Chapter 555 Segmentation
After Ling Tianyu left, the power center of Tengda Technology immediately fell silent.
Zhang Yong keenly noticed the change in the chairman's expression and was surprised.
Having just finalized a new project with huge potential, one would expect to be full of confidence and ambition. Why then...
"What's wrong, Chairman Song?"
Song Ci leaned back in his chair, clasped his hands together on the smooth table, and sighed softly, "I don't have enough money."
Zhang Yong remained silent upon hearing this.
As the chief steward of Tenda Technology, no one understands the financial pressures facing this giant technology behemoth better than him.
AI, chips, mobile operating systems—which of these isn't a money-guzzling behemoth? Now, we have to add WeChat for businesses, which also requires massive investment.
Even with the continuous financial support from gaming and financial businesses, he still felt unprecedented pressure.
Zhang Yong felt a chill run down his spine whenever he thought about next year's financial plans.
Song Ci fell into deep thought, his mind racing, weighing, comparing, and choosing.
After a long silence, seemingly having made up his mind, he carefully spoke: "I plan to separate the food delivery and ride-hailing businesses from the group."
"We will seek external financing and bring in strategic investors, while Tenda will retain a controlling stake."
Zhang Yong nodded slightly, his face showing deep thought and agreement.
Today's Choice (food delivery) and Today's Express (ride-hailing) are important traffic entrances and life service sectors in the Tenda ecosystem, but the battlefield they are in is already a red ocean.
Meituan and Ele.me are locked in fierce competition in the food delivery sector, while Didi and Kuaidi are vying for every inch of ground in the ride-hailing market.
These competitors, through round after round of massive financing, have turned huge sums of money into subsidies, frantically seizing users and market share.
Although Tenda has temporarily maintained its market leadership thanks to its first-mover advantage, strong technological capabilities, and traffic support, its competitors are rapidly closing the gap.
Introducing external capital is undoubtedly a brilliant move, but also a move that must be made.
In this way, Tenda can use investors' money to support the continued "cash-burning" expansion of these two businesses and maintain its market position.
They should invest their precious and limited resources in core technologies such as AI, chips, and cloud computing, which require long-term technological accumulation.
“It’s good to be independent,” Zhang Yong replied, his voice relaxed. “If you stay in the group’s greenhouse all the time, you’re bound to become dependent.”
Having separated, Youxuan and Suda must learn to operate independently, enhancing their market competitiveness and self-sustaining capabilities. They can no longer rely solely on headquarters for financial support.
He paused briefly, "At the same time, the process of independent financing is a revaluation of value."
Financial data and market share can greatly improve the asset transparency of these two business segments within the group.
Seeing that Zhang Yong shared the same idea, Song Ci's expression softened slightly. After a moment's thought, he offered a detailed analysis:
"Today's Choice has an early start and a solid user base. Coupled with intelligent order dispatch and route optimization algorithms, it has formed a considerable technological barrier and has obvious advantages."
Releasing 20% to 30% of the equity through financing is sufficient. Once the business profitability stabilizes, a separate listing on the A-share or Hong Kong stock exchange can be considered.
Maintaining a controlling stake of over 51% should not be difficult for the group.
At this point, his brows, which had just relaxed, furrowed slightly again: "The ride-hailing service is more troublesome."
Previously, due to regulatory constraints, Speedata had not been able to develop rapidly. Compared with Didi and Kuaidi, it did not have many advantages.
Speedata's financing will likely be more difficult, and the equity dilution may be even higher. After financing, they aim to hold at least 51% of the shares.
If subsequent developments do indeed require continued financing, forcing Tenda to significantly reduce its shareholding...
A sharp glint flashed in Song Ci's eyes. "Then let's design an optimized equity structure in advance and set up lock-up clauses for the founders."
We must ensure that our designated management representative cannot be ousted by a coalition of other shareholders during their term. Core control must be firmly held in our hands.
“I understand.” Zhang Yong nodded solemnly, knowing the importance of control. “We must have a bottom-line mentality.”
Regardless of future changes in shareholding ratios, the veto power must be firmly maintained.
He absolutely did not want to see the business that Tengda had painstakingly cultivated one day end up benefiting others, or even being controlled by others.
With the tone set, Song Ci's face showed a relieved expression, and her tone became slightly lighter:
"If Speedata and Youxuan can be successfully spun off and listed in China, my pressure will be much less."
You wouldn't believe it, but many leaders have made connections regarding the IPO..."
He shook his head and didn't continue, but Zhang Yong deeply understood the helplessness and frustration in his unfinished words.
Zhang Yong gave a wry smile: "I've received quite a few research and inspection teams from various parties."
"Then it's settled!" Song Ci waved her hand, making the final decision. "Brother Yong, you will be fully responsible for leading the financing."
He became a hands-off manager. Domestic venture capital financing has a fixed process, so he didn't need to worry too much. Valuation and other things that require a lot of talking were handled by his subordinates.
"Okay, I'll report back to you once the valuations for both companies are finalized."
Just as Zhang Yong was about to get up and say goodbye, he suddenly remembered something: "Oh, by the way, Wang Wei from SF Express has returned to China and would like to arrange a time to meet with you."
"Wang Wei?" Song Ci was slightly taken aback, then chuckled. "I almost forgot about the Fengchao express lockers. He's been in the US for quite a while!"
"I heard they went to negotiate the import of a batch of large cargo planes."
Song Ci calculated the schedule: "Tomorrow is the meeting for the five major departments of the entertainment sector. After this meeting, all business departments will have completed their meetings."
Let's set it for the day after tomorrow. I'll have the office confirm the exact time with SF Express.
Time flies, and three days have passed in the blink of an eye.
Night fell, and the Liu residence was quiet and peaceful.
Inside the bedroom, Liu Yu had just finished showering and was wearing a loose nightgown, her long, moist hair casually draped over her shoulders.
She sat on the computer chair with her bare, fair feet curled up.
She stared intently at the screen, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she refined the operational plan for the little red car that embodied her hard work.
Next to the mouse, the phone screen is lit up, displaying the WeChat voice call interface.
Her best friend Li Lingyan's voice came through: "Yuqing, the TV series 'Day and Night' produced by Shishi's studio is absolutely amazing!"
The plot is intricately woven, the actors' performances are superb, and I couldn't stop watching! I've already watched it twice, and I highly recommend you check it out!
Liu Yuqing's eyes never left the computer screen as she casually replied, "I know. I'll definitely make time to look after I've sorted things out at the company and gotten through this busiest period."
"Is it the Red Bike project you mentioned before?"
"uh-huh?"
"That sounds interesting. Do you need my help?"
"I need it! I really need it!" Liu Yuqing finally looked away from the screen and picked up her phone.
He said excitedly, "Yanzi, come to my house tomorrow, and let's have a good talk, then you'll be a founding member of Red Bike!"
"Okay!" Li Lingyan's voice was tinged with anticipation, when suddenly, a soft exclamation came, "Huh?"
"What's wrong, Swallow?"
"Strange... Toutiao Video just pushed out a message across the entire platform saying that 'Day and Night' has surpassed 10,000 in T-Heat index, making it the first drama series in the entire platform's history to reach 10,000 points!"
"T-Heat?" Liu Yuqing looked confused. "What is that? Is it a new click-through rate calculation method?"
"Never heard of this. It doesn't seem like just a simple number of views... Let me check?"
Li Lingyan was equally puzzled. "I'll tell you when I figure it out."
At the other end of Beiping City, the iQiyi headquarters was brightly lit, and an emergency internal meeting was being held.
CEO Gong Yu sat in the main seat, his expression serious.
"Have you evaluated this T-Heat popularity score system that Toutiao Video suddenly launched? What exactly is it?"
Data manager Xiao Wang frowned, his voice filled with amazement: "President Gong, we have conducted a preliminary study on the magnetic factory's new evaluation system, and it is indeed remarkable!"
It completely surpasses the traditional, single-method approach to counting play counts!
It comprehensively incorporates user behavior data from multiple dimensions, including viewing time, playback completion rate, comments, likes, and bullet comments, and integrates them through a complex weighted algorithm.
It can more accurately and comprehensively reflect the user's true preferences and level of immersion in the content... a truly brilliant design.
Gong Yu's eyes were sharp and urgent: "I don't want to hear too much theory."
Just tell me directly, how long will it take before I see iQiyi's own popularity index system?
A hint of embarrassment flashed across Xiao Wang's face, and he stammered, not daring to give a definite answer.
"If you have any difficulties, just say so!"
Xiao Wang took a deep breath, knowing he couldn't avoid it, and had no choice but to bite the bullet and report:
"Mr. Gong, the core of the popularity value system is a weighted and fusion algorithm for multi-dimensional data, and the model building itself is extremely challenging."
The real-time recommendation algorithm currently used by the magnetics factory is significantly more advanced than ours, as well as the collaborative filtering algorithms used by the pants factory and the pharmaceutical factory. The version difference is probably quite substantial…”
He paused, stealing a glance at Gong Yu's increasingly grim expression, and continued:
"We can invest manpower to catch up with the algorithm model, but the gap between us and the magnetic factory in terms of underlying infrastructure is much larger."
The popularity index system requires powerful stream processing capabilities to collect and calculate massive amounts of user behavior data in real time.
This ensures timely aggregation and analysis of dynamically changing data, with results presented in real time. This places extremely high demands on the backend computing power.
Xiao Wang's voice lowered as he revealed the cruelest reality:
"The magnetic field plant is backed by a large supercomputer, which processes more than 20 times the amount of data per day as the company..."
Finally, the fatal blow was added: "Objectively speaking, iQiyi, including the pants factory and the pharmaceutical factory, are all video websites."
In terms of algorithm design, data integration, real-time processing, and system architecture, there is a significant generational gap between it and Toutiao Video.
"The basic conditions aren't in place, and frankly, we're powerless to change that in the short term."
After listening to this long report, Gong Yu's face was so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water.
He had a premonition of a gap, but he never imagined that the technological divide between iQiyi and Toutiao Video would be so deep and so wide.
The meeting room was silent.
Seeing the tense atmosphere and the CEO's grim expression, a vice president cautiously probed:
"Mr. Gong, the effectiveness of this popularity index system is still unknown. Perhaps we should observe it further, instead of..."
"No!" Gong Yu waved his hand sharply, his eyes unusually firm, and said decisively, "The popularity value system must be developed, and as soon as possible!"
After this system went live, the advertising rates for "Day and Night" increased by 50% compared to "Happy Everyday," which was also airing on the platform at the same time and had good viewership!
what does that mean?"
He looked around at everyone present: "In the future, brands and advertisers will require video websites to use a popularity score system that better reflects users' real interests to settle advertising fees."
Instead of clicks that are riddled with flaws and easily manipulated!
Toutiao Video has redefined the value assessment system and commercial monetization model of online dramas with a more advanced set of rules!
If we fall behind, we won't just be one step behind, but a whole era behind!
iQiyi must rise to the challenge; it cannot afford to give up and slack off just because of difficulties!
After unifying the core team's thinking, Gong Yu knew that relying solely on iQiyi's own strength would make it difficult to break the deadlock quickly.
He waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to leave the meeting room first. When he was alone in the room, he took out his phone.
Although it has always been reluctant for its parent company, Baidu, to interfere too much in the operation of iQiyi.
But now, faced with Toutiao Video and the behemoth behind it, Tengda Technology's overwhelming advantage in resources and technology, he had no choice but to seek help.
The call was quickly answered, and Li Yanhong's voice came through the receiver: "President Gong? What's the matter calling at this hour?"
"President Li!" Gong Yu got straight to the point, his tone grave, "iQiyi needs Baidu's strong support!"
"What happened? Tell me slowly."
Gong Yu used the most concise language to quickly introduce the industry shock caused by Toutiao Video's launch of the T-Heat system, as well as the technical difficulties faced by iQiyi.
After listening, Li Yanhong was surprised and doubtful, and her voice became more serious: "The gap in technology... is it really that big?"
Gong Yu sighed helplessly, with a deep sense of powerlessness: "The facts are right in front of us, and they are much more severe than we expected."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, as Li Yanhong was clearly processing the information.
A moment later, the voice sounded again, "Baidu has recently developed a smart cloud, which can open up some computing resources to iQiyi first."
At the same time, Baidu's storage, network, and computing infrastructure can be prioritized for iQiyi.
Upon hearing this, Gong Yu was overwhelmed with emotion and suddenly recalled an old news story from 2006.
When several internet giants discussed the prospects of cloud computing, Li Yanhong publicly expressed his doubts, believing it to be "old wine in new bottles".
Meanwhile, Tenda Technology has quietly invested heavily in cloud computing research and development.
Seven years have passed in the blink of an eye. Today, Baidu's intelligent cloud is just getting started.
Tenda Technology's cloud computing services have already matured and been implemented, providing powerful computing support to various sectors of society.
The time lag and the gap in technological accumulation involved are disheartening.
Li Yanhong's voice continued, interrupting his thoughts:
"I'll transfer a few more algorithm engineers from the headquarters research institute to you to prioritize solving the algorithm model problem."
We will bridge the gaps in other areas step by step.
Gong Yu knew that this was the most direct and effective support she could obtain at the moment.
He sighed heavily again, a mixture of gratitude and the weight of immense pressure: "Understood. Thank you, Mr. Li."
(End of this chapter)
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