Reinventing the Millennium

Sina held three shareholders' meetings this year, two of which were temporary meetings. This was unprecedented not only for Sina but also for other portals and other Internet companies.

In 2002, there was no doubt that Sina was the No. 1 company in the Internet industry.

Even though Tencent later found value-added channels, and Baidu started engaging in bidding rankings, Sina is still the representative of the Internet industry in terms of scale, brand and influence.

Now, this representative who was the first to arrive at Nasdaq to set an example for domestic companies is about to convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to decide the fate of the next period of time.

This gets the media excited and the industry concerned.

Duan Yongji unexpectedly lost on the board of directors, but everyone did not think that he could really lose to Fang Zhuo. All shareholders would exercise their rights.

Some media analyzed Sina's current equity structure. Fang Zhuo holds 34% of the shares. Counting the revealed board of directors situation, he directly affects 40%+ of the voting rights.

Although Duan Yongji holds less shares, he has been deeply involved in Sina for many years and has a solid status as a business leader. In addition, he has two months to re-convince the board of directors, so he must have a lot of voting rights.

Not to mention that Duan Yongji still has the upper hand, the two sides are at least evenly divided.

The unquenched enthusiasm of public opinion surged again, and Duan Yongji also frequently contacted small and medium-sized shareholders he knew, intending to fight back at the extraordinary shareholders' meeting.

Under such a situation, Fang Zhuo didn't do much. He just compiled six weeks of KPI assessments, data from two operators, and more than a month's revenue statements, and then quietly contacted the directors and senior executives he could contact.

Finally, Fang Zhuo walked into the office of Sina President with the materials one day before the shareholders' meeting.

Sina President Mao Daolin.

When it comes to the position of Sina's president, it has been achieved by four people in five years. Compared with Ding Lei's position at NetEase and Zhang Chaoyang's at Sohu, Sina's frequent coaching changes have destined it to gradually fall behind.

Even with the social media efforts of Sina Weibo, Sina.com, the most well-known portal website in China, was delisted from the U.S. stock market after privatization.

Mao Daolin took over or snatched the leadership seal from the founder Wang Zhidong, but the president did not escape being forced into the palace in the end. His prominent status on another level did not help the market value, so he was destined to be unable to stop the votes of the directors.

"Mr. Fang, what's going on?" Mao Daolin was in a good mood recently. The development of Sina's hotline was a great benefit to Sina. He increasingly felt that Fang Zhuo, the vice president who entered Sina through other means, was acceptable.

Fang Zhuo silently placed the materials in his hand on the president's desk and said with a smile: "Mr. Mao, take a look."

Mao Daolin took the materials and saw that these were the results of Sina Hotline since Fang Zhuo took over in July to the end of August.

He simply flipped through it, raised his head and praised: "Mr. Fang is indeed very capable. No wonder Yike is so successful."

"Regarding the development of the Internet, I do have some confidence. Yike still has room for improvement, and of course, Sina too." Fang Zhuo nodded slightly and said, "Mr. Mao, you can see it until the end."

Mao Daolin turned to the end a little strangely, and his eyes suddenly condensed.

The last page was signed with a different name.

Several directors and several officers.

Mao Daolin slowly put down the material, and a subconscious question of "what does it mean" was suppressed in his throat. He shook his head slightly and spit out: "Why is this?"

If Duan Yongji hadn't been kicked out of the boardroom, he might have been more surprised, but now he felt strangely calm.

Among the signatures is the person he contacted last time to defect to Duan Yongji.

What's ridiculous is that there are still people who supported Duan Yongji's stay last time.

Fang Zhuo hesitated and didn't answer.

Mao Daolin finally felt some sarcasm in his heart and looked at Fang Zhuo: "Even if the board of directors is convened, your vote to remove me is enough. Now you want me to take the initiative to abdicate in favor of someone worthy of my post?"

"There are so many people, Mr. Fang, you really worked hard."

Fang Zhuo nodded, then shook his head: "Mr. Mao, as the president of Sina, you will definitely stick to your own strategic plan for the company, right?"

Mao Daolin's eyes were sharp: "Do you still want me to be your puppet?"

Fang Zhuo said calmly: "So, I didn't spend much time persuading these people who signed. I just showed them the same materials in front of you and said to them similar words to you just now."

Mao Daolin was stunned.

"You have to stick to your views on Sina, but no one likes your insistence now."

"Sina urgently needs to make profits and increase its market value. Some directors want to leave the company at a high price, and some executives want to move towards further goals."

"You won't be my puppet. It doesn't mean anything to you. They think I'm more suitable for Sina now."

Fang Zhuo pointed to the materials again: "So, they signed it easily."

Mao Daolin looked confused. Is Fang Zhuo lying?

No, even I, the president of Sina, was satisfied after reading the materials, let alone those people?

Regarding Sina Hotline's revenue, it has only been announced to the board of directors since July. The company only has employees' independent estimates, but the revenue in August was all collected by the Sina Hotline team.

In the first week of July, many employees knew that China Mobile had given the hotline a million-dollar repayment.

Mao Daolin clearly remembers his joy at that 2.53 million yuan payment.

During the three weeks of July, Sina Hotline took back RMB 8.36 million in revenue from China Mobile, while its advertising revenue in the first month of the previous quarter was RMB 11.52 million.

In such a short period of time, Sina Hotline has caught up with Sina's main advertising revenue for several years.

"Do you think this model of Sina Hotline can be sustained?" Mao Daolin asked, sitting steadily in his office chair.

"No." Fang Zhuo gave an answer that surprised Sina's president, "But your current strategy for Sina will not help Sina's recovery."

Mao Daolin was slightly angry: "What do you think?"

Fang Zhuo sighed: "Can you believe what I said? I haven't talked to these directors and executives about Sina at all. They just saw the value that the hotline brings now."

Mao Daolin understood what Fang Zhuo meant. These people only watched what Fang Zhuo did, not what he said.

Just relying on words, it is impossible for me to believe that Fang Zhuo can lead Sina to a better position.

He was silent for a long time, his eyes lowered on the list.

Fang Zhuo was also patient, waiting for Mao Daolin to convince himself.

"It seems that Old Duan is also wishful thinking tomorrow." Mao Daolin slowly spoke, "The ownership of Sina is about to come to an end."

"The curtain has actually come to an end since I arrived at Sina's hotline." Fang Zhuo recognized the meaning and affirmed, "Mr. Mao took over the task at the last moment during Sina's turmoil last year, which helped Sina's financial income stop falling and rebound. This is destined to not be forgotten. .”

Mao Daolin sighed. Those who have not been exposed to Fang Zhuo would think that he is overbearing and domineering based on his "hostile acquisition" and "board of directors forcing the palace", but in fact he has a certain kind of magnanimity.

He stood up, stretched out his right hand, and gave his blessing in a graceful manner: "I hope Sina's tomorrow will be better."

"sure."

Fang Zhuo shook hands with the former president of Sina and settled the main issue of the meeting.

Ming Dynasty.