"The Chairman is right, I was shallow!"
Subordinate Lu Yuanhui looked complex, completely unexpected that in the Chairman's view, Xingyi Mobile's future could be so brilliant!
It even has the hope of becoming a mobile giant comparable to Apple and Samsung, going head-to-head with Apple and Samsung!
How is this possible?
Wang Dachuan picked up his teacup and smiled slightly:
"Don't look at the current Baidu blocking Xingyi Video, it's overbearing and powerful. When Xingyi Mobile's scale grows larger in the future, with tens of millions of users, then who blocks whom will be uncertain!"
"This…"
Lu Yuanhui was stunned, only feeling it was incredible:
"Could it be that Xingyi Technology will become so powerful in the future? And even be able to block Baidu?"
More than ten years later, Baidu's market value is only around 280 billion, only one-tenth of Tencent's, completely falling behind in BAT.
But in 2011, Baidu's market value exceeded 280 billion, experiencing boundless glory!
It can be said that in everyone's mind, the current Baidu is the number one internet company in China!
The number one internet company, blocked by the emerging Xingyi Technology?
Such an outrageous thing, Lu Yuanhui couldn't imagine even if he died.
But Wang Dachuan, as the Chairman of Sogou, had a long-term vision:
"Yuanhui, you're too focused on appearances. In the current PC internet era, Baidu is powerful. But the future belongs to the mobile internet! By then, Baidu will be on the decline."
"And Xingyi Mobile can sell 4 million units a month, with boundless prospects, and is bound to become a future mobile giant. Mobile phones control the entry point to the mobile internet, and the prospects and development of Xingyi Technology are immeasurable!"
Lu Yuanhui suddenly realized:
"Chairman, I understand. Supporting Xingyi Technology now is also an early investment. In the future, our Sogou Browser, Sogou Input Method, and other products will be launched on Xingyi Mobile, and we can also gain more resources!"
"Exactly, go do it!"
Wang Dachuan said with a smile.
Sogou was tightly suppressed by Baidu, and had to form an alliance to fight against Baidu!
And Xingyi Technology was a very good choice.
Tencent Headquarters.
"Chairman, Baidu and Xingyi Technology are fighting, should we make a move?"
Ma Dong thought for a moment:
"When two tigers fight, one will surely be injured. But opportunity knocks only once. Let QQ Browser and Tencent SoSo both make a move! Publicly declare that we will absolutely not block competitors, will not suppress customers, and will not engage in unfair competition! Let's seize Baidu's market share first!"
"Hahaha, good!"
Ma Dong changed the subject:
"In addition, let Tencent Video also grab a wave of traffic, just say that Tencent Video calls for the protection of genuine content and opposes the infringement of competitors!"
"Good!"
The subordinate smiled.
Currently, Baidu is the biggest enemy!
No matter who fights Baidu, Goose Factory is willing to help, not to mention taking the opportunity to grab Baidu's traffic and users!
Soon, major internet giants successively issued statements:
[360 Browser: Will not use monopolistic position to block or suppress competitors! 360 Browser homepage directly links to Xingyi Video Network, welcome to use!]
[QQ Browser: Opposes unfair competition and respects user rights. Welcome everyone to use QQ Browser.]
[Sogou Browser: Be a person with integrity, do things with integrity. Use Sogou to search for Xingyi Video, absolutely no restrictions!]
[Tencent SoSo: Will never block competitors, will never restrict user search permissions! Tencent SoSo, dedicated to serving you!]
…
For a time, a group of search engines and browsers jumped out, issuing statements.
While implicitly and explicitly condemning Baidu, they were also grabbing customers!
Seeing this scene, Jian Ziyan was excited, but on Baidu's side, it was clouded with gloom!
Chairman Li Yan's face turned dark:
"These damned bastards, they really won't miss any opportunity to snatch Baidu users! Detestable, too detestable!"
"Look at Sogou, 'be a person with integrity, do things with integrity'! Who are they scolding?"
"And 360, snatching users is one thing, but they even put the link to Xingyi Video Network directly on the browser homepage, as if afraid others wouldn't see it!"
"Tencent SoSo is also implying us, stealing our Baidu search engine users. QQ Browser is stealing our Baidu browser users!"
"Truly limitless!"
Li Yan never expected that just dealing with one Xingyi Technology would lead to such an escalation.
He also never expected that these competitors would act so quickly, forming a group to gang up on Baidu and snatch customers!
Shameless, no bottom line!
But in the current situation, besides anger, he seemed to have no other way!
Li Yan could control public opinion on Baidu Tieba, but he couldn't control public opinion on Weibo!
And Xingyi Technology and other giants were all firing shots on the four major Weibo platforms, leaving Li Yan helpless.
He could only continue to hold high-level meetings to discuss countermeasures.
Seeing this scene, Jian Ziyan was beaming with joy:
"Chairman, just as you predicted, Baidu's competitors have all made a move! Ganging up on Baidu, hahaha!"
Wang Yi was not surprised.
The era was different, but the gameplay was still the same.
In his previous life, when a brand had problems, other competitors would rush out to latch onto the traffic and snatch customers!
Now that Baidu was in trouble, other browsers wouldn't miss this wave of unexpected traffic, this opportunity to gain users!
After all, Baidu search engine monopolized 76% of the domestic market share, so competitors like Tencent SoSo and Sogou would naturally seize the opportunity to grab market share!
Business is like a battlefield; of course, you strike when your opponent is weak!
In fact, it's not just the business world; it's also true among villages.
When a village experiences a natural disaster like an earthquake, surrounding villages will immediately make a move.
Not to provide aid, but to seize territory, or even launch a war!
The main point is to strike when you're down!
This is why after a major earthquake, major military zones immediately enter a state of combat readiness, to prevent petty opportunists.
As for why some villages have problems, and neighboring villages don't dare to move?
That can only mean the village's strength is too great, too strong to defeat…
But as long as they can win, they will make a move immediately!
After all, it was like this in the last century.
Similarly, now that Baidu has created its own demise, other competitors certainly won't give up.
Jian Ziyan was full of curiosity about this:
"Chairman, you anticipated this scene from the beginning! So, releasing the mobile phone sales figures and showing strength was to attract Baidu's competitors to attack and gang up on Baidu!"
Wang Yi smiled slightly:
"Ziyan, do you know the saying, 'When a whale falls, all life thrives'?"
"I know! It means when a whale falls in the ocean, it can form a prosperous and vast marine life community!"
"I don't think so!" Wang Yi smiled slightly.
"Then how does the Chairman view this issue?"
Jian Ziyan's beautiful eyes twinkled, showing interest.
Wang Yi explained slowly:
"When a whale dies, it can eat tens of thousands fewer marine organisms, and those tens of thousands of marine organisms will survive. That is 'when a whale falls, all life thrives'!"
"???"
Jian Ziyan was startled, then suddenly realized:
"Baidu is that whale. If it's allowed to develop, it will devour and eliminate large and small enterprises. But once Baidu goes down, many emerging enterprises will survive!"
Wang Yi nodded:
"You could say that."
In his previous life, Baidu's continuous decline led to the rapid rise of other enterprises.
If Baidu had continued to advance rapidly, skyrocketing from a market value of 280 billion to 2.8 trillion, then a large number of other internet giants would have been lost, and several top giants would even have died!
After all, the market is only so big!
If Baidu doesn't fall, how can other giants have a future?
Similarly, it's the same in this life.
If Baidu doesn't fall, how can Xingyi Technology rise?
Xingyi Technology's path to rise is to grab markets from European and American giants externally, and seize territory from giants like BAT internally!
Whether it's the global market or the domestic market, it's only so big; it won't expand indefinitely, only ebb and flow!
This is also why Wang Yi chose Baidu as his target.
Although Baidu is currently the number one in BAT, it is the one with the least future, and also the easiest to handle.
Not to mention Tencent and Alibaba, years later, Baidu will not even be half of Meituan!
In the PC era, Baidu controlled search engines and was the absolute king.
But in the mobile internet era, Baidu has been on the decline.
It is precisely because of this that in his previous life, Baidu's market value was still 280 billion ten years later, seemingly unchanged, but actually sharply reduced.
After all, the average salary is two thousand now, but it will be five or six thousand in ten years.
Similarly, 280 billion ten years from now is worth far less than 100 billion now!
Overthrowing Baidu and taking its market share will allow Xingyi Technology to fully rise and replace it!
However, Xingyi Technology must have its own browser and search engine to be unafraid of Baidu's blockade and suppression.
Making one's own browser is relatively easy, but self-developing a search engine is very slow and difficult to yield results in a short time.
Nothing else, a search engine not only requires core technology but also a huge database and data center!
The barrier to entry is extraordinarily high!
It is precisely because of this that in his previous life, among so many browsers, only a handful like Google, Baidu, Tencent, and Sogou truly had core search engine technology.
If Wang Yi were to self-develop a search engine, it would take a long time, even several years.
That's too slow!
The war with Baidu has already begun, and Wang Yi can't wait that long.
If he could directly acquire one, that would be even better!
Currently, in the domestic search engine market, Baidu dominates, holding 76% of the market share.
Google, which withdrew from mainland China, is second, still holding 19.4% of the market share.
Third place Sogou, holds 2.4%.
Fourth place SoSo, holds 1.3%!
Other search engines combined hold 0.4%!
Wang Yi looked at the current data and couldn't help but fall silent.
Sogou is backed by Sohu, and SoSo belongs to Tencent, both with giants as their backing, yet they still only occupy such a small market share.
This can only mean that the core technology threshold for search engines is too high, and the barriers are too high!
Even Tencent and Sohu couldn't make it work.
Similarly, if Wang Yi were to start from scratch, it would be extremely difficult.
It's far better to directly acquire a company, and then use the confrontation with Baidu to gradually develop.
Of course, Wang Yi's advantage is the mobile end, Xingyi Mobile.
By then, Xingyi Mobile directly built-in will naturally develop rapidly.
And there's not much choice for acquisition targets, only one Sogou!
Others like Baidu, Google, Tencent SoSo, are simply impossible to buy!
Sogou was originally a business unit of Sohu. In 2010, to introduce Alibaba's investment, it spun off from Sohu and became a separate company.
If Wang Yi directly acquired Sogou, he would not only have the Sogou search engine but also the Sogou High-speed Browser and the Sogou Input Method!
It can be said that all of Xingyi Technology's various territories would be complete in one go!
In addition, even the map business would be included!
As early as 2005, Sohu acquired Go2map and integrated all its rich map data into the Sogou search engine, taking the lead in launching map search services!
It was only after seeing Sogou Map that Baidu followed suit with Baidu Map!
But unfortunately, the love triangle between Alibaba, Sogou, and Sohu was destined for discord.
So in 2012, Sogou repurchased Alibaba's shares.
Later, its parent company Sohu went into decline, experiencing a shortage of funds, which also hindered Sogou's development.
Sogou Map became insignificant, completely unable to compete with Baidu and AutoNavi.
It wasn't until Sohu was on its last legs that it sold the entire Sogou to Tencent, starting a new era.
After becoming a Tencent subsidiary, Sogou Search integrated Tencent Search and rapidly grew stronger.
But Sogou Map was announced to be offline and merged into Tencent Map.
In fact, Sogou's algorithm is very powerful, and its search results are more accurate than Baidu's, very close to Google's.
But its weaknesses are insufficient funds and an insufficient database, which affected Sogou's development.
If Sogou had a database like Baidu's, Baidu wouldn't have much of a chance.
Thinking all this through, Wang Yi couldn't help but sigh:
"Sogou is a very promising young fellow, but it was born into a difficult family like Sohu, destined for a challenging future."
And Sogou's founder, Wang Dachuan, is exceptionally capable, completely on par with Sohu Chairman Zhang Yang!
Whether it's to counter Baidu or for the rapid development of Xingyi Technology, Sogou must be acquired!
And Wang Dachuan must also be brought under his wing!
For such cutting-edge core talent, after Wang Yi fully acquires Sogou, he is willing to allocate shares to Wang Dachuan, allowing Wang Dachuan to grow and strengthen with Sogou, achieving financial freedom.
After all, the soul of Sogou is Wang Dachuan!
Without Wang Dachuan, there would be no Sogou!
"Ziyan, check the current shareholding structure of Sogou!"
"Okay, Chairman!"
Jian Ziyan opened her laptop and quickly searched, soon finding the information:
"Chairman, Sogou's largest shareholder is Sohu, holding 53% of the shares.
The second largest shareholder is Zhang Yang's personal fund, Photon, holding 16% of the shares.
The third largest shareholder is Alibaba, holding 10% of the shares.
The fourth largest shareholder, China Web under Yunfeng, holds 6% of the shares.
The fifth largest shareholder, CEO Wang Dachuan, holds 5% of the shares.
In addition, other Sogou management holds 5% of the shares. Sohu management holds 5% of the shares."
Wang Yi nodded:
"Of the entire Sogou, 74% of the shares are controlled by Sohu, 10% by Sogou's management, and only 16% are in the hands of third parties!"
No wonder Alibaba didn't do much after investing in Sogou and gave up after two years.
Nothing else, the entire Sogou was Zhang's domain, and Alibaba didn't have much say, so why would they heavily invest?
If Sogou was controlled by Alibaba, Alibaba would naturally be willing to invest heavily. But unfortunately…
"So whether we can successfully acquire Sogou still depends on Chairman Zhang's agreement!"
Wang Yi sighed.
Jian Ziyan nodded:
"That's right. In October 2010, Alibaba invested 15 million US dollars in Sogou for a 10% stake. At that time, Sogou's valuation was 150 million US dollars! As for Sogou's current valuation, it's unclear at the moment. But it should be above 200 million US dollars."
"Roughly!"
Wang Yi nodded.
In his previous life, in July 2012, Sohu repurchased Alibaba's Sogou shares for 25.8 million US dollars, valuing Sogou at 258 million US dollars!
Now if Wang Yi wants to acquire Sogou, it would cost about the same amount, or even more.
At the very least, Zhang Yang must be willing to sell it entirely!
If only 10% is sold, Wang Yi, like Alibaba, would not have much say and would not invest heavily.
He wouldn't even provide many resources from Xingyi Technology.
Nothing else, holding 10% of the shares, Wang Yi would be Sogou's godfather, while Sohu would be the biological father.
Holding 90% of the shares, Wang Yi would be Sogou's biological father!
The distinction between biological son and godson must be clear.
Sohu was still very powerful in 2011, with a market value of 27 billion RMB.
Like Sina, Netease, and Shanda, it belonged to the second tier, just behind BAT!
But soon, Sohu completely fell behind and failed.
Zhang Yang was also very helpless about this.
But Zhang Yang's group of subordinates were one more impressive than the last.
For example, the founders of Youku, iQiyi, Ku6.com, Renren.com, Kongzhong.com, YY… all came from Sohu, all were old Zhang's subordinates!
Sohu – the Whampoa Military Academy of China's internet industry!
"Ziyan, help me contact Chairman Zhang. I need to meet him in person."
For someone of Zhang Yang's caliber, Wang Yi had to negotiate in person.
As one of the major internet portals, Sohu was at its peak.
If Wang Yi didn't go in person to negotiate, a full acquisition of Sohu would be out of the question!
"Okay, Chairman, I'll contact him now."
Soon, Jian Ziyan arranged the time:
"Chairman, Chairman Zhang is available tomorrow. What do you think…"
"Then tomorrow afternoon!"
Wang Yi said.
They were both in the capital, so it was convenient.
The war with Baidu was fierce, and a reconciliation was impossible in the short term.
Sogou's business must be acquired as soon as possible!
This way, Xingyi Technology would immediately possess a search engine, browser, maps, and input method!
By then, it could fully challenge Baidu!
"Okay, Chairman."
Seven in the evening.
Wang Yi and Lin Shu had dinner together.
Lin Shu was a bit worried, hesitating to speak:
"Xiao Yi, Baidu's blockade, I…"
Wang Yi waved his hand:
"It's fine. Because of this wave of traffic, our Xingyi Video's user count has not only not decreased but has increased significantly. It's a good thing."
"But in the future…"
"Things will be better in the future, don't worry, everything is under control."
Wang Yi said with a smile.
"That's good, hehe, Xiao Yi is amazing!"
Lin Shu breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt a little worried.
However, she was just a student and couldn't help with anything.
Lin Shu made up her mind that she must study hard in the future!
At the same time, Baidu headquarters was brightly lit.
From employees to executives, no one had left.
Li Yan had just managed to suppress his anger when the Vice President rushed in again:
"Chairman, bad news, IE Browser, Opera Browser, Google, etc., have all jumped out and are criticizing us!"
Li Yan's head felt as big as a bucket: "!!!"
[Google: Using a monopolistic position to restrict user searches is a harm to user rights, and even unfair competition. A company with a conscience would not do such a foolish thing!]
"F*ck!"
Li Yan was so angry that he blurted out English:
"Google isn't content with leaving the mainland market!"
Before Google's withdrawal, Baidu hadn't achieved a monopoly.
After Google left, Baidu captured 76% of the market share!
"Chairman, the situation is very unfavorable for us now. On one side, we are struggling to respond to Xingyi Technology's lawsuit. On another side, major search engines and browsers are jumping out to grab our market share! And on yet another side, there is user boycott! What should we do?"
The Vice President was also very anxious.
"What can we do?"
Li Yan couldn't think of a good countermeasure at the moment:
"You tell those executives to think about it and see if there are any coping strategies! If not, we can only let time solve everything, but reconciliation with Xingyi Technology is absolutely impossible! Never!"
"Yes, no compromise. We didn't compromise with Tencent and Alibaba, let alone an Xingyi Technology?"
Li Yan took a deep breath:
"Tell the other executives that temporary gains and losses don't mean anything, the key is to see who laughs last. So many browsers and search engines jumping out are just a rabble, insignificant!
Our Baidu search engine occupies 76% of the market, we are the absolute overlord, no one can shake us! Those who say they'll boycott us, once they find other search engines are not good, will ultimately switch back to Baidu!"
"Yes, Sogou and SoSo are both weak, and Google has withdrawn. Our Baidu search engine has no rivals, so we will definitely laugh last!"
The Vice President also gained confidence:
"Then I'll send out an internal memo to encourage everyone?"
"Okay!"
Li Yan nodded:
"Also, we should counter-attack and promote Baidu Browser more!"
"Good, as long as Baidu Browser's market share also rushes into the top three, other browsers will be on the verge of bankruptcy!"
Li Yan sneered:
"That's it. This is the main battlefield. As for Xingyi Video? Don't bother with it, just keep blocking it! Although iQiyi's traffic is down, because of our blockade, Xingyi Video won't last long, unless they can break through our search blockade!"
Baidu's blockade of Xingyi Video is not just a blockade by Baidu Browser, but also by Baidu Search Engine.
Currently, Baidu Browser has only been launched for half a year, and its market share is small, but Baidu Search Engine is terrifyingly powerful.
Once blocked by Baidu Search Engine, even using other browsers won't work well, unless the search engine also has to be switched to SoSo, Google, or Sogou!
This is the fatal blockade for Xingyi Video!
The Vice President nodded, then his expression changed slightly:
"I'm just worried that the stock price will fall. After all, the statements from foreign search engines like Google will attract global attention, plus the US stock market is about to open, and our stock price is bound to plummet…"
"Alas!"
Li Yan sighed deeply:
"Let it fall, it's temporary. As long as Baidu Browser's market share leaps forward, our stock price will eventually rise again!"
These things were unavoidable.
The losses from this incident far exceeded his expectations.
Sure enough, when the US stock market opened that evening, Baidu's stock price plummeted directly!
For such a giant, a mere one percentage point fluctuation in stock price means hundreds of millions of US dollars, billions of RMB!
Li Yan stared at the stock price on the screen, his face as gloomy as an ice cellar!
In just fifteen minutes, it fell by 2%, evaporating 5.6 billion!
Such a trend was truly horrendous.
However, this was just the beginning!
Baidu's monopolistic, blocking, and suppressing actions… not only disgusted domestic users but also angered Europe and America.
Many capital giants were preparing to flee.
Nothing else, in 2011, domestic anti-monopoly laws had not yet started, but in Europe and America, monopoly was a serious crime!
Once this label was attached, it meant fines of tens of billions of RMB, or even hundreds of billions!
The stock price would inevitably plummet!
Baidu's actions today, in the eyes of European and American capital giants, had indeed crossed the line.
In addition, iQiyi's revenue was severely impacted and plummeted significantly by Xingyi Video, and there was also a suspected copyright lawsuit!
Capital giants were even more pessimistic about Baidu, and many began to flee.
So, within half an hour of opening, Baidu's stock price fell by 5%, and its market value evaporated by 14 billion!
Helplessly, Baidu could only mobilize reserve funds to strongly save the market, which barely stopped the decline.
If it continued to fall, who knows how much it would drop.
It truly couldn't be withstood.
That night, Li Yan was sleepless again.
Unlike yesterday, last night he was waiting for Wang Yi's counterattack and dared not sleep.
Today, he was so distraught by Wang Yi's counterattack that he couldn't sleep at all!
Over 10 billion evaporated in one night, could he sleep?
But on the other side, Wang Yi, holding Lin Shu, slept soundly!
With a turn, his hand skillfully climbed to the peak.
Lin Shu opened her eyes, sighed softly, and could only let Wang Yi be presumptuous, continuing to sleep.
It seemed she had already gotten used to it…
The next morning, Wang Yi arrived at Xingyi Technology.
Jian Ziyan heard the movement and quickly came over with a stack of documents:
"Chairman, I've organized all of yesterday's data reports for you, please take a look!"
Wang Yi took them, very satisfied.
Jian Ziyan had not only organized the data reports for each business but also wrote simple analysis summaries.
Even Baidu's stock price and market value were included.
Wang Yi smiled:
"Yesterday, Baidu's stock price fell by 5.4%, evaporating 15 billion?"
Jian Ziyan nodded:
"Yes, because Baidu spent 5 billion to save the market and repurchased some shares. Otherwise, it would have continued to fall!"
"Very good, it's only the first day, for Baidu to lose 15 billion, that's quite something, a good start!"
Wang Yi was very satisfied and continued to check Xingyi Technology's reports:
"Yesterday, our Xphone 1 increased by another 300,000 full-payment pre-orders? X Buds also increased by 400,000 orders?"
"Yes, Chairman, ever since you announced the sales of Xphone 1 and said that production capacity had increased, consumers calculated they could get the goods within half a month, so they placed a large number of orders again! The same goes for X Buds."
"Alright, with Baidu's blockade, our Xphone 1 sales unexpectedly surged again, which is also a good thing."
Wang Yi smiled:
"Baidu lost 15 billion, we earned an additional 1.6 billion, very good!"
"Not only that, the number of users for Xingyi Video and Xingyi Music has also increased significantly, and paid VIPs have increased quite a bit."
Jian Ziyan said with a smile:
"In this battle with Baidu, the popularity and buzz of our Xingyi Video and Xingyi Music have both surged considerably. How to put it? Users seem to be rebellious; the more Baidu blocks Xingyi Video, the more they support Xingyi Video!"
"Yes, exactly. Baidu understands capital, but not users, so it's destined to fail!"
Wang Yi said with a smile:
"Our war with Baidu is destined to be a protracted one. In this stage, we win, and in the future, we will achieve a complete victory! Gather all information on Sohu and Sogou for me, I'm going to meet Chairman Zhang this afternoon!"
"Chairman, everything is prepared for you!"
Saying that, Jian Ziyan picked up a stack of documents from the table and handed them to Wang Yi.
"Good, with you handling things, I'm at ease!"
Wang Yi was beaming with joy.
A clever assistant knows what the Chairman needs and prepares it in advance!
(End of chapter)