Restart life

Chapter 405, page 0395: [The victims meet to discuss revenge against Baidu]

Last year, "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" was a huge hit, and Sohu Changyou gradually broke into the top ten and then the top seven of China's online game companies thanks to this game...

Then they got targeted by competitors!
Because the core employees of Sohu Changyou are not well-paid, and the team was cobbled together in recent years with serious internal factional struggles, it's easy to poach them.

Last year alone, more than ten people were poached, almost completely replacing the core team.

Among them, Perfect World poached the most aggressively, with Chi Yufeng targeting Sohu Changyou to poach their employees. This was because Zhang Chaoyang had previously poached his people as well.

In an interview, Zhang Chaoyang angrily denounced Perfect World, calling their malicious poaching shameless and an unethical act that violates industry rules.

Chi Yufeng pretended not to hear, secretly amused.

To retain talent, Zhang Chaoyang quickly spun off Changyou from Sohu, making it a subsidiary of Sohu. He also gave core employees raises, increased bonuses, and stock options as rewards.

Surprisingly, even with such improved compensation, Baidu still managed to poach core employees from Sohu Changyou.

……

The South Korean developer was clearly dragging their feet on the issue, not even offering expedited service, but instead deliberately going through the standard procedures at a slow pace.

Nobody knows what the Koreans are thinking.

Aion is still plagued by rampant cheating.

Just then, Zhang Chaoyang wrote a scathing post on his Sohu blog. Not satisfied with just that, he then went to HaiNei.com to post updates.

"Some people who run businesses want to dabble in everything, like a troublemaker. Two years ago, he said he was going to build a portal website, but it still hasn't taken off. Then he said he was going to do e-commerce, which is currently barely surviving. Now he's even more audacious, making a big splash in the online gaming industry. He really doesn't treat shareholders' money like money..."

"I've only ever heard of poaching top executives by any means necessary, but I've never seen anyone offer such a huge premium to poach mid-level managers. With such high salaries, can you even support the game team? This isn't just a moral issue; it's downright insane. You're offering a million-dollar salary to poach a technical lead? With so many programmers, are you really that short of a game co-producer?"

As soon as the article was published, people began to speculate about which company was poaching Sohu's talent.

The answer is obvious: Baidu!

Chen Guiliang rarely tagged Zhang Chaoyang: "Some companies are really unethical. Relying on raising money in the US stock market, they always like to poach talent from all over the place. In fact, this company has a lot of top talents. It's a pity that the boss doesn't cherish them, forcing top talents to leave one after another."

Not long after Chen Guiliang posted his update, Zhang Chaoyang called: "You've been poached too?"

"The head of game operations at Youke went there," Chen Guiliang said.

Zhang Chaoyang gloated: "Hahaha, this position is extremely important. Li Yanhong must have really angered you this time!"

Chen Guiliang said, "What's there to be angry about? They offered a very high annual salary, and he's the vice president of Baidu Games."

"Damn it, one of the people poached from my side is going to be the vice president of Baidu Games. What's the point of keeping so many vice presidents?" Zhang Chaoyang got angrier and angrier as he spoke.

Chen Guiliang said, "We were responsible for different business areas. After all, they gave me an extremely high annual salary, and I couldn't explain it to other Baidu employees without giving me a vice president title."

Zhang Chaoyang said, "I guess Baidu Games won't succeed."

"Haha, let's wait and see. I'm really curious to know what the first game Baidu will distribute will be," Chen Guiliang laughed.

Robin Li is a proud and ambitious person; Baidu Games is not a small-scale venture.

Li Yanhong doesn't even look at ordinary games!
The news was quickly released: the first online game that Baidu Games would distribute was Warhammer Online.

This old game has a huge IP influence, and its online version was launched in Europe and America this year, with the total number of paying players exceeding 50. It is currently enjoying great popularity, and its promotional slogan is "Surpassing World of Warcraft".

Wang Erlei, the new CEO of Kongzhong.com, came to HaiNei.com to register an account for team building the day after Baidu made a high-profile announcement that it would be the agent for Warhammer Online.

Wang Erlei also tagged Chen Guiliang and Zhang Chaoyang: "Some companies are indeed rich and powerful. I've never seen anyone snatch game distribution rights like this. Kongzhong had already signed a letter of intent for distribution, and they still managed to break the contract and snatch it away. They have no shame at all!"

"Hahahaha!"

Chen Guiliang was amused and burst into laughter, as another victim appeared to share their experience.

Kongzhong Corporation used to be China's largest mobile portal website, but after changing its CEO last year, it began its transformation, also making a high-profile foray into the online gaming industry. Its most successful business is distributing "World of Tanks".

Wang Erlei used to specialize in ringback tones and could be called "China's No. 1 person in the ringback tones business".

Huang Xinyuan, the current head of ByteDance's wireless business department, used to be the deputy of Wang Erlei's deputy.

In order to quickly familiarize himself with the online game business, Wang Erlei went around asking people for their phone numbers and inquiring about online game operation experience at last year's game industry conference.

He and Chen Guiliang exchanged phone numbers.

Chen Guiliang dialed the phone: "Hey, Mr. Wang, wanna come out for a drink? I'll call Zhang Chaoyang too."

“Okay! Give me your address, and I’ll be right there,” Wang Erlei said.

All three companies are located in Haidian District.

We can meet up in ten minutes.

Cafe.

Wang Erlei, dressed in a shirt and trousers, strode in with his hands in his pockets.

Accompanying him was Director Zhou, the former CEO of Kongzhong Corporation.

Why is he called Director Zhou?

Instead of becoming CEO, he went into politics and is currently the deputy director of the Zhongguancun Management Committee. By the time Chen Guiliang was reborn, Director Zhou had already risen through the ranks to become Director Zhou.

Both of Kongzhong's CEOs have had special backgrounds; the current CEO, Wang Erlei, has a grandfather who was a general and participated in the Long March!

"Over here!" Zhang Chaoyang waved.

The two arrived together and warmly shook hands with Chen Guiliang and Zhang Chaoyang.

Zhang Chaoyang and Director Zhou were very familiar with each other, and they would punch each other's shoulders with their fists when they met.

Before founding Kongzhong.com, Director Zhou co-founded Chinaren (an alumni directory) with Chen Yizhou. This website was acquired by Zhang Chaoyang, and Director Zhou joined Sohu along with the website.

"President Chen, it's great to meet you. I've heard so much about you. We've met before at events, but we've never had a chance to sit down and chat," Director Zhou said with a smile.

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "You're a senior in creating campus social networking sites. Now you're a leader, overseeing a bunch of companies in Zhongguancun. I'll need your guidance in the future, Director Zhou."

Zhang Chaoyang said impatiently, "Why so much polite talk? We're all brothers and friends!"

"Yes, yes, we're all friends, please sit down and let's talk," Director Zhou said with a smile.

Zhang Chaoyang then said, "Drinking coffee is boring, why don't we go to another bar?"

Director Zhou said, "Let's skip the drinking. Er Lei insisted on dragging me along, but I slipped out here and have to go back to work later."

The four sat down and chatted for a while before the topic turned to Baidu.

Wang Erlei was furious: "Damn it, I negotiated with Warhammer Online for almost half a year, beat out several competitors, and finally signed the agency agreement. In the blink of an eye, they breached the contract, and I didn't even know who snatched it away. Yesterday, Baidu announced that it would be the agent for Warhammer Online, and that's when I found out that Baidu was the one who attacked me from behind."

Zhang Chaoyang held up four fingers: "Baidu poached four of my people in one go. A whole four people!"

Everyone was quite angry. Chen Guiliang couldn't gloat, so he also said indignantly, "Although I only lost one person, that was a veteran employee who started the company with me. This person didn't know anything at the beginning, and I personally taught him how to do game operations. He was a key talent I was cultivating. In the future, he will at least be the vice president of Youke, and if he does well, he might even become the president!"

Zhang Chaoyang felt relieved after hearing this, and his depressed mood dissipated considerably: "Then you're really unlucky. This kind of employee is both a brother and an apprentice, so he must have poured a lot of emotion and effort into him."

"It's actually a good thing to see someone clearly beforehand," Director Zhou commented. "The fact that such an employee is willing to switch jobs shows that he neither knows how to be grateful nor has a long-term vision."

Wang Erlei, on the other hand, focused on the matter at hand: "To be honest, I can understand why Mr. Chen was poached. After all, Baidu is currently at its peak, the leading IT company in China. Going to Baidu Games as vice president would be too attractive to them."

Chen Guiliang asked, "Warhammer Online has been snatched away. What game do you want to distribute next?"

"I don't know, I'm a bit lost." Wang Erlei shook his head.

His grandfather was a veteran of the Long March, and he himself is a military enthusiast and a science fiction fan.

Going forward, we'll definitely be distributing military and science fiction games: World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, World of Warships, World of Mechs, and more...

The track is quite unique.

After chatting for a while, Zhang Chaoyang said, "The three of us can't keep getting bullied by Baidu."

At this time, Zhang Chaoyang was particularly arrogant and extreme.

Incidentally, intermittent depression.

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "We can also dig into Baidu!"

Wang Erlei said, "We can't just poach people for the sake of poaching. Poaching ordinary employees doesn't hurt Baidu much. But poaching senior executives requires offering them good compensation, and we don't even know what positions to give them."

"Anyway, I'm planning to go all out," Chen Guiliang said.

Zhang Chaoyang asked, "You have a goal now?"

Chen Guiliang smiled mysteriously: "If Baidu poachs one of my employees to be the vice president of games, I'll just poach a vice president from Baidu!"

"Awesome!" Wang Erlei gave a thumbs up.

Zhang Chaoyang was quite looking forward to it: "Once you recruit them, I'll write a blog post to help promote them."

Director Zhou asked curiously, "Baidu has quite a few vice presidents, which one are you trying to poach?"

Chen Guiliang said, "We'll keep the specifics of who it is a secret for now. But poaching him will definitely make Li Yanhong feel the pinch!"

These words heightened the anticipation of all three.

Director Zhou sat for a while, then got up to say goodbye and leave, saying he had to go back to his unit to handle some work.

Chen Guiliang and Wang Erlei were left behind, and Zhang Chaoyang dragged them to a bar to have fun.

Damn it, going to a bar in broad daylight.

However, it's convenient to do things in broad daylight, so Zhang Chaoyang called over three female celebrities.

Although not a top star, she is still quite famous.

Slightly drunk, Zhang Chaoyang couldn't help but ask again, "Who exactly are you trying to poach?"

Chen Guiliang smiled without saying a word as he put his arm around the female celebrity.

Who is he going to poach?

Yu Jun, the father of Baidu Tieba!
(End of this chapter)