Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 1004 Hongmen Banquet

To all users, creators and partners:

Over the past year, the TT global community has once again demonstrated the power of connection and expression with its amazing creativity and resilience.

We have always upheld the mission of "inspiring creativity and bringing joy" and are working with you to build the other side of the Internet.

Here, we would like to share the platform's key progress and future outlook over the past fiscal year.

I. Global User Growth and Community Vitality
Monthly active users (MAU): Currently, the number has exceeded 14 billion globally, with a significant year-on-year growth of 56.3%.

TT has become a truly global social platform, with its user base continuing to deepen in core markets such as North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

User engagement: Global users consistently spend over 90 minutes per day on the platform, demonstrating its unparalleled appeal and user stickiness.

Creator ecosystem: The number of monthly active creators worldwide has reached hundreds of millions.

We continuously empower creators to turn their passion into a career through creator funds, creator tool upgrades, and commercialization initiatives.

II. Financial Performance: TT contributed $233 billion in revenue to ByteDance in the previous fiscal year (2018), making it the core engine of the company's revenue growth.

Revenue sources:

Advertising business: As the absolute mainstay, innovative advertising formats such as feed ads, brand special effects challenges, and TopView are favored by global brands.

Investment and Future: A significant portion of the revenue is reinvested in technology research and development, data center construction, security and compliance systems, and creator incentives to ensure the platform's long-term healthy development.

III. Annual Strategic Priorities and Future Outlook
Globalization of e-commerce: TT-Shop is about to be launched, which will replicate Douyin's successful e-commerce model from China to more markets, especially North America, aiming to become the preferred platform for global users to discover and buy their favorite products.

Continued leadership in artificial intelligence and recommendation algorithms: Investing heavily in research and development of next-generation AI technologies to provide a more personalized and secure content experience, and developing innovative AIGC tools to empower creators.

Enterprise Services: We continuously improve our advertising platform and data analytics tools to help brands of all sizes achieve their marketing goals.

Safety and trust: these are the cornerstones of everything we do.

We continuously upgrade our content moderation system to protect the safety of minors and enhance our data privacy protection measures in compliance with local laws and regulations, in order to earn the long-term trust of users and regulatory agencies worldwide.

Finally, we anticipate that the upcoming expansion of TT-SHOP's e-commerce business, through live-streaming sales and short-video shopping, will successfully create a closed loop of "content-interest-purchase," resulting in a several-fold increase in the platform's e-commerce GMV (gross merchandise volume).

This will further boost local economic growth and consumer demand, with the North American market alone expected to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in market potential over the next two to three years.
Admittedly, the realization of all these visions rests on one premise—"if TT can still grow freely."

This financial report is like a boulder thrown into a calm lake.

The vast prospects depicted—especially TT Shop's multi-billion dollar plan in the North American market—instantly ignited widespread interest from Wall Street to ordinary users.

"If TT successfully goes public, its scale will approach that of Facebook and Twitter, or even surpass them."

A Silicon Valley venture capitalist commented on CNBC's morning show, "Unlike Ant Group last year, TT's business model is a real money-printing machine that has been proven in the global market."

Even the usually cautious Barron's wrote: "This financial report makes everyone realize that killing TT could be tantamount to destroying a trillion-dollar market that was about to emerge."

"The trend was exactly as I expected." Mr. Dong turned off the TV, a cold smile playing on his lips. "Zhou Shouzi is indeed something else."

"What should we do next?"

“There is an old Chinese saying: ‘To catch a thief, first catch the king.’” Mr. Dong turned around, his eyes sharp. “Since he can stir up trouble all by himself, then let’s build a stage and invite him to take the stage alone.”

"You mean... targeting Zhou Shou Capitalist?" "At the end of the month, hold a hearing in an official capacity, and specifically request that he attend alone."

The entire event will be broadcast live globally.

Under intense questioning, no one can remain completely tight-lipped.

As long as he shows even the slightest weakness, we can seize the opportunity. Even if public opinion boils over, not even God can save TT from being forcibly acquired. I'm telling you!

"Should we only call him? Doesn't that seem..."

“I know, there are over a hundred of us. If we can’t even out-argue him, then we might as well all resign!” Mr. Dong said decisively. “Go and make the arrangements.”

"Yes!"

In mid-April, although the first phase of strategic goals had been achieved and the contradictions had been successfully shifted, Zhou Shouzi knew that the real storm had just begun.

However, the speed and directness of the retaliation exceeded his expectations—a legally binding official document was delivered to his office, requiring him to appear alone at a congressional hearing on a specified date.

This was clearly not part of their original plan.

But this matter is clearly not one that can be refused, otherwise it will give others a handle to use against us.

Shouzi Chew and his team officially replied, confirming that they accepted the summons and would attend on time.

The hearing quickly became a hot topic worldwide, as TT, as a product at the center of controversy, had attracted the attention of countless people.

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal published several in-depth reports outlining the allegations TT faced regarding data security, revealing more details, and detailing TT's seemingly flawless response.

Financial media outlets such as Bloomberg and Reuters focused on the impact of this meeting on TT's business prospects and the market changes that different outcomes might bring.

Because of the local tendency to glorify individual heroism, other media outlets portrayed Shouzi Chew as a "lone hero" who faced dire circumstances and fought for freedom and faith.

The report emphasized his past experience and background: a Singaporean, a Harvard MBA, and a former Goldman Sachs and DST employee. He also served as the CFO of Beyond Group, leading its global strategy. Now, as the CEO of Beyond International, he has made significant contributions to Beyond Group's internationalization and enjoys the deep trust of its founder, Chen Mo.

Having been appointed CEO of TT in a time of crisis, he will become Chen Mo's spokesperson and face an "impossible mission".

CNN, CNBC, and other television networks urgently broadcast special programs on the Tristan Thompson (TT) hearing, analyzing the strategies that Shou Zi Chew would adopt and predicting that he would definitely emphasize TT's independence and its contributions to the socio-economic situation and creators at the hearing.

Although the analysis perspectives differed, all media outlets hailed this hearing as TT's life-or-death battle.

The tone of the reports from China was different; they criticized the other side's domineering behavior and supported TT in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests.

While official media reports were relatively precise in their wording, they maintained a consistent tone, emphasizing that businesses operating in accordance with laws and regulations should be protected by local governments, not sanctioned, regardless of where they are in the world.

These reports from domestic media outlets have also drawn the attention of the Chinese public to the progress of this matter.

The online discussion was generally characterized by a shared sense of indignation, with people empathizing with TT and Zhou Shouzi's situation.

The online discussions and the criticisms from official media closely matched, creating a synergistic effect of official stance and public sentiment response.

At the eye of the storm, TT, ByteDance, and Beyond Group have held several rounds of emergency transoceanic meetings overnight.

Let's prepare for this 'trap' at the end of the month!
(End of this chapter)