Chapter 657
Chapter 657
Chapter 657
Baidu's senior executives have left, but Bi Sheng, who caused the chaos, is still here.
Not only did he participate, but he also gave media interviews to clarify his position and explain the issues more clearly.
The event was sudden, and the conference itself wasn't particularly popular. The only two media outlets present weren't worried about their colleagues vying for the opportunity to ask questions.
Since Li Zheng was the last to speak, this "Mobile Healthcare Innovation Forum," though lacking a closing speech, can be considered complete at this point, thus achieving a basic success. As for personal grudges...
The organizing committee has no intention of getting involved. Let the media interview if they want. As Mr. Li himself said, this is a carbon-silicon based attack.
Baidu is a giant, and its integrated business of air, car, and internet is not to be underestimated. There's no need for them to step in and cause trouble.
During the interview, Bi Sheng used random search results as a key attack tactic, proving that there was no need to find dirt on him at all; this stuff was genuinely problematic.
As he spoke eloquently about the actual situation, a comment suddenly emerged from the crowd.
"Mr. Bi, you used to be a senior executive at Baidu. Anyone can say bad things about Baidu, but you shouldn't have!"
Bi Sheng simulated his movements extensively.
At this moment, he glanced at the person who spoke, realized he didn't recognize him at all, and calmly asked in return, "When a friend makes a mistake, should you smile and flatter him, or should you seriously point out the problem?"
Things can be embellished in a flowery way, or they can be simply condensed into a choice.
The person who was speaking just now has fallen silent.
However, some people raised questions based on this obvious answer: "Mr. Bi, you could have talked to Mr. Li directly instead of using this attention-grabbing method!"
“That’s certainly possible,” Bi Sheng said calmly. “The problem is that this isn’t the first time Baidu has faced similar public opinion, or even just a year or two of questioning. I think Mr. Li needs a wake-up call, not some subtle and indirect communication.”
Those who raised the questions seemed to have connections with Baidu, and upon hearing this, they became even more indignant: "Without Baidu, there would be no Bi Sheng today! No matter what, even if you took money from carbon silicon, you could have done it last year, you could have done it last month, but you chose this time of year. Your intentions are despicable!"
Bi Sheng summarized it with an old saying, sighing, "A gentleman judges by actions, not intentions."
A wise person judges by actions, not intentions; if we judge by intentions, no one in the world is perfect.
Bi Sheng was not angry at the voices that came out from the crowd; on the contrary, he was grateful to them for providing him with a stage to showcase his talents.
As it turned out, the attack carried out in accordance with the spirit of overcoming obstacles did indeed secure a larger stage, and the name "Bi Sheng" appeared on the trending searches for the first time.
—Bi Sheng openly challenged Baidu's medical advertising!
— Former Baidu executive Bi Sheng criticizes Baidu's paid search ranking system!
—Bi Sheng, chairman of a carbon silicon company, challenges Baidu!
The media present vividly described Bi Sheng's questioning and actions, while the Baidu search results displayed at the scene clearly demonstrated a major problem facing this giant.
Bi Sheng carries labels favored by the media: former Baidu executive, investor in Carbon Silicon Investment Company, disruptor of e-commerce business, and, previously exposed, a figure involved in multiple collusion schemes.
His decision to speak out amidst the lingering effects of Baidu Tieba's excessive commercialization has indeed attracted considerable criticism.
While these alone are not enough to truly break into the mainstream, let alone shake Baidu's stock price, the internet industry has indeed attracted a great deal of attention. The term "carbon silicon system" has also appeared for the first time in a discussion thread on the Baixiaosheng Forum due to its use in the media.
Is Pinduoduo a company based on carbon and silicon?
Because Pinduoduo's user profile and Baixiaosheng's user group do not overlap much, its development has not been in the public eye until the last time information was leaked, which gave people a glimpse of that it was an e-commerce company.
This analysis begins with Bi Sheng, then delves into his past as the founder of Letao and his relationship with Yu Xing, ultimately retaining the carbon-silicon label.
Since it's called a "faction," what other companies besides Pinduoduo can be included in this faction?
Unlike the external investments of Alibaba or Tencent, the Silicon Carbon Group is naturally considered to include Silicon Carbon Group, Silicon Carbon Data Company, and Guoshanfeng and Red Falcon Capital. Their connection is centered around Yu Xing, a key figure. Rather than calling it the Silicon Carbon Group, it is more appropriate to call it the Yu Xing Group. However, since the media used the term first, it is directly quoted.
This usage and discussion led to companies like Linggang and Zhibo, whose core companies have a significant external influence, being considered part of the broader silicon-carbon group, while Meilijie was labeled with a question mark, remaining in doubt for the time being. Unlike the media's euphemistic mention of this attack falling under the category of business competition, the Baixiaosheng website almost unanimously asserted that this was indeed the case. However, given this characterization, were Bi Sheng's actions inappropriate?
This was almost a negative answer on the Baixiaosheng website as well, with many people believing that Bi Sheng wasn't ruthless enough.
As if inspired by this voice, two days later, Bi Sheng reappeared in news reports. This time, he launched a public attack on Xiang Hailong, the vice president of Baidu, and went directly to the headquarters to block this powerful figure in Baidu. The department he was in charge of was precisely the search advertising business.
Unlike Li Zheng, who was still trying to exchange blows, Xiang Hailong, when faced with Bi Sheng's attack, did not exchange a single pleasantry from the beginning, but simply avoided his gentlemanly conduct with a dark face.
These repeated attacks shocked website users. While Baidu may have leaked the relevant information beforehand, the founder of Pinduoduo seems to have been too vengeful, and his actions were rather lacking in class.
Some have even questioned whether there might be some unknown conflict between Bi Sheng and Baidu, otherwise why would he suddenly act so drastically?
The incident was known within Tencent, but it wasn't specifically discussed at the general office meeting. It was only mentioned in casual conversations among a few people afterward.
Pony didn't say much, just listened to Ren Yuxi chatting with others, but as he listened, he suddenly felt something was wrong and said thoughtfully, "Bi Sheng, did Yu Xing teach you this?"
Ren Yuxi said with certainty, "It must be him! Otherwise, why would Bi Sheng, who was doing well before, suddenly jump out? Someone must be behind this."
Pony then said, "I feel a sense of familiarity with his way of doing things."
Upon hearing this, the executives who had been chatting and laughing just moments before suddenly exchanged bewildered glances. Although they hadn't been subjected to the same tearful complaints from Yu Xing as their boss, they immediately understood what he meant.
Ren Yuxi was stunned for a moment, then unconsciously gritted his teeth: "As expected of the carbon-silicon system, they are so unrefined and crude in their work."
A dark cloud passed through Pony's mind. It was rough, but it seemed to be truly useful.
Ren Yuxi added, "If that's the case, then Baidu's CEO, Mr. Li, is probably also within Bi Sheng's scope of criticism."
Pony thought for a moment and nodded: "I have confidence in him."
Ren Yuxi initially thought the boss was referring to Bi Sheng, but after a couple of seconds she realized that it meant the boss had confidence in Yu Xing.
Sure enough, two days later, Bi Sheng finally cornered the head of Baidu at a public event.
This time, due to the different scale, he was unable to demonstrate in all aspects. After his questioning yielded no results and he witnessed the security guards asking him to leave, he shouted twice: "Baidu is doing evil, and Li Yanhong is doing evil too!"
After learning what had happened, Ren Yuxi immediately checked Baidu's stock price. However, his two shouts failed to even cause a ripple in the stock price.
That evening, feeling somewhat frustrated after failing to "attack" Li Yanhong, Bi Sheng called President Yu and described his three attempts to interrogate her, feeling that he had failed to seize the opportunity to press her for answers.
Yu Xing offered words of comfort, mentioning some data: "I had the Baixiaosheng website track the comments from Alibaba users. Most of them were talking about carbon silicon systems, Baidu, or Alibaba systems; almost no one cared about Pinduoduo's potential and future in the e-commerce market. This completes most of the plan."
Bi Sheng never imagined that the user data of Baixiaosheng website could be used in this way. From small to large, perhaps Alibaba really wouldn't have paid attention to it, or even cared about Pinduoduo's development from the very beginning.
He received some comfort from President Yu, but when he turned to study Baidu and consider Pinduoduo's rapid development, he saw Li Yanhong give a response.
Li Yanhong ignored Bi Sheng, her former employee, and did not discuss specific details of Baidu's business. Instead, she directly targeted the mastermind behind the scenes: "Baidu is constantly serving its users and actively correcting its shortcomings. If there really is a major short seller trying to use public opinion attacks and smear campaigns to short Baidu's stock price, they will ultimately suffer a terrible fate."
Who is the big short seller?
These three words are almost synonymous with something in the country.
On March 13, Silicon Carbon Group is set to complete its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's GEM board. Yu Xing has no intention of responding to Li Yanhong's request for a matching investor, hoping the first day's stock price won't be too dismal.
However, while the final ceremony was still underway, users on Tencent's Weishi platform expressed their outrage at Baidu search, stating that their relatives had used Baidu to search for hospitals and treatments, which led to misdiagnosis, delayed treatment, and eventual death.
First came the excessive commercialization of Baidu Tieba, then Bi Sheng's three attacks on Baidu executives, and then Li Yanhong's public challenge to short sellers. With these incidents compounded by recent public opinion storms, the real backlash only arrived when the media noticed the latest case on WeChat.
(End of this chapter)