Reinventing the Millennium

Yike's "General Office Seminar Office" is a place where senior leaders discuss and analyze important strategies, because the earliest 13 people established it have the reputation of the "General Office Roundtable".

As its staff increased to 19, there were more discussions on cross-department cooperation and specific business operations.

Even so, when Fan Minggang, the deputy director of Yishi, was notified by the secretary of the President's Office to attend the meeting, he was a little surprised and excited that his opinions were so valued...

In fact, after learning from his superiors that the email had been forwarded to various levels, Fan Minggang had just communicated with the department. The main purpose was to enhance the positioning of "YiShi" within Yike.

Yishi is a department under the YMS mobile service business group of Yike. Above the department director, there are a series of levels including senior director of YMS, vice president of YMS, and president of YMS. Above that, there is YMS. Vice President, Senior Vice President and other senior executives of the group.

All in all, Yishi is okay, but just okay.

As the head of the four giants, seeing its brother departments and units turbulent in the market, Yishi Department always feels that there is still room for improvement.

Besides, the company's motto is "Keep making progress."

At nine o'clock in the morning on April 18, Fan Ming just walked into the conference room and was still chatting with the director to check for gaps in his speech. The other party once again reiterated that he must take it seriously.

"The report you concocted went directly to the general office. It must have approved your idea. You can't attach too much importance to it. We are relying on you this time!"

Fan Minggang actually doesn't like his boss using the word "processed", but he does feel that he has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders.

Ten minutes after he sat in as a non-voting delegate, members of the general office who were present at the headquarters arrived one after another, and at the same time, they also connected online with senior executives from other regions.

Fan Ming had just received a brief introduction, but the beginning of the meeting was not his part, but a discussion of other matters that had already been determined by the General Office.

From this, he also heard some latest news.

The most important thing is the competition with Qualcomm.

"Apple is about to announce that it will not renew its contract with Qualcomm's baseband chips and will be equipped with WLS chips this year. This will undoubtedly be a powerful blow against Qualcomm's hegemony." Fang Zhuo personally talked about the news that is still confidential.

There was an uproar in the conference room.

As another major customer of Qualcomm, Apple’s decision will undoubtedly greatly damage Qualcomm’s arrogance, especially when Yike lost the first round of the lawsuit.

"Mr. Fang, is the news...true?" Liu Qiangdong couldn't help but asked directly.

"Cook himself told me that it should be announced in the next two days." Fang Zhuo announced the source.

Obviously, the information from the other party's CEO is the most accurate, and Cook has no motive to lie at this time.

There was a small discussion in the conference room.

Yu Hong, who attended the meeting online, praised: "Cook is more determined than Lee Jae-yong."

"Well, I also praised his spirit. What do you think he said?" Fang Zhuo said directly without giving in, "Apple is also weighing the pros and cons, and there are different voices within them, but after seeing Yike's appeal, The decision was given to continue the confrontation."

The antitrust alliance is rough, and Samsung's betrayal still has a certain impact.

At this time, there were not only disagreements within Yike, but also in other companies. After Apple waited and watched Yike's decision, it decided to continue to pursue long-term interests.

Qi He said at this time: "If we had hesitated, Apple would have probably made the opposite decision..."

The conference room was silent. In addition to suspending the payment of patent fees, Apple is also suing Qualcomm and launching lobbying. It is a key member of the antitrust alliance.

If Apple also gives up confrontation, the advantages and disadvantages of the situation will be too obvious.

"So, Yike is not afraid to raise the banner of anti-monopoly." Fang Zhuo was very calm. "In addition to persuading me, Jacob is also persuading Cook. Qualcomm is willing to spend US$1 billion in order to renew Apple's contract for three years." Subsidy to Apple, Cook can withstand this pressure, he is indeed the best successor to Steve Jobs."

One billion US dollars is a big number, and Qualcomm has also spent a lot of money.

Once Yike showed a slight hesitation before, Apple reconciled in an instant.

Although it may not determine the final outcome of the lawsuit between Yike and Qualcomm, the dangers and changes involved still make people feel heavy.

"Qualcomm's stock price will still be affected this time." Fang Zhuo said this casually. Only two people attending the meeting knew about the competition for Qualcomm in another market.

No matter what, now that Apple has made its choice, the situation Qualcomm will face in the rest of this year will inevitably be more dangerous. The market value is shrinking, customers are leaving, and Jacobs and others will have to bear greater pressure.

Fan Minggang, who was attending the meeting as a non-voting delegate, had no say in this matter and was not familiar with the changes that would result. He silently clicked his tongue and listened, simply happy for the company's good news.

After talking about Apple and Qualcomm, two potential acquisition intentions were discussed at the general office meeting, one involving chip design and the other involving Amap.

AutoNavi has always been willing to carry out the development of independent listing. However, from last year to this year, with the exploration of the individual customer market, although the market is large, the money is burned much more than before, and the business model has not found a very eye-catching breakthrough. …

The market is getting bigger, there are more users, costs are higher, and profits are gone...

However, this market is extremely fierce.

Gaode appeared confused about the prospects and hesitant about development.

On this occasion, Fang Zhuo did not hesitate to lend a helping hand and planned to help Gaode eliminate confusion and hesitation, and Yike also needed to set a reasonable price for Gaode internally.

However, no matter how you look at it, Amap's value is above US$1 billion, and that's how much it needs to be now.

Fan Ming just listened to the debate among the group bosses, and heard that tens of millions and hundreds of millions of chips were still in US dollars, and his mind was twitching. The fate of another company may very well be decided on this table.

"Amap is in urgent need on the mobile side, and it is in line with our tool-oriented positioning. I think it is not good if the price is lowered. If we do not win Amap, how much do we need to spend to rebuild Amap?" Yu online Hong heard the discussion among her colleagues about the price and felt somewhat stingy.

"Well, Cheng Congwu and the others may still feel a little aggrieved, so just let them make an offer first." Fang Zhuo tapped the table with his index finger and said nonchalantly, "After all, we were the ones who suggested AutoNavi to develop and transform the C-side. Don’t be too hasty with this acquisition, just complete it within the year, and don’t let other partners watch from the sidelines and feel bad.”

As soon as the leader said this, similar thoughts appeared among the members of the general office.

Mr. Fang also knows that Yike is responsible for Gaode's success today... As for the mood of other partners, to be honest, Yike's thoughts on Gaode are not a day or two...

Not to mention that everyone knows it, but there are indeed some speculations.

Qi He took the initiative to take over the job: "I invited President Cheng and others to come to Shanghai for a meeting over the weekend to show our win-win attitude as much as possible. Even if the acquisition comes in, it will still be run by the original team. They take the money and Gao Demap will no longer have to worry about funding, and institutional shareholders can also get exit rewards."

When AutoNavi was financing before, there were many investment institutions, but it was indeed difficult to operate the map market independently. Yike plans to directly take it as a wholly-owned company this time and make it a basic tool for business linkage.

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly and agreed that Qi He would do it.

Fan Minggang was still thinking about the company's business changes in his seat, when he suddenly heard the big boss call his name.

"Fan Minggang, tell me your thoughts on mobile video." Fang Zhuo turned his attention to the deputy director of the department at the end of the conference table.

Fan Ming just took a breath, grabbed the document, and stood up.

"You don't have to stand, just sit down and talk. Turn on the microphone." Qi He reminded his subordinates' subordinates in a friendly way. He was actually a little surprised that the boss would name this person to report at the general office meeting.

Although the scope of Yike mobile services is getting wider and wider, consumer electronics and related businesses have always been the focus. When it comes to the YMS ecosystem, video content is even less conspicuous.

Qi He knew clearly that the boss didn't care much about entertainment, so the report was a little strange.

Soon, something even more strange came.

Qi He was listening carefully to the report about "Easy" by Fan Minggang, deputy director of Yishi, when he suddenly heard Mr. Fang's interruption.

"You don't need to talk about Yishi's current work and market. What you want to talk about is your observation of mobile trends." Fang Zhuo highlighted the key points.

Fan Minggang was stunned, and he put his hand on the document in a daze. He was talking about the achievements of the department, which was also the high expectation of the chief director and his brothers.

Fang Zhuo didn't say any more and waited patiently.

Qi He waited for a few seconds. Seeing that the deputy director was a little dazed, he gave him a reminding look.

Fan Ming was just reminded by his boss that he changed his mind, put aside the "concoction", and talked about the industry and market thinking according to his original ideas.

"The mobile Internet is a disruption, and Mr. Fang's judgment has guiding significance for the development of our entire mobile ecosystem."

Fan Minggang said this sincerely, and then talked about the trend based on his personal experience.

"Nowadays, video websites such as Youku, iQiyi, Sohu, and our Yishi, their content on the mobile side is no different from that on the PC side. However, smartphones are far closer to us than PCs."

"Every day I take the subway to work, I open these video software, I click on a movie that interests me, and then I find that my time is always cut into pieces."

"Security check, waiting for the subway, squeezing the subway, transferring, squeezing again, security check... I don't use my mobile phone in long periods of 30 minutes or 40 minutes, but in short periods of 3 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes. time."

“This objectively cut-off fragmented time will inevitably produce short and medium-sized video content that conforms to this format, which brands such as Youku, Yishi, iQiyi, and Sohu failed to provide immediately.”

"I think this is an imbalance between supply and demand. I don't know if there can be disruption, but at the very least, it should bring innovation."

Fan Minggang has long thought about the situation he observed in his mind. He even considered it even more extreme. He had previously judged "medium and short video content" in the email, but in fact he thought it would be a rich growth of "short video content". space.

This is a change spurred by changes in hardware from PC to mobile.

Fan Minggang talked eloquently and with great confidence, and outlined a logical and objective trend of change.

However, when he was about to come to an end, he accidentally saw the disapproving expressions of several group executives, and he suddenly became nervous again.

Isn't it a bit pragmatic for you to be like this? Shouldn’t we talk about those false and empty angles? The deputy director of a small department went directly to talk about the industry and ecology...

"fine."

Fan Ming had just finished speaking, and then he heard a simple comment from the big boss, and his mood quickly stabilized.

"This is a very hard observation. If the carrier is different, the content and form will naturally change." Fang Zhuo said again after taking a sip of tea.

"It seems that our Yishi must keep up with the times first." Qi He, as the president of YMS, naturally added, "The times have changed, and Yishi must also innovate."

Fan Ming just heard Mr. Qi's words and felt like he had received a reassurance. If this were the case, the entire department would probably pay more attention to it.

Just as he was thinking this, his eyes suddenly met the sharp eyes of the leader.

"Fan Minggang, what do you think is the appropriate range of mobile video duration?" Fang Zhuo's eyes were bright.

Fan Ming just wanted to answer according to the previous email report, but because of Mr. Fang's eyes, he felt a chill in his heart and suddenly fell into hesitation.

The general office's seminar atmosphere has always been relaxed. Seeing that the deputy director didn't answer immediately, Liu Qiangdong said with a smile: "Take the subway, wait for the bus, or walk for a while. I think 5 minutes is pretty good. It's very fragmented. It's a big deal." The video content time on PC has been shortened.”

"Is 5 minutes too short? What can you see in 5 minutes?" Zhang Yaqin, president of EBG, the emerging industry division, also spoke at this time, "It has to be 8 minutes or 10 minutes. This is already a challenge to Youku and iQiyi Video has been revolutionized a lot.”

As the two presidents spoke out, others also joined the discussion. Some supported 5-10 minutes, and some supported 10-15 minutes, thinking that this was already fragmented.

Fang Zhuo listened to everyone's discussion without expressing an opinion. He still threw the question to Fan Minggang and asked, "Fan Minggang, what do you think?"

Fan Minggang always felt that Mr. Fang's eyes were a little inexplicable. Just when he was about to blurt out his previous answer, he suddenly became cruel and changed his answer to his original intention. He said shockingly: "I don't think it should be measured in minutes. It should be measured in seconds." Let’s calculate, 30 seconds, or even... 15 seconds, 10 seconds.”

Liu Qiangdong said in surprise: "30 seconds, 15 seconds, 10 seconds, what can you see? It's gone in the blink of an eye! It's too rough!"

"If we really make such a product, just like Weibo, there needs to be a hard limit at the beginning. Once the 15-second product can be rolled out, it can then be slowly upgraded to meet more detailed needs." Fan Minggang said. An example from Weibo is provided to support this.

Fang Zhuo raised his hand to drink tea. Hearing the general opposition from Liu Qiangdong, Qi He, Zhang Yaqin and others again, he smiled and said: "Fan Minggang's idea is very interesting. You can give it a try and select people directly from the Yishi department. Well, let’s just pick people from Yike and try to work on a new project.”

As soon as these words came out, the members of the general office were all surprised. New project? Or choose someone from Yi Keli?

Is this...expectation too high?

But if it was really so optimistic, why would it be released again?

"The changes in carriers are not just domestic, but also global." Fang Zhuo said succinctly. He did not think that Yike, which was about to undergo changes, was suitable to make short videos directly.

At noon, the general office meeting ended, and Fan Ming just walked out of the conference room in a daze, feeling as if he had received extremely favorable treatment, but also as if he had been directly fired...

"How's it going?" The department director's first sentence when they met was a somewhat eager inquiry.

"Uh..." Fan Minggang didn't know what to say for a while, but suddenly a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, "Boss, what if I pick Mr. Fang in?"

Director:?

What are you talking about? what are you saying?

He looked at Fan Minggang and felt that this guy's eyes were burning with hot fire. (End of chapter)