Chapter 666: A Penguin and Sohu Video Merger? Expanding the Southeast Asian Market

At 4:00 PM, the weekly meeting ended.

Chen Yansen returned to his office and casually grabbed a bottle of cold brew tea from the fridge. He then plopped down, propped his feet up on the desk, and leisurely took out his phone.

He opened WeChat, and a string of unread messages popped up.

A message from Wang Zihao: “Brother Sen, Luzhou is so damn hot! I brought Ziyan to register at her school today. Ke University is way better than Xuyuan. Just look at how grand this main gate is!”

He had attached a photo. In the corner was a young woman in a dress, her hair in a ponytail, with her back to the camera.

Chen Yansen recognized her at a glance. It was Prince Ziyuan.

“What about Uncle Wang and Aunt Wen?” Chen Yansen asked.

“They’re both here. We just finished registering and are about to head to the girls’ dorms,” Wang Zihao replied instantly.

Chen Yansen didn’t ask any more questions. He just sent a sticker in reply, then opened his chat with Ma Wenteng.

“President Chen, I want to merge Penguin Video and Sohu Video.”

The latest message had been sent half an hour ago.

After all, Senlian Capital held a 20% stake in Penguin Video, so it was perfectly reasonable for Little Ma to ask for his opinion before making a major decision.

A month ago, Penguin, Sohu, and Sogou had entered into a strategic partnership. Penguin invested 450 million US dollars into Sogou, merging its own search business and the QQ Input Method into Sogou’s operations.

Once the deal was complete, Penguin held a 36.5% stake in Sogou.

‘Looks like Ma Wenteng and Zhang Chaoyang have been meeting up quite frequently lately!’ Chen Yansen mused to himself.

However, he wasn’t opposed to Little Ma’s move.

A merger between Penguin Video and Sohu Video would not only secure a leading market share and increase their industry influence, but it would also lower costs for copyright acquisition, marketing, and operations. Ultimately, it would allow them to share resources and increase their advertising value.

It was just like Tudou and Youku last year—a merger would be mutually beneficial.

They could leverage their larger market scale to acquire copyrights collectively, strengthening their bargaining power with content providers. It would also allow them to reduce redundant marketing investments, improve ad placement efficiency, and avoid the excessive competition that comes from fighting over users and traffic.

The only issue was that Senlian Capital’s shareholding ratio would decrease after the merger, but the value of those shares would likely rise.

Therefore, Chen Yansen left a message for Ma Wenteng: “No problem.”

Of course, the specific details of the partnership would still need to be confirmed.

He then opened his social media feed and saw a post from Lei Yijun celebrating that total sales for the Hongmi 1 had surpassed five million units.

Yu Chendong, Zhang Chaoyang, He Xiaopeng, and others had all liked it and left congratulatory comments.

Scrolling down, he saw Zhou Hongyi’s post: “Total online shipments for the 360 F-series have exceeded 6 million units. In mid-September, 360 will launch the new flagship of the N-series.”

‘Jeez, Lao Zhou just won’t let go of Lei Yijun.’

‘Anyone who didn’t know better would think they had some secret agreement. They’re constantly bickering online, having practically turned their public feud into an art form.’

Jia Yaoting had posted a high-definition promotional poster—the LeTV Super TV S50, with the slogan: Suffocate for the dream.

On top of the X60 and S40, Old Jia had now added a 50-inch model. He was clearly trying to expand his product line in the smart TV industry to capture a larger market share.

‘These big bosses, worth billions, yet their social media feeds are no different from some small-time online seller’s—just one ad after another for their own products.’

With a look of disdain, Chen Yansen casually posted a sales report from Orange Technology, then closed WeChat.

Meizu Huang Zhang, who was scrolling through his feed, felt his whole mood sour the moment he saw the “70.84 million units” in cumulative global sales. His spirits instantly sank.

The Meizu MX3 had launched just yesterday and only sold 13,000 units on its first day. Although it was 200 yuan cheaper than the Orange C3S, its sales were dozens of times lower.

Rivals like Chen Yongming from OPPO, Yu Chendong from Huawei, and He Dingyou from ZTE were all momentarily silent.

On the other hand, Lei Yijun, Zhou Hongyi, Ding Lei, and Wu Hongxin were quick to react, immediately liking the post and leaving comments, not holding back on their lavish praise.

Lei Yijun was the first to type out a line: “President Chen, those shipment numbers are insane! You just have to respect it!”

The others followed suit, their comments filled with exaggerated praise. Mixed in among them were congratulations from Jia Yaoting, Liu Qiangdong, Cao Weiguo, and Gu Yongqiang.

Chen Yansen paid them no mind. He took a sip of his cold tea and started scrolling through Mimo Short Video.

「Meanwhile.」

The “2013 Xuyuan Freshmen Part-Time Job Fair,” jointly organized by the HR departments of Orange Technology, Pinbei Mall, Today Technology, and other projects, was set up next to the booths for the various school clubs. They were currently busy conducting preliminary interviews.

After passing the recruitment spots for a dozen or so clubs—for everything from guitar and Go to Hanfu, recitation, and entrepreneurship—the Xuyuan freshmen saw three connected sun shelters with an eye-catching banner hanging overhead.

‘A part-time job fair?’

‘These fresh-faced freshmen hadn’t yet broken free from their high school routines. For students from well-off families, college was a time for fun and partying. Who would want a part-time job?’

‘If you ran out of money, you just hit up your parents for more!’

But for students from average families, whose monthly living allowance was only five or six hundred yuan, this job fair organized by Senlian was a godsend.

Right now, the line stretched all the way from Xue Lin Road to Xuehai Road.

“Hello, I’m Zhang Yang, a freshman majoring in e-commerce.”

A boy in a light purple T-shirt and glasses sat across from the Pinbei HR representative, introducing himself with a nervous expression.

“Can you type on a computer? What’s your speed?”