Zhang Chaoyang, had the last laugh?

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Author | Edited by Wang Min | Xiang Xiaoyuan

Source: Shenran (ID: shenrancaijing)

The first-generation Internet boss Zhang Chaoyang’s Weibo has been set to be visible for half a year. In the past half year, almost all the content is related to his physics class.

Young Internet people may not be familiar with this big man who founded Sohu and pioneered the era of China’s Internet portal before the hot search of “Zhang Chaoyang’s Physics Class”; older Internet people, seeing Sohu, even has a kind of The feeling of “modern history of the Internet”.

Some people said that from the live video of the physics class, they felt Zhang Chaoyang’s sincerity and freedom; some people felt that this big guy would hurt the body because of what he said in an interview before, “Young people should not work too hard, too hard work will hurt the body.” Very grounded.

Among the big Internet companies, Sohu may have long been out of the top ranks. On May 16, Sohu’s first-quarter financial report showed that revenue was US$193 million and net profit was US$9 million. And 20 years ago, the Internet company established at the same time as Sohu, the revenue scale is ten times or even a hundred times that of Sohu. Among them, NetEase’s single-quarter revenue exceeded 20 billion yuan, Tencent’s single-quarter revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan, and Ali’s latest financial report single-quarter revenue exceeded 200 billion yuan.

In terms of market value, as of 22:00 on May 18, Beijing time, Sohu’s market value was only US$557 million, while NetEase’s market value was US$62.655 billion, Ali’s market value was US$244.269 billion, and Tencent’s market value was about US$447.17 billion (HK$3.51 trillion). , have reached hundreds of times, even nearly a thousand times that of Sohu.

However, Alibaba founder Jack Ma announced his retirement in 2019, Tencent founder Ma Huateng has rarely appeared in the public eye, and NetEase founder Ding Lei has also resigned as the legal representative, general manager, and director of his company. Paving the way for retirement, in stark contrast to the retirement of many Internet bigwigs, Zhang Chaoyang was instead exposed in the spotlight.

It is an indisputable fact that Sohu has fallen behind, but Zhang Chaoyang seems to be quite satisfied with the current state. Perhaps, having experienced two retreats and comebacks, Zhang Chaoyang wanted to understand and let go of his obsession.

Sohu did not return to the center of the stage, Zhang Chaoyang was always there

Entering the era of mobile Internet, Sohu’s voice has always been very small.

Zhang Chaoyang, known as the “Godfather of China’s Internet”, has never given up to lead Sohu back to the top. “In three years, Sohu will return to the center of the Internet stage.” Zhang Chaoyang’s rhetoric at the World Internet Conference in 2016 once aroused expectations for the rise of Sohu.

But five years later, it is clear that Zhang Chaoyang has not succeeded, and Sohu is still on the edge of the Internet giant. In 2021, Sohu sold Sogou, which had been struggling to make a profit, to Tencent, to get rid of the loss-making business in exchange for the opportunity to make revenue and profits.

After the sale of Sogou, judging from Sohu’s latest quarterly financial report, Sohu’s revenue is mainly divided into two parts, advertising revenue and game revenue.

The former mainly comes from Sohu Video and Sohu Media. Today, the proportion of revenue is only about 12%, and this part of the revenue is still in a downward trend. In the first quarter, it fell by 23% year-on-year and 29% month-on-month to $24 million. Among them, the decline in revenue from portal websites is particularly evident.

On the contrary, the revenue from online games Changyou reached 158 million yuan, accounting for 80% of the revenue. However, this 80% revenue is mainly supported by the IP of the game “Dragon Babu” launched by Changyou in 2007. In the era of mobile games, Sohu has not been able to create a new big IP to share a bigger cake.

Overall, Sohu is still in a state of “eating on its own”, and has not shown potential new businesses to the outside world.

Sohu did not return to the center of the stage, but Zhang Chaoyang has been active in front of the screen, standing in the center of the topic vortex many times.

First, the physics class was broadcast live. Since the first broadcast of Zhang Chaoyang on November 5 last year, every Friday and Sunday has been fixed at a fixed time, and the class has been held until now. In the class, he explained physics in simple terms in connection with current events, which reminded the public that this Internet giant graduated from the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University and obtained a postdoctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Before the physics class, Zhang Chaoyang had insisted on teaching English classes since 2016. As of May 18, Zhang Chaoyang had posted 1,048 videos on Sohu Video, almost all of which were live replays of his courses.

Zhang Chaoyang, who insisted on taking classes, attracted the attention of the public, so that some people kept archiving Zhang Chaoyang’s previous interview videos.

He often appears in various interviews, and he almost never hesitates to show his state to the outside world, nor does he shy away from talking about Sohu’s situation. A person who is concerned about the entertainment field told Shen Ran that in the past, as long as there was a new drama on Sohu Video, Zhang Chaoyang would come to the conference site in person and go to the stage for an interview.

Recently, Zhang Chaoyang’s out-of-the-circle remarks “Young people should not work too hard, too much hard work is harmful, and the world is unfair” appeared in an interview in 2021. In the same interview, Zhang Chaoyang also mentioned the management method of “sleep 4 hours a day” that once made himself on the hot search. Every night, he first sleeps for two hours, wakes up for an hour, and then sleeps for 2 hours. Not to do more things more efficiently, but to be able to sleep better.

On the platforms of Sohu, Huyou and other products under Sohu, Zhang Chaoyang has also remained highly active, and was even mistaken by netizens as a navy. Technology Internet blogger Zhao Hongmin mentioned to Shen Ran that on Sohu, after he posted updates, Zhang Chaoyang would also repost and interact. “Surprise and joy, at first it was hard to imagine that the CEO of a large Internet company would often interact with users so easily on the platform.”

Zhang Chaoyang’s activity is not only on Sohu. After the financial report for the first quarter came out, some netizens commented on Sohu’s Huyou APP, “It is not easy to achieve such results in such a large environment.” Zhang Chaoyang reposted, “Yes, there are not many profitable companies at present.” Although Sohu did not return to the center of the stage, perhaps Zhang Chaoyang is satisfied with the current state.

After repeated defeats, Sohu missed the tuyere

As the earliest Internet company in China, Sohu stood on the forefront in the first decade of the 21st century. From its establishment in 1998 and its listing in 2000, to winning the sponsorship right of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and putting the advertisement of “Watching the Olympics, go to Sohu” on all public transportation in Beijing, Sohu can be said to have made great strides along the way.

But after 2008, Zhang Chaoyang served as a “shadow CEO” for a period of time, living a closed life, developing personal interests, exercising, and reading. In 2010, he announced his comeback, and in 2012 he was in retreat due to a diagnosis of depression. It was not until 2013 that he announced that he “re-entered the earth”.

After Zhang Chaoyang’s two retreats, it was difficult for Sohu to become a winner in the melee under the wind, and it also missed a lot of wind in the following days.

The early battle can be traced back to the Weibo battle. In 2010, Zhang Chaoyang once said to the media: “The Weibo war has broken out in an all-round way.” He also said internally that he would invest in catching up regardless of the cost, and he should build Sohu Weibo. But after leaving the country in 2013, he claimed to have been “slapped twice in the face by Weibo and WeChat.” The end of the Weibo battle was that in 2015, Zhang Chaoyang officially entered Sina Weibo, which also announced his compromise.

Next is the video platform war. In 2013, Zhang Chaoyang made a high-profile declaration, “We must make Sohu Video a success and surpass our competitors in terms of data.”

Sohu has set off copyright wars many times, and the market price of copyright has skyrocketed. The copyright investment of other top platforms has risen, making it difficult for Sohu to follow up. According to public data, in 2018, Tencent Video’s copyright expenditure reached 25 billion yuan, iQiyi’s copyright expenditure was 10 billion yuan, and Youku’s copyright budget was 30 billion yuan. In the battle for capital, Sohu was defeated.

In the competition of self-made dramas, Sohu also failed to occupy a clear advantage. In fact, Sohu can be said to be the first website to receive the dividends of self-made dramas. In 2012, the Sohu video self-made mini-series “Diaosi Men” directed by actor Dapeng at the time was also the first mini-series to become popular. Next, iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku have all launched a large number of self-made dramas and variety shows. Sohu insists on a low-cost hematopoietic profit strategy. By 2018, the monthly active users of other top video websites have reached hundreds of millions, while Sohu is still only in the tens of millions.

In 2019, Sohu also tried to expand the social field and launched the social product “Huyou” APP, hoping to expand the social circle of the post-90s and 95s. However, under the situation that the top social APPs such as WeChat, QQ, and Douyin are basically stable, the Huyou APP has not been popular.

In 2020, Zhang Chaoyang carried out live broadcasts on Sohu Video for the first time, but unlike other platforms that focus on selling goods, what Sohu wants to do is “value live broadcast”, saying that it is not the mainstream live broadcast method to bring goods back to the media value.

In one battle after another, Sohu has rarely gained an advantage, but has missed many opportunities such as mobile games, social networking, e-commerce, and live broadcasts. And Sohu, which has made mistakes again and again, is also known as the “Whampoa Military Academy” because of its inability to retain talents. Li Xueling, founder of Happy Gathering Times, Gong Yu, founder of iQiyi, Gu Yongqiang, founder of Youku, and Li Shanyou, founder of Ku6.com, are all from Sohu.

However, within Sohu, Zhang Chaoyang made a big move to reform. In an interview in 2020, Zhang Chaoyang summarized that in 2018, Sohu’s registration site was moved from the United States to the Cayman Islands; in 2019, it controlled costs, re-stabilized its brand advertising business, and explored product portfolios; in 2020, Changyou completed its privatization, Delisted from the US stock market and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sohu. In 2021, the public will see that Sogou has completed the privatization transaction and “sold itself” to Tencent.

It can be seen from these attempts that Sohu’s goal in recent years has been to substantially reduce costs, cut off loss-making businesses, and stabilize its fundamentals. Until the fourth quarter of 2019, Sohu’s revenue was US$490 million and net profit was US$7 million. Although it was only a slight profit, it also reversed the previous years of losses.

The external market has missed the opportunity, and there is not enough capital to “burn money for the market”, Sohu can only always seek stability. “Every company has a life cycle, and in addition to the company itself, it also depends on fortune. But whether it is a vertical comparison with the previous development of Sohu, or a horizontal comparison with the Internet giants, the state of Sohu may be in one On the downward channel.” Zhao Hongmin thinks.

The bosses all retired, and Zhang Chaoyang was active until the end

Today, compared with Sohu’s whereabouts, it is Zhang Chaoyang’s personal charm and his exploration of self-worth that have attracted more attention from the outside world.

In an interview, Zhang Chaoyang said that in 2003, the board of directors was sorted out. So, in the next few years, Zhang Chaoyang began to release himself and was once addicted to “Vanity Fair”.

During that time, Zhang Chaoyang often lingered in various parties. His classic deeds included skateboarding in front of Tiananmen Square, shooting fashion magazines shirtless, entering the entertainment industry and teaming up with celebrities to go to Tibet, and buying a 22-meter luxury yacht for 30 million yuan. .

In 2013, he once said in “Interview with Yang Lan”, “I think I have a problem. I really have everything, but I am so painful.” He admitted that he had a mental crisis in his heart since 2008. Twice closed adjustment state. The result of his reflection is that the former prostitute is actually the definition of success, and there is a problem with self-management.

In his conversation with Feng Lun in 2020, he also recalled that from the fierce competition in examinations under the Chinese education system, the loneliness of studying abroad for ten years, to the establishment of Sohu after returning to China and quickly becoming a celebrity, his past life has been in extremes. state.

Since his comeback in early 2013, Zhang Chaoyang has been adjusting his state, and it was not until 2018 and 2019 that he devoted himself to work wholeheartedly. At that time, Zhang Chaoyang had a continuous and stable view of the world, and had a sense of mission and responsibility as an enterprise manager.

His definition of himself has always been clear: “rich and famous”, but after getting out of the crisis, he is no longer arrogant and more humble. That’s why he said, “Whether it’s in the center of the stage or not is no longer important.”

Even when All in is working, Zhang Chaoyang has always been reluctant to disregard personal interests for the sake of work. “Perhaps at this stage, the breakthrough in business is not enough to excite him and give him a sense of accomplishment.” Zhao Hongmin analyzed.

The recently popular live broadcast of physics class, Zhang Chaoyang also explained that on the one hand, it is for interest, and on the other hand, it is for the live broadcast of knowledge on the Sohu video platform.

It is unknown how much potential knowledge live broadcast can bring to Sohu in the future, but only in the short term, “Zhang Chaoyang’s physics class” is still at the level of his interest, and Zhang Chaoyang has returned to “Sohu’s largest marketing manager”. position.

Unlike most Internet tycoons, Zhang Chaoyang seems to be a little out of business.

Sohu, a “Buddhist” company, is known by many as a big Internet “elderly care” factory. A Sohu employee who has been in Sohu for nearly ten years told Shen Ran that there are promotions, salary increases, and there is not much work pressure, so he has never changed jobs. On social platforms, after many people left Sohu, they said that their time in Sohu was the happiest time in their careers.

In the past, when senior Internet people talked about Sohu, they often showed a pity look, but with more and more uncertain factors, and at the moment when Internet bigwigs are retreating, Sohu, who seeks stability, and Zhang Chaoyang, who is in class, seem to be the same. A good way to live. In the comments of the live class, the indispensable comments are: “Although I don’t understand what the big guy is talking about, I feel that he is happier”, “Live transparently and live clearly”.

“Zhang Chaoyang, Luo Yonghao, Yu Minhong, these middle-aged men, make China’s technology Internet business world not lonely, and even increase a lot of topics.” Zhao Hongmin believes.

These business tycoons, who have experienced the triumphs and disappointments of life, are still active on social platforms and in live broadcast rooms, and they still retain some romanticism. As for Sohu, no matter where he goes in the future, Zhang Chaoyang seems to have the last laugh.

*The title map comes from Visual China.

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