Chapter 298: War
In the spacious and bright office of the chairman of Tengda Group, there was a tense and solemn atmosphere at this moment.
360 Company CEO Zhou Hongyi's face turned red, veins on his forehead bulged slightly, and he slammed his hands heavily on the armrests of the sofa.
He said angrily, "Mr. Song, Penguin is going too far. This is intolerable!"
Song Ci handed over a cup of tea and consoled him, "Boss Zhou, drink some tea to calm down."
Zhou Hongyi took the teacup, took a sip and was still angry: "What does Maberly mean? The QQ PC Manager and 360 Security Guard have almost the same functions. It's obvious that he wants to destroy my job."
Song Ci understood why Zhou Hongyi was so angry. The incident started from the IT Leaders Summit in March.
After the debate among the Big Four, Penguin felt deeply that Tengda Group was very powerful and decided to avoid its edge, compete in a different way and open up new business segments.
So they set their sights on the domestic computer security market.
In mid-April, Penguin Company upgraded the original QQ Doctor to QQ Computer Manager, and forced silent installation through the huge QQ client, covering 40% of computers across the country in a short period of time.
Penguin was coming with great force and its development momentum was unstoppable. 360's core business was affected. Zhou Hongyi naturally could not sit still. After unsuccessful negotiations with Maberly for cooperation, he decided to rise up in resistance.
However, Zhou Hongyi is by no means a reckless person. He knows very well that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Tenda and Penguin are really hot in the mobile IM field, so they will naturally ask Tenda for help.
After listening to Zhou Hongyi's complaints, Song Ci slowly spoke: "It is really unfair for Penguin to use QQ to force downloads in the background. This business practice is unfair."
"I'm not someone you can easily bully! If you push me too far, the worst that can happen is that both of us will be destroyed."
Zhou Hongyi's eyes flashed with ferocity. He had destroyed 90% of the antivirus software on the market with a free service. He was not someone to be trifled with.
After taking a sip of tea, Song Ci went straight to the point: "Boss Zhou, just tell me what you need me to do."
He knew very well that Zhou Hongyi would not come to him without a request, and he must have come to ask something of him.
However, Penguin is also Tenda's rival. Helping 360 and diverting more of its rival's attention is also a good thing for Tenda.
"Director Song is so righteous!" Zhou Hongyi gave a thumbs up, then a hint of ferocity appeared on his face, and he gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Since Penguin won't let me live, I'll destroy his pot too."
Song Ci was a little surprised. He didn't expect Zhou Hongyi to be so decisive: "Boss Zhou is going to take action against QQ?"
Zhou Hongyi took a deep breath and said, "I was forced to do this! If I don't hurt Penguin, he will treat me as a soft persimmon."
After a moment of silence, Zhou Hongyi told Song Ci about his plan one by one, and added at the end: "Please support Mr. Song in public opinion when the time comes."
He knew that Weibo and Toutiao were the frontiers of Internet public opinion. If the subsequent plans were to be implemented smoothly, they must have the support of Song Ci, and public opinion guidance was crucial.
Song Ci weighed the pros and cons in his mind and nodded slightly: "No problem, Tengda will stand on 360's side, but I still don't recommend you to go head-to-head with Penguin."
Zhou Hongyi was overjoyed when he got the promise, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. The anxiety in his heart was greatly relieved. With the support of the richest man, he was confident that he could fight the penguin.
After discussing some details, Zhou Hongyi prepared to leave.
In front of the elevator door, "Mr. Song, please stay! I'm sorry to bother you today." After saying that, Zhou Hongyi turned around and walked into the elevator with a worried look on his face.
Song Ci watched the heavy alloy door of the elevator slowly close, thinking that once Zhou Hongyi returned, the 3Q war would probably begin.
When I returned to the office, I saw Zhang Yong opening the door and walking out in the corridor.
"Mr. Song, has Zhou Hongyi returned?"
Song Ci nodded and sighed softly: "A war is about to begin! But this matter has nothing to do with us, so we should just wait and see what happens."
Zhang Yong has also heard about the competition between Penguin and 360 in the security market: "Given the size and foundation of Penguin, 360 is probably no match for Penguin."
Song Ci did not comment on Zhang Yong's judgment, and changed the subject: "The second restructuring of the group has been completed. The group will start financing in the second half of the year. You and Chen An should pay more attention to the financial report."
Zhang Yong knew that this matter was a heavy responsibility as it concerned the interests of the company and himself, and he dared not slack off in the slightest: "Don't worry! I promise to make the financial report look good."
Throughout the first half of May, both the entertainment industry and the Internet industry were calm. Even Penguin and 360 did not have any tit-for-tat incidents.
But those in the know understand that this is just the calm before the war. As the saying goes, there is always a storm coming. Beneath the calm appearance, there are actually undercurrents!
On May 20, the peace was finally broken. 360 Company took the lead and suddenly released a "privacy protector", accusing QQ of scanning users' hard drives and stealing privacy.
As soon as this news came out, it quickly fermented on the Internet, triggering a crisis of public trust in penguins.
Just when Penguin's top management was still considering how to respond, just five days later, 360's second wave of fierce moves followed.
On the 25th, 360 launched "QQ Bodyguard", claiming that this software can block QQ ads and speed up operation. More importantly, it also hijacks QQ security functions to the 360 page.
Once “QQ Bodyguard” was released, the number of downloads exceeded 20 million in just 72 hours, directly hitting the heart of Penguin Company.
The software "QQ Bodyguard" has seriously affected almost all of Penguin's QQ-related businesses, and can be said to have damaged Penguin's aorta.
The fact that "QQ Bodyguard" can block QQ pop-ups is unbearable for Penguin.
QQ pop-up windows are the most important media and publicity channels for QQ on PC, and are one of the core traffic sources on which the entire Penguin Company relies for its survival.
If the "QQ Bodyguard" incident is allowed to continue, the normal operation of Penguin Company may be unsustainable.
At the moment of life and death, penguins will naturally not sit idly by and wait for death, but will quickly launch the most fierce counterattack.
At 7:00 p.m. on May 28, Penguin published "A Letter to QQ Users" through multiple media channels.
The content of the letter has a tough attitude, requiring users to choose between QQ and 360, otherwise they will not be able to use QQ.
At the same time, it reported the case to the relevant departments and jointly issued a statement with five companies including Kingsoft and Baidu, accusing 360 of unfair competition.
360 hit back at Penguin for its monopoly and destruction of the industry ecosystem. The two sides engaged in a large-scale public opinion war online.
It was late at night, and the time was 9:30 in the evening. Liu Shishi had just finished a day of filming and was busy removing her makeup in the dressing room.
The phone next to her was placed on the dressing table, on speakerphone, and Mr. Song's gentle voice came out, adding a bit of warmth to the slightly empty dressing room.
"Yiyi, who do you think will win, Penguin or 360?"
Sister Yi asked curiously while letting her assistant Lin Xia wipe the makeup from the corners of her eyes with a makeup remover cotton pad.
Just now during dinner, I heard my assistant mention this explosive hot news, and I couldn't help but ask my husband what he thought.
"Alas, the result is already determined."
Hearing her husband's suspense, Miss Liu pouted and said coquettishly, "Riddlers are so annoying."
Song Ci chuckled: "Silly girl, think about it carefully. If you were an ordinary netizen and now faced with the choice between QQ and 360, what would you do?"
Sister Yi thought for a while and said, "I would probably choose to uninstall 360. After all, 360 is just an antivirus software. If you don't use 360, you can also use Kingsoft or Rising. But there will be no substitute for QQ for a while."
"Then I don't need to tell you the result."
"Okay!" Liu Shishi curled her lips and suddenly felt that the question she asked was a bit stupid.
But suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he couldn't wait to say, "Honey, I have a good idea! Do you want to hear it?"
Song Ci was very cooperative: "Ms. Liu Shishi, please speak. I am all ears."
The female Zhuge came online and began to offer advice to Boss Song: "Husband, netizens are now extremely disgusted with Penguin forcing users to choose between two options. Why don't you take this opportunity to develop a computer version of WeChat that is similar to QQ and seize the opportunity to replace QQ."
Listening to the excitement implied in his wife's tone, Song Ci could imagine Miss Liu raising her snow-white swan neck at this moment with a proud expression as if to say "come on, praise me".
"It's a good idea." The richest man praised, but he felt regretful in his heart.
360 was doomed to fail, and Tenda had no chance to shake QQ's position as the dominant player in instant messaging. But seeing his wife so happy, he couldn't bear to pour cold water on her.
Sister Yi thought her husband had accepted her advice, and smiled happily: "My vision is not bad now, and I didn't embarrass Mr. Song."
After chatting for a while, Song Ci asked about his wife's situation again: "How have you been on the set these days?"
"Everything is going well. Mimi came to visit the set the day before yesterday. She also took on a Qing Dynasty-themed drama called "Palace Lock Heart Jade" which is similar to "Startling by Each Step". We have agreed that we will see whose drama is more popular later."
Song Ci was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He didn't expect that the three most popular Qing palace dramas in 2011 were all included.
Some time ago, his university class teacher Lao Qin approached him and said that he was asked by several Chinese department instructors to authorize the film and television adaptation rights of a novel called "The Legend of Zhen Huan" to director Zheng Xiaolong.
When he heard it, he agreed without hesitation. It was not only to give face to Qin Chaoyang, but also because he hoped that "The Legend of Zhen Huan", the pinnacle of palace fighting, would appear in the hands of Zheng Xiaolong.
That day he inexplicably thought that Yang Mi is now an artist of Tengda Culture, and he doesn’t know whether "Palace" and "Love Offering" will still appear.
Now, after hearing what Liu Shishi said, "Palace" will arrive as scheduled, and Song Ci feels a little relieved. He thinks "The Offering of Love" will not be absent either.
If those fans of Sister Mi can't hear that heavenly sound, it would be a great loss in their lives!
"When will the filming of 'Startling by Each Step' be completed?"
Yijie calculated the shooting progress: "There are about 2 weeks left, and it will be wrapped around June 10th."
"Then I still have time to visit you in Hengdian. Tengda's cloud computing center in Donghai will be completed in a few days. I will fly to Donghai and come to Hengdian after that."
"Okay, then I'm looking forward to your coming." Liu Shishi raised the corners of her mouth, her eyes full of tenderness.
While Song Ci and Liu Shishi were in love with each other, 360 Company was facing an unprecedented crisis.
From the time Penguin released the "Choose One of Two" open letter at 7 o'clock, in just three hours, more than 50 million users across the country uninstalled 360 Security Guard.
Netizens used practical actions to tell Zhou Hongyi that between QQ and 360, QQ is an indispensable communication tool for daily communication, and they can only choose QQ, which they are more dependent on.
Seeing the sharp decline in backend user data, 360 company executives were extremely anxious and had to issue an announcement late at night, claiming that they would temporarily stop running "QQ Bodyguard" and would reach a settlement with Penguin Company as soon as possible. They hoped that users would not rush to uninstall the 360 software.
The night of May 28th was destined to be a sleepless night for the entire Internet industry. Countless people stayed awake all night, especially the helmsmen of the two companies.
Zhou Hongyi was worried about the precarious installation volume of 360 software. If the company was not careful, it might be doomed.
Maberly is worried about the serious consequences of forcing users to choose between two options. Although the decision seems tough, the losses it brings to Penguin are immeasurable.
The next day, a meeting room at Penguin Company was filled with smoke and a choking smell of cigarettes. Maberly, who was sitting at the main seat, looked haggard, with red and bloodshot eyes.
Maberly extinguished the cigarette in his hand fiercely in the ashtray, sighed deeply, and made a difficult decision: "Agree to 360 and reconcile."
After saying this, he slumped down in his chair, as if all his strength had been exhausted.
The person in charge of QQ was still a little unwilling: "Boss Ma, are you just going to let 360 off like this?"
Liu Zhiping, the strategic president, frowned and asked sharply, "What else? Are we really going to fight to the death with 360?
Look at today's news: "Affected by the 3Q war, Penguin's stock price plummeted by 10% on the same day" and "Netizens call on relevant departments to take action". . .
All these reports show that the company is in a very dangerous situation and could collapse if it is not careful. "
"The settlement is settled. There is no room for negotiation." Maberly waved his hand tiredly, finalizing the matter.
He was too lazy to listen to his subordinates quarreling. He stayed in the company all night without sleeping and now he just had a splitting headache.
Liu Zhiping sighed quietly. He understood that it was helpless for Maberly to agree to reconcile with his arch enemy in just one night.
Once Penguin takes extreme measures, it will inevitably pay a heavy price: damage to user trust, decline in brand image, and deterioration of the industry ecology are all inevitable.
Before the relevant departments intervene, the top priority is to quickly reach a settlement with 360 and calm the situation as soon as possible.
(End of this chapter)
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