Since we are both reborn, of course I would choose the rich woman!

Chapter 318 Close-Range Ultimate Move (6k views, please subscribe)

Tencent knows that the legal arguments they present will inevitably draw ridicule and abuse from players, but they really have no other choice.

With its aggressive spending strategy on Douyin and the support of so many advertisers on information media platforms, what can Tencent do?
Is it an order for all members of the advertising alliance to not cooperate with ByteDance?

Penguin isn't like Dior Brando, who can righteously and even proudly tell everyone not to associate with JOJO. In the real business world, if you want someone to do something, or even to do nothing, you have to pay the corresponding price.

Even a powerful internet giant like Tencent wouldn't dare to fall out with these big spenders like advertising alliances; at most, they would send representatives to negotiate with the advertising alliances.

But the owner of the largest advertising alliance in the Southeast region has a very deep relationship with Liang Yilan.

Although Liang Yilan has started her own business, she is independent and not going against her family. No matter how these representatives talk, can they compare to Liang Yilan?

As for the advertising alliances in the north, they've been cooperating with ByteDance for so long. How can a major internet company in the south ask me to temporarily or reduce my cooperation with ByteDance? Is that reasonable? If it were an e-commerce platform like Alibaba, they might waver and consider it. But with Tencent, their representatives didn't even get to meet with the bigwigs of the northern advertising alliances.

While ByteDance was rapidly expanding its scale in the short video field through the "Game Master Incentive Program," Tencent learned about this news immediately.

One reason for waiting until July to file the lawsuit was to prepare the necessary documents.

Contacting advertisers from all sides is also an important aspect.

As for urging players not to post videos on ByteDance's platforms, that's even more unrealistic. Players and streamers are known for being opportunistic and willing to give up good money to pledge their loyalty to you.
Although Tencent's Penguin Media Platform has been launched and is in operation, the results have not been very good.

After the initial cash-spending blitz, the content on Tencent's Penguin Media Platform gradually became monotonous and boring, resulting in a significant loss of both creators and users. However, even if the Penguin Media Platform is managed well, it cannot prevent users from posting their content on other platforms.

Why should I earn one cent when I can earn two?
This struggle for creators and their content is the main battleground in the "post-Internet era." Even after the introduction of "buyout" contracts for creators, many cunning creators will choose to create another account, rewrite their own work, and then publish it on another platform.

The short video industry, which emerged in the post-Internet era, initially had a very wild and unconventional approach to gameplay.

Whether it's the terminal or the source, Tencent has no way to effectively control and block content. The only remaining option is to target ByteDance's platform.

Not surprisingly.

The lawyer's letter from Tencent has caused a huge uproar on the internet.

Lu Yao sent a scanned copy of Tencent's lawyer's letter directly to his marketing accounts and online trolls. At the same time, Douyin and ByteDance's official accounts also published Tencent's lawyer's letter.

Shocking! Your QQ account isn't actually yours! You only have the right to use it!

This is outrageous! If your game account is lost, you might even be responsible to Tencent and have to compensate them!!

"My goodness, nobody understands! Penguins eat so disgustingly!"

The online trolls and marketing accounts that Lü Yao brought to this point are now far more sophisticated than before. Lü Yao has made the classification of online troll levels and the strength of marketing accounts clearly understood.

These online trolls and marketing accounts disguise themselves as various news accounts, entertainment accounts, science popularization accounts, gossip accounts, and even accounts targeting female users, lurking in every corner of the internet and in every information cocoon. When needed, this online troll force under Lü Yao's command can break through the information cocoons of the internet at the fastest speed and directly deliver the information that Lü Yao needs netizens to know to netizens.

And this time... the speed at which the information cocoon was broken through was beyond imagination.

The official announcements from ByteDance and Douyin, and the fact that Lü Yao's online army had barely started their operations, spread across the entire internet at an astonishing speed, faster than the ignition of a detonator.

This was a speed that even Lü Yao had not anticipated.

Moreover, once these messages were released, the tone and rhetoric of major Chinese internet communities were remarkably consistent:
"Brothers, why am I not surprised at all when I heard this news?"

"Damn, bro, you've gotten used to eating shit so much."

"I once saw a joke about a guy looking for a job. The company across the street had weekends off, worked 9 to 6 with no overtime, and even paid overtime if he did work. Team building activities were also held during weekday working hours. When the guy heard this, he immediately said that the company was a scam. What does this show?"

One netizen replied, "I've hardly ever had a proper job."

"Waaaaah, teacher, please stop scolding me!"

"So the money I spend in the game isn't mine anymore? The skins, items, and heroes I buy aren't mine either? This is absolutely ridiculous! It's utterly absurd!"

"I expected penguins to be disgusting, but I still underestimated how disgusting they are."

A torrent of insults and attacks swept across the internet, creating wave after wave of massive waves. Then, players began frantically digging up old dirt, listing all the disgusting things Tencent had done in the past, as well as the small internet companies that went bankrupt under Tencent's control.

For a time, the entire Chinese internet was filled with attacks on Tencent.

Lü Yao used several screens and computers in his office, and also switched accounts with several MCN companies, just to break through the information cocoon and see if different circles were defending Tencent.

But what Tencent did this time was truly disgusting. In the past, some of Tencent's online supporters would stand up and say a few words in defense of Tencent, whether it was sycophancy or genuine support. At least there were voices on Tencent's side, saying that the business market has always been like this, and business wars are about life and death.

But not this time.

Lu Yao spent three or four hours browsing different Chinese communities, but he couldn't find anyone maintaining Tencent.

Even some internet bloggers who used to claim to be die-hard fans of Penguin didn't dare to come out and fight back amidst the overwhelming tagging.

On the internet, gamers are a very united and courageous group of players. So when Tencent issued its lawyer's letter, many PC gamers, and even those with high-level paid accounts, took action to show their attitude.

They simply deleted their accounts.

Within a single day, over a million players of Tencent's wildly popular games such as League of Legends, Dungeon Fighter Online, and CrossFire posted online to express their opposition to Tencent's lawyer's letter.

Simultaneously.

Led by these stubborn players, more players chose not to use their accounts to fight.

Three days after the lawyer's letter was issued, several popular games under Tencent experienced an epic drop in daily active users, which greatly surprised Ren Zhengfei, the CEO of Tencent's Interactive Entertainment Group.

So, early on the third day after the lawyer's letter was sent, President Ren rushed to the group headquarters to find President Teng. When he went to find President Teng, he happened to run into President Liu, who had come with him. Both of them had the same worried look on their faces.

When they met, President Ren and President Liu didn't say much. President Liu knocked on the door first, and President Ren waited behind. After a short while, President Teng, who hadn't gone home all night, let the two of them in.

Seeing President Ren and President Liu arrive together, President Teng already knew what they were up to.

That's quite rare.

It was surprising to see President Ren and President Liu coming to discuss things with him, but that was quite normal. In many ways, the workplace and the officialdom are not that different; what they seek is nothing more than profit.

As soon as President Liu entered, he said with great emotional intelligence, "President Teng, I think the company's legal counsel should be replaced. Those people in the legal department are reckless and have caused such a big mess. We need to issue a statement to the public as soon as possible."

Because of Tencent's actions, public discontent is now boiling over on the internet.

While many players are deleting their accounts, a significant number are also choosing not to log in to the game and instead switching to other, less established game developers like NetEase, Tencent, and Xiaomi.

The massive loss of players and the complaints on the internet have created a huge impact, causing Penguin's stock price to plummet. If this continues, Penguin will definitely fail to meet its performance targets for the second half of the year, and this impact may even cripple the company.

If such a major incident were to occur, not only would Tencent's shareholders be unable to secure their dividends for the second half of the year, but many shareholders would also experience a significant reduction in their wealth due to this event.

President Liu said seriously, "President Teng, I think we should activate the emergency plan."

However, when faced with the anxious President Liu, the usually reserved President Teng remained as calm as a mountain.

Mr. Teng said calmly, "Old Liu, don't worry. I think the legal team did a good job. The user agreement was agreed to by the players before they entered the game, and everything our legal team proposed was actually written into the contract."

"Whether it's a group or an individual, everyone must have a sense of contractual obligation. That's the foundation of business, isn't it?"

President Liu is a business professional, so he certainly understands the concept that President Teng is talking about.

But running a company isn't something you can just do by rote!

So President Liu was still very anxious: "President Teng, don't joke around. If things continue like this, the company will really be in trouble. Haven't you always wanted to do internet businesses like games and short videos? As long as you are willing to make a statement and turn the situation around, I can support you to make great strides in these areas."

Compared to the market value that Tencent's stock market is about to evaporate, this small investment is nothing.

But Mr. Teng remained unmoved.

President Liu gritted his teeth and said, "What you're doing will cause many shareholders to lose confidence and reduce their holdings, selling off our Tencent Group stock. If a run on the bank occurs, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Mr. Teng said simply and kindly, “Our group has accumulated a lot of funds and can leverage them. If a run on the bank really happens, our investment fund will buy up all the shares no matter who sells them. I have great confidence in our group.”

Nonsense!

President Liu felt he had everything covered, so he looked at President Ren beside him and said, "Old Ren, aren't you going to say a few words?"

Mr. Ren smiled and said, "Well, what can I say? What did we do wrong this time?"

President Liu's face twitched. At this moment, he finally understood how those ministers in ancient times felt when they saw their colleagues gradually turning into a bunch of treacherous officials. Disdain and contempt filled President Liu's heart.

President Liu took a deep breath and then made one last attempt: "Okay, President Teng, you can disregard the stock market shareholders, and they are indeed not the core of the group's development, but what about the players? What about our users?"

"Don't you consider their feelings? If we lose them, our core base will collapse."

Mr. Teng chuckled and said, "Old Liu, you've misunderstood something. Gamers aren't our core business. Our core business is in investment and our social network. Games are just a derivative business." Although games bring in a significant amount of revenue for Tencent every year, with Mr. Liu's arrival, Tencent's investment banking strategy has been very successful, generating substantial annual profits.

President Teng even got up and personally poured President Liu a glass of very good brandy. The rich fruity aroma instantly filled the area around President Teng's reception area. After pouring a glass for President Ren as well, President Teng calmly said, "Come and try it. This is a gift that was sent to me from South Africa a while ago."

But at this moment, even the finest brandy tasted bland and tasteless to President Liu.

Mr. Teng continued, "Confidence in the stock market never lies in the reactions of market players, but in the hands of us big investors. As long as we remain inactive, Tencent's stock price will not fluctuate significantly."

"For the sake of our long-term development, I will have a good talk with my friends in the shareholders' meeting. Lao Liu, you should also visit your shareholders with whom you have good relationships more often."

President Liu's usually dignified face twitched.

So this is what the head of the family was planning.

Ignoring President Liu's changing expression, Teng continued, "As for the players... we need to understand one thing—no one will play games forever, but there will always be people playing games."

Then, President Teng looked at President Ren and said, "Start promotional activities for all games under the Interactive Entertainment Business Group soon, and increase the intensity of the promotions. I'll make sure there's enough budget for overtime pay."

Mr. Ren nodded and said without any objection, "Okay."

President Liu couldn't help but look at President Ren. At this moment, he began to doubt whether President Ren's hurried behavior when they first met was an act. Judging from the way President Ren entered President Teng's office, this guy was obviously there to put on a show with President Teng.

However, faced with the enormous crisis the company was currently in, President Liu had no choice but to do as President Teng instructed.

After President Ren and President Liu left President Teng's office, President Liu looked at President Ren beside him with a somewhat unfriendly tone: "Old Ren, want to have a chat?"

Mr. Ren smiled and said, "I have too many things to do right now, so it's really not a good time to chat with you, Mr. Liu. Next time! Next time for sure! I'll bring some good wine and food to visit you then, and we'll definitely have a good chat."

Mr. Ren smiled broadly, then retreated repeatedly.

In a large corporation like Tencent, there are many things to be careful about.

Especially now that his identity is opposed to that of President Liu, if he dares to have a private conversation with President Liu, it won't be long before someone else appears around President Ren.

Even if it's not much, they'll probably still get a scolding.

This is the difference between the workplace and the officialdom of the imperial court in the past.

During the Ming Dynasty, no matter how much the Yan faction and the Qingliu faction were at odds, if Grand Secretary Yan summoned Grand Secretary Xu in private, Grand Secretary Xu would not dare to refuse, unless he wanted to be a lone minister and a staunch supporter of the imperial power. Otherwise, the Yan faction had plenty of ways to bring down the Qingliu faction.

As for those lone officials, although they may be protected by the emperor, can they compare with the corrupt officials and the Yan faction? Even the money the emperor uses to build palaces depends on the Yan faction's wishes.

of course.

This is also the reason why Yan's party later fell from power.

But a workplace like Tencent is different. They don't have the status of a scholar or a secure job within the system. Their positions depend entirely on Tencent's personal ideas, their own value, and the hidden power behind them.

At this critical juncture, if President Ren were to flirt with President Liu, he would be narrowing his own future path.

not to mention……

President Liu's dominance probably won't last much longer.

Walking along the paths inside the penguin park, Mr. Ren's mind kept replaying recent events and past occurrences.

Since President Liu joined Tencent, Tencent's transformation has been rapid and determined, and President Liu's achievements are obvious to all. However... although President Liu was born in mainland China, he grew up on the other side of the strait in Shenzhen, studied in the Western world, and initially worked for large companies such as McKinsey and Goldman Sachs.

At just over thirty years old, he was already Tencent's Chief Strategic Investment Officer.

Such a life is not only incredibly successful, but it would be an understatement to describe it as "unbelievable".

A smooth life has also fostered President Liu's almost "self-centered" personality, but such a personality is not feasible in China.

Mr. Teng is now on the verge of barely restraining himself.

Therefore, it's only a matter of time before they take action against President Liu.

Actually, Teng's initial move to the front line of the game business was simply because he felt that Tencent's "big company disease" was becoming more and more serious, and he wanted to take charge on the front line and leave some secrets for the interactive entertainment business group.

However, as Mr. Teng began to focus on specific business operations and delve into the company's workflow, he began to discover more and more, and increasingly serious, problems.

Under the influence of investment banking, Tencent Group began to lose its vitality and competitiveness.

Many project executives have started to emulate the financial professionals in Dahai City, who spend their days drinking coffee, reviewing reports, and doing analysis, all while effortlessly making money.

They don't even care much about the salary and compensation the company gives them anymore.

This can't go on.

A penguin that is completely investment banking-oriented will not survive for long. Even if it survives in the future, it will not be what Mr. Teng imagines, and it is very likely that it will no longer belong to Mr. Teng.

The time when President Liu reigned supreme over Tencent...

Running out.

The fact that Tencent CEO Teng so calmly allowed the stock price of Tencent to fluctuate, and even preferred to use funds to buy back Tencent shares, is strong evidence that this matter takes priority even above ByteDance.

That's why Mr. Ren swallowed all the words he had prepared before coming.

This is no longer just a battle with ByteDance, but also a major internal restructuring within Tencent.

A change that could upend the entire penguin is about to happen.

……

The internet is flooded with criticism and condemnation of Tencent, but Tencent has never made any official response.

Amid such surging emotions among internet users, Tencent's stock price unsurprisingly declined for several consecutive days. However, after falling for five consecutive days, dropping by a total of about 10%, the stock price began to stabilize and fluctuate, but did not fall further.

This is probably the limit for retail investors to sell their shares on Tencent.

Tencent is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. For Hong Kong stocks, a 10% drop is completely acceptable and considered normal fluctuation. Most of the shares held in Hong Kong stocks are held by investment institutions, with relatively few retail investors.

Seeing that Tencent remained unmoved, Lü Yao probably understood—Tencent was planning to fight to the bitter end.

Good.

Penguins are now fighting on multiple fronts.

Tencent is not only fighting against ByteDance, but also against the wealth and capital of Shanghai South, and even Xiaomi is secretly making underhanded moves behind the scenes.

The feud between these two social media platforms is still ongoing.

of course.

It's probably impossible for Xiaomi to truly get revenge, because Tencent's position in the social communication field is too solid, especially after Tencent integrated WeChat Pay. WeChat's status as a fundamental tool in daily life has become an "imprint" in people's minds.

However, in the gaming industry, although Tencent dominates, its position is not entirely secure.

In the short video field, he's as green as a rookie.

It all depends on how long Tencent can hold out and how much loss it can accept.

Thus, three weeks after Tencent's lawyer's letter was issued, amidst the anger of hundreds of thousands of people in the gaming industry, Shangnan Guang'an and ByteDance Douyin made their dazzling debut.

On social media platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Tieba, Guang'an Network Games and ByteDance issued a joint announcement—the "Infinite Light Incentive Program" was launched across all platforms under ByteDance, a special policy allocated to Guang'an by ByteDance.

Starting today, all videos featuring strategy guides, tutorials, and highlight reels of gameplay from the Guang'an series, published on ByteDance's platforms, will receive traffic support.

Simultaneously.

ByteDance advocates a more open, inclusive, and shared internet spirit, and sincerely hopes that all gamers can find more joy and freedom in games.

Simultaneously.

All games under Guangan Online Games displayed large-screen announcements; it was Guangan Online Games' declaration to its players, and also a tribute to them.

"Let more players experience joy, both inside and outside the game!"

This was a close-range, all-or-nothing attack.

(End of this chapter)