Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 315 Corporate Leaders (Two in One)

Monday, November 9th.

Wang Yan, CEO of Sina, walked into the president's office that had just been installed. Seeing that President Fang was on the phone, he put down the documents in his hand, sat down on the sofa and poured himself a cup of tea.

Wang Yan sipped his tea, looking at the obviously read newspaper on the coffee table, a little funny.

The pages of these newspapers are all reports about Sina.

Some reviewed this battle for control, some worried about Sina's future development, some criticized Fang Zhuo for a hostile takeover, some speculated about insider trading... Anyway, there are so many things, it's exciting to watch.

"Brother Wang, what's the matter?" Fang Zhuo put away his phone and asked the incoming CEO.

Wang Yan was not in a hurry, picked out a newspaper, and said with a smile: "Mr. Fang, this report listed you as the annual Internet representative, and you just happened to be attending the annual meeting of Huaxia business leaders next week."

Fang Zhuo shook his head: "I saw, there are Zhang Chaoyang and the others. They are all suffering. The market value of listed companies has dropped by 90%. Those who are not listed are thinking about where to make money all day long."

"The company's situation here may be a bit moister than Penguin, but Ma Huateng is under a lot of pressure. He has burned money and burned psychological shadows in the past few years."

Wang Yan nodded, Penguin is indeed developing very well, and their portal website has also gained some scale, which is a future competitor.

"Mr. Fang, you are going to New York in the middle of the month, right?"

"Well, there is an important negotiation with Yike, and I'm afraid it will take ten and a half months. It stands to reason that I just took over Sina, so it's not very good." Fang Zhuo looked at Wang Yan, "Fortunately, Brother Wang is here. , I am still very relieved."

Wang Yan slandered a few words, and asked about the itinerary: "Are you going to New York after the leaders' annual meeting?"

"Go back to Shencheng after the meeting. Yike sponsored a scholarship at Jiaotong University. This is the first year. Let me show up." After Fang Zhuo said this, a big smile appeared on his face, and he said proudly, "My sister did well in the exam this year, and she has entered Jiaotong University, so she happened to go back and give her a lesson."

Wang Yan didn't feel anything. He himself was born at the University of Paris, and he was usually surrounded by the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Qing Dynasty and the North. He said perfunctorily: "Congratulations, you are very good."

Fang Zhuo laughed "hehe" twice, feeling very happy.

The two chatted a few more words, and the atmosphere in the office was very relaxed.

Wang Yan felt that the heat was enough, and when he mentioned the business of his trip, he said as casually as possible: "Mr. Fang, I heard that you asked about the situation of Sina.com and want to make some changes to the website?"

"Yes." Fang Zhuo said, "The company's third-quarter financial report will be released by the end of September, and it can basically turn losses into profits. We will also do some new things on our website to see if it can stimulate the stock price in the secondary market."

Three fires for the new official to take office!
Wang Yan can understand this. After the extraordinary shareholders meeting, he really realized the power of a CEO, and he also made some similar actions in the department, but Fang Zhuo is different. Sina.com is the foundation of Sina...

If this is tossing around...

Wang Yan does not want to be evaluated by later generations as "the CEO who led to the company's decline after the power struggle of Sina".

"Mr. Fang, the changes to the website should be cautious." He persuaded, "Our Sina hotline has been injected with enough power. This is good news and a new atmosphere. After all, Sina.com belongs to the main business that everyone has been accustomed to in the past few years."

Fang Zhuo's face became serious.

He asked a little sensitively: "Is this what you mean?"

Just as Wang Yan was about to speak, he suddenly realized the second half of the question—is this your meaning or yours?
With a shudder in his heart, he replied: "I just heard about this and came to ask about it, but no one else asked me to respond."

"What kind of company is Sina?" Fang Zhuo nodded slightly, and said seriously, "It is a content-driven company. push good content to users.”

"The Internet is developing too fast. Don't talk about the year, half a year or a few months may turn the world upside down, especially at this stage."

"Content is nothing more than two aspects, one is to acquire good content, which Sina has always been good at, and the other is user reception."

Fang Zhuo didn't say a single word, explaining his intentions: "I'm not trying to make a drastic move against Sina, but to improve the aspect of users."

"When a user sees the content, his reaction, thinking, and tendency, Sina has room for improvement."

"I had a chat with several deputy directors the day before yesterday, and they agreed with my point of view. Sina is now making a small attempt to change the comment section to a 'follow post' function."

"If the effect is really bad, it will be changed back immediately."

Fang Zhuo's attitude is not high. Regarding the current portal websites, he found that they were generally rough when he was not interested in Sina. For example, the once famous "NetEase Follow Post" has not yet appeared.

However, "Netease Follow Post" is not just a function promotion, but also requires more product design and community adjustments, which should be determined according to the actual situation.

Now, everyone is focusing on the front end, and user experience has not been paid attention to. This is an opportunity to further expand Sina's brand position.

"So..." Wang Yan hesitated, hearing Mr. Fang's firm attitude, he could only say, "Mr. Fang, be careful, many people are staring at Sina now."

"That's just a good time to show them the new look of Sina." Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Wang Yan stopped saying anything, and started thinking about how to make this change well together.

The president and CEO of Sina discussed the mid-level and high-level positions for a while, which involved Duan Yongji's supporters, but this time is different from before, it is better to maintain a lenient attitude when the overall situation is settled.

In the first week of September, Sina, whose control changed hands, did not fluctuate much, and the outside world's curiosity about this portal and speculation about the conspiracy gradually faded away.

The internal structure of Sina remains unchanged, and Fang Zhuo still serves as the president of Sina Hotline even after taking the post of president of Sina, showing his attitude of vigorously supporting this new business.

The Sina hotline is not ashamed, and quickly brought a large amount of revenue to Sina from China Mobile and China Unicom. However, compared with TOM, which has already established a layout, Sina still only ranks second in the market.

At the same time, Sohu and NetEase have also increased their emphasis on wireless value-added services.

On September 13th, the day before the Huaxia Business Leaders Annual Conference, Mr. Fang Zhuo, the new president of Sina, published an open letter to all employees within the company.

"Since this period of time, the internal and external environment of Sina has undergone great changes."

"Externally, the Internet is gradually recovering, and the new revenue business has been vigorously expanded, and good results have been achieved. This quarter will definitely turn losses into profits."

"Internally, the company ushered in a new management team, which will fully cooperate with each other at the strategic and executive levels."

"Sina's goal is to provide users with the best information content and give users the best experience."

"Let's not go the way of coy transmedia."

"Our Sina is the new media in the Internet age."

"All Sina employees, I will work with you to face the challenges of the new era."

"I firmly believe that together we can make history."

An open letter from the new president spread throughout the company, sparking huge discussions and support.

Everyone likes the confidence, passion, and handsomeness of the new president, and everyone supports the new president's business, goals, and strategies.

Of course, this has a little bit to do with the 20% salary increase he announced at the same time.

Why raise?
Sina Hotline is making money.

If you don’t give money to yourself, who else can you give it to?
As for some small voices from the management in this regard, Fang Zhuo suppressed them with the promise of "if the options in your hands do not satisfy you by the end of the year, I will resign immediately."

Dissatisfaction is a subjective feeling, and no one can take this seriously to force the CEO to resign, after all, he is still a major shareholder.

But the stock price has to improve to match this statement, right?

It is not far from the release of Sina's third-quarter financial report, and many people are looking forward to the reaction of the secondary market.

On September 14th, the 2002 Annual Conference of Huaxia Business Leaders was held in Beijing, and it was organized by Huaxia Entrepreneur Magazine.

This year is the first year to organize the event, and the magazine has spent a lot of effort to invite many important guests to attend.

For example, the famous economist Mao Yushi, the famous economist Wu Jinglian, the dean of Tsinghua Economics and Management Zhao Chunjun, the president of the Huaxia Economic Reform Research Association Gao Shangquan, etc.

There are also representatives of domestic enterprises, such as Lenovo Liu Chuanzhi, Fosun Guo Guangchang, ZTE Hou Weigui, TCL Li Dongsheng, Alibaba Jack Ma, Wanda Wang Jianlin, China Merchants Bank President Ma Weihua, etc.

And foreign guests, Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei, Morgan Stanley Asia Chairman Stephen Roach, Spain IE Business School Dean Santiago Iniguez de Ozono, etc.

It can be said that more than 100 confirmed guests are all prominent business leaders in various industries.

Sina originally decided that Duan Yongji's representative would attend, but unexpectedly, Duan Yongji was dismissed before the time for the event, so he had to be replaced by the new president, Fang Zhuo.

However, when the organizer learned of this situation, they called Duan Yongji specifically to ask him whether he would participate as the president of Stone Group, but the latter declined.

Duan Yongji won't want to see Fang Zhuo's young face for a while.

华夏企业领袖年会是在15号15:00-22:00进行嘉宾到场注册，次日召开开幕全会，第三日进行领袖大课以及闭幕主旨演讲。

Because the location is in the capital, Fang Zhuo is very convenient.

There was an episode when he signed in and registered. The reception staff didn't know the president of Sina who had recently been caught in the whirlpool of public opinion.When Fang Zhuo was about to take out his ID card, Ma Huateng also came to sign in and confirmed the identity of the new president of Sina.

"Boss Fang, congratulations for being late."

Ma Huateng walked in the banquet hall, took a glass of wine, and said with a smile.

"Hey, Pony, you also know that my sister is admitted to Jiaotong University?" Fang Zhuo also took a glass of wine, "I'll offer one."

Ma Huateng drank a glass of wine in astonishment.

"Just kidding, the president of Sina has been in the past for a while." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Don't mention it anymore, and don't ask me what's inside or not."

Since he became the president of Sina, Fang Zhuo has received many calls, and there is no shortage of curious inquiries.

Ma Huateng smiled slightly: "I saw the open letter you sent yesterday. The formulation is very interesting. Sina is going to become a new media?"

The exploration of the Internet always requires a process. The "transmedia" mentioned in the open letter to be abandoned is the strategy of the former president Mao Daolin. Although the rights are inherited on the surface, the original policy has been stopped inside.

The cooperation between Sina and Sunshine Culture is a part of "cross-media", which is the combination of the Internet and traditional media.

Now, with the failure of the cooperation between the two, Sina has called out the slogan of being a new media in the Internet age. This formulation is quite deafening.

Many people who pay attention to Sina's situation feel that it is very novel.

"The portal website has more information, faster response, and deeper interaction. There is no need to think that the traditional one is as good as it is." stage, the latter still needs to be expanded on its own.”

Ma Huateng is thoughtful, and Tencent is also developing a portal website, but its scale and influence are far inferior to the three major portal websites.

In particular, the current TOM network shouted a slogan, they want to be the fourth largest portal in China.

"Pony, what do you think?" Fang Zhuo asked after taking a sip of his wine.

Ma Huateng nodded immediately: "Fang is always the president of the largest portal website, of course you are right."

Fang Zhuo smiled: "How about the two of us cooperating?"

Ma Huateng hesitated for a while, and declined without listening to the content: "Tencent has to focus on its own business now."

He could probably guess what Mr. Fang was going to say about the cooperation.

"So decisive? So cautious?" Fang Zhuo was dumbfounded, "Can I still harm you?"

"It's not because I'm afraid that Mr. Fang will harm me, but because Mr. Fang will lure us into a new direction for Tencent. The instant messaging business still needs to be consolidated. There will definitely be opportunities for cooperation in the future." Ma Huateng explained seriously.

Fang Zhuo shrugged and asked a meeting question: "What are you talking about on stage tomorrow? Is it globalization or corporate personality?"

The theme of this year's leaders' annual meeting is globalization and Chinese corporate personality, and Fang Zhuoyou was invited to speak on stage.

Ma Huateng shook his head, and gave Fang Zhuo an unexpected answer: "I was not invited to give a speech, and I will study in the audience tomorrow."

"..."

Fang Zhuo was really surprised.

What did the organizers think?Tencent has developed quite rapidly this year.

Are they looking at appearance to decide who will be on stage?

That's right.

Fang Zhuo shook his head again and again.

Just as he was about to comment, Ma Huateng suddenly indicated with his eyes that there was something going on behind him.

Fang Zhuo turned around and saw a group of people walking towards him surrounded by another person.

His first reaction was that Lao Duan's brothers came to seek revenge in person.

After a while, I heard a greeting in English.

"Hi, hello, Mr. Fang, I am Nobuyuki Idei from Sony." The person in the middle came to introduce himself and shook hands. It was Nobuyuki Idei, the CEO of Sony.

Fang Zhuo was surprised to shake hands and exchange business cards with the CEO of a company with a market value of tens of billions of dollars.

Nobuyuki Idei politely expressed his interest in the Yike player, bluntly saying that it has brought new vitality to the field of music players.

Fang Zhuo's mentality did not drift, but he quickly changed from the president of Sina to the president of Yike with some vigilance, and talked about the problems encountered by Yike, especially the lawsuit with the US RIAA.

The two had a friendly exchange, and the people who came with them watched from the sidelines.

Penguin's Ma Huateng walked out silently, only then did he remember Mr. Fang's other layer of identity, and felt a burst of emotion in his heart, Sony's Nobuyuki Idei, he is a real industry leader.

(End of this chapter)