Chapter 204: The Counterattack

Although Cao Guowei's words were not very polite, Liu Zhou finally decided to keep him.

It can be seen that Cao Guowei still has a lot of feelings for Sina, and his abilities are not bad.

What's more, he will resign from the position of Sina director, so his threat will be greatly reduced.

As for his betrayal to Duan Yongji, Liu Zhou would not care too much about it. In the future, Liu Zhou would not allow two voices to appear in Sina. Even if he wanted to betray again, he would have no one to cooperate with.

Moreover, given Duan Yongji's strength and broad-mindedness, it would be difficult for Cao Guowei to return to his camp, and he should be well aware of this.

In that case, Liu Zhou has nothing to worry about.

After all, it is not easy to find an excellent CFO. If Cao Guowei can gain his trust in the future, Liu Zhou would not mind letting him succeed as Sina's CEO.

In the following days, the outside media continued to report on Sina's change of ownership as usual.

The popularity of this matter has remained high, and now there are even many so-called experts analyzing this matter.

But Liu Zhou has always been in charge of Sina.

With the comfort of three senior executives and veterans, Wang Yan, Chen Tong and Cao Guowei, Sina's various businesses were not greatly affected.

However, Duan Yongji's ability to control Sina is definitely not limited to controlling the board of directors. He also has many direct subordinates within the company, otherwise he would not have been able to put such great constraints on Wang Yan.

So there is still some turmoil within Sina.

Liu Zhou has been staying at Sina to deal with these matters.

Liu Zhou showed no mercy to those who were obviously Duan Yongji's direct subordinates and dismissed them all.

Liu Zhou also dismissed all those who wanted to collude to cause trouble, regardless of their positions.

Liu Zhou's reckless and ruthless approach really shocked some people.

After all, Sina is not a small company or a newly established enterprise. It can't survive without anyone.

When you leave, someone else will immediately take your place.

At the same time, Liu Zhou officially appointed Zhong Lifang as Sina's senior vice president, responsible for administration, legal affairs, personnel and public relations.

She did not take up the position alone, she brought a team with her.

With Liu Zhou's strong support, Zhong Lifang was also quickly taking control of those departments.

Then let Cao Guowei stabilize Sina's finances, and let Wang Yan and Chen Tong temporarily manage all of Sina's businesses.

Under Liu Zhou's swift and even somewhat rough operation, Sina has basically stabilized.

With powerful enemies outside, Liu Zhou did not have time to slowly infiltrate his influence throughout the company using a gentle approach.

If you want to stabilize the company in a short period of time, the most effective way is to cut the Gordian knot.

Facts have proved that Liu Zhou's approach was very correct.

Because soon after, Duan Yongji's counterattack came.

The first shot fired was the public opinion offensive.

Originally, most of the outside reports revolved around the change of ownership of Sina, the dispute between Liu Zhou and Duan Yongji, and the related gossip of these two events.

But the public opinion suddenly changed that day, and the media reports were more filled with criticism of Liu Zhou.

The latest report from Beijing Daily:
"Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Liu Zhou is using the methods of a bandit to rob Sina of its control."

The Beijing News reported:
"As we all know, Sina's successful process from its founding to its development and then to its listing in the United States has nothing to do with Liu Zhou.

If the control of a company can be easily usurped, who can run a business with sincerity and dedication?"

Not only that, but there were also other major newspapers that launched malicious attacks on Liu Zhou:

"How can a director like Liu Zhou get so much money? The relevant departments should investigate the source of Liu Zhou's funds."

"Sina is likely facing an attack from a foreign agent!"

“The development of an enterprise requires stability.”

But Liu Zhou is not a powerless person. He has been in the entertainment industry for so long and has also accumulated a lot of media resources.

The first newspaper to fire the first shot in the counterattack on Liu Zhou was Southern Weekend, which had a close relationship with Liu Zhou.

Instead of discussing whether this matter was right or wrong, they directly started to praise Liu Zhou:
"From a writer to a director, and then from a director to the head of a major Internet company, Liu Zhou has demonstrated with his actions what it means to be a young talent.

Liu Zhou's story tells us that talent is everything, and he has set a good example for the majority of Chinese youth."

Finally, Southern Weekend did not forget to dig up some of Duan Yongji’s dark history.

Subsequently, the China Youth Daily, which had always had a pleasant cooperation with Liu Zhou, also published an article in support:

"Sina's acquisition is completely legal and compliant. This is the first time in the history of mainland China's commercial development and a landmark event in mainland China's commercial progress.

Liu Zhou is undoubtedly a very talented person. Let us look forward to Sina achieving even greater success under his leadership."

In addition, Southern Metropolis Daily interviewed the heads of two other portal websites, Ding Lei and Zhang Chaoyang.

Net Art Ding Lei:

"I'm surprised, but since there is no problem with the SEC acquisition license shown, there is absolutely no problem with this acquisition. I hope Sina can get better and better under the leadership of Mr. Liu."

Zhang Chaoyang from Sohu:

"In fact, this kind of situation is very common in the United States. There is no need to make a fuss. This is just a simple business behavior. There is no need to elevate it to other levels. Finally, congratulations to Mr. Liu, and welcome to compete and grow with Sohu!"

To be honest, Liu Zhou was quite surprised that Zhang Chaoyang would publicly support him.

It was understandable that Ding Lei supported him, after all, Liu Zhou still had the NetEase shares that he needed.

But Zhang Chaoyang, Liu Zhou and him have no vested interests in this matter, only personal feelings remain.

Liu Zhou also kept Zhang Chaoyang's righteous voice in mind.

Afterwards, Xiao Ma Ge in Pengcheng also supported Liu Zhou when facing media interviews.

With the media supporting Liu Zhou and some Internet giants in the industry publicly voicing their support, Duan Yongji's first wave of offensive was repelled.

But Duan Yongji's methods are obviously not that simple.

When it comes to comparing people, Duan Yongji's network is several times stronger than Liu Zhou's.

When other media saw the Southern media interviewing some industry leaders, they followed suit.

The China Economic Times compiled various news on the battle for control of Sina and approached Lenovo's Mr. Liu with a trial attitude.

Unexpectedly, the other party responded as soon as I contacted him:
“We strongly condemn this kind of hostile takeover of companies!
Liu Zhou's behavior is very bad!

This is hurting the Internet industry and is a serious violation of China's business rules!"

Boss Liu, whose reputation was at its peak, had no scruples and directly put several big hats on Liu Zhou.

Boss Liu's speech seemed to sound the clarion call for a charge against Liu and Zhou.

Next, business tycoons from different industries continued to criticize and even condemn Liu Zhou.

Shi Yuzhu from Magic City Giant Company:

"Liu Zhou's behavior is very bad. He has not made any contribution to the development of Sina, but now he is stealing the fruits of success.

I think the relevant departments should stop this behavior, otherwise it will seriously undermine the good business atmosphere in the mainland."

Feng Lun of Vantone Group:

"Liu Zhou's behavior is very unbusinesslike and is highly unacceptable. He should think twice about it."

Guo Guangchang of Fosun Group:
"Oh, I saw the report. I haven't met Liu Zhou. As for him, what he is doing now is not pleasing, nor is it something to boast about."

"Liu Zhou was just a director in the entertainment industry before. Even if he controlled Sina, what could he do?

He has nothing to do with Sina's business and has no experience in this area. Forcibly controlling such a famous portal website will only make people feel sorry for Sina."

At this time, another big shot on the Internet, Jack Ma of Ali, also condemned Liu Zhou's behavior.

“I won’t comment on Mr. Liu’s behavior, but I think it is very unethical to seize control of a prestigious Internet company so rudely.

As an entrepreneur, you cannot just be bound by the law, because that is the most basic thing, but you must also abide by basic ethics.

If an entrepreneur is unethical, the company won’t go far.”

All of the above people are bigwigs in their respective industries.

Even Jack Ma, who has the least experience at this time, acquired Yahoo China last year and completely defeated his competitors to become the absolute overlord of the e-commerce industry.

Jack Ma also became a new star in the industry.

These people spoke out together, and many other business leaders also criticized Liu Zhou's behavior.

For a time, public opinion completely favored Duan Yongji, and Liu Zhou's notoriety became known throughout the world in a short period of time.

At this time, Sina headquarters.

Zhong Lifang said to Liu Zhou with a worried look on her face:
"Mr. Liu, the current wind direction is not favorable to us. Should we also take some measures?"

Liu Zhou did not have much emotional fluctuations about this, and said calmly:

"No, we should just let the media that we are friendly with speak out normally and not let public opinion be one-sided."

"But if this continues, I'm afraid it will be very detrimental to your reputation, Mr. Liu."

“The criticism from many people has no effect on our control over the company.

What I want to know now is, have the major state media commented on our acquisition of Sina? "

"No, they simply reported the incident and did not publish any comments representing any position."

"That means there is no position for the time being, which is also a good thing for us."

When running a business in China, one cannot just follow business rules, but also needs to accept guidance from above.

Liu Zhou was not afraid that Duan Yongji would use commercial or public opinion means to deal with him, but he was afraid that he would ask the higher authorities to interfere with administrative means.

I don’t know if the Murphy effect is really effective, but whatever Liu Zhou fears will happen to him.

At this moment, President Wang Yan walked into Liu Zhou's office with a solemn expression on his face, and then said seriously:
"Mr. Liu, I just received a notice that Director Li of a certain department will come to our Sina for research tomorrow."

Hearing Wang Yan's words, Liu Zhou couldn't help but laugh:
“It seems that Duan Yongji has made another move, acting like a little wife and asking his parents-in-law to seek justice.

Since the higher-ups are coming to investigate, we should also do a good job of receiving them. All our business activities are legal and compliant. I believe the leaders will not deliberately cause trouble for us."

(End of this chapter)