Restart life

Chapter 459 0449 [Baidu COO has also joined ByteDance]

After such an unpleasant incident, it's impossible for He Zhichuan to stay at Baidu.

When he switched jobs, he not only received stock options from Baidu Games, but also a substantial signing bonus.

If you resign unilaterally before your employment contract expires, you not only have to give up your stock options, but you also have to return a portion of your signing bonus. Furthermore, before the non-compete agreement expires, it's very difficult to join another game company, or even to start your own game business.

But He Zhichuan was still determined to leave.

He was too ashamed to face Chen Guiliang at Youke, and he didn't want to ask any boss to help him pay the penalty for breach of contract.

He plans to take the postgraduate entrance exam, study for a few years to improve himself, and then look for a new job when the non-compete agreement expires.

He learned a lot from Youke, and he also learned a lot from Baidu.

For the next month, He Zhichuan was handling his resignation procedures and handing over his work.

This kind of news couldn't be kept secret forever; within a few days, the whole company knew.

Kang Xiaoqiang, another vice president who was poached from Sohu to Baidu Games, took the initiative to ask He Zhichuan for a drink after get off work: "Let me toast you. You're really something, leaving without asking for anything."

"I can't stand this humiliation." He Zhichuan clinked his glass in frustration.

Kang Xiaoqiang sincerely advised, "No matter which company you go to in the future, don't be so stubborn. People like Shi Youcai are actually very easy to fool. As long as you go along with him, do what he says, and say a few flattering words, he won't make things difficult for you anymore. You've openly argued with him several times, no wonder he can't tolerate you."

“I wasn’t arguing for the sake of arguing, I was just offering my opinion. His order was wrong, and carrying it out would definitely mess things up,” He Zhichuan said.

Kang Xiaoqiang asked with a smile, "Were you like this when you were at Youke?"

He Zhichuan nodded: "Yes, let's say what we mean. It's normal to have disagreements during work hours. If there are problems, we can discuss and solve them on the spot. After get off work, we can still hang out, drink, and eat barbecue together."

Kang Xiaoqiang sighed, "Sigh, you used to eat too well, now you feel wronged after just a few bowls of plain porridge."

"That Shi Youcai doesn't understand game development at all. Baidu Games will definitely never take off. Are you just going to stay here and waste your youth?" He Zhichuan asked.

Kang Xiaoqiang said, "Should I follow your example? Not only give up stock options, but also return the signing fee for switching jobs proportionally? Anyway, Baidu Games pays me a pretty high annual salary, so I'll just stay here until my contract expires. No matter how outrageous Shi Youcai's instructions are, I'll just follow them. It's not my company, so if I mess it up, I mess it up. Don't you think he trusts me a lot now? He's practically grooming me to be his confidant."

“You’re pretty good at getting by, I’m a little envious of your ability,” He Zhichuan said sincerely. “I’m not like that. I find it hard to keep things to myself. Even if I don’t say it today, I’ll still be unable to hold it in for a few days.”

Kang Xiaoqiang suggested, "You should go back to Youke and apologize to President Chen. Or you could go to a small or medium-sized game company, where you'll have more say. Otherwise, with your temper... you're in trouble."

He Zhichuan said, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going back to school to study first."

“That’s fine too. Studying is good. You’re much younger than me.” Kang Xiaoqiang was actually quite envious of He Zhichuan.

……

Why was iQiyi able to succeed among Baidu's many new brands?
Because Gong Yu is an outsider.

After being recruited by Baidu, Gong Yu built iQiyi from scratch, and it was a wholly-owned subsidiary from the beginning, with very little involvement from Baidu headquarters.

Even the mobile service resources were brought by Gong Yu himself.

Gong Yu was previously the COO of Sohu, and then moved to become the CEO and COO of 12580. 12580 is a voice portal under China Mobile, operated in cooperation with another company (Infinite Xunqi).

iQiyi officially launched last month.

Wuxian Xunqi was naturally furious when its CEO and COO were poached by Baidu.

Infinite Infotech promptly poached Li Yinan, Baidu's CTO, to become the CEO of 12580.

Replacing senior executives.

At the same time, Baidu's COO Ye Peng also resigned and has not yet joined any other company.

The reason for leaving was the same as other Baidu executives: "personal reasons for leaving," which actually meant he was very unhappy with his job.

Baidu's Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer both absconded within three months, leaving Robin Li extremely frustrated. The company is now in a state of chaos; these two executives failed to properly hand over their responsibilities before leaving!

Before joining Baidu, Ye Peng was a mid-level manager at Motorola and later served as the general manager of Apple China.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would have joined Highland Capital, but after only a few months, he jumped ship to Alibaba, where he became Vice President of Taobao, responsible for the daily operations of Tmall.

But now something unexpected has happened.

HarmonyOS Technology is hiring like crazy. When news broke that Ye Peng had left Baidu, Zhou Guangping immediately started calling to recruit him.

Zhou Guangping and Ye Peng not only worked at Motorola before, but also belonged to the same faction.

It only takes one move.

"Hello, Mr. Ye!"

"Hello, Mr. Chen, I've long admired your name."

Chen Guiliang shook hands warmly with Ye Peng. He had heard of Ye Peng in his previous life, as he had worked his way up from vice president of Taobao to vice president of Alibaba Group.

Currently, Chen Guiliang is personally handling the marketing of HarmonyOS phones; he cannot continue to hold this position indefinitely.

Ye Peng has always been responsible for marketing at Motorola, Apple, and Baidu, making him a suitable candidate to take over the marketing of HarmonyOS phones. In particular, when Ye Peng served as General Manager of Apple China, he rebuilt Apple's marketing system in China, achieving 100% sales growth for two consecutive years—at that time, Apple phones had not yet entered China, and he was marketing other Apple products.

"Over the past month, I have carefully studied the marketing strategy for HarmonyOS phones."

Ye Peng didn't waste any time with small talk. After a few pleasantries, he got down to business: "President Chen's marketing tactics are brilliant. He's amassed a huge following of loyal fans in a short time. And then he focuses on online sales. This strategy is truly amazing. But to be honest, although the HarmonyOS phone has sold hundreds of thousands of units, it's still positioned as a niche trendy product. If we want to grow bigger in the future, we must evolve from a 'niche trendy product' to a 'mass-desired product'."

"Continue," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Ye Peng said, "I originally had a plan, but after communicating with Lao Zhou and learning about the situation of HarmonyOS M1, I changed my strategy at the last minute."

"HarmonyOS M1 is incredibly powerful, even groundbreaking. It can serve as a status symbol, making the wealthy choose it without hesitation, white-collar workers flock to it, and the general public dream of owning it!"

"HarmonyOS M1 is not only a communication tool, but also a social symbol and lifestyle icon for the elite class and urban youth."

"The name HarmonyOS M1 is too ordinary; many mobile phone manufacturers use 'M' as a prefix for their series. It needs to be changed to a more high-end and sophisticated name!"

Chen Guiliang nodded: "Okay."

Ye Peng said, "The above refers to brand image positioning. Mr. Chen has online social media platforms, so we will promote it heavily online. We also need to promote it offline, and hire a celebrity as a spokesperson. Chen Daoming or Fan Bingbing are both suitable. I prefer Chen Daoming. We also need to pay attention to business magazines and fashion magazines, and pay them to do more interviews and publish advertorials."

"Okay," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Ye Peng said, "China Mobile is now suppressing the HarmonyOS camp, so we need to work on our relationships with the carriers. I know that HarmonyOS A1 has already partnered with China Telecom. HarmonyOS A1 has China Mobile and China Telecom versions, and we should launch a China Unicom version next."

"Then there are distributors. They mainly sell online, which makes their channels too limited. In the past, they had insufficient production capacity and sales channels, so this strategy was just right. This year, both suppliers and contract manufacturers have expanded their production capacity and can operate their production lines at full capacity. So, the next step is to establish offline channels."

"Mr. Chen has already built 6 offline direct-sale stores, and I think we should increase that to 15 in the next year. We should also contact distributors to build authorized stores and cancel the HarmonyOS mobile phone counters at Suning and Gome."

"We can't have too many distributors; we need to be selective. We want to build a high-quality, controllable authorized distribution network, ensuring that they decorate their stores, display products, and train their employees according to the standards of directly operated flagship stores."

"Directly operated stores and authorized stores must ensure that they can work together, rather than engage in vicious competition."

"We also need to establish an after-sales service system. The after-sales service for HarmonyOS phones is currently too rudimentary!"

“Selling only mobile phones is too limited in product variety and looks very shabby in the store. In the future, I suggest adding more product categories, such as tablets and smartwatches.”

Tablets and smartwatches have been around for a while, but they have made leaps and bounds in the last two years.

The iPad, in particular, launched by Apple earlier this year, has greatly impressed consumers.

Ye Peng then went on to recount a whole host of details.

Zhou Guangping chuckled from the side, "Mr. Chen, is this guy a marketing major?"

“Very professional,” Chen Guiliang nodded, then laughed, “Mr. Ye must have been feeling stifled at Baidu these past two years, right? He resigned voluntarily because no one was trying to recruit him.”

Unlike many departing senior executives at Baidu, Ye Peng joined the company relatively late. Although he received stock options, he resigned before they expired. He didn't want those options and didn't achieve the financial freedom that early Baidu executives enjoyed.

He had a bunch of marketing strategies in his head that he couldn't implement, and he was incredibly frustrated by Baidu.

Ye Peng waved his hand and said, "Don't mention this. I don't want to speak ill of my old employer."

"Welcome to HarmonyOS Technology!" Chen Guiliang stood up and shook hands.

Ye Peng said, "It is my great honor."

The following day, Ye Peng registered a Weibo account under ByteDance and posted a Weibo update: "Officially joined HarmonyOS Technology Company under ByteDance. Thank you for Mr. Chen's high regard."

ByteDance Weibo provided a push notification.

"Who is this person?"

"Holy crap, Ye Peng was Baidu's COO at the beginning of the year, how come he suddenly joined HarmonyOS?"

"This is hilarious. Two senior executives from Baidu joined ByteDance within a month. Is Chen Laozu trying to poach talent from Baidu?"

"How many senior executives have left Baidu this year?"

"The second one, or maybe the third. Damn it, Baidu changes executives more often than I change my underwear."

"..."

Zhang Chaoyang called Chen Guiliang and immediately said, "Well done!"

"I've also got my eye on a few senior executives at Sohu," Chen Guiliang joked.

Zhang Chaoyang cursed, "Get out!"

Chen Guiliang laughed heartily, then asked, "Do you know Chen Daoming? Could you help me arrange to meet him for dinner sometime? I'd like to invite him to be the spokesperson for my mobile phone."

Zhang Chaoyang said, "Remember, you owe me another favor."

"I'll remember this and find a chance to pay you back later," Chen Guiliang said.

(End of this chapter)