Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 366 Douyin reaches 2 million daily active users globally, TikTok raises 10 billion dollars.
That night, at Wanliu Academy.

With her hair in a bun, Reba, who had been busy all night, also learned about the surprise from Chen Xiu.

"The female lead in a tribute film by Shanghai Film Group? Me?"

Reba's eyes widened, she pointed at herself, her face full of disbelief.

Chen Xiu scoffed and said, "You're the top-performing female celebrity in the country in terms of commercial success, is that so strange?"

"Am I?"

"The combined box office of 'Detective Chinatown 1,' 'Wolf Warrior 2,' and 'How Long Will I Love U' is 80 billion yuan. How can that not be counted?"

"..."

Reba held her finger to herself, staring blankly for a moment, then her eyes suddenly widened, and she leaned softly and delicately towards Chen Xiu.

"Brother Xiu, you arranged all these movies for me."

"You're really good at providing emotional value."

Chen Xiu looked at Reba with feigned surprise and teased, "Did you learn something from Xu Shanzheng's performance today?"

"Hehe, just a tiny bit."

Reba made a gesture of the universe between her fingers, rubbed it against Chen Xiu's arm, and issued him the next challenge.

However, Chen Xiu gently patted her and said, "I have an important matter to attend to tomorrow, so let's leave it at that for today."

"oh oh."

Reba pursed her lips and nodded, her eyes darting around, not only failing to restrain herself but instead issuing an even more excessive provocation.

Chen Xiu glanced down, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Hmm?"

"Brother Xiu, I'm going to the set of 'Love and Destiny' in a few days. You should rest and leave everything to me!"

"...You're rewarding yourself!"

Reba remained silent, simply leaning in and using her face to knock Chen Xiu down, then stood up herself...

……

The following morning, at Douyin headquarters, in the conference room.

Chen Xiu sipped her second Americano of the day, her gaze fixed on Su Xiao, who was giving a report.

"...Including TikTok, Douyin's global daily active users have exceeded 2 million, monthly active users have reached 3.5 million, and the total number of users has reached 6.5 million!"

Three numbers sparked a wave of suppressed emotions in the conference room.

Douyin has only been around for three years since its founding in 2015, but its achievements have already surpassed those of most companies in China.

Excluding its domestic business, TikTok's valuation, after this afternoon's funding round, will reach $100 billion.

The company's achievements fill the hearts of all the executives present with a sense of pride.

After the exclamations subsided, Su Xiao adjusted her glasses and continued, "The company's total revenue in April and May has already exceeded that of the first quarter. We expect the total revenue for the second quarter to increase by 55%, and the year-on-year growth to be 235%."

"Based on the trend of user growth, I suggest that Douyin and TikTok simultaneously launch creator funds to reward outstanding creators, and then set up a play count subsidy."

This suggestion caused disagreements among the meeting participants.

Some people believe that offering subsidies can effectively retain excellent content creators, thereby preserving Douyin's product competitiveness with high-quality content.

Others believe that the 30 billion yuan subsidy plan launched by Weishi has been largely defrauded by some poorly made and highly homogenous short videos. Learning from this experience, Douyin has no need to launch this subsidy mechanism.

Both groups gave valid reasons, which were supported by complete data and were not baseless claims.

Just as their discussion was getting lively, Zhang Yiming gave Chen Xiu a wink, asking if the two of them wanted to step in and take charge.

Chen Xiu glanced at Su Xiao, then shook her head slightly at Zhang Yiming, signaling him to calm down...

"Dong dong!"

The sound of knuckles tapping on the hardwood table drowned out the discussion that was already escalating out of control.

Su Xiao looked up at the two rows and, after making sure everyone was quiet, said, "Everyone's point of view is valid, but my suggestion to launch the creation incentive is to make Douyin a product for everyone."

"Many government accounts have now joined Douyin and started using it normally. Last month, the number of searches on Baidu dropped significantly, while the number of search terms on Douyin increased significantly."

"The competition for existing users in the internet market is becoming increasingly apparent. Users have limited time and energy. If they use Douyin for one more minute, the attention they receive from other apps will decrease."

"We need to maintain this advantage, rather than remain complacent. As for the failure of Weishi's subsidies, according to the analysis report given by the strategy department, it can be attributed to the poor quality of Weishi's content."

"Douyin's content ecosystem is already very complete, as evidenced by its ability to replace Baidu as the user's search choice. Our creator subsidies are also not as easy to obtain as those for Weishi."

Su Xiao's words were neither melodious nor impassioned.

But it was this seemingly plain yet clear voice that delivered a reasoned and convincing analysis, while also clearly expressing the product's strategic goals.

"Clap clap clap!"

Chen Xiu clapped her hands lightly twice and agreed, "I agree to the creator subsidy plan. The reason we didn't follow up when Weishi launched it before was simply because we didn't want to use a money-burning tactic to cause unnecessary waste of resources for the company."

"The failure of Weishi was already foreseeable. After today, Tencent will also restore the sharing of Douyin links on WeChat and QQ. The launch of the creator subsidy is just in time."

Seeing that Chen Xiu spoke up for Su Xiao, Zhang Yiming didn't bother to do anything further.

He then turned to those who had just raised objections and offered a few words of encouragement, acknowledging their views objectively.

The essence of a meeting is discussion.

As long as the content of the statement is based on evidence and is not just for the sake of opposing, encouragement should be given when it is appropriate. Otherwise, if Chen Xiu and the other two hold the same opinion, then there is no need for subordinates to consider anything and they can just follow along.

After encouraging them, Zhang Yiming also voted in favor of the subsidy plan.

With the matter settled smoothly, the remaining discussion on the subsidy amount and method naturally followed. After the meeting, Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming went to Su Xiao's office for a small meeting.

"The representatives from all the investors have been confirmed. Liu Chiping will be from Tencent!"

Zhang Yiming stopped, glanced at Chen Xiu, and said, "You were right, the number two person at Tencent is here in person."

"It wasn't me who said it, it was Pony Ma who said it."

"It means the same thing: since we were able to get Pony Ma to back down, does that mean we've won against the penguin?"

"At most, it can only be considered as winning against Weishi."

Su Xiao adjusted her glasses and said, a rather smug smile playing on her lips.

As a behemoth in the internet industry, no company other than Ali has been able to rival Tencent in recent years, and Baidu is no longer doing so well either.

Surprisingly, Douyin, a company that was only established three years ago, was able to go head-to-head with it and even win!

This news greatly excited all employees at Douyin.

Chen Xiu remained relatively calm, only glancing at Su Xiao's knuckles: "They're red!"

"Hmm? It's okay, I'll just put an ice pack on it later."

Su Xiao glanced at the fist, a blush creeping across her fair face.

After expressing her concern, Chen Xiu then turned to look at Zhang Yiming, who had a mocking expression on his face.

"As we discussed before, Tencent will no longer seek investment from Douyin, and WeChat's blockade will be lifted, but Pony Ma probably won't give up on the short video track so easily."

Is there any hope for Weishi?

"Even without Weishi, there's still WeChat! What if they add a short video feature to WeChat?"

"That's hard to say."

"So we still can't let our guard down. If Tencent can't handle short videos, mobile games, and social media, and we mess them up, then I'll really have to consider retiring."

"No way. If that day ever comes, you can come to ByteDance and be the president, and I'll let Liang Rubo be the CEO!"

Zhang Yiming blurted out the words almost subconsciously.

Chen Xiu stared at him silently for a long while before finally uttering a single word: "Get lost!"

……

In the afternoon, at the TikTok financing signing ceremony.

The representatives sent by Douyin were Zhu Jun, CEO of TikTok, and Zhang Yiming, a human-shaped seal.

The representatives from other international capital firms, such as Tiger Global Management, Temasek, and Goldman Sachs, were all top executives from their respective China regions.

The representative from Tencent was Liu Chiping. The other representative was a domestic capital firm that had just been established in the port city. He seemed unremarkable, but he was recommended by Zhang Yiming.

After the contract was signed and the group took a group photo, the $10 billion financing was completed, and Liu Chiping also approached Zhang Yiming separately.

"Mr. Zhang, I would like to meet with Chen Xiu."

"Okay! I'll take you there."

The two exchanged a knowing glance, and then Zhang Yiming led Liu Chiping to Chen Xiu's office.

Upon entering, the first thing you see is Chen Xiu sitting on the sofa, pouring boiling water from a pour-over kettle onto coffee grounds on a filter paper.

Although she heard the noise, Chen Xiu finished her work before getting up and turning to look at the door.

"Hello, Martin, good afternoon!"

"Long time no see. I was wondering why I didn't see you at the signing ceremony, but it turns out you're here making coffee."

"Want a drink?"

Chen Xiu approached Liu Chiping, shook hands with him, and extended an invitation.

Liu Chiping glanced at the coffee on the coffee table and smiled, "Of course!"

Chen Xiu reached out to close the door, leaving Zhang Yiming behind as well.

The three of them sat down on the sofa, but no one spoke first. After Chen Xiu poured the coffee, Liu Chiping took a small sip, and the conversation began without any preamble.

"The failure of Weishi is not surprising. Users have become accustomed to Douyin and will not spend time adapting to a similar but different competitor."

Chen Xiu looked at Liu Chiping and picked up her coffee as well.

"Is this your summary?"

"It was a prediction."

"Then why bother going through all that trouble to try?"

"Bad news and the person delivering it will both be disliked. Some things need to be proven with facts. Wouldn't it be better if it succeeded?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming exchanged a glance, both revealing a knowing look on their faces.

After finishing his coffee in one gulp, Liu Chiping, who had only been sitting for three minutes, smiled and got up to say goodbye.

"Chen Xiu, I have to go now! I'll treat you to coffee next time you come to Pengcheng."

"OK, bye."

"Goodbye."

The two shook hands and smiled, just like before.

(End of this chapter)