Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 76 Discussion of Douyin's Management Structure

Unlike the previous two times, Chen Xiu had arranged to come to Yingdu Building in advance with Zhang Yiming.

When he entered ByteDance, the female secretary he had dealt with twice before led him into the office.

Stepping onto the thick carpet, Chen Xiu looked up and saw Zhang Yiming sitting on the sofa, smiling like Mickey Mouse.

He had prepared tea in advance, and when he saw Chen Xiu come in, he even got up to greet her.

"Big star, the mess you made today is no small matter!"

"You already know?"

"Oh, our Toutiao reporter is also on the scene."

"Then please have them polish the manuscript before sending it out."

Zhang Yiming and Chen Xiu gave each other a high five, then Zhang Yiming turned to the female secretary and said, "Go out and close the door for us. If any other clients come today, please postpone them."

"Okay, Mr. Zhang."

After everyone left and the door was closed, Chen Xiu went straight to the long sofa, sat down, picked up a steaming teacup, and drank it down in one gulp, thinking that a hot drink would warm her body.

"Tsk, what kind of tea is this? It's a bit bitter."

"Do you even know how to drink it? This is top-quality Pu'er tea; it needs to be savored slowly."

Zhang Yiming returned to his seat, took a sip of tea, and gestured that he wanted to drink it this way.

Chen Xiu, who came with business to attend to, had no interest in learning tea tasting from him.

"Let's get down to business! Have you read the project proposal I sent you? The new company is launching next month, any questions?"

"The project proposal is fine, and the timeline is fine too. The question is, shouldn't we discuss the company's management structure beforehand?"

Zhang Yiming said with a smile.

He was very familiar with Chen Xiu, and thus witnessed firsthand how Chen Xiu gradually sidelined Cheng Wei by controlling specific matters.

Now that the two are going to start a new company together, Zhang Yiming naturally doesn't want to become "Cheng Wei the second", so some things need to be discussed in advance.

Chen Xiu glanced at Zhang Yiming and understood his concerns. "Since you put it that way, then you already have an idea. Just go for it."

"Okay, then I'll get straight to the point. First of all, you can no longer participate in Douyin's specific management operations..."

Start at 0 frames and throw a bomb at the beginning.

Zhang Yiming's request was his bottom line, which he valued most, so he put it first. He also prepared many reasons to persuade Chen Xiu...

"OK, I agree!"

Chen Xiu nodded silently, agreeing without hesitation.

This straightforwardness caught Zhang Yiming off guard. "Huh?! Don't you want to hear the reason?"

"Damn, do you think this is my first time starting a business?"

Chen Xiu chuckled, looked at Zhang Yiming, and then explained her reason.

“Just a few hours ago, I announced that I would be entering the film and television industry as an actor. This means that I won’t have much time to be involved in business management.”

"To put it another way, if I were to take on an important position during the company's early, rapid growth phase, when the people below me are working overtime to write code, and then I see on Weibo that a female celebrity is trying to drag me into a scandal, that would definitely be a negative impact."

"Therefore, I'd rather just be a director and not get involved in the day-to-day management. I only need to attend important meetings. That's the best thing for the company."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yiming visibly breathed a sigh of relief, then thought for a moment before making further requests to Chen Xiu.

“We can’t completely ignore things. The plan you gave us only covers the initial phase. We still need to study the later development carefully. I think you can still serve as the company’s chief strategist, mainly responsible for the company’s financing business, just like you did at Didi.”

"This position doesn't require me to be in the office regularly, and the impact isn't too significant, so I can do it, but..."

Chen Xiu suddenly stopped and looked at Zhang Yiming, as if to indicate that what she was about to say was important. Zhang Yiming did indeed look over, and the teacup he was holding stopped in mid-air.

Having prepared himself emotionally, Chen Xiu smiled and made his request: "The CEO of Douyin needs to be one of my people."

"You want to appoint someone as CEO?"

"Yes, the company's product development department will be jointly established by both of us. You can arrange the specific positions in the company's operations, human resources, finance, legal affairs, etc. The CEO position will be filled by someone from my side."

After saying that, Chen Xiu picked up the tea that Zhang Yiming had just poured for him and took a small sip.

Ugh, it still tastes bitter, but it's a little better than before.

Upon hearing Chen Xiu's request, Zhang Yiming realized that this power struggle within the management structure was a game of power, with both sides having their own bottom lines.

Operations, human resources, finance, legal affairs... these specific job positions are like the operating system of a company, and the CEO that Chen Xiu is leaving is the helmsman of the company.

With this allocation, both parties can maintain a balance of power in the company.

It's reasonable that no one needs to worry about becoming "Cheng Wei the Second," except...

Who are you planning to appoint as CEO?

Zhang Yiming raised his doubts, stating that not just anyone can be a CEO, and if the candidate proposed by Chen Xiu is not qualified, he will still oppose it.

"Didi's current COO (Chief Operating Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is Su Xiao."

Chen Xiu said confidently that although Douyin will grow into a behemoth in the future, it was just a small company in the early stages.

Su Xiao is responsible for daily operations and finance at Didi, and sometimes also for human resources recruitment. She is fully qualified to serve as CEO.

More importantly, Chen Xiu believed in her.

"You can even take her away?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, no, she really can."

Zhang Yiming gave Chen Xiu a strange look, but couldn't raise any objections to the choice.

After discussing the management structure, the two then talked about Douyin's early development direction. The goal was very clear: to focus on sharing short video content under 15 seconds.

The copyright issues involving videos, music, etc., will need to be resolved by Zhang Yiming.

Chen Xiu could also solve the problem through Tencent's IP resource library, but in that case, Tencent would probably have to take a significant share of the early angel and Series A funding rounds.

Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming were not keen on this situation, so they chose to rely on their own efforts.

The two talked from noon until the afternoon, and the tea was refilled several times before they finally finalized the preliminary development plan.

"OK, it's settled then!"

Zhang Yiming got up from the sofa, stretched lazily, and said, "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"No, you eat it yourself."

After stretching, Chen Xiu declined Zhang Yiming's invitation and did not choose to stay for a free meal.

Just as Chen Xiu was about to leave, Zhang Yiming, who was looking at his phone, suddenly called out to him.

"Show, your news is fresh off the press."

"So fast?"

"Yeah. What happened in the morning will appear in the afternoon. I'm looking at the Toutiao app. It should appear on Weibo even earlier. Tsk, number one on the trending list, you're famous now."

(End of this chapter)