Chapter 651
Stance
Chapter 651 Stance (4k)
Baidu reacted very quickly, giving a formal response almost immediately upon noticing the public opinion.
Regardless of Li Yanhong's private attitude or the dissatisfaction she expressed through the "Anti-Afghanistan Alliance," the company at least quickly voiced its opinion. One key consideration was that the Baixiaosheng Forum was the one that stirred up this wave of public opinion.
As Yu Xing established his business in Lingang, Baixiaosheng gradually faded from reports related to him, but it has now become a senior and continuously active forum.
Most of the time, Baixiaosheng Forum is like an industry break room, mainly focusing on the Internet field. However, at certain times it also transforms into a vanguard, seriously and tirelessly following up on big business gossip.
"A business know-it-all, an expert on all the latest news"—this was the slogan that was prominently displayed on the screens of Fenzhong Media back in the day, and it hasn't really lived up to that reputation over the years.
However, with the exposure of the identity of the short-selling king Guo Shanfeng, Baixiaosheng Forum, whether it is true or not, has been interpreted to some extent as Yu Xing's mouthpiece for public opinion.
The questions raised about Tieniu Group, Qiantu Motors, and LeEco, which were discussed on forums, have gradually been validated by facts. Therefore, this issue concerning the commercialization of Baidu Tieba is easily associated with short sellers sharpening their knives.
Now that Guo Shanfeng's identity has been exposed, does he really have the nerve to be so arrogant as to short Baidu?
It does not matter.
Importantly, public opinion favors this possibility, and the media naturally tends to portray it in this direction, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
As for Baidu itself, it does not rule out such a low-probability event. Out of respect for the "Bai Xiaosheng" (a famous Chinese online commentator) and the "big short seller" (another online commentator), it quickly responded by issuing a serious internal investigation.
However, Baidu may have felt that this was enough, but Baixiaosheng Forum was quite unforgiving, believing that this response lacked sincerity and instead seemed perfunctory. They argued that whether Tieba was sold or not, whether your company received money or not, didn't you know? Even if it was an operation at different levels, surely a few phone calls wouldn't have revealed the truth?
Based on this, some users even claimed that they should carry forward the "spirit of overcoming mountains" and conduct a serious, objective and in-depth investigation.
Baidu is a US-listed company, and the market was closed for two days over the weekend. The seemingly controllable public opinion storm occurred on Friday night in the Eastern US. By the next day, Baidu's so-called "serious internal investigation" had not yet yielded any results.
The Baixiaosheng Forum did indeed conduct a mountain-level investigation.
Do not check, I don’t know, I’m scared.
Yesterday, it was exposed that the "Hyperthyroidism Forum" had been sold to a Putian-affiliated hospital. The original forum administrator was banned, hospital advertisements were pinned, and posts questioning the sale were deleted. Today, after summarizing information from forum members and various social media platforms, the result is...
Of the 3259 health and wellness-related forums on Baidu, nearly 4% of the popular disease-related forums appear to have been sold.
The "Hypertension Forum" is a place where shady hospitals promote ineffective antihypertensive drugs and post fake information about expert consultations.
The "Avascular Necrosis of the Femoral Head" forum is a place where Putian-affiliated hospitals delete legitimate treatment information and only keep advertisements for partner hospitals.
The "Psoriasis Forum" changed its homepage background image to an advertisement for a private hospital and deleted all dissenting and questioning voices.
As such, online forums for vitiligo, eczema, Parkinson's disease, liver disease, etc., are either taken over by Putian-affiliated hospitals, contracted out by multiple organizations, or contain various false and misleading information.
If it were just an isolated incident, it might be considered a mistake, but what appears to be a large-scale commercialization move is undoubtedly a company-level strategy.
More and more related information is being compiled and edited into popular posts on the Baixiaosheng Forum. An anonymous user has also revealed Baidu's internal operation and management model, which involves joint operation by so-called professional agencies and forum members. The operating rights of the forums are then sold to third parties, who pay Baidu a fee in return for management authority and advertising rights.
Once a Baidu Tieba forum is taken over by a paid third party, the subsequent process is basically the same: first, remove the original moderators and ban their privileges, then parachute in a new moderator; next, delete dissenting voices and non-commercial content; then, pin advertisements and information about partner hospitals; and finally, make money through paid consultations, product promotions, and advertising conversions.
The controversy surrounding Bai Xiaosheng's attack on Baidu hadn't even died down when a constant stream of new information pushed public opinion to an even higher level.
This time, well-known portals such as Sina and NetEase followed suit and reprinted the story, and offline media also paid attention to the deeper systemic issues involved.
Seeing the public opinion heat rising again, Baidu finally took a substantial action, announcing an emergency halt to all commercial cooperation on disease-related Baidu Tieba forums, which will only be open to authoritative public welfare organizations in the future. At the same time, it attempted to cool down the situation through public relations on social media platforms.
Pinduoduo's financing negotiations went through changes in just two days: they were suspended on the 25th, resumed on the 26th, and then suspended again on the evening of the 26th.
At first, Bi Sheng thought that Baidu was trying to lower the price. After learning about the situation, he consulted with Meng Wei, the vice president of Carbon Silicon Data who was in charge of this investment and cooperation, to find out what procedures Carbon Silicon Data had in place.
Meng Wei, who had taken on the job, was also quite bewildered.
He approached the company president, Zhong Zhiling, to inquire about his company's stance on the situation.
Although Baixiaosheng Forum has a close relationship with the boss, he actually feels that it operates independently from Carbon Silicon Data Company. Now, it is clear that the situation there is affecting major projects.
"These are indeed two separate things. Bai Xiaosheng is Bai Xiaosheng, and carbon silicon data is carbon silicon data."
"However, Baidu is now conflating the two issues."
"Our position is that we support Pinduoduo's development, but whether Baidu supports it or not is beyond our control."
Zhong Zhiling gave a clear reply.
Meng Weicun had a different opinion and asked cautiously, "President Zhong, I heard that Baidu encountered a setback with Bai Xiaosheng. What are President Yu's thoughts on that?"
This matter is clearly not something that "we cannot control" as Mr. Zhong said. He may indeed not be able to control it, but Mr. Yu certainly can. Moreover, the communication efficiency between senior management can obviously be much higher.
Furthermore, this incident occurred during Mr. Yu's trip to Hong Kong, so whether this handling of the matter aligns with his wishes is perhaps a question mark.
Meng Wei was not only considering the cooperation with the carbon silicon data team, but also the potential impact of exposing the boss's empty-handed nature. As a forum with de facto influence, tacitly approving the criticism itself represents an attitude, but is this attitude appropriate after everyone knows about Guo Shanfeng's situation...?
At the same time, there is another question: if Baidu terminates its cooperation with Pinduoduo, will it reveal this conspiracy to "oppose Alibaba"?
This matter could easily trigger a chain reaction, so we must be very careful.
Upon hearing his senior's name, Zhong Zhiling pondered for a moment before saying, "I spoke with Xing-ge yesterday, but he didn't mention this matter. What do you think that means?"
Meng Wei pondered for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, "President Yu wouldn't really be shorting Baidu, would he?"
“This…” Zhong Zhiling chuckled, wanting to deny it but then he denied it himself. Over the years, he hadn’t even known his senior brother Da Kongtou’s identity, so how could he judge his true thoughts now?
He retracted his judgment and pointed out one point: "President Meng, the public opinion on Baidu this time is related to medical forums. Do you remember what Xing Ge studied in university?"
Meng Wei suddenly realized that President Yu was a medical student...
Not only President Yu, but also President Zhong and President Lü, who hold high positions of power, are all medical professionals!
“Many times we do have to consider the company’s interests and the situation of important collaborations,” Zhong Zhiling said slowly. “But he didn’t mention it yesterday, and I didn’t ask. I’ll just assume that he doesn’t like Baidu’s way of doing things, because I don’t like it either.” He shrugged. “Pinduoduo does need financing, but it’s not like it can’t function without Baidu. Things will take their course. If Xing Ge calls with a clear idea, then we’ll listen to him.”
Zhong Zhiling believes that in addition to the influence of Baidu's "Bai Xiaosheng" (a popular online figure), the company's own morally bankrupt position is also a significant factor in the recent public opinion crisis.
While it's possible to ignite the fire, the fact that it catches fire so easily poses a significant problem.
Just like short selling at a mountain peak, the essence of the sharp drop in the stock prices of those fraudulent companies is that they are committing fraud. Baidu's current situation is also due to its own actions.
Meng Wei understood, and was basically certain that the boss and General Manager Zhong were likely to have the same attitude.
After thinking it over, he suggested, "Mr. Zhong, since that's the case, we need to make it clear to Pinduoduo, JD.com, Tencent, Meituan, and Today Capital that we advocate cooperation, not deliberate sabotage. We need to make our stance clear. Whether they have any shame is another matter, but we need to put our dignity first."
Zhong Zhiling nodded: "You should also make it clear to President Bi that we have our own stance and ideas. Whether he understands or not is his business. He can also talk to Brother Xing."
Meng Wei's feelings were somewhat complicated. His stance and thoughts were easy to express, but the potential costs involved projects valued at hundreds of millions of dollars and the confrontation with Alibaba were still quite unsettling.
Zhong Zhiling noticed the expression on Meng Wei's face, and finally said with a smile, "Making money is making money no matter what. What happens to Pinduoduo is a matter for the future. If Xing-ge were here today, I think..."
After a few seconds of contemplation, he said, "He might say that the money we've already earned is so that we can remain steadfast when we need to waver."
Meng Wei was filled with respect; President Zhong's position wasn't solely due to nepotism.
Soon, Bi Sheng learned the stance on the carbon silicon data conveyed by Meng Wei; in short, the fault lay entirely with Baidu.
If Baidu were to terminate its investment in Pinduoduo, it would be making one mistake after another.
If Baidu terminates its investment and leaks the information, it will only compound its mistakes.
Listening to Meng Wei's impassioned argument, Bi Sheng suddenly slammed his fist on the table: "Damn it! With Baidu in this state, we might as well just refuse their investment!"
Meng Wei looked at President Bi with some surprise. Oh right, President Bi came from Baidu...
Wow, Mr. Bi is quite a character.
Seeing this, he advised, "Mr. Bi, one thing at a time. Pinduoduo should still try to secure more resources. This is a matter between Bai Xiaosheng and Baidu, or between Carbon Silicon Data and Baidu, or even between Mr. Yu and Baidu, but Pinduoduo can remain silent."
Bi Sheng was conflicted. He hadn't contacted President Yu immediately after the incident because he wanted to confirm the situation and President Yu's thoughts through Carbon Silicon Data, but now it seemed...
He shook his head: "I will talk to Tencent and Meituan about this. Pinduoduo did nothing wrong. Baidu's arbitrary termination of cooperation negotiations is disrespectful to all of us. My position is consistent with that of Silicon Carbon Data."
Of course, this aligns with what President Yu has said.
Meng Wei was somewhat surprised. After considering for a moment, he said, "Then let's talk again and lay everything out on the table."
Pinduoduo's financing negotiations were held in Shanghai, with executives from various companies present. They were initially quite sincere, but now the situation has been disrupted by unforeseen circumstances.
Public opinion surrounding Baidu is rising, and its routine public relations efforts on the Baixiaosheng Forum are clearly ineffective, with neither popular nor featured posts changing. Meanwhile, trending topics on platforms like Sina and Zhihu are constantly fluctuating.
People are outraged by the excessive commercialization of this medical aspect.
Pony learned about Silicon Carbon Data's attitude from his employees in Shanghai, so this time it wasn't too surprising.
They had initially managed to persuade Baidu to return to the negotiating table, but the escalating public opinion the following day pushed Baidu back. The current overwhelming public attention will clearly damage its stock price. In this situation…
Pony did her best and called both sides.
Li Yanhong's attitude was rather cold, but she didn't completely rule out the possibility of a definitive answer.
Upon seeing this, Pony called Yu Xing and they discussed their major projects as well as the ongoing rectification measures within Baidu.
“Pony, lower your expectations. It’s not like we can’t survive without Baidu. No matter what, Alibaba at least knows how to talk about values. But Baidu is like this, it’s quite stubborn.” Yu Xing’s attitude was very clear. “If he doesn’t want to talk, then he doesn’t have to. Do you have to beg him to come? I think you’re getting senile. Now you’re fixated on Alibaba. Once, twice, three times, you can’t force him, but you still insist on forcing him.”
Pony ended the call and remained silent.
After a long pause, he said to President Ren Yuxi, "President Yu is easier to talk to now than before."
Ren Yuxi asked, puzzled, "What do you mean?"
Pony sighed, "He used to pretend, but after the scandal broke, he's now resorting to verbal abuse."
Ren Yuxi frowned: "I think he's shorting Baidu again."
Pony looked at Ren Yuxi: "What clues did you notice?"
“No.” Ren Yuxi shook his head. “But he must have profited from shorting us by selling WeChat. Since that’s the case, Alibaba has definitely been shorted before. That makes it AT. Yu Xing might have a collecting habit, so he’ll add Baidu to complete the set.”
Pony looked at Ren Yuxi without saying a word.
Ren Yuxi chuckled: "Isn't this joke funny?"
Pony sighed, "I miss Martin."
Ren Yuxi's smile vanished; why bring up Liu Chiping at this moment?
Pony then said, "That joke isn't funny, is it?"
Ren Yuxi frowned: "It's not funny. The grassroots alliance is missing a piece before it even starts. That's even less funny."
Pony was lost in thought when he finally said, "A guard dog is no hero."
(End of this chapter)