45: Chapter 45 Old Horse and Little Horse

Tencent Group headquarters.

Top floor.

The office door at the end of the corridor was shut tight. The secretary standing at the entrance saw Sun Qiang approaching and stood up to open the door for him.

The office was huge, with the Shenzhen skyline visible outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

A man was sitting on the sofa.

He looked under forty, wearing a simple white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, holding a cup of tea.

Sun Qiang walked up to the sofa but didn't sit down.

"Mr. Ma."

In the entire Tencent Group, only one person held this title.

Little Ma raised his hand slightly, gesturing for him to sit.

Sun Qiang then sat on the side sofa, leaning forward slightly.

"The group's overall development has been smooth recently. Several acquisition projects have been completed, and dota 2 reservations on the gaming business side are approaching ten million."

He paused.

"We have also arranged a special team to keep an eye on league of legends, and we will be able to get the beta accounts as soon as they open."

"In addition, the negotiation for the agency of the shooting game from the Kimchi country is almost done."

"We are very optimistic about the game Battlefield, and it will definitely exceed the highest record of CSGO."

Little Ma nodded without saying anything.

Sun Qiang continued his report.

"After the PK function for Douyu and Huya was launched, the trend of user attrition has temporarily stabilized."

"Although it hasn't fully recovered to the previous level, the daily active users have rebounded by nearly ten percentage points."

"Douyin hasn't followed up with any actions in the livestreaming direction for the time being."

He finished speaking and waited for Little Ma's reaction.

Little Ma placed his teacup on the table.

"Alright, I understand. You may go."

Sun Qiang stood up, bowed slightly, and turned to walk toward the door.

His movements were steady, but the moment he stepped out of the office, he subconsciously raised his hand to wipe the sweat that wasn't even visible from his forehead.

The air conditioning in the hallway was set very high.

Sun Qiang straightened his tie and walked toward the elevator.

Over the years, he had risen to Senior Vice President at Tencent Group and had seen his fair share of storms, but every time he stood before Little Ma, he still felt the weight on his shoulders increase.

He walked to the elevator and pressed the down button.

The moment the elevator door opened, he froze.

A man was standing in the elevator.

He was in his forties, not tall, wearing a dark gray suit. By normal standards, his appearance was a bit strange, and a precisely curved smile hung on his face.

Sun Qiang was too familiar with this smile.

He could see this face in the group photo of the Internet Summit every year.

The other party was even in the main seat!

The person who appeared before Sun Qiang was none other than Old Ma, who controlled Taobao and Alipay!

With just this one piece of software, Alipay, the Anli Group had sat firmly on the throne for years. After so many years, there wasn't a single payment software in the country that could snatch even one percent of the online payment market share from Alipay.

Relying on Alipay, the market value of the Anli Group once reached nearly 800 billion US dollars!

This record hadn't even been broken by Tencent Group yet.

After all, at this moment, there was no WeChat in this world, let alone WeChat Pay, which had seized Alipay's market share.

Old Ma walked out of the elevator, glanced at Sun Qiang, then nodded slightly.

He then walked straight to the end of the corridor.

Sun Qiang stood in place, watching Old Ma's back, and sweat was truly seeping from his forehead.

Old Ma pushed open the office door, his laughter entering through the crack before he did.

"Mr. Little Ma, long time no see."

He walked to the sofa and sat down without waiting for the host's greeting, leaning back and crossing his legs.

Little Ma leaned on the other side of the sofa, his expression unchanged.

"What wind blew you here today?"

"What else could it be."

Old Ma took a well-crafted invitation from his inner suit pocket and placed it on the coffee table, pushing it over.

"This year's Internet Summit is in Wuzhen, and I came personally to deliver the invitation to you."

Little Ma picked up the invitation, glanced at it, and tossed it aside.

"Sending an email would have sufficed. You running here yourself doesn't seem like your style."

"Just passing by."

Old Ma smiled.

"And to see the recent scenery of your Tencent Group."

He paused, his smile carrying something more profound.

"How is Weikan doing lately?"

The air in the office went quiet for a beat.

Little Ma didn't stop his teacup-holding motion, but his fingers lingered on the rim of the cup for an extra second.

Old Ma continued on his own.

"The people in our Anli research lab have done large model predictions, and you must have done it too."

"The conclusions on both sides should be the same."

"That is, the potential of Short Video has not been fully released yet, and Douyin's daily active users can reach at least the level of one hundred million."

He leaned on the sofa armrest, tapping his fingers rhythmically.

"The Internet hasn't seen this kind of hit software in a long time. The last time was our two companies' products."

"It's a pity, you copied so fast, but Weikan's data is still so ugly."

"You actually couldn't even beat a small company, losing out on big data."

Little Ma put down his teacup.

"Isn't your Anli research lab also conducting big data research?"

He leaned on the sofa armrest, his voice steady and unhurried.

"I heard that you also wanted to get a piece of the pie in the Short Video field."

"But you realized that big data algorithms couldn't be done in the short term, so you gave up."

The smile on Old Ma's face didn't change, but the fingers tapping the sofa armrest stopped.

Little Ma smiled.

"Your news is quite well-informed."

"Likewise."

The two fell silent for a beat.

They both knew that in their own companies, there were commercial spies from the other side.

This was a tacit understanding between the two giants, and it was also an endless shadow war between them.

Old Ma picked up the teapot on the table and poured himself a cup of tea.

"Alright, I really came to deliver the invitation and to see how things are going."

"I also sent an invitation to Inspur Technology, but they refused, having no interest in this so-called Internet Summit."

Little Ma wasn't surprised to hear this news.

"Douyin's current volume is still too small, so not going won't have any impact. When Douyin really has over 100 million daily active users, the outside world will push it to go to Wuzhen."

"By the way."

Little Ma seemed to have thought of something.

"Douyin recently launched e-commerce, and today they seem to have set up something."

He recalled his phrasing, his tone carrying a hint of disapproval.

"Livestream E-commerce?"

"Don't you have any sense of crisis?"

Old Ma put down his teacup, waved his hand, and laughed directly.

"Taobao cannot be challenged."

His tone was firm.

"Back then, Qiangzi spent billions to build JD.com, burning so much money on logistics, yet the market share is still pitifully small, not even a fraction of Taobao's."

"A small mall built into Douyin, with not even many products, is even less likely."

"I also know about that thing you mentioned, called a Livestream E-commerce room."

"To put it bluntly."

"Isn't it just advertising on a livestream?"

He leaned back into the sofa, his posture relaxed.

"This form."

"How many orders can it sell? Dozens? Hundreds?"

"Young people like novelty; they'll get bored after watching it for two days."

Little Ma hadn't even replied when the phone on the table vibrated.

He glanced at the caller ID and picked it up.

The voice from the other end of the phone came through the receiver; the specific content was unclear, but the speaking speed was extremely fast.

Little Ma's expression changed within a few seconds.

He listened to the entire report in silence.

On the other side, Old Ma, who was examining the office, noticed the expression on Little Ma's face.

He laughed directly.

"What, more bad news?"

"Anli has no interest in the gaming field, but it's not like we aren't paying attention."

"I heard that IceFrog guy wants to make a new game to challenge your dota 2."

"Could it be that you Tencent Group are going to suffer a setback in the gaming field?"

Hearing Old Ma's mocking words, Little Ma frowned and didn't speak.

He just took the phone away from his ear and placed it on the coffee table.

He pressed the speakerphone.

"Little Liu."

His voice was kept very flat.

"Say it again, what happened."

The reporter on the other end paused for a beat, then their voice became a bit clearer.

"Douyin just released the latest battle report data."

"The first batch of Livestream E-commerce rooms opened at noon today, with more than ten livestreaming rooms broadcasting simultaneously."

"Half a day into the broadcast, the individual sales of each livestreaming room have all exceeded ten million."

Old Ma's hand holding the teacup hung in mid-air.

The voice on the other end continued.

"The total sales of all Livestream E-commerce rooms combined in half a day."

Little Liu's voice was trembling.

"It has already exceeded one hundred million."