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

Chapter 761 On the List: Question Marks and Exclamation Marks
As the cooperation initiatives between Bi'an and Baidu are gradually implemented.

Baidu's internal atmosphere has been renewed: there are more people who work diligently, fewer instances of shirking responsibility, and all employees are striving wholeheartedly for the company's goals, just like the company's stock price, which is rising steadily.

Many employees have also found that their benefits are even better than before: the workload has been reduced, their work schedules are more regular, and even afternoon tea has become a standard feature.

For a moment, Baidu employees were somewhat bewildered: were they at Baidu or on the other side?

Behind this is Chen Mo using technological cooperation as leverage to push Baidu to align its employee benefits with those of the other side.

Li Yanhong readily accepted this advice because practice had proven it to be effective: to make the horse run, first make sure it is well-fed.

The "wolf culture" he once championed within the company now appears to be nothing more than a short-sighted act driven by a desire for quick success and instant benefits—a wolf may be fierce in a sprint, but a steed ultimately reigns supreme in a long-distance race.

Of course, the most crucial factor is the complementary resources of the two companies: Baidu has technology but lacks funds, while Biyan has both technology and funds, making it clear who will take the lead and who will follow in the cooperation.

Currently, the market share in China is as follows: Baidu Union has captured 72% of the market, Alibaba's Shenma Search ranks third with a 14% share after merging with Sogou, and 360 Search, which was severely damaged by Robin Li, has only 8% of the market left.

The marriage of the top two duopolies has caused great suffering for the mistresses in the industry.

Zhou Hongyi, the head of 360, and Liang Jie, the head of Shenma Search, then tried to communicate about the matter, but both were at a loss and felt extremely anxious.

These two giants are already powerful: Baidu has accumulated a massive amount of data over ten years, while the other side possesses a huge amount of social data and AI technology reserves.

Currently, it seems that intelligent question answering combined with search will become the future trend.

Chen Mo and Li Yanhong are both people Zhou Hongyi has truly fought with, so she has a lot of experience with them. The former is a marketing genius, capable of playing all sorts of marketing methods, whether they are legitimate or illegitimate; the latter is a technical expert, and in recent years, not to mention other companies, none of them have organized any world-class technical conferences.

Just thinking about this dream lineup makes his legs tremble; he simply can't fight.

During this time, Zhou Hongyi called Liang Jie of Shenma, asking, "Want to cooperate?"

"it is good!"

With just a few words, the two companies finalized their cooperation. In the face of a harsh winter in the search market, sticking together is a viable option for survival.

Of course, they weren't completely without options. After some whispering, the two decided to secretly tattle on each other.

In early September, 360 and Alibaba officially announced their cooperation in the search business.

First, Baidu and Alibaba joined forces, and now 360 and Alibaba have teamed up.

This made Bing, which ranked fifth in the market, blink and feel a little lonely.

In fact, Microsoft had already planned to shrink its business in China. CEO Satya Nadella thought, "WTF, since Lu Qi is already gone anyway, I might as well take this opportunity to announce that we will simply shut down our business in China and lay off all employees."

However, before leaving, he decided to teach Chinese companies a lesson, to show them what humane layoffs are like. He figured he couldn't beat Baidu, so he had to get his revenge when it came to layoffs.

A few days later, Microsoft China's official website posted a message stating that "Microsoft will adjust its business in China due to the needs of its globalization strategy."

Although Microsoft is a large company, it is actually shutting down a small business within its content division. Moreover, Bing itself is not well-known in China, so this news should not have caused any stir.

Until the laid-off employee boasted about the "extraordinary wealth" compensation package.

Netizens were surprised and asked, "Huh? What's going on?"

They recognized both N and 8, but when put together, they seemed so unfamiliar.

N+8=?
Why have they never seen this formula before?
This news was subsequently confirmed by former Microsoft employees.

Some long-term employees even posted photos showing that they received 70 yuan in compensation over 20 months, plus 7.2 yuan in unemployment benefits over 24 months.

This comparison seems rather conventional compared to Baidu's previous layoff turmoil.

If it weren't for Microsoft's move, everyone would be fine, but with the N+8 thing, people's resolve is wavering.

Many people left comments below.

"We must be wary of foreign companies; capitalism has never given up its desire to destroy us."

"How could Microsoft be so mean? I just want to know where they're hiring right now. I'm looking for companies that hire and then lay off employees."

"I hereby declare that, in terms of severance pay alone, Microsoft is the clear winner, even the other side pales in comparison."

"I am a lawyer, and I strongly condemn Microsoft's disregard for the overall situation and malicious compensation practices. For any Microsoft employees who wish to arbitrate, I will provide free legal aid and will definitely help you obtain your legal rights of N+1! [doge emoji]"

Amidst discussions among working professionals on job forums, and the daily ranking of companies' good and bad points, Microsoft unusually surpassed its counterpart across the board, becoming the top company of the day.

"Monopoly? Have we manipulated market prices or squeezed out competitors? Look at how much Baidu has reduced its commercialization. Biyan Search is still operating at a loss, throwing tens or hundreds of billions of yuan into it every year. Are they blind? Who has ever seen a company that loses money to engage in monopoly?"
"The Chinese search market is so big, and our share is so small. Some of our competitors should really reflect on whether they haven't worked hard enough. They're just making trouble out of nothing." Chen Mo said angrily in a Northeastern dialect during an interview with a female reporter after a public event.

He simply couldn't understand how the cooperation between Bi'an and Baidu, which was based on the original intention of serving the public, could be seen as suspected monopoly by some departments.

He then handed over the anti-monopoly investigation to the group's legal department. He said it wasn't a big problem, and even if it escalated, Black Rain could handle it.

The following day, a media outlet published a headline that read, "Chen Mo, Chairman of the Beyond Group, Makes Outrageous Remarks: If Competitors Don't Work Hard, Monopoly Is Nothing!"

Chen Mo was completely bewildered when he saw the report; it had completely misinterpreted his original intention, showcasing the charm of journalism once again.

What, are you guys not afraid of death? Or am I too weak to lift a knife?
He immediately ordered Chen Tong to thoroughly investigate the matter.

With its strong information resources, the investigation report was quickly released: a female reporter from a third-party media outlet was dismissed for publishing a false report late at night, taking advantage of a loophole in the company's review process, because she was dissatisfied with Chen Mo's inappropriate remarks on Weibo.

The media executive even personally visited to apologize.
Since the employee involved has been dealt with, let's leave it at that.

However, Chen Mo did not meet with the person in charge, but instead sent his subordinates to handle it. He was just a little helpless, "What kind of mess is this?"

Regarding the allegations of monopolistic practices, Chen Mo could guess who it was even with his toes. But in his eyes, this was no different from the female reporter's case. The online media was on his side; he could just engage in a war of words.

If he's really serious and makes a move on his mistresses, then he'll truly confirm his monopoly claim and play right into their hands.

However, Chen Mo was still criticized by the Tianji Pavilion members for his public remarks a couple of days ago. "When you're out and about, you still need to pay attention to your public image."

"Okay, I'll remember. I'll definitely do it next time." Chen Mo agreed on the surface, but when he returned to his office, he pouted. He understood the reasoning, but if he could change, he wouldn't be Chen.

After all these years of hard work, isn't it all for the sake of being able to speak freely?

Just then, his phone rang. Chen Mo picked it up and saw it was Brother Li. He immediately answered.
"Hey, Brother Li? It's nothing, no need to worry about small things. Just focus on running Baidu well, and the benefits of cooperating with the other side will become clear in the future. Okay, I'll keep in touch anytime."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Mo opened the "Other Shore" folder on his computer's D drive.

Inside, documents named after major internet companies are neatly arranged: Xiaomi, JD.com, DJI, SF Express, Pangdonglai, and even Tencent.

He right-clicked and created a new document, renamed it "Baidu," and pasted in the current and next three-year cooperation framework.

Unlike other documents, Tencent and Baidu documents are marked with question marks—these question marks will take time to disappear.

These documents document the development of each company, outlining the vast business empire of the "Other Shore Group".

Of course, this only includes information on core allied forces, which he personally maintains and will regularly sync with the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.

The subsidiaries and businesses under the other side are categorized into social, media, cultural and creative industries, etc., and are organized by Tianjige. Each category has a few to dozens of companies, which are intertwined and dazzling.

With allies come competitors, which falls under a separate category.

The lineup is equally impressive: ofo, Sina Weibo, Didi, Meituan, Fuyao, and Lenovo. At the top are domestic and international giants such as Alibaba, Huawei, Tesla, Microsoft, and Facebook.

The question mark following HW suggests that the conflict between HW and Xiaomi may not have been as intense this time due to the existence of the other side. However, mobile phones are mobile phones, and it is uncertain whether the two sides will meet again in the future when they change battlefields in car manufacturing.

In fact, Tencent and Baidu were originally included in this list, but after several years of observation, it was found that some of their "competitors" still have merits.

Alibaba was the only company followed by an exclamation mark, because Chen Mo believed that the company was terminally ill, especially since Jack Ma's "I am the only one who is sober in a world of drunks" attitude made him give up any illusions.

Since there's no hope, we should respect his fate, but we need to find an opportunity to put pressure on him later.

After organizing these documents, Chen Mo took care of some other tasks and then took a break from his busy schedule.

Chen Mo opened the Zhiyan Community to relax. When he saw the news about Microsoft's N+8 layoff compensation, he couldn't help but smile. It's always good to have someone take the lead.

The future of all businesses on the other side is bright, and there is absolutely no need for layoffs.

If the company is laying off employees due to business restructuring, it might follow Microsoft's example. This is essentially spending money to improve its reputation and reduce public opinion risks, which can also be considered a marketing strategy.

As for why some companies don't operate this way, it's simply because they're giving away huge sums of money to their employees, which some people perceive as a sin.

The "cancer" that Baidu eliminated was returned to Alibaba like a treasure, which was an unexpected gain.

He was even somewhat eager to see how Hailong would perform at Alibaba.

However, this also proves the saying that birds of a feather flock together, and that the wicked will be tormented by the wicked.

Baidu is essentially supplying talent to Alibaba, which can be considered a good thing for society.
(End of this chapter)