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Chapter 2629 Bold and Decisive Action

When the news of China's investment in Tencent broke, the reaction in the domestic business community could not be described as "shocked."

What was the state of the Chinese internet in 1998?

With only a few hundred thousand internet users nationwide, the dial-up modem's meowing sound resonated more deeply with people than any other internet application.

It takes more than ten seconds to open a webpage, and it takes so long to load an image that you have to get up to get a glass of water and come back before it even loads.

In the eyes of most entrepreneurs, the internet is a bottomless pit of money; once you invest in it, you don't even hear a sound.

Tencent? That's more like a makeshift operation that doesn't even qualify as a company.

Ma Huateng and several of his classmates were crammed into a small rented office in Shenzhen, and the registration process wasn't even officially completed yet.

The initial prototype software called OICQ was officially launched in February 1999.

So far, not even a proper, undeveloped software has been created; it's just a useless project that remains at the level of a PowerPoint presentation.

However, Tianchao Capital not only invested in such a company, but also directly acquired a controlling stake and made it a subsidiary. In the business circles at the time, this was like a billionaire spending a lot of money to buy a roasted sweet potato from a roadside stall.

The phrase "Chinese capital is foolish and rich" immediately became a consensus in the business community.

Some people at the dinner party muttered disdainfully to others: "Suning has probably been fooled by those programmers in Shenzhen this time. What is the internet anyway? Can it feed you? What can a few hundred thousand netizens do?"

"That's right! It's because of the success of real estate and car manufacturing that this new-era business godfather has become complacent."

"Hmph! He's no business godfather at all! The business godfather of China is still Old Liu."

"That's right! That's right! I propose that we all raise a toast to Elder Liu. Elder Liu's 'trade-industry-technology' approach is a guiding light for our related industries. Prioritizing trade and sales while lagging behind in technological research and development is absolutely the right strategy."

"Haha, yes! A toast to our business godfather, Mr. Liu."

In the opinion sections of several financial newspapers, commentators have also subtly expressed similar concerns, implying that Chinese automakers are making too much money and are now throwing it away.

One commentary had a particularly direct title: "Will the money earned from car manufacturing be burned up online?"

Suning, however, paid no attention to these voices.

While flipping through the team list submitted by Ma Huateng in his office, what he was thinking was completely different from what the people outside were thinking.

What we see is not five young people crammed into a run-down office eating instant noodles, but rather the complete trajectory of Tencent's growth from an instant messaging software to an internet giant in later generations...

From QQ to WeChat, from social networking to payment, from games to cloud computing, Suning knows better than anyone how it progressed and where each key milestone was.

Now, what Suning needs to do is to make this trajectory faster, more stable, and to secure all the key positions as early as possible.

Of the five people on the list, Ma Huateng is the core, that goes without saying.

Zhang Zhidong is a key technical member with solid coding skills. He was the one who built the early system architecture of QQ. He was someone who had to stay.

The other three are Zeng Liqing, Chen Yidan, and Xu Chenye, who also made contributions to Tencent's early development in another time and space.

But what Suning needs now is efficiency, execution, and turning QQ from a rough software into a mature product that can quickly capture the market.

Suning doesn't need a startup team that engages in democratic discussions; what it needs is a project team that operates with strict discipline and high efficiency.

In terms of execution, AI robots are faster, more accurate, and less likely to deviate from instructions than any human team.

Ma Huateng was apprehensive when he received the call.

He naturally knew that Suning would definitely make adjustments to the team. The controlling shareholder has absolute say in the personnel arrangements of its subsidiaries, which is a clause written in black and white in the contract.

With Tianchao Capital holding 51% of the shares, Ma Huateng has no veto power over anything Suning says at the board meeting.

But Ma Huateng didn't expect Suning to act so quickly and thoroughly.

Sitting in Suning's office, with a cup of freshly poured tea in front of him, before the tea leaves had even fully steeped, Suning had already made his point clear.

At this moment, Suning and Ma Huateng were sitting face to face, with the five-person team list on the table.

Suning picked up a pen and drew three horizontal lines on the list, leaving only the names of Ma Huateng and Zhang Zhidong.

The names crossed out are Zeng Liqing, Chen Yidan, and Xu Chenye. "Mr. Ma, Tianchao Capital will give these three people a reasonable compensation, the amount of which will be calculated based on their contributions to the team, and it will be more than that. However, they will no longer need to participate in the development of QQ."

Ma Huateng looked at the three horizontal lines on the list, then squeezed his hands on his knees and released them.

After a long silence, Ma Huateng could also understand Suning's logic.

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, what is needed is brotherhood and sharing weal and woe, but once it enters a period of rapid development, what is needed is professional division of labor and efficient execution.

But Ma Huateng still felt a little uncomfortable, after all, he was not yet the business godfather he would become, and in terms of mentality, he was still more like a college student fresh out of school.

Ma Huateng carefully considered his words, "President Su, those three are indeed among the earliest employees of the company. Without them, Tencent wouldn't be where it is today. Could this compensation be a bit higher than the standard amount? It would be a way to give them some closure."

Su Ning glanced at him. "Go back and discuss the compensation standards with the finance manager sent by Tianchao Capital. I said it will be more than expected. But we can't keep the people. QQ must be launched before May 1st this year. We don't have time to wait for people, and the market won't wait for anyone. What you lack most right now is not three founders, but a development team that can fight."

Ma Huateng didn't say much in rebuttal.

Because Ma Huateng knew very well that Suning wasn't trying to take over his company.

If Suning wants to snatch him up, they can just invest and kick him out together; no one can stop them.

Chinese capital could easily develop its own instant messaging software, without having to go through the trouble of acquiring a startup team.

The fact that Suning kept him shows that Suning recognizes his value and needs him to lead the product direction and user experience of QQ.

Regarding development capabilities, Suning was quite blunt: "The development progress is too slow. At your current pace, with five people crammed into a small office coding, by the time QQ is released, the market will have already been taken over by others. In instant messaging, first-mover advantage is crucial; whoever occupies the user's desktop first occupies the market."

Suning laid it all out on the table: "I'll give you a technical team, all engineers transferred from the Tianchao Group's Technology Research Institute. They have extensive software development experience and are extremely efficient. If you lead them, the progress will be at least several times faster."

"Okay, Mr. Su, I'll get in touch with them as soon as I get back."

"Do a good job! In addition to developing the domestic version of QQ, we will also promote the international version of QQ at the same time. After all, compared with the Internet abroad, the Internet in China is still in a primitive and barbaric era."

"Mr. Su, may I ask you a question?"

"You said."

"With the strength of Tianchao Group, it is entirely possible to develop an instant messaging software on its own. Why did it choose to invest in a startup team like ours?"

"Because I value you as a person. Tianchao Group's internet strategy is very ambitious, but it must have a suitable person in charge, and you, Ma Huateng, are the most suitable candidate I have chosen."

"What merits or abilities do I, Ma Huateng, possess to earn such high regard from you, President Su?"

"Don't overthink it! Focus on developing QQ and managing Tencent. Tianchao Group will not let you down."

"Thank you, Mr. Su."

……

When Ma Huateng returned to Shenzhen from Beijing, the technical team had also arrived.

A dozen or so AI technicians dressed in casual clothes walked into Tencent's rented office and, without saying a word, opened their laptops and began looking at QQ's existing codebase.

These AI technicians are almost indistinguishable from normal humans, yet they exude a mysterious and aloof aura.

Zhang Zhidong was initially wary of the newly arrived technical personnel. He stood behind them with his arms crossed, looking at them with an expression that said, "Let's see how capable you really are."

But his wariness quickly turned into surprise, and his surprise into admiration.

Zhang Zhidong and several core programmers gathered around the screen to watch one of the AI ​​engineers refactor the code. His fingers flew across the keyboard, and line after line of code scrolled down the screen with almost no pauses and not a single extra character.

What would normally take them several days to debug a communication module was easily accomplished by the other party in just a few hours.

The memory leak problem that had been troubling them was solved by the other party running a debugging tool, and the problematic line of code was located in less than 20 minutes.

Zhang Zhidong stood up from in front of the screen, walked to Ma Huateng's side, and said in a low voice, "Mr. Ma, these people's typing speed is faster than my eye speed when reading code. Are you sure they were transferred from Tianchao Group? I feel like they're top talents poached from Silicon Valley?"

Looking at the AI ​​engineers intently working on their screens, Ma Huateng shook his head and said, "I don't know where Mr. Su found these people. But one thing I'm sure of: the domestic version will be launched before May 1st, no doubt about it."

"Domestic version? Is there also an international version?"

"Yes! President Su believes that the domestic market is still limited, and the international internet is the top priority."

"Mr. Su, are you going to go this far?"

"President Su said that if Tencent and QQ perform well this year, we will each be rewarded with a White Tiger car at the year-end party."

"What? What's an annual party?"

"Hehe, you're such a country bumpkin, aren't you? An annual convention is a gathering held once a year by large companies. It mainly covers work summaries, goal setting, customer appreciation, and employee recognition. Common formats include performances, training sessions, and outdoor activities." "Wow, that's impressive!"

"Perhaps we really have latched onto a powerful patron."

"It's just a pity about Zeng Liqing and the others."

"Sigh! There's nothing we can do! We really don't have much say when it comes to headquarters."

"Mr. Ma, I heard that Zeng Liqing and the other two seem to be unwilling to give up, and have actually gotten together to continue developing instant messaging software."

"Oh?"

"Moreover, their instant messaging software project still uses OICQ."

"..." At this moment, Ma Huateng revealed a complicated expression.

However, since we've all gone our separate ways, what follows is a fight to the death.

……

Suning has set clear development goals for these AI robots...

They quickly transformed QQ from a basic software that could only provide simple online chatting into an instant messaging platform with mature commercial monetization capabilities.

This business model has been thoroughly validated by the market in later generations, covering multiple dimensions such as user level system, value-added services, advertising monetization, and game co-operation.

But in 1998, it was so ahead of its time that it took Ma Huateng and Zhang Zhidong a long time to digest it.

One night, while working overtime, an AI engineer handed over a user level system proposal to Ma Huateng.

Ma Huateng reviewed the plan, which detailed a hierarchy of levels from stars to the moon to the sun, with different levels corresponding to different functional permissions and display effects.

After reading it, Ma Huateng leaned back in his chair and thought for a long time. He then called Zhang Zhidong over, handed him the proposal, and asked, "Mr. Zhang, what do you think of this?"

Zhang Zhidong glanced at it and said, "Interesting! Higher levels bring prestige, so users will spend more time online to level up. More online time means higher activity. This logic makes sense. But we haven't officially launched the software yet. Are we thinking too far ahead?"

An AI engineer next to me, without even looking up, said, "Mr. Ma, Mr. Zhang, our software user growth will be very rapid. We need to plan server expansion in advance, and also design features ahead of time. If we wait until the user base grows and then add features at the last minute, the system architecture simply won't be able to handle it."

Zhang Zhidong glanced at the AI ​​engineer, then at the proposal in his hand, said nothing more, placed the proposal on the table, and signed "Agreed" on it with a pen.

While taking over the development work, the AI ​​robot was also assigned to other key departments of Tencent.

The heads of the finance, legal, and human resources departments are all AI robots.

Financially, every penny in and out flows under the monitoring of the AI ​​system, and the accounts are synchronized to Tianchao Capital in real time. Even a taxi receipt for a few dozen yuan will be automatically compared with the trip date and reason for reimbursement by the system.

On the legal front, the AI ​​legal team registered a full set of trademarks and patents for QQ in advance, clearing up all potential copyright risks in the future. They even took care of the trademark registration of the word "QQ" in major economies around the world in one go.

In terms of personnel, AI began to reorganize Tencent's organizational structure according to Suning's standards, formulate recruitment plans, and refine the job descriptions and assessment standards for each position down to each specific work indicator.

Ma Huateng was initially a little unaccustomed to it.

In the past, the team was small, and everything was decided by a few people getting together to discuss it. Reimbursement was just a matter of putting an invoice in a drawer and calculating it at the end of the month.

Now every expenditure has to go through the system, and every job change requires filling out a form for approval.

But Ma Huateng soon discovered that these seemingly cold AI managers were extremely fair in their work, showing no favoritism or connections, and only looking at data and performance.

Previously, things like who had a good relationship with whom in the team and who did less work simply didn't exist in the personnel files managed by AI.

Each person's output is accurate to the hour...

The system automatically calculates how many lines of code you wrote, how many bugs you fixed, and what your test coverage was, generating a ranking table at the end of the month.

That day, after working overtime until late at night, Zhang Zhidong made two cups of coffee and handed one to Ma Huateng. "Mr. Ma," he said, "I used to think the hardest part of managing a company was managing people. Whoever had a conflict with whom needed mediation, whoever felt their salary was too low needed a talk, and whoever was lazy needed a reprimand. Now I've found that it's much easier to manage people through systems and regulations. Systems and regulations don't care about saving face; the data speaks for itself, and no one can deny it."

Looking at the simple interface and the adorable little penguin on the screen, Ma Huateng suddenly realized that it was already incredibly fortunate that Suning had given him a chance.

Ma Huateng took a deep breath, then smiled wryly and said, "Mr. Zhang, I really feel fortunate now. If we hadn't accepted the investment from China's capital, we might not even have had the ability to resist."

"Indeed! The entire Tianchao Group is too powerful."

How long until QQ officially launches?

Zhang Zhidong counted on his fingers, "Less than two months."

"Two months, from a bare-bones software to a fully functional instant messaging platform." Ma Huateng put his coffee cup on the table. "If it weren't for the team transferred from China, I would never have believed we could have done it. Now... I think it's actually quite possible."

"Mr. Ma, do you think Zeng Liqing and his team can pull it off?"

"What do you think? Tencent and QQ are so powerful, their OICQ is destined to be a tragedy."

"What a pity! Zeng Liqing and his two companions may go bankrupt this time."

"There's nothing we can do! Everyone has their own destiny! We can't support them forever."

……

The project progressed much faster than Ma Huateng initially expected.

With the cooperation of AI robot engineers, QQ's underlying architecture was completely rewritten.

After all, the original code contained a lot of makeshift components.

In order to quickly launch the platform, the initial framework was built by patching up existing problems with new ones.

AI engineers re-architected the entire backend system, and the new version is more than an order of magnitude more stable and scalable than the original bare version.

The problem of automatic restarts when there were a few people online at night has been completely solved. The new server architecture can support the number of people online at the same time to jump from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands.

At the same time, the product features are being rapidly expanded.

Based on the development plan provided by Suning, Ma Huateng created a strict development schedule for the product team, with a whiteboard filled with densely packed functional modules...

User level, avatar system, chat history, group chat, file transfer, emoticons—each item has a deadline and the person responsible listed.

Every morning when he arrives at work, Ma Huateng stands in front of the whiteboard to check the progress one by one, erasing completed features and marking delayed ones in red.

They used to think these features were things that could be added "later," but now they've been forced into the live version.

Meanwhile, the server issue was also brought to the forefront.

Given the anticipated growth in QQ's user base, the servers had to be deployed in advance.

Ma Huateng's initial idea was to rent servers in Hong Kong.

After all, the data center infrastructure in mainland China was still very immature at the time, and Hong Kong's data center construction and service levels were far superior to those in mainland China, which is why many internet companies did the same.

Ma Huateng mentioned this idea to the head of the AI ​​team, but the other party did not express an opinion on the spot, only saying that it needed to be confirmed with the headquarters of Tianchao Group.

That evening, Suning called Ma Huateng's mobile phone, saying, "Mr. Ma, I've heard about the server issue. Tencent's servers must all be located in China."

Ma Huateng paused for a moment, holding his phone. "Mr. Su, there aren't many data centers in China that can provide stable service right now, and the bandwidth costs are much higher than in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has more mature infrastructure and lower latency."

"Even if it's expensive, we must keep it in China. Don't just consider the economic benefits; you also need to consider the security benefits. Tencent will have hundreds of millions of users in the future, and their chat logs, personal information, and social relationships will all be stored on your servers. If the servers are located overseas, what does that mean? It means that the personal data of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens is not under the jurisdiction of Chinese law. Any overseas institution could potentially access this data through local legal procedures. We cannot take this risk; Tianchao Group cannot allow itself to be criticized by the Chinese people."

Ma Huateng immediately fell silent; he had indeed never thought about this issue before.

His primary considerations were bandwidth costs and stability, but Suning was concerned with data sovereignty and information security.

"Furthermore, the domestic data center infrastructure is indeed inadequate, but this is precisely an opportunity for us," Su Ning continued. "Tianchao Capital is already inspecting several domestic IDC service providers and is preparing to invest in them to help upgrade their infrastructure. Once our own data center is built and Tencent's servers are migrated there, costs will gradually decrease. You can rent the best local data center in Shenzhen for now, and I will have Tianchao Capital help you with the connections. You don't need to worry about bandwidth costs; Tianchao Group has established good relationships with the major telecom operators."

Ma Huateng didn't say anything more, only replying, "Understood, Mr. Su. All servers will be located in China."

"Mr. Ma, don't be afraid of trouble! Now that Tencent is backed by the Tianchao Group, let's not leave any inherent flaws."

"Understood! In addition, after Zeng Liqing and the other two left Tencent, they still refused to give up and continued to develop OICQ."

"It doesn't matter! Zeng Liqing and the other two are destined to be crushed by Tencent."

"..."

...(End of this chapter)