even hotter there than here. These big windows, wow."

When Yu Xing visited BYD's factory, he was puzzled. They were supposed to be making a breakthrough product, yet the seats were so stuffy and lacked ventilation. Now, this XPeng car is similar; the large panoramic glass looks stylish, but driving it under the sun at the end of May...

Sometimes it's strange whether the designers and engineers actually test drive the cars themselves, or whether they only test drive them in the fall and winter.

Cui Zhiyu lowered the air conditioning temperature and laughed, "This definitely proves one thing: the air conditioning performance of this XPeng car is excellent, so they didn't notice this problem."

Yu Xing nodded, agreeing that the reason was reasonable.

However, as the last lap was about to end, the car's air conditioning suddenly stopped working.

Cui Zhiyu pondered for a moment: "That's how mule carts are. President He probably wants us to pay attention to the performance of core components."

Yu Xing didn't say anything, feeling that he should also act as a good friend when he met He Xiaopeng. He thought that he would be happy to help others, regardless of whether the other party was happy or not.

(End of this chapter)