ps: Thanks to all the great contributors for their support. As usual, we'll be taking Saturday and Sunday off and will resume with more updates from Monday to Friday next week.
Shi Zhu was enthusiastically looking to compete with Jiangnan, to battle it out in Jiangnan's most得意 (proud) blind box market, and felt confident he would win.
At the same time, in another market, QQ, which had been competing with Jiangnan for over a year, was also brewing a comeback.
"Boss, I'm confident that once our QQ Groups and QQ File Transfer features are launched simultaneously, we'll definitely be able to reclaim the market share we've lost!" Zhang Zhidong confidently assured "Little Ma Ge".
After the successive releases of QQ Level and oo Level, the two companies had not engaged in fierce head-on competition for a good half a year, each operating their companies steadily.
This might seem like a good thing, but unlike Huang He, who was enjoying widespread success across the country, securing a $1 billion loan, expanding in the US, and even launching the Huang He Awards, Little Ma Ge's life was quite challenging.
As the investment money from Masayoshi Son was nearly depleted, QQ was once again in a state of financial distress. If it weren't for the fact that oo wasn't making any new moves that required QQ to follow suit, QQ might have already been crushed by financial pressure.
However, Little Ma Ge hadn't been idle during this past half-year. He had been commuting between Beijing and Shenzhen, dedicating half his energy to Lianzhong Game Center, driving traffic to it through various means, and fully integrating QQ with Lianzhong Game.
Through these efforts, Lianzhong Game had at least stabilized. Moreover, the paid membership of Lianzhong Game had finally provided QQ with a certain amount of income. At the very least, thanks to the efforts of the finance department, QQ had miraculously turned a profit in the latter half of the year, earning nearly 20 million RMB, which greatly pleased Masayoshi Son.
Of course, in reality, QQ was barely breaking even, so QQ was in urgent need of new financing.
In fact, Little Ma Ge was already in negotiations with over a dozen investment companies, and QQ was about to undergo its second round of financing. To secure more funds in this round and launch a counterattack against oo, Little Ma Ma needed a decisive victory on the main battlefield.
After all, in the past half-year, although QQ's total user base had grown, its market share had significantly declined.
In early 2002, QQ held a commanding 93% market share in the instant messaging software market, making it the undisputed king.
However, by the end of 2002, this market share had dropped to 51%, only 1% ahead of oo. It was possible that this advantage would be lost completely before 2003.
Losing over 40% of the market in a single year was a complete rout. Consequently, the capital market was not optimistic about QQ. Coupled with the strength of oo's parent company, Tengda's second round of financing was proving very difficult. Little Ma Ge truly needed a significant victory.
However, Little Ma Ge had been preparing for this. Tengda's technical department hadn't been idle during the past six months. With Zhang Zhidong's strong advocacy and Little Ma Ge's full support, Tengda's technical and operations departments had developed two brand-new features.
These were QQ Groups and QQ File Transfer.
These features, which seem commonplace today, were considered groundbreaking innovations in 2002. They were originally scheduled to appear in 2005, but were rushed out in 2002, indicating just how desperate Tengda and Little Ma Ge were.
Little Ma Ge's intention was simple: to leverage the launch of QQ Groups to regain popularity, increase market share, facilitate the second round of financing, obtain more funds, develop more features, and fight oo to the end.
Surprisingly, QQ had actually gained the initiative this time, taking back control of the battlefield for the first time in a year and a half.
Three days after the launch of QQ Groups and QQ File Transfer, QQ excitedly announced that 100,000 new QQ Groups had been created overnight, QQ files had been sent over 150,000 times, and user activity had increased by 20%.
Indeed, QQ Groups and QQ File Transfer were extremely crucial features for an instant messaging software.
Upon their release, these two features attracted a large number of users.
It's important to note that in the current instant messaging software market, due to intense competition, users didn't just use QQ or oo; most people used both simultaneously. When using their computers, they would have both instant messaging applications running to avoid missing any messages from friends.
When the market share of the two software was almost equal, the proportion of friends on each platform was also similar, so people had to run both applications concurrently for daily chats.
With the launch of QQ Groups and QQ File Transfer, and given how fun and practical these features were, a large number of users began to lean towards QQ. The data for QQ suddenly saw a surge, and after a year and a half of frustration, a sense of joy spread throughout Tengda.
Even more joyous was the fact that Jiangnan, facing this situation, had no reaction or countermeasure, completely caught off guard.
Huang He, who had finally found a moment to rest, received a report from Leng Zhimeng. "QQ's offensive has been quite aggressive lately. We've fallen behind!"
"It's all your fault. As CEO, you went to watch the matches and dumped all your work on others, so we only found out about this three days later. Leng Zhimeng, what do you think I should do to punish you?" Huang He playfully threw the report in his hand at Leng Zhimeng's head.
"Whatever you want, I indeed made a mistake!" Leng Zhimeng said with a dejected expression. She was also frustrated. She had been too engrossed in the matches lately that she had completely neglected work-related matters.
"Then I'll punish you by not allowing you to accompany me to Korea for the WCG!" Huang He said with a smile.
"No way! If you punish me like that, I'll resign immediately and you can find someone else to be CEO!" Leng Zhimeng immediately exploded.
"Then I'll punish you by tutoring Zhitong and Zhiyuan for a month!" Huang He countered.
"You might as well kill me then!" Leng Zhimeng sighed dramatically.
"I don't care, you have to choose one of the two punishments. Even if you resign, the punishment will still continue. I'll specifically instruct Mom to keep an eye on you!" Huang He said calmly.
"Then I'll choose to tutor them," Leng Zhimeng made the most desperate decision.
"Oh, and you should probably fire your secretary!" Huang He added.
"Why?" Leng Zhimeng's expression changed. She quite liked her secretary and had always had a good relationship with her; she was reluctant to part with her.
"Four days ago, our mole within Tengda reported that Tengda was going to launch QQ File Transfer and QQ Groups. The report was sent to you, but your secretary intercepted it and didn't inform you."
"Two days ago, oo officially announced the news of QQ File Transfer and QQ Groups, and then made them available the next day. Your secretary still failed to report this news to you. Do you think such a secretary can be kept?" Huang He asked rhetorically.
"But it's not her fault! I told her that I would be focusing on watching the matches during this period and asked her not to bother me with such matters, but to let the company executives discuss the countermeasures... Oh, and I also asked her to give it to you, brother-in-law. Didn't she report it?" Leng Zhimeng said hastily.
"She did give it to me, but she's your secretary, not mine!" Huang He slammed the table forcefully, startling Leng Zhimeng. "Even if I gave such an order, if Hu Jing received such important news, I think even if I scolded her, she would have found a way to tell me. This is a top priority related to corporate competition. If a secretary can't even distinguish between such matters, how can she be a company president's secretary?"
"In any case, this secretary cannot be kept!" Huang He stated decisively.
"Brother-in-law, this is all my fault. Can you not punish her?" Leng Zhimeng pleaded.
"No!" Huang He shook his head firmly.
"Then can you not fire her? Can you transfer her to another position?" Leng Zhimeng asked again.
"No, she must be fired. I want to use her as a warning to others," Huang He said very concisely. "Zhimeng, don't blame your brother-in-law for being ruthless. Blame yourself for now holding such a large company, with thousands of employees relying on you for their livelihood, yet your attitude is so lax."
"Brother-in-law, if I want to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, the monkey is not someone else, it's you. Therefore, she must be fired. There is no room for negotiation!"
"Then at least... at least... at least from the parent company..."
"No, you must personally announce the news of her dismissal," Huang He said expressionlessly.
"Then I'm not doing this CEO job anymore!" Leng Zhimeng started crying.
"You can!" Huang He nodded. "Your brother-in-law doesn't want to force you. If you can't figure out the logic behind this, then you are indeed not suitable to stay in this position!"
Leng Zhimeng ran away crying. Seeing her retreating figure, Huang He was slightly lost in thought.
"Am I being too harsh? This was part of my plan!" At this moment, Huang He began to doubt his decision. "Never mind, if she can't figure it out, then she's really not suitable to continue as president! I'm doing this for her own good, so she can be a happy game girl!"
The next day, Leng Zhimeng issued an internal memo announcing her decision to dismiss her secretary, along with a self-criticism document.
In this document, she admitted that due to her recent personal interests, she had neglected company management and failed to respond promptly, allowing the competitor to gain an advantageous position. She apologized for her willfulness and work errors, stating that she would never make similar mistakes again and asking all company employees to supervise her.
"She has finally grown up!" Huang He sighed upon reading the letter.
However, he now had to worry that his sister-in-law might not be as close to him anymore.