Entertainment mogul: Starting his business with the internet

Chapter 181 Use all possible means
Inside the office, Song Ci frowned, her gaze fixed on the computer screen.

Seeing those two messages about myself, which had already surged into the top five of the trending topics, I felt extremely complicated, a mix of helplessness and frustration.

On the first day of Weibo's trending topics, the top trending topics were all carefully prepared in advance.

For example, "My Love from the Star" topped the charts. With its high popularity and buzz, coupled with pre-release hype, it successfully reached the top as expected, and everything went according to plan.

But his two news items broke through the encirclement like dark horses, occupying an important position on the hot search list, which was really unexpected.

Song Ci took a deep breath, pondered for a moment, and decided to let go of the trending topic about "Zhou Jun's prototype." It wasn't a big problem, and she could ignore it.

However, the news about the Tomson Riviera luxury residences was a real headache for him.

With heavy snowfall and severe disasters in the south, being exposed for purchasing luxury real estate at this critical juncture, even if it was an involuntary exposure, inevitably leaves people with the impression of flaunting wealth, which has a very negative impact. The trending topic must be suppressed as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Song Ci picked up the landline on her desk and quickly dialed three short numbers to notify Zhang Yong, Wang Jing, and Liu Yan to come to her office.

A short while later, the three of them rushed over with notebooks.

Song Ci didn't waste any words and went straight to the point, instructing: "Liu Yan, have the back office suppress the trending topic about my apartment in Tomson Riviera."

In a year of great disaster, to have my extravagant spending of 8500 million yuan on luxury goods so publicly exposed is more of a curse than a blessing for me. Go and get it done immediately.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan was startled. She had been so focused on leveraging the chairman's popularity to generate buzz on social media that she had completely overlooked the disaster situation in the south. She quickly responded:
"I'll arrange it right away." With that, he hurriedly left the office.

After Liu Yan left, only the three giants of Tengda Group remained in the spacious office.

With a serious expression, Song Ci continued, "The disaster situation in the south is very serious. As a leader in the internet industry, our Tengda Group must demonstrate the responsibility and commitment of a large enterprise."

The company will immediately donate 30 million yuan to the disaster-stricken area, and I will also personally donate 20 million yuan to do my part for the people in the disaster area.

"Jing-jie, you're in charge of the public relations department. You absolutely must ensure the company maintains a positive image regarding this donation."

Wang Jing nodded and replied, "Don't worry, President Song, I will do a good job of positive publicity."

Song Ci nodded, then turned his gaze to Zhang Yong:
"Old Zhang, please instruct the finance department to handle the donation details as soon as possible. My personal donation of 20 million will also be transferred at that time."

Also, Chinese New Year is only a week away. Once the company's year-end bonuses are calculated by HR and finance, please get them to me for signature as soon as possible. Don't delay any longer.

Zhang Yong, with a solemn expression, picked up his pen, the nib making a "scratching" sound as he carefully wrote down the tasks Song Ci had assigned him in his notebook.

During the recent internal audit of Tengda Group, some problems were discovered. Song Ci showed no mercy and decisively removed a group of problematic middle and senior managers.

Several of them were Zhang Yong's former subordinates and were among the earliest employees of Tengda.

This ruthless approach revealed to everyone in the group the decisiveness and resolve hidden beneath the chairman's amiable exterior.

Because of his involvement in this incident, Zhang Yong has been very cautious in his words and actions lately, and has developed a deep reverence for Song Dynasty poetry, becoming increasingly respectful in his attitude.

“Furthermore,” Song Ci added sternly:
"We will strictly urge all business departments and subsidiaries to recover all receivables before April."

Sister Jing, please include this work in the month-end performance evaluation to ensure the progress of the debt collection work.

Wang Jing was slightly taken aback; she hadn't expected Song Ci to take this matter so seriously.

However, without the slightest hesitation, he said decisively, "I'll have HR issue the performance evaluation documents before I leave work today."

Song Ci nodded slightly. The US subprime mortgage crisis was about to erupt, and a global financial crisis was imminent. He had to ensure that Tengda Group's cash flow would not run into problems in the next two years.

Therefore, we have been urging the company to strengthen its debt collection efforts and increase the group's cash reserves to ensure that the company can weather the storm.

However, despite his repeated emphasis on this matter at company meetings, the collection efforts have not yielded significant results. The only recourse is to strengthen performance evaluation and force departments to act quickly.

After saying this, Song Ci instructed Zhang Yong: "Old Zhang, the equity investments in the company should also be cashed out as soon as possible. Winter is coming, and we can't be careless."

The chairman's serious demeanor put Zhang Yong under immense pressure.

Although he didn't know why Song Ci was so prepared, past events had repeatedly proven the chairman's foresight and wisdom.

Therefore, he unconditionally trusted Song Ci's judgment and went all out to cooperate with all tasks.

After giving a few more instructions on work details, Song Ci finally let his two right-hand men leave the office.

Watching the two figures walk away, Song Ci's gaze was deep and thoughtful. The domestic economic environment in 2008 was not optimistic.

This comes at a time of transition from the traditional PC era to the mobile internet, requiring the company to proceed with extreme caution at every step.

A slight misstep could ruin Tengda Group's current excellent situation.

When I looked at the Weibo trending topics list again, the two trending topics about me had fallen out of the top five.

Realizing that Liu Yan had already instructed his backstage team to suppress the hype, Song Ci felt much more at ease.

Tenda Weibo currently only has 12 million users, and the reach of trending topics is far less than it will be with hundreds of millions of users in the future. Trending topics within one or two hours will not have a significant impact.

Tenda Group's Weibo account underwent an iterative update, launching a trending topic feature, which naturally attracted the attention of its competitors.

At this moment, in the conference room of Tencent's senior management, President Liu Zhiping stood solemnly in front of the large screen, occasionally pointing the laser pointer at the key information on the screen.

Chairman Ma Boli sat at the head of the conference table, his gaze intently scrutinizing the content on the large screen.

Liu Zhiping cleared his throat and announced loudly, "Everyone, this is the newly launched trending topic feature on Tengda Weibo."

Marbury frowned slightly, tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and after a moment of thought asked, "What are the specific features of their trending topics feature?"

Liu Zhiping typed on his laptop, presenting the important information he had collected in a PowerPoint presentation:

"The Weibo hot search function seems to place more emphasis on real-time updates and the explosiveness of trending topics in its topic push and filtering mechanisms."

They quickly captured users' attention by closely associating themselves with trending events.

COO Ren Yuxin, standing nearby, asked nervously, "Will this impact our existing business model?"

Liu Zhiping thought for a moment and answered cautiously:
"Based on the current situation, it is estimated that it will not have a significant impact on QQ, but it could be a devastating blow to the company's portal website and the newly launched Weibo."

Upon hearing this, Maberly's face immediately darkened, and he belatedly realized what was happening:
"Tengda was probably waiting for us all along, deliberately delaying the launch of the trending topics feature, just to always stay one step ahead and prevent others from learning from them."

Ren Yuxin nodded in agreement: "We can't sit idly by; we must come up with a solution as soon as possible."

Ma Boli shook his head and reminded them, "We can't always be led by the nose by others. We need to study the strengths and weaknesses of Tenda Weibo, and combine them with our own strong advantages in the field of instant messaging to make some innovations."

Otherwise, we'll fall into Tengda's rhythm, and they'll keep getting ahead, and we'll never be able to compete.

After a brief pause, as if making a decision, Marbury gritted his teeth and said firmly:

"Starting today, QQ will block Tenda Weibo, and no user will be able to forward Weibo links on QQ."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhiping was shocked and hesitated, saying, "Mr. Ma, wouldn't it be inappropriate to do this?"

Tencent has long been criticized for QQ's monopolistic position in social networking. Such blatant blocking of Tencent's Weibo account will undoubtedly further damage the company's reputation and deepen users' resentment.

Ma Boli, however, insisted without question: "The business world is like a battlefield. If we don't use some tricks, we won't be able to control Tengda Weibo."

COO Ren Yuxin also harbored concerns and worries:

"Mr. Ma, if we completely break ties with Tengda Group like this, will they sue us for unfair competition by abusing our monopoly power?"

Upon hearing this, a barely perceptible hint of hesitation flashed across Marbury's face, which usually wore a calm smile.

However, a resolute voice rang out in an instant:

"We'll take it one step at a time. We'll use the excuse that unknown links might threaten QQ account security to implement blocking. If all else fails, we'll sue; our legal department at Tencent has never lost!"

He had a deep-seated premonition that Tengda Group would eventually make a full-scale entry into the social networking field, and that there would inevitably be a final battle between Tencent and Tengda.

Therefore, it is necessary to target Tenda Weibo as soon as possible; otherwise, once the other party's Weibo platform grows larger and controls the monitoring and feedback of public opinion, it will be difficult to suppress its development.

The atmosphere in the conference room immediately became tense and serious. All the executives present understood that once the blocking tactic was implemented, there was no room for maneuver between Tencent and Tenda Group.

Liu Zhiping sighed and carefully noted down the chairman's instructions. He understood the immense pressure that Ma Boli was under.

QQ's user base has reached its peak in China. If Tencent wants to go further, it either needs to go overseas to find users abroad or it needs to take down Tenda Group, which is standing in its way.

As the company's president, primarily responsible for strategy and investment, he possesses keen strategic vision and extensive industry experience.

It is already clear that Tengda Group has a complete industrial chain layout in the media and social networking field.

Once the Weibo link is added, Tenda Group will have no weaknesses, forming a strong competitive barrier, possessing a stable base, and able to launch attacks on other areas of the internet at any time.

Now that Marbury, the company's top leader, had made up his mind, Liu Zhiping no longer hesitated, firmly believing in his decision and unconditionally supporting it.

"Mr. Ma, I will take immediate action to curb the growth of Tenda's Weibo users and buy precious time for our Weibo."

Liu Zhiping's voice was strong and clear, filled with trust in Ma Boli, as well as a desire and confidence in victory.

February 4th, the day of Lichun (the beginning of spring), was still chilly.

Around 9 a.m., the area outside the gate of Donghai TV Station was already bustling with people.

A female reporter dressed in professional attire and with a dignified appearance is holding a microphone and giving a live report to the camera.

"There are already thousands of enthusiastic fans gathered here, and more fans are constantly arriving."

The reason for this situation is that Fan Bingbing and Qiao Zhengyu, the male and female leads of the recently popular drama "My Love from the Star," are currently rehearsing for the Donghai TV New Year's Eve Gala.

Inside the television station building, Director Zhu stood by his office window, looking down at the dense crowd below, feeling both joy and worry.

The good news is that "My Love from the Star" has become a huge hit, and before the Spring Festival was even over, the TV station had already completed half of its annual advertising revenue target.

The worry is that with so many fans gathering in front of the TV station, if an accident such as a stampede occurs, especially since it happens during the Lunar New Year period, it will have a very negative social impact.

Director Tao of the Donghai TV Film and Television Center, who was standing beside him, quickly comforted him:

"Director, don't worry, the city's public security department has been dispatched immediately to maintain order at the scene. As long as order is under control, nothing will happen."

Director Zhu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw sirens blaring downstairs and a large number of uniformed security personnel arriving at the scene.

Having worked at the television station for many years, this was the first time he had ever seen such a crazy side of the audience and fans; it was truly an eye-opener.

"I heard that this drama was introduced by Lao Yu's nephew. Originally, they wanted to sell it to Beipingtai, but by chance, we managed to snag a great deal?"

Director Tao explained, "Yes, Deputy Director Yu's nephew is the vice president of Tengda Culture. Tengda and the Beijing TV station couldn't reach an agreement on this drama, so General Manager Yu introduced it to us. We never expected to get such a great deal. It's unbelievable that an urban fantasy romance drama could become such a hit!"

The sheer popularity of "My Love from the Star" is astonishing.

In the days leading up to the Spring Festival, related topics consistently ranked among the top five on Weibo's trending topics list.

Moreover, this drama is not only popular on Weibo, but it is also widely discussed on Tieba, Tianya Community, and even the entire Internet.

Countless netizens actively discussed the plot, characters, and actors' performances, sharing their viewing experiences and insights.

Even more surprisingly, a TV series has sparked a trend in cultural phenomena.

The fashion style of the female lead, Lin Qianyu, in the drama has become a hot topic in the fashion world. The clothes she used, the accessories she paired with, and the cosmetics she used have all been sought after by the audience. Many fashion brands have seen a surge in sales because of "My Love from the Star".

Lin Qianyu's line during a snowfall, "The first snow, how can it be without beer and fried chicken?" quickly made fried chicken and beer a popular food combination among young people.

Many fried chicken restaurants launched "My Love from the Star" themed meals, attracting a large number of customers and becoming a popular cultural phenomenon.

Thinking of that performance-based agreement, Director Tao couldn't help but feel sorry and regretful, saying, "It's a pity we signed a performance-based agreement with Tengda Culture, otherwise the station could have earned tens of millions more."

"My Love from the Star" achieved a viewership rating of over 3% on its premiere and over 5% on its third day of airing, becoming a phenomenal hit that is rare in recent years.

With this viewership rating, Tengda Culture not only successfully completed its bet with Donghai TV, but also sold the broadcasting rights for the fourth time.

Television stations from South Korea and Japan have also approached them, wanting to purchase the overseas rights. Preliminary estimates suggest that the profit from this TV series will be no less than 3 million yuan, making Tengda Culture a fortune.

Seeing Tengda Culture's success, Director Tao was naturally filled with envy and jealousy, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

Director Zhu, however, was quite magnanimous. He waved his hand and said with a smile, "I think that's how TV stations and production companies should operate. Everyone can make money, and win-win cooperation is the way to go in the long run!"

Director Tao immediately offered a few flattering words, praising, "You are indeed farsighted."

(End of this chapter)