Counterattack starts with controlling probability

However, the outside world knows nothing about this.

But participants in the capital market are generally accustomed to voting with their feet and running away if something is wrong.

Tiktalk’s crisis came faster than Li Hao expected.

Since Zhang Jingchen's disappearance, the stock market has reacted like a hurricane.

The company's stock plummeted 30% in a day, social media was flooded with negative news, investors withdrew their funds, and panic broke out at shareholder meetings.

For TikTalk, the problem is not just Zhang's surprising disappearance, but more importantly, this once popular social platform now looks like it has lost its soul.

Li Hao received calls almost one after another.

The first is Anna, the vice president of TikTalk in the United States. Her voice is full of anxiety:

"Lee, we're in a completely out-of-control situation! The company's stock price has dropped over 30%, and investors are demanding an explanation."

"Our entire PR team was paralyzed. The media kept hyping up all sorts of possibilities surrounding Mr. Zhang's disappearance, and everyone was speculating whether there was a deeper conspiracy."

Immediately afterwards, Li Hao received a notice from Tiktalk’s board of directors, asking him to come forward as soon as possible to temporarily take over the company’s management in place of Zhang Jingren.

This took him by surprise, but he wasn't unprepared.

After all, the foundation of his cooperation with Zhang Jingren was already solid, and he had held important positions in many international investment companies, so in theory he had the ability to take over corporate crises.

But it all happened too fast, it seemed a little too sudden.

Li Hao did not rush to make a decision, but began to think deeply about how to deal with this crisis.

After all, Tiktalk is not just an ordinary social platform, the interest chain behind it is extremely huge.

The pressure from shareholders, the panic from investors, the loss of users, all these factors are like time bombs that could explode at any time.

He decided to go to Tiktalk's headquarters in the United States in person to meet with the company's management and learn about the specific situation.

Anna and other senior executives seemed to be waiting for Li Hao's decision, because they knew very well that Tiktalk was facing a moment of life and death.

On the way to Tiktalk headquarters, Li Hao was thinking about how to calm the public's anxiety through public relations.

He knew that if the stock price fell further, it could trigger a collective reaction from shareholders and investors and even become a global news event.

The media's opinions, whether supporting the "conspiracy theory" about Zhang's shocking disappearance or speculating about the uncertainty of TikTalk's future, will only exacerbate investors' panic.

As soon as he arrived at the headquarters, Li Hao convened an emergency high-level meeting.

Tiktalk's Vice President Anna, Technical Director Harvey, Marketing Director Catherine and other management members were present.

"Li Hao, the company's image has completely collapsed. Mr. Zhang's disappearance not only makes the outside world think that we are 'groping in the dark', but also severely hits the morale of internal employees." Catherine spoke first, with a hint of helplessness in her tone.

"Yes, especially shareholders, who are starting to demand a definite solution from us," Harvey added. "Shareholders no longer trust us, investors have started to withdraw their capital, and the company's financial situation is very tight."

Li Hao clearly realized that this was not just a short-term public relations crisis, but also a comprehensive imbalance in the company's core strategy and management.

He said calmly: "The first thing we need to do is stabilize market confidence. Secondly, I think we need to immediately launch an emergency response measure to restore the outside world's trust in TikTalk."

In the next few days, Li Hao did begin to adjust various levels inside and outside the company based on his investment and corporate management experience.

Li Hao understood that in order to stabilize the stock price, he must first calm the media's anxiety and public uneasiness.

So he began to contact several important financial media and social platforms and developed a series of public relations strategies.

The goal is clear - to let the outside world know that Tiktalk's management is still in control of the situation and that the issues behind Zhang Jingchen's disappearance are being addressed.

He personally came forward and accepted interviews from several media outlets, during which he emphasized TikTalk's achievements in technological innovation and market expansion, and put forward some future strategic adjustments and development plans.

Li Hao cleverly steered the topic to "opportunities in crisis" rather than "a company out of control," and gradually changed the direction of media coverage by emphasizing the cohesion and determination of the company's team.

However, Li Hao's public relations team does not simply adopt this simple "information control" strategy.

They also communicated with major shareholders to ensure they understood the challenges TikTalk was facing and reached a tentative agreement.

That is, in the coming months, shareholders and investors will receive more frequent company operation reports and progress reports to ensure information transparency.

At the same time, Li Hao also decided to review Tiktalk's internal organizational structure.

He had in-depth discussions with key managers such as Anna, Harvey, and Catherine on the company's development direction and staffing, and proposed some necessary adjustment plans.

Although these adjustments may be shocking to employees, Li Hao believes that these measures are necessary for the long-term healthy development of the company.

He suggested a round of senior leadership changes and conducted in-depth discussions with some technical experts and market strategists, striving to speed up product innovation and market promotion in the short term and attract more active users.

"We need to change more than just external public opinion; we need to inspire new momentum internally," Li Hao said. "This isn't just about responding to crises; it's about finding our future in an uncertain market."

Although Li Hao temporarily took over the management of Tiktalk, he knew that this crisis could not be completely resolved through public relations and internal adjustments alone.

The void left by Zhang's surprising disappearance needs to be filled by someone, and that person cannot be just himself.

So, Li Hao decided to take the initiative to contact Zhang Jingren’s previous team members and work more closely with them.

Harvey is the technical director of Tiktalk and Zhang Jingren's most trusted technical partner, while Anna is one of the company's strategic and management core members.

Li Hao began to have in-depth discussions with them on the company's future development direction, especially on user data security, algorithm optimization, and global expansion plans, and conducted some intense brainstorming.

Through communication and cooperation with these team members, Li Hao gradually restored the stability of the company's management and promoted new product launches and technological breakthroughs.

He knew that this was only a temporary solution to the crisis and the real challenge was still to come.

However, Li Hao also realized that Tiktalk’s real crisis was not just the plummeting stock price and investors’ panic.

Just as Zhang Jingren said, the so-called real controller needs a new "puppet".

But he is not willing to be just a puppet.

So he decided to rely on the power of the team.

However, after all this trouble, the Tiktalk crisis has almost consumed all their energy in the past few weeks.

Especially after Zhang Jingren disappeared, Li Hao traveled frequently to coordinate all parties to deal with this sudden storm.

"As I told you before, the reason behind Zhang Jingren's disappearance is obviously not a simple personal problem." Li Hao's tone was calm, but with a suppressed tension.

He paused for a moment, glanced at everyone's face, and said:

"At present, we have no clues to determine who the real controller of TikTalk is. All investigations point to a fog of mystery. We have no idea who is operating behind the scenes and what they want to achieve."

Xu Lei frowned. "In the months before Zhang Jingren disappeared, TikTalk did undergo a number of internal adjustments. On the surface, these seemed like normal strategic changes, but many of the decisions seemed a bit abrupt."

"For example, they once rapidly expanded overseas without the corresponding technical or management capabilities to support it. This expansion method was clearly a desperate attempt to find someone to take over."

"However, the most crucial thing is that TikTalk's capital flows have always been opaque," Chen Kai added. "Information we've gathered through various channels indicates that Zhang Jingren frequently contacted several international capital giants in the final stages of his career."

"In particular, there were some subtle changes in TikTalk's equity structure during the period before his disappearance, but we are unable to fully confirm the specific content of these changes."

Li Hao nodded: "In other words, Zhang Jingren may not be the mastermind of the entire situation. There is a deeper force behind it controlling everything."

He paused and took a deep breath:

"The focus now is not to blindly search for Zhang Jingren, but to find out who the real mastermind behind this is."

Liu Xia glanced at Li Hao, then slowly spoke, "If that's the case, the person behind this must be extremely powerful. Not only can they control TikTalk's shareholders and investors, but they can also easily manipulate the direction of media opinion."

"What's worse is that the financial chain of this person or group may have already infiltrated us, and any public investigation may alert the enemy."

Li Hao was silent for a while, and felt deeply in agreement with Liu Xia's words.

The current situation is indeed more complicated than they expected.

Tiktalk’s crisis is no longer just a business problem for the company, but more like a global capital game. Li Hao can increasingly feel some invisible forces behind it.

Ji Shuqiang adjusted his glasses slightly and whispered, "However, since we can't find the mastermind behind this, our best strategy is to keep TikTalk operating normally in the public eye for the time being to prevent a larger-scale capital flight or more intense media criticism."

"After all, we now hold the 'stability' card."

Li Hao smiled and said, "That's right, stability is everything, especially when there is not enough information."

"In the next few days, we need to focus on clarifying TikTalk's management structure and strategic adjustments to avoid internal management from losing control. Perhaps we need more time to adjust."

Xu Lei suddenly interrupted: "Actually, we can take this opportunity to launch a 'fake death' strategy."

"By creating some false information, we can create the illusion that TikTalk is still operating normally after Zhang Jingchan's disappearance, so as to appease investors and the media. At the same time, we can quietly begin to investigate the forces behind the capital manipulation."

"Fake your death?" Li Hao raised an eyebrow. "Is this a 'test the waters' strategy?"

"Yes, that's understandable." Xu Lei nodded. "Through proper crisis management, we can divert public opinion to less important issues, giving us time to gather more evidence and expose the person behind the scenes."

"As for capital operations, we can also use some 'external experts' and 'consultants' to stabilize shareholders' sentiment."

Li Hao thought about it for a while and decided it was a good idea. "Okay, then let's try this strategy. It will at least allow us to maintain stability in the short term."

He looked at the others. "Also, can we find more clues about Zhang Jingren's previous partners? For example, the international capital giants he had contact with, or his itinerary in the last few months before his disappearance."

"We're investigating, but it's hard to find substantial evidence." Chen Kai frowned. "Based on the intelligence we have so far, it seems Zhang Jingren was clearly being guided by someone to make many decisions during his last period. These decisions appear logical, but in reality, they contain many loopholes."

"These loopholes deserve our attention." Li Hao nodded. "Our current task is to first ensure the company remains stable in the short term by maintaining apparent stability. At the same time, we will continue to secretly investigate the reasons behind these decisions to see if we can uncover more clues."