Entertainment mogul: Starting his business with the internet

Chapter 176 Struggling
On the morning of the 3rd, in a corner of the Huairou Film and Television Base in Beiping, the crew of "A Little Thing Called First Love" was making intensive preparations for the start of today's filming.

Inside the dressing room, Liu Shishi, dressed in her high school uniform, exuded youthful energy as the makeup artist diligently applied makeup to her face.

However, Ms. Liu looked resistant and reluctant to wear makeup.

Because she needed to play an ugly character in the first half of the movie, her makeup was designed to make her look dark and rustic. She could already foresee that this makeup would definitely become her "dark history" in the future.

"Shishi, how were the ratings for the premiere of 'Hello, Old Times' yesterday?"

On the dressing table in front of Liu Shishi, a mobile phone was on speakerphone, through which Cai Yinong's concerned and expectant voice could be heard.

"1.73%!"

Although Liu Shishi tried hard to control her facial expressions because she was putting on makeup, the joy and excitement in her tone were hard to hide.

God knows how happy she was when director Ma Xin told her the ratings for the premiere of "Hello, Old Times" that morning.

"Great! Great!" On the other end of the phone, Cai Yinong, who had already returned to Xiaobailou in Hengdian, was so excited that he was incoherent. With such a perfect start, Tangren's top female star was about to take off.

After calming his excitement slightly, Cai Yinong said seriously, "Shishi, the company will fully cooperate with the TV series to promote it and create momentum for you."

"Thank you, Sister K."

"By the way, are you coming to the wrap party for 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' on January 19th?"

Liu Shishi thought about it and realized that going to Hengdian and back would take two days, and the crew's time was precious, so she could only politely decline:
"Sister K, I won't be attending the wrap party. I can't leave here because of filming. I just went to a TV interview yesterday. It's not good to keep taking leave."

Cai Yinong expressed his understanding: "Okay, work is important. Don't hang up yet, Hu Ge has something to say to you."

After speaking, he handed the phone to the top male influencer of Tangren Media in front of him. A moment later, a gentle and familiar male voice came from the receiver.

"Shishi, is everything going smoothly for you filming 'First Love'?"

"Successfully!" Liu Shishi replied succinctly and forcefully.

The entire crew was on her side, and Director Teng took extra care of her, practically worshipping her. How could things not go smoothly?

"I need your help with something," Hu Ge said hesitantly.

Liu Shishi, with a heart full of pride, said frankly, "Old Hu, why are you being so polite? Just say what you need to say!"

"I'm planning to release my first album after the New Year, and I'd like you to be the female lead in the music video for the title track."

“I thought it was something serious. No problem, I’ll have time after filming ‘First Love’ wraps up after the New Year.” Liu Shishi was very loyal and agreed to Hu Ge’s request without any hesitation.

Hu Ge was overjoyed to hear this: "Okay, then, we'll meet again in March when you finish filming."

See you in March!

After hanging up the phone, Hu Ge returned the phone to Sister K, saying, "Shi Shi agreed."

Cai Yinong nodded: "I knew Shishi wouldn't refuse you because of her personality. Filming for 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' has wrapped up, so you can use this time to prepare your album."

Hu Ge responded solemnly: "I will prepare seriously."

Although he has recovered and returned to work as Tangren's top male star, his career has been interrupted for a year, and he needs to find ways to regain his popularity and status.

With no suitable film and television resources available at the moment, he had to find another way and switch to the singer route, preparing to release songs and albums.

However, the competition in the music industry is equally fierce. The style of the song and the quality of the lyrics are both difficult to achieve, and even the female lead in the music video is a key factor in the competition.

That's why he invited Liu Shishi to star in the music video, hoping to leverage the popularity of Tangren's top female star to boost the album's popularity.

Given Liu Shishi's current status as a shareholder of Tangren Media, coupled with the popularity of her new drama, it's already a great honor for her to agree to star in a music video. That's why Hu Ge was a little hesitant to speak up just now.

"Shishi's new drama is airing on TV. You and Yuan Hong should help promote it. The Weibo account she recommended the day before yesterday is good; it's a great promotional platform."

Hu Ge agreed, saying, "Weibo is indeed great. It allows for convenient sharing of updates and enhances interaction and communication among fans. I think the company should focus on establishing a presence on the Weibo platform."

"That's exactly what I meant."

Cai Yinong nodded slightly. Her idea coincided with his; Weibo could expand Tangren's online marketing advantage.

Just as two key figures at Tangren Media were discussing developing online marketing on Weibo, the office of the chairman of Sina Corporation was filled with smoke.

Chairman and CEO Cao Guowei's eyes were full of anxiety. He took a deep drag on the cigarette holder in his hand, and the pungent smoke instantly filled his lungs.

Cao Guowei squinted slightly, seemingly seeking a moment of relief amidst the brief stimulation. Each breath was accompanied by a heavy sigh, and the rising smoke rings seemed to be a manifestation of the pressure in his heart.

Another deep sigh escaped his lips. The top leader of Sina Corporation shook his head with a wry smile. He usually didn't smoke, only occasionally smoking one or two cigarettes to relieve anxiety when under immense pressure.

After checking the time, Cao Guowei stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, grabbed the documents on the table, and strode towards the conference room.

In the conference room, Sina's senior executives were already gathered, and they immediately fell silent upon the arrival of the chairman.

After taking his seat at the head of the table, Cao Guowei skipped the pleasantries and formalities and went straight to the point:
"It is a last resort to ask everyone to come back from the New Year's Day holiday for this meeting, because the company has reached a critical juncture of life and death."

COO Du Hong hurriedly asked, "President Cao, what happened to the company?"

Cao Guowei's cold gaze swept over the group of executives, and he asked in a heavy tone, "Has anyone noticed that a new product has suddenly appeared online in the last two days?"

One of the directors chuckled dismissively, "Mr. Cao, you might as well be frank. Countless products are born or disappear on the internet every day. How would we know which one you're referring to?"

After waiting for a while without any answer, Cao Guowei shook his head in disappointment and asked again, "Does nobody really know which product I'm referring to?"

The marketing manager hesitated before speaking, "Mr. Cao, are you referring to the new Weibo account launched by Tengda Group?"

Cao Guowei nodded and questioned sternly, "That's right, it's Weibo! Our biggest competitor, Tengda Group, is launching a massive campaign to promote this new product!"

All of Tenda's products and channels are driving traffic to Weibo. Don't you have any awareness at all? You're still here, living in a daze and indulging in a life of debauchery! Seeing the chairman's anger, Du Hong quickly advised, "President Cao, please calm down. Actually, the people below have reported to Weibo."

However, our comparative research reveals that, currently, there is no significant difference between Tenda's microblog and other blogs on the market.

Cao Guowei looked sharply at the COO: "Then what do you think is the point of Tengda going to such lengths, spending so much time and effort, and inviting so many celebrities to join in and develop and promote this new product? Is it because that guy surnamed Song has nothing better to do?"

Du Hong was speechless for a moment, secretly thinking that Cao Guowei was making a mountain out of a molehill. After all, Tengda Weibo had only been online for three days, and the success or failure of the product was still unknown. Why make such a fuss and throw a tantrum at the meeting?

Cao Guowei took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger: "I've made up my mind. The company will set up a special project team to fully develop our own Weibo account."

An executive cautiously suggested, "Mr. Cao, the costs of developing and launching a new product are considerable. Should we wait and see how it performs on Weibo before taking any further action?"

"All you do is stand by and wait! Are you going to wait until the company goes bankrupt?" Cao Guowei was furious and berated Sina's senior executives.

One of the directors sneered and retorted, "President Cao, such an important matter as developing new products should be voted on by the board of directors."

Although Cao Guowei is the chairman and CEO of Sina, he does not hold many shares in the company. He faces numerous internal constraints and cannot make decisions on major company matters on his own.

Faced with the board's questioning, Cao Guowei was furious: "All you do is vote and delay. The company's actions are always a step behind others, wasting great opportunities time and time again!"

In the past, I wanted to start a video website, a game website, or a social voice website, but you all rejected me. You didn't seek change and just stuck with a broken portal website waiting to die!

Open your eyes and take a good look! This is the company's financial report for the fourth quarter of last year—the first time it has shown negative growth!

After saying that, Cao Guowei slammed a stack of documents in his hand in front of the directors.

The board members were visibly shocked upon hearing this, their faces filled with disbelief. They hurriedly picked up the financial report and examined it closely. It's important to understand that the number of internet users in China is surging every month, and the internet industry is booming.

In such a favorable environment, it's simply unimaginable that Sina would experience negative growth. This clearly demonstrates, as Cao Guowei stated, that Sina has reached a critical turning point, a matter of life and death.

Seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of the directors, Cao Guowei sneered inwardly. Now they know they're in a hurry!

As Sina's top leader, he was not at all surprised by the company's negative growth.

Since the emergence of Toutiao.com, a new force, it has been eroding the market share of traditional portal websites with its novel and unique content and open and inclusive cooperation model, and now it is almost a monopoly.

Leaving aside the pioneering innovation of Tengda Group, which launches a variety of products every year, among the three established portals, only Sina is undergoing transformation and reform.

Sohu developed Sohu Video and also ventured into the online gaming sector, while NetEase steadfastly focused on developing its own games, successfully opening up a second front.

Only Sina is still clinging to old ways, remaining stagnant, and waiting for its demise.

Cao Guowei also wanted to lead Sina to transform and break through, but the company's situation was very complicated and there were many internal conflicts. Unlike Ding Sanshi and Zhang Zhaoyang, who held a lot of stock and had absolute power in NetEase and Sohu, he did not have the final say.

The power struggles within Sina have been almost constant, ever since Shanda's boss, Mr. Chen, wanted to acquire Sina, leaving the company beset by internal and external troubles.

The turmoil never subsided, and a stable and powerful core leadership was never formed, resulting in the loss of too many valuable development opportunities.

"How could this happen? Once this financial report is released, the company's stock price will definitely crash." A director muttered to himself, his eyes wide open and his hands trembling uncontrollably.

Another director sighed and finally compromised: "President Cao, whatever you want to do, I will support you."

The company can't afford any more setbacks! You're right, we've been completely defeated by the Tengda Group in the portal website market; we must develop new products.

"Yes, Mr. Cao, please make the decision!" "Please give your instructions."

At this critical juncture, Sina's senior executives finally realized the seriousness of the situation and expressed their willingness to follow Cao Guowei's command.

Cao Guowei took a deep breath, a sense of感慨 arose in his heart. The morale of the army was good, the company's senior management was at least not beyond saving, and Sina still had a chance to be saved.

"Technology department, how long would it take to develop a product similar to Tenda Weibo?"

The head of the technical department, sitting in the back row, quickly replied, "Mr. Cao, it will take at least a month to create a website that looks exactly like Weibo."

COO Du Hong asked, puzzled, "What do you mean by 'same on the surface'?"

The technical director explained with a pained expression: "Dear leaders, we recently disassembled and studied Tenda's products. Their websites have complex computational logic behind them and a unique algorithm standard that filters users."

Cao Guowei, his expression grave, sat up straight: "What exactly do you mean?"

The supervisor pondered for a moment, organized his thoughts, and described it in the simplest and most understandable language possible:
"Most websites on the market offer passive services, where users search for whatever they want to see. But Toutiao proactively pushes content based on users' preferences and needs."

For example, if a user enjoys watching basketball games, when they visit Toutiao, the website will proactively push basketball-related news and products. Therefore, Tenda's advertising efficiency far surpasses that of us, NetEase, and Sohu.

Sina's top executives immediately started discussing amongst themselves, whispering among themselves: "No wonder Sina.com can't beat Tenda, so this is where the difference lies."

Even the usually calm and collected Cao Guowei finally changed color: "How could this be! Can't the company's technical department do it?"

The technical director shook his head: "President Cao, this involves massive and complex data processing and advanced algorithm technology, which is one of the core technologies of Tengda Group."

Cao Guowei frowned, unable to think of a solution for the moment. After pondering for a while, he instructed, "You guys develop the Weibo framework first, and we'll talk about other things later."

Du Hong also expressed his concern: "President Cao, even if we develop Weibo, we may not be able to compete with Tenda."

The opponent has technological and first-mover advantages; sometimes, being slow at one step means being slow at everything else. In just one month, Tenda Weibo might have tens of millions of users.

Cao Guowei nodded slightly. Just as Du Hong said, conventional business methods probably couldn't compete with Tengda. It seemed that they had to find a way to use some tricks to delay the growth of Tengda Weibo's users.

The marketing manager suggested, "We can contact Sohu and NetEase. Tengda Group is now a common competitor of the three. We can join forces to deal with Tengda. I think Zhang Zhaoyang and Ding Sanshi will not refuse."

One of the directors, with a fierce expression, said menacingly, "If we can't deal with Tengda, we can try to deal with the person who created Tengda. Send someone to investigate the man surnamed Song."

"What kind of wealthy young master is he? Where did he get all that money? I don't believe he's completely innocent. Even if he isn't, it's good to distract them."

Cao Guowei nodded slowly. The ideas of the group were indeed feasible, but there were some things that were not convenient to talk about at the conference and needed to be discussed further.

(End of this chapter)