What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 245 Public Opinion (5k)

The content of a report from Computer World is not unusual. The cases it cites have been mentioned by many media in the past.

However, its critical attitude after the integrated report is unprecedented!

As a result, it quickly appeared on the homepages of major portals, dominated the hot topics on Weibo, and flooded the Baixiaosheng forum. In addition, the online media platform of Computer World, JiShi.com, was even squeezed to the point of crashing.

Computer World is a long-established paper media founded in 1980. It is also the first industry newspaper in the country. At the same time, due to the times and policy background, it is also the only Sino-foreign joint venture newspaper approved by the competent authorities to date.

In 1991, it first opened a computer market information quotation board, publishing the quotes of major computer products and accessories in major cities every week. This allowed many people at that time to go shopping in computer malls with newspapers and negotiate prices by comparing them with price lists.

Shi Yuzhu had no money at that time, so he begged and pleaded to buy a half-page advertisement on credit in Computer World. When Zhou Hongyi was in junior high school and was teaching himself programming languages, he often studied this newspaper.

Even the 24-year-old Ma Huateng published an article entitled "BBS and FidoNet" in a newspaper in 1995.

At that time, Penguin had not yet been founded.

This is the first time that a newspaper that has witnessed the Chinese Internet industry and even influenced many industry bigwigs has ended up in such a quarrelsome manner, with its spearhead directed at the Internet giant company with the highest market value that has been much criticized in recent years. Perhaps even it itself did not expect that it would cause such a stir!

Public opinion is crazy, no, it can be said to be insane!
The most direct impact of this was that Penguin's stock price fell by 5.3% during the day, and its market value evaporated by US$17.23 billion, equivalent to 115.4 billion Chinese yuan!
This situation immediately increased everyone's heated discussions and participation.

As one of the platforms that reflects public opinion, Bai Xiaosheng has received more than one pressure call from Yu Xing, which can be regarded as marginal participation. Liu Wanying, the short seller behind the scenes who was also paying attention to the situation and was caught off guard, saw the Penguin stock price plummeting and couldn't help but make a fortune, which can be regarded as moderate participation.

The newspaper, as the actual party involved, perhaps to express its attitude or perhaps to notice the huge impact, issued a statement late at night, saying that "debates and objections are unavoidable objective things for both Penguin and Computer World. Therefore, we choose to be loyal to the media's mission, choose to faithfully face the objective problems in the industry, and choose to break the window paper and face the controversy head-on."

At the same time, the newspaper is willing to "humbly listen to opinions from all walks of life, uphold the independent and objective reporting philosophy that has been consistent for 30 years, and strive to provide the public with more exciting and valuable content."

Yu Xing estimated that the pressure of public opinion would definitely act on the newspaper itself, but it should be able to withstand it.

What’s more interesting is that all the people mentioned in the report have spoken out to varying degrees. Some still criticized Penguin, some believed that the report was just an aggregation and had no practical significance, and some were... curiously looking for their identities.

The report mentioned a vice president of a well-known investment institution and described his style as "looking at people with disdain on the road and cursing in private".

It’s not that this point is particularly eye-catching, but the public opinion this time is too huge. If there are only 100 people involved, no one may try to analyze the details, but with 1, 10, 100 million... there will always be people paying attention to the scraps.

Liu Jiankai felt that he was really cheated by Yu Xing.

He was completely stunned when he saw the report for the first time!
Others may not know, but you yourself don’t know who the “Vice President of a well-known investment institution” mentioned in Computer World is! !
He immediately called Yu Xing with some uneasiness: "Damn it, Mr. Yu, you...you saw the report on Penguin, right? I was mentioned in it, you...this is the interview you introduced...what should I do?"

"What should we do?" Yu Xing asked back, "Didn't I mention your name? Why are you panicking?"

"It's true that they didn't mention it. I asked them not to mention it when I was interviewed, but this description... Damn, our circle is very small, and reporters' writing has to be reviewed by more than one person. How could I not have the draft of this thing? Will it be leaked out?" Liu Jiankai was really panicked.

Yu Xing said calmly: "What's that? It mentioned my name directly and was first published on the Bai Xiaosheng Forum. Penguin has already contacted me."

"Penguin is looking for you, what do you say?" Liu Jiankai vaguely guessed the answer, and said helplessly, "You are not afraid of being mentioned. With your character, I still have to stay in the circle..."

Yu Xing replied calmly: "Nothing to say."

He continued, "Don't be anxious. Don't worry about it. Wait until people find out."

Liu Jiankai calmed down and sighed, "The Penguin family is big and powerful, you are... Hey, you can really handle the pressure!"

Although this trait has been verified many times, I still can't help but bring it up every time it is verified. From a working emperor, a listed company to an investment boss, an industry giant, it must be said that Mr. Yu is indeed experienced in this area!

"Don't be nervous. Judging from the public opinion this time, you will be remembered in history... I won't leave my name there." Yu Xing paused, "The most important thing is to participate."

Liu Jiankai didn't want to participate at all, and said helplessly: "It's all your fault! Why did you introduce me to the interview when you have nothing to do..."

Yu Xing raised his voice and asked, "I am the one introducing you, you can refuse the interview!"

Liu Jiankai: “…”

Yu Xing didn't want to waste any more words: "Alright, you are the vice president of a well-known investment institution, so be alert and don't lose face!"

Liu Jiankai was speechless and ended the call.

Yu Xing is actually quite busy. In addition to Bai Xiaosheng having to work overtime today, there is also work to be done on the fourth floor. WeChat company was originally scheduled to launch the internal test in the market this month, but the technical director and deputy director agreed that further debugging and problem solving are needed, so there is another delay.

The main problem was that when WeChat was doing stress testing with a large number of users online at the same time, the message queue service experienced a surge in delays. The message delivery time soared from an average of 200ms to more than 5 seconds, and some requests were even discarded due to timeouts.

This involves the actual experience of WeChat. Although it can be pushed into the market first, Yu Xing hesitated and still respected the consensus of the two technical leaders.

However, while he was busy, he received a persistent call from Liu Jiankai.

"Vice President Liu, what's the matter?" Yu Xingren was on the fourth floor. He patted his colleague on the shoulder and indicated that he would answer the phone first.

Liu Jiankai's voice was a little exasperated: "Someone on your Bai Xiaosheng has anonymously mentioned my name, you better quit right now!"

Yu Xing was surprised: "Is there really someone who would dig out a small shrimp like you?"

With public opinion boiling to this point, the details of the report are actually no longer important, and it is not worth studying what any president or vice president said.

Of course, the person involved may not feel that way.

"Nonsense! Hurry up!" Liu Jiankai urged.

There was a sudden strange silence on the phone.

Silence itself is an attitude and an answer.

Liu Jiankai suddenly realized who was on the other side, and had a bad feeling in his heart. He quickly advised: "Boss Yu, don't do it. This kind of trivial matter will not have any impact on Bai Xiaosheng at all. Now everyone is paying attention to the penguins. You are accidentally hurting a friend!"

Yu Xing's voice became indifferent: "Who is the friend?"

"You..." Liu Jiankai was shocked and angry. At this moment, he suddenly understood how Mr. Xu felt when he encountered something. Thinking about it this way, Mr. Xu was not petty at all. He could even be said to be very magnanimous.

He controlled his emotions and took a deep breath, but he still couldn't hide his anger: "Yu Xing, fuck, I don't recognize you anymore!"

Yu Xing said “hmm”, still very calm: “Don’t we know each other now?”

Liu Jiankai was a little out of control and called out Yu Xing through the phone: "Yu Xing!"

Yu Xing answered steadily: "Yes, I am here."

Liu Jiankai: “…”

Yu Xing waited for a while, and seeing no response, he came up with an idea: "If they are exposing the information anonymously, you can also expose it anonymously. This kind of insignificant information should not be of much concern to many people except you. I will not delete that content, nor will I delete your content. Isn't that enough? The water will be muddied."

Liu Jiankai didn't expect that Yu Xing actually gave him some seemingly feasible news.

He hesitated and asked, "Is this okay?"

"It's okay or not. Anyway, the kind you want is not okay." Yu Xing replied.

Liu Jiankai was somewhat discouraged. He realized at this moment that the thin friendship he had recently established with Yu Xing could not offset the influence of General Manager Xu, Penguin and a group of others who had already tried to put pressure on him. Even they couldn't do it, so he was even more helpless now.

After thinking it over, he could only agree to this suggestion and quickly took action.

Yu Xing dealt with the vice president of a well-known investment institution and continued to listen to WeChat's work on the Android application market. This area was generally going smoothly because everyone was indeed lacking in the establishment of revenue-generating businesses. Now that someone was willing to pay, it was naturally a very welcome cooperation.

However, less than two hours later, Liu Jiankai called again.

Yu Xing answered the call with a frown on his face this time, and his first sentence showed his attitude: "What's wrong?"

Liu Jiankai was also helpless, but this time it was not his business: "Penguin came to us to say hello."

Yu Xing: “…”

Liu Jiankai explained, "Today Capital is the investor of Bai Xiaosheng. Someone from there talked to President Xu about it. President Xu was too lazy to talk to you, so she assigned the job to me." Yu Xing said, "Okay."

Liu Jiankai asked: "Then how should I respond?"

Yu Xing replied: "Just say that I was cursing my mother in secret."

Liu Jiankai wanted to say something when he heard the busy tone of the phone being hung up.

He put down his phone in dismay, and after careful consideration, he informed Penguin of this usual response in the most gentle way possible. Bai Xiaosheng didn't buy it. Bai Xiaosheng didn't buy it from the beginning...

In the end, the people on the Penguin side did not show any other attitude.

Liu Jiankai thought that Penguin must be very busy now, probably discussing how to deal with this overwhelming public opinion.

As expected, Penguin issued a statement somewhat belatedly in the early hours of the morning, condemning Computer World's vicious language and poor illustrations, saying that it had rudely hurt the feelings of Penguin users and reserved the right to pursue legal liability.

Even in the early hours of the morning, Bai Xiaosheng's forum was still bustling, and the latest developments were quickly pushed to the top.

Yu Xing also did not sleep. He carefully read the statement from Penguin and gave his opinion in the comment section of the post: "It is a very empty statement. It basically does not respond to any questions. It is a very negative public relations move."

Many users saw Dr. Yu appear and asked about the relevant situation. Some also asked whether Bai Xiaosheng was also under pressure from the giant.

Yu Xing did not answer any questions, but only sent a smiley face.

However, perhaps because the remarks were noticed, or perhaps because of the feedback from the previous communication problems, a Penguin employee soon posted anonymously, claiming that he had received an urgent notice and was not allowed to register an account on Baixiaosheng.

In other words, Penguin was probably annoyed by Bai Xiaosheng's performance or Yu Xing's remarks quoted in the report, and informally and unilaterally banned Bai Xiaosheng.

Yu Xing was about to go to sleep, but after seeing this, he expressed his attitude: "Bai Xiaosheng will firmly protect user information, there is no doubt about that. In addition, although it is not clear whether this is true, if this is indeed the case, it is no wonder that the report in Computer World has caused such a big public opinion."

No matter what, Bai Xiaosheng, which has an anonymity mechanism, will protect user information. Penguin cannot read Bai Xiaosheng's background data, so it certainly cannot effectively restrain employee behavior.

This point...became more obvious after Yu Xing fell asleep.

At three o'clock in the morning, the latest news about Penguin appeared on the forum page, which had gradually calmed down.

According to anonymous employees, the Penguin President's Office held an emergency meeting chaired by boss Ma Huateng. A copy of the Computer World report was placed in front of each participant.

However, no one spoke in the first 10 to 20 minutes of the meeting, and it was finally Ma Huateng who spoke.

——"How can they curse?"

The description was so vivid that it felt as if one had seen it with one's own eyes.

Many users have asked similar questions: "Who the hell are you?"

When Yu Xing woke up the next day and saw the news, he couldn't help but check the other party's backstage information. It turned out to be an employee of Penguin's public relations department...

Well, I can only say that public relations is work and eating melons is life.

Judging from public opinion the next day, the statement from Penguin obviously did not gain much resonance or sympathy. As if also shocked by the latest revelations, Penguin’s intranet directly banned any discussion of the relevant situation.

At the same time, Bai Xiaosheng received more news about the informal ban.

All these situations showed that the penguin was confused, annoyed, and vaguely panicked.

Attacks from all sides have labeled the Penguins with several labels, such as "public enemy", "greed", "arrogance", etc. The Penguins' past performance has also been re-examined.

For example, in 2009, when Ren Yuxin, the president of Penguin Games, was interviewed at the industry annual meeting, he was asked by the host, "How can we compete with Penguin?" At that time, his answer was extremely harsh in today's public opinion.

Ren Yuxin’s response was that only by cooperating with Penguin could they expand the market together.

When the other participants heard such a proud answer, they all smiled bitterly.

Fragmented information like this that can arouse discussion among netizens is spreading rapidly. However, Penguin's stock price has rebounded from its oversold level, showing the stability of its fundamentals.

Yu Xing observed the public opinion and did not make any further statement. He was just worried about the debugging and optimization progress of WeChat. He felt that this was a good opportunity and Penguin's attention must be on this matter. The appearance of a small seedling in the instant messaging market would definitely not attract much attention.

He remained quiet, while Zhou Hongyi, who was now threatened by the penguins, took the opportunity to speak out frequently on Weibo. His purpose was self-evident, trying to use such public opinion to dissuade the penguins from making any moves.

On June 6, three days after the public opinion emerged, Yu Xing received a call from Computer World newspaper and realized the pressure the other party might be under.

"Mr. Yu, do you think our report on Bai Xiaosheng is appropriate?"

When Yu Xing heard this, he knew what was going on.

His answer was direct and simple: "It is fine for your newspaper account to withdraw the article. You are free to post it and you are free to withdraw it. But there will be other users on the forum who will repost it. They are also free to do so."

There was a sigh from the other end of the phone, and no further words were spoken.

That afternoon, Liu Jiankai was in a bad mood. He thought that his minor incident was over, but he didn't expect that... the previous explosive post that named him actually contained the transcript of the interview, and his name appeared on it.

This kind of thing is very embarrassing.

What’s even more embarrassing is that Liu Jiankai also received a text message from the Penguin executive he had contacted before, which only said one sentence: “Mr. Liu, if you have any opinions, you can raise them in person. Why do you have to do those little tricks behind the scenes?”

He was powerless to defend himself.

Then came the question from BOSS Xu Xin.

"You accepted the interview?" Xu Xin was surprised. "You...why didn't you say anything?"

Liu Jiankai didn't know what to say and could only smile bitterly.

The investment circle is not big, and this time it was really hurt by a wave of public opinion.

He adjusted his mood and did not call Yu Xing, but sent a WeChat message: "Mr. Yu, I really can't face people anymore."

Yu Xing inquired briefly about the situation and learned the whole story.

Then, he wrote back to Vice President Liu: "If you can't make it in Capital Today, then come to me. Besides, the newspaper is under greater pressure. Penguin's offensive against 360 has not slowed down. Even information related to a small shrimp like you is obviously being watched. I seem to smell danger."

After three days of public opinion, the rapid change of information on the Internet has slowed down, and Penguin seems to want to settle some accounts. Bai Xiaosheng has been called out repeatedly before, which is still very eye-catching.

Liu Jiankai seized the opportunity to respond: "It's not dangerous, Mr. Yu, it's your fault."

Yu Xing didn't say that it was wrong. It's normal for people to mess with you and you to mess with others.

On June 6, not too late, Bai Xiaosheng received a call from the competent department.

Yu Xing did not go and directly asked Chairman Song Yufeng to deal with the situation.

As a result, according to Song Yufeng's feedback, the attitude of this brief exchange was very bad, and he himself was also subjected to a vicious attack.

——"As the chairman, you are neither knowledgeable nor responsible. What are you doing here?"

The higher-ups knew who was in charge of Bai Xiaosheng and were not satisfied with Song Yufeng's response, so they asked him to come back the next day to explain the situation.

Yu Xing inevitably needs to come forward this time.

However, while he was on the road, a message from technical director Ge Zhijie made him smile.

On the first day of July, the iOS version of WeChat passed the review of the Apple Store and can be put on the shelves at any time.

The seeds of WeChat company finally sprouted.

(End of this chapter)