Chapter 649: Chen Yansen: Mr. Ma, Not That Old Habit Again? Pre-orders Surpass 9,000

Chapter 649: Chapter 463: Chen Yansen: Mr. Ma, Not That Old Habit Again? Pre-orders Surpass 9,000

Businessmen are driven by profit.

A mix of competition and cooperation—that’s the norm in the business world.

Take him and Zhou Hongyi, for example. With Chen Yansen acting as a middleman, the two could be seen at a dinner party, arms slung over each other’s shoulders as they toasted to a common goal. Yet, they would immediately turn around and viciously compete in the security services sector.

Business relationships were just like that; there were no permanent rivals, nor were there absolute friends.

Only the ebb and flow of interests drove the industry forward through one strategic play after another.

A corner of Ma Liyun’s mouth quirked up. He smiled and nodded, tacitly agreeing with Chen Yansen’s point.

He wanted to enter the O2O sector but was afraid of taking a beating.

While he was cooperating with Kuai Pao Delivery, he was reluctant to abandon Taodian’s own delivery service.

In the offline world, Wealth Treasure and Orange Pay had fought tooth and nail to seize merchants and customer resources.

Next, the host asked a few more questions, focusing mainly on industries like internet finance, smartphones, and local life services.

“The funds in Yu’e Bao have surpassed 400 billion. Do you believe the internet is disrupting the financial industry?”

Chen Yansen didn’t take the bait. In a sincere tone, he replied, “At its core, Yu’e Bao is a money market fund. It’s an extension of financial and banking products. The financial industry is the root, and Yu’e Bao is merely the branches and leaves.”

Hearing this, the banking representatives in the audience broke into smiles.

In their eyes, Chen Yansen was far better than Ma Liyun. Lao Ma was always shouting things like, “If the banks won’t change, then we’ll change the banks!”

‘Damn it, listen to that tone. Anyone who didn’t know better would think the banking association was just another department of Wealth Treasure.’

But this group of banking representatives seemed to forget that the platform at the forefront, the one that was relentlessly poaching high-net-worth clients from the banks, wasn’t Wealth Treasure. The most ruthless one was Orange Pay.

Chen Yansen had always been rational. He knew there was no need to win a war of words. ‘Be humble on the surface,’ he thought, ‘and strike ruthlessly from the shadows.’

Say the right things, but make sure the profits end up in your own pocket.

Seeing this, Ma Liyun snorted inwardly. He didn’t buy Chen Yansen’s explanation.

After Ali Baba submitted its IPO prospectus, Wall Street brokers were practically beating down the door to its headquarters. The company’s valuation was approaching 100 billion US dollars.

At this point, Lao Ma was bursting with ambition, his head high in the clouds.

Chen Yansen glanced at Ma Liyun’s expression out of the corner of his eye and immediately came to a conclusion. ‘Once Ali Baba goes public,’ he thought, ‘that’s when we’ll have our falling-out.’

Half an hour later, Chen Yansen walked off the stage with a steady gait and returned to his seat.

Several senior officials from the Yanjing Central Bureau nodded slightly, their faces showing satisfied smiles.

Chen Yansen’s speech was commendable. He covered everything from public-facing industries like express delivery, food delivery, and ride-hailing to mobile internet, mobile phone chips, operating systems, and lithium-sulfur batteries. His entire presentation was substantive and gave off an air of sharp competence.

He spoke gently and had a calm, steady personality. Compared to Ma Liyun, Ma Wenteng, and Li Yanhong, he demonstrated a much stronger grasp of the big picture.

The second person to take the stage was Ma Wenteng. For the first time, he publicly announced the total number of WeChat users.

600 million!

The figure startled quite a few people.

While Qian Du and Ali Baba were still scrambling to adapt to the mobile internet, Penguin had already strode confidently into the new era.

With WeChat and QQ combined, they had over a billion total accounts. Even after accounting for duplicate users, that was still five to six hundred million unique users. It would be difficult for Penguin to lose.

“Without WeChat, the outcome for Penguin could have been a disaster.”

Ma Wenteng lamented.

Fortunately, WeChat had defeated Mi Chat and Momo. Otherwise, if Penguin had lost its gateway to the mobile world, its decline would have been inevitable, even if it didn’t perish completely.

A representative from China Mobile watched the triumphant Ma Wenteng with a cold expression, preparing to unveil the “Fetion 2.0” plan at a subsequent breakout session. The plan was designed to obstruct the growth of WeChat, Mi Chat, and Momo.

What he didn’t know, however, was that even if Ma Wenteng found out about the “Fetion 2.0” plan, he wouldn’t give it a second thought.

Unless Fetion could go all out, completely abandon its SMS revenue, and aggressively expand its user base—and then, integrate users from China Unicom and China Telecom.

Otherwise, it was doomed to fail!

After Ma Wenteng finished his show, it was Li Yanhong’s turn to take the stage. He proposed the concept of “light apps”—essentially Web Apps, similar to the WeChat mini-programs that would appear a few years later.

It had to be said, Li Yanhong’s business instincts were top-notch, keener than a dog’s nose.

But Qian Du’s light app initiative was doomed to fail!

First, the technology wasn’t mature. Native apps, which stored data on the user’s device, consumed less data and provided a better user experience.

Second, the market conditions weren’t right. The mobile internet was still in its growth phase, user acquisition was not yet a depleted resource, and opportunities abounded. App developers could still gain significant exposure through channels like app stores, so there was no need to rely on a light app model.

Finally, it conflicted with their own business strategy. Qian Du had just spent 1.9 billion US dollars to acquire 91 Assistant, only to turn around and create Qian Du light apps, effectively competing with itself.

What kind of joke was that?

They could either let Qian Du’s light apps kill 91 Assistant, or they could abandon the light app plan altogether.

“President Chen, what do you think?” Ma Wenteng asked quietly.

“He’s out of his mind. Mr. Ma, you aren’t thinking of copying him, are you?”

Chen Yansen’s reply was blunt.

He assumed Little Ma’s old habits were flaring up again.

“Of course not!” Little Ma’s face flushed, and he quickly denied it. “Qian Du’s main products, like its search engine and maps, are all utility apps. They have no social component. The average user spends less than ten minutes a day on them. There’s no user stickiness, no social element.”

Chen Yansen grinned. He understood what Ma Wenteng was getting at. ‘So he does want to copy it after all!’

And WeChat just so happened to have a natural advantage in both user traffic and social features.

Between the two of them, one had keen business instincts, and the other had excellent strategic vision.

This just went to show that even the most brilliant idea is unlikely to succeed without solid execution.

And when it came to execution, Penguin was a cut above Qian Du.

What Li Yanhong couldn’t pull off, Ma Wenteng could turn into a roaring success.

“‘Useless. All he knows is how to sell ads!'”

Chen Yansen looked at Li Yanhong on stage and offered his own “apt” assessment.

When Li Yanhong came down, it was Zhou Hongyi’s turn.

Unlike the other attendees in their sharp suits, Zhou Hongyi was dressed like a Jingdong delivery driver. The moment he sat down on the sofa, he started laying into Li Yanhong. “Search ads have no bottom line! How can people abandon their conscience just to make money?”

As he railed against him, Lao Zhou also pitched his own “Trustworthy Health” service, expounding on the superiority of vertical search products.

Zhou Daqiang truly lived up to his nickname, “The Cannon.” He’d tear into people regardless of the occasion. And while he didn’t mention anyone by name, it was obvious to everyone that he was attacking Li Yanhong.

Li Yanhong’s face was grim as he stared daggers at Zhou Hongyi.

Of course, Lao Zhou wasn’t giving Li Yanhong a dressing-down out of some sense of justice. He just wanted to chip away at more of the search market.

If 360’s search engine were to dominate the market, he’d probably be even more aggressive with ads than Li Yanhong.

The host, standing to the side with a pained expression, desperately tried to catch Zhou Hongyi’s eye, signaling for him to be mindful of the setting.

Down in the audience, the faces of the senior officials from the Central Bureau had turned dark. They looked as if they wanted to have Zhou Hongyi dragged off the stage.

But in the end, they did nothing. After all, 360 had made significant contributions to internet security, thwarting numerous cyberattacks from overseas.

Once Zhou Hongyi had gotten it all out of his system, he finally steered the conversation back on topic, speaking eloquently about new developments and achievements in internet security.

「At the same time.」

Pre-orders for the Model S LR had surpassed 9,000 units. After a moment of thought, Musk decided to take a personal trip to Hua Country.

He wanted to have an in-depth discussion with Deep Blue Technology, hoping to secure a more favorable supply price and a source for their higher-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.