Restart life

Chapter 458 0448 [The Difference Between ByteDance and Baidu]

The company has expanded too rapidly in the past two years. It is getting bigger and bigger and will continue to expand rapidly. The old departmental structure is almost unable to keep up.

For example, the publishing business that originated from Renren.com resulted in the formal establishment of a small publishing company at the beginning of the year. This publishing company is quite profitable and is actively expanding its scale.

Zhihu has also spun off into a subsidiary, and its staff is also increasing. Venture capital firms have even approached them, but Chen Guiliang rejected their offers due to their low valuations.

Next, we will acquire a map company with Class A surveying and mapping qualifications.

Upon returning from the Mobile Internet Conference, Chen Guiliang immediately convened a meeting to discuss the company's restructuring.

The final determination is as follows:
[Board of Directors] Chairman, Vice Chairman, Board Secretary.

Chen Guiliang was appointed chairman of the board, while continuing to serve as CEO. The main reason was the lack of a suitable CEO candidate; promoting anyone would not be convincing.

Guo Feng was appointed as vice chairman and will continue to serve as chief technology officer.

[Group Executive Team] Chief Executive Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer.

Ao Yanzhen will continue as Chief Administrative Officer, while Xie Yang will become Chief Operating Officer.

[Business Groups] Social Networks and Content Business Group, Media and Entertainment Business Group, Strategic Investment and Innovation Business Group.

Each business group has a president.

The business group is divided into various business units, such as the "Weibo Business Unit".

[Other Important Departments] Marketing and Public Relations Department, Legal and Government Relations Department, Finance Department, Human Resources and Administration Department.

Employees who joined after the Series A funding round, and whose abilities are not bad, have generally risen to senior management positions.

For example, Wei Xiaokang, who was in charge of recruitment at the time, is now the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). Shi Qian, the legal specialist at the time, is now the Director of Legal and Government Relations.

In addition, there are some other organizations.

For example, HarmonyOS, a company that makes mobile phones, directly connects with the CXO office (the group's executive level).

The group's senior management also formed a "Strategic Coordination Committee" to liaise with key partners. For example, the cloud computing center, which belongs to Youke, will have in-depth cooperation with many of ByteDance's products, and this committee will be responsible for coordination in the future.

"Still not rested enough?" Chen Guiliang asked Yu Jun.

Yu Jun said, "You don't want me to officially join the company, do you?"

Chen Guiliang briefly explained his departmental restructuring, and jokingly said, "If you've rested enough and are willing to officially join ByteDance, I'll create a Chief Product Officer position specifically for you. It's similar to your role as Vice President of Product at Baidu."

Yu Jun shook his head: "Never mind."

“I know you’re not short of money, you’ve been financially independent for a long time,” Chen Guiliang said. “But you can go to my company and ask any mid-to-senior level manager if they’re happy with their jobs. I’m not like Mr. Li from Baidu. I don’t run a one-man show, I don’t act arbitrarily, and I highly respect the opinions of management.”

"Never mind," Yu Jun shook his head again.

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "I won't pressure you. You can take your time to consider it. I haven't set up the position of Chief Product Officer yet; it's essentially a position I'm implicitly holding. I'll set it up if you come, and I won't if you don't."

Yu Jun was both amused and exasperated. This was quite a sentimental affair, almost like Liu Bei's three visits to Zhuge Liang's thatched cottage.

After Chen Guiliang left, Yu Jun sat alone in a daze.

He is indeed financially independent, but how could he possibly be idle? Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to Zhihu as an advisor.

How much free time has Yu Jun had lately?
He frequently writes articles on Zhihu, summarizing his work experience at Baidu. He answers questions in his comment section in great detail and with great patience, regardless of who asks them.

Sometimes, he can write three or four thousand words just to answer a question from an online user.

Questioners are often moved to tears by him—they ask questions on Zhihu for a fee, but they don't spend much money, yet the former vice president of Baidu answers so earnestly.

Yu Jun's articles and answers on Zhihu total over 100,000 words. ByteDance's newly established publishing company even contacted him, hoping to compile and publish this content.

That's incredibly boring.

Chen Guiliang has made the entire mobile operating system open source, and he also plans to continue developing open-source mobile websites and app creation tools. Yu Jun greatly approves of these actions, because he is also a programmer; which programmer doesn't respect open-source initiatives?

He picked up his phone and called one of his old colleagues: "How have you been lately?"

"What else can I do? Quitting opens up a whole new world. I feel like I can live another twenty years after leaving Baidu. I'm having a great time right now, I'll enjoy myself for a couple of years first, and then I'll go back to work when I need the money," my old colleague laughed.

Yu Jun said, "What do you think about me officially joining ByteDance?"

An old colleague asked, "What's your position?"

Yu Jun said, "Like Baidu, it's also a vice president of product. ByteDance calls it chief product officer. Chen Guiliang said that this position would not be created for the time being, and I agreed, so it was created specifically for me."

"Of course I'd say yes, why wouldn't I?" my old colleague said. "They met with you in person last year, and now they're asking you to do something for them. If any boss valued me that much, I would have agreed long ago."

Yu Jun said, "I'm a little tempted, but I'm still unsure." His old colleague advised, "Do you think everyone is Robin Li? Of the two companies Chen Guiliang owns, only one mid-to-senior level manager has been poached so far—the one Baidu recruited to be the vice president of games. ByteDance's stock price is soaring right now, and the long-term employees' stock options could have been cashed out long ago. The fact that no one has left means they're happy with their jobs."

Yu Jun said, "Why don't you come too? Let's work at ByteDance together."

"Damn, you haven't even started working yet, and you're already poaching people for ByteDance?" an old colleague chuckled and scolded.

Yu Jun said, "It's normal for me, a commander without any troops, to take office with an old team."

The old colleague thought for a moment and said, "Okay."

……

ByteDance's departmental reforms were not announced to the public, but the news of Yu Jun's appointment as Chief Product Officer quickly spread.

This has attracted a lot of attention.

The main reason is that Baidu Tieba and Baidu Zhidao are so famous, and they were both created by Yu Jun.

Some people even dug up Yu Jun's job application letter from back then: "...I am obsessed with search. As long as it is search, I don't care about the location (no matter where you are in the country or where you are in danger), I don't care about the position (no matter how high or low the position is, as long as it is related to search), I don't care about the salary (it is enough to support my local food, clothing and housing), and I don't care about the intensity of the work (I am used to working 14 hours a day)."

In particular, increasingly disappointed users on Baidu Tieba began to mock Robin Li, saying that Baidu couldn't retain talent and that truly capable people would be squeezed out.

Li Yanhong generally doesn't read news online, but he does read newspapers and magazines.

Professional newspapers and magazines are also reporting on it.

Li Yanhong glanced at the newspaper and tossed it aside, then had his assistant call Shi Youcai over for a reprimand.

"Baidu Games has been established for a year and a half, and the group has invested a lot of resources in it. How come it's still barely surviving?" Li Yanhong questioned.

Shi Youcai said, "The games made by foreigners have problems. Warhammer Online has a lot of bugs, and the updates are slow. Also, the guy they recruited from Youke has no real skills and his planning is terrible."

Li Yanhong then said to his assistant, "Call He Zhichuan, the vice president of the game division."

After its establishment, Baidu Games did not operate from the Baidu Building, but instead rented office space in a nearby building.

Upon receiving the call, He Zhichuan did not immediately set off. Instead, he leisurely wrote his resignation letter and had his secretary print it out.

The vice president of his subsidiary had tried to meet with Li Yanhong several times, but had never been able to.

It took a full hour for He Zhichuan to arrive at Li Yanhong's office.

At this time, Li Yanhong was doing other things, and Shi Youcai sat on the sofa next to him.

Li Yanhong said, "Give me a brief report on your work over the past year."

Instead of reporting on his work, He Zhichuan produced a resignation letter: "Chairman, I'm here to resign. I haven't been able to see you before. I don't want the stock options or anything like that; I just hope you can cancel the non-compete agreement."

"Why did you resign?" Li Yanhong asked.

He Zhichuan interned at Youke before graduating. After officially joining the company, he was taught by Chen Guiliang, who also helped him clean up any messes that occurred.

How could he stand such humiliation?

Although he had lost many of his edge over the past year, he was still a proud Peking University graduate at heart. At this moment, he was completely reckless: "The chairman asked me why I resigned, but I think I should ask President Shi. Before I even finished handing over my work at Youke, I had already written a hundred-page operation plan for Warhammer Online. So far, less than a tenth of the content of this plan has actually been implemented."

He Zhichuan became more and more agitated as he spoke: "What can I do? I have to serve President Shi well and flatter his assistant. The operations department of Baidu Games listens to President Shi from top to bottom. His assistant's words carry more weight than mine. When I come up with an operations plan, my employees don't implement it at all. Instead, they go to President Shi's assistant for instructions first!"

Shi Youcai retorted, "It's your arrogance that has offended all your colleagues and subordinates. From the moment you arrived, you said Baidu Games couldn't compare to Youke, and you opposed everything I said. For a whole year, you couldn't even manage your own operations department; employees were constantly coming to complain. Later, I found out that Chen Guiliang personally handled the operations of 'Three Kingdoms Kill' and 'Future Era,' and you were just a puppet placed in the spotlight. You have absolutely no ability!"

"You're spouting nonsense and crying wolf!" He Zhichuan roared.

Li Yanhong frowned. He felt that He Zhichuan's words were more genuine, but he also disliked He Zhichuan's impromptu performance.

Taking the opportunity, Shi Youcai said, "Why are you using such foul language in front of the chairman? Don't bring Youke's nonsense to Baidu!"

He Zhichuan had long wanted to quit, so he slammed his resignation letter on Li Yanhong's desk and said, "Even if the non-compete agreement isn't abolished, I'm resigning today. I'll just take a few years off! You guys keep playing around, I'm leaving."

After saying that, He Zhichuan turned and left.

Shi Youcai said, "See? That's just his bad temper. He's always treated his superiors, colleagues, and subordinates this way. How do you expect him to manage a team?"

Li Yanhong stared thoughtfully at Shi Youcai, feeling extremely angry and disappointed in the man.

He's not stupid, how could he not understand?

He Zhichuan was clearly in a desperate situation, having been driven to the brink of madness by Shi Youcai.

(End of this chapter)