Chapter 206: Cutting off the firewood and the complicated Sina
Duan Yongji has never been a person who gives up easily.

At that board meeting, when he learned that Liu Zhou held more than one-third of Sina's shares, he knew he would not be able to turn the situation around at the shareholders' meeting.

This veto power can veto any of his proposals.

So Duan Yongji turned his attention back to the board of directors.

Because of his previous carelessness, he did not notice the collusion between Liu, Zhou and others, so that these board members selected by him personally overthrew him at the board meeting.

After calming down, Duan Yongji reflected and realized that he had been in charge of Sina in recent years and had become arrogant. He either did not see the dissatisfaction of his subordinates or did not care about it even if he saw it.

This time, Liu Zhou took advantage of the opportunity and united these people, which led to his misstep.

When Duan Yongji came to his senses, his former wisdom returned to him.

So he also started his counterattack.

Although Liu Zhou unexpectedly took temporary control of Sina, he also had a big shortcoming, which was that he had no foundation in Sina at all.

At the same time, he is not from the Internet industry. He was just a director before, and the outside world generally lacks confidence in his ability to lead Sina forward.

Therefore, Duan Yongji's first step was to mobilize the media to magnify Liu Zhou's disadvantage, and also called on his circle of friends to belittle or even discredit Liu Zhou.

It was going quite smoothly at the beginning, but later Duan Yongji felt that he had underestimated Liu Zhou's strength.

The media resources he possesses are equally strong, and he did not expect that Ding Lei, Zhang Chaoyang and Penguin Ma would actually come forward to help him.

Although there were some unexpected events, the final effect was still considerable.

Previously, the outside world was somewhat praising Liu Zhou's entry into Sina, but now most people are pessimistic about Sina's future.

Moreover, if Liu Zhou dares to stand against the Taishan Society, he will never achieve much in the business world in the future.

After completing the first step, Duan Yongji also mobilized his own personal connections, hoping to exert pressure through the upper levels.

If he hadn't taken this step, he would have been planning to launch the action simultaneously from above and within Sina.

Let Sina's own people take some action, and then cooperate with the investigation and supervision from above to completely expose Liu Zhou's incompetence.

Although this may cause some turmoil to Sina, the losses will be worth it as long as Sina can be taken back.

If you can't get it back, then the losses are not worth worrying about.

In addition to these two steps, Duan Yongji also prepared a third step, which was to win over the board members again.

Afterwards, Duan Yongji also learned that the relationship between Liu Zhou and them was simply one of interest.

As long as I can provide them with greater benefits, they will stand on my side again.

As for some of the previous grudges between me and them, are they worth mentioning in the face of interests?

But I didn’t expect that the last two steps would not go smoothly when they were first implemented.

At the beginning, Liu Zhou was overwhelmed by the pressure from above and even had to ask Ding Lei and Zhang Chaoyang for help.

Duan Yongji couldn't help laughing when he saw this. The young boy was really just a young boy.

If you don’t have connections when doing business here, what’s the point of making your business big?

Just when Duan Yongji was about to put more pressure on him, he didn't expect Mao Daolin to take action.

I believe no one would dare not be afraid of Mao Daolin's identity.

Although Duan Yongji dared to marginalize him at Sina, it was because it was a normal business practice.

Moreover, a gentleman can be deceived by his own methods. Mao Daolin's sense of moral restraint will not make him angry and use his connections to do things that are detrimental to Sina and himself.

But despite this, Duan Yongji did not dare to disrespect him in the slightest, and even retained his position as a director of Sina for three years.

Mao Daolin's sudden help to Liu Zhou this time really caught him off guard.

Although Mao Daolin does not hold any position, who would not give him face when it comes to matters that do not have much impact?
So this allowed Liu Zhou to escape perfectly, and also made Duan Yongji's efforts in vain.

But before he could make another move, Liu Zhou's counterattack was faster than he expected.

Not only did they quickly take down Zhang Lizheng and Lin Xinhe, but they also purged the departments they were in charge of.

Zhang Lizheng and Lin Xinhe are not only his direct subordinates, but also the key figures in his internal blasting of Liu Zhou.

Now these two people have all been kicked out of Sina, along with their direct subordinates, which has caused Duan Yongji's second step plan to fail completely.

So now, Duan Yongji can only hope to make a comeback at the board meeting.

But Liu Zhou's actions once again surprised him. He directly replaced Cao Guowei with his confidant Zhong Lifang to join the board of directors.

Although Cao Guowei abstained from voting at the previous board meeting, Duan Yongji still felt that he could win him over.

When I take control of Sina again, I can slowly take care of some things.

Now that Cao Guowei has been replaced, his plan has been aborted.

What shocked him even more and chilled his heart was that Liu Zhou was actually plotting against him and directly instigated Li Jia to rebel.

In fact, what Duan Yongji didn’t know was that Liu Zhou knew it as soon as he contacted other members of the board of directors.

Liu Zhou certainly knew that he and they were an alliance of interests and there was not much trust between them.

The board of directors is my only loophole now.

Therefore, although not under surveillance, everyone on the board of directors, including Duan Yongji, is closely watched.

Liu Zhou noticed that the first person Duan Yongji contacted secretly was Jiang Fengnian.

Duan Yongji had a sharp eye and he knew that Jiang Fengnian was ready to leave Sina and start a new business.

For Jiang Fengnian, he can obviously provide more resources.

Liu Zhou had no way to stop their contact, nor could he influence the thoughts of Jiang Fengnian and others.

The only thing he could do was to get the board of directors into his hands as quickly as possible.

What Liu Zhou didn’t expect was that within two days, Jiang Fengnian took the initiative to find Liu Zhou.

Jiang Fengnian took the initiative to confess Duan Yongji's purpose of looking for him, and at the same time reminded Liu Zhou to pay attention to Duan Yongji's actions, because Duan Yongji would not be looking for only him.

Liu Zhou asked him curiously why he told him this.

Jiang Fengnian just shrugged and said:

"Duan Yongji and I have worked together since Sina was founded, which is seven or eight years ago. I know him quite well.

Although he promised me a lot, I know he holds a grudge, so I don’t trust him.”

Liu Zhou didn't completely believe what Jiang Fengnian said. What if he said that on purpose to make him let down his guard?
He has already paid such a huge price for Sina, and he doesn't want to fail because of his carelessness.

Regardless of whether Jiang Fengnian was won over or not, Liu Zhou felt that he needed to speed up his control over the board of directors.

Among all his previous allies, the most trustworthy one is undoubtedly Wang Yan.

Duan Yongji had not only sidelined him for three years, but was also preparing to kick him out. It would be difficult for the two of them to get along again. So Liu Zhou also directly increased his authority and handed over the two businesses that generated the most revenue for Sina to him.

If Wang Yan is still lured back by Duan Yongji under such circumstances, Liu Zhou will have no choice but to say that he has no chance with Sina.

But it is not Liu Zhou's character to be on the defensive all the time. Since he can win over his allies, Liu Zhou can also steal his home.

Currently, there are two die-hard supporters of Duan Yongji on the board of directors. The interests of Ideal Investment's parent company and Duan Yongji are too closely intertwined, so it is difficult for Wu Zheng to win him over.

Another person, Li Jia from Sunshine Capital, is much easier to win over.

The two sides are also connected by mutual interests. Duan Yongji can bring them benefits, so Sunshine Capital firmly stands on Duan Yongji's side.

Similarly, if Liu Zhou could provide greater benefits, Sunshine Capital’s stance would not be so firm.

Sunshine Capital is not a large-scale investment company. Sina is the company with the highest return from their investment, and it was indeed due to Duan Yongji's relationship at the beginning.

After Sina's stock price rebounded, Sunshine Capital continued to cash out its shares and currently only holds 1.2% of Sina's shares.

Liu Zhou simply used money to buy out their shares at a double premium.

In response, Sunshine Capital accepted Liu Zhou's offer without hesitation and prepared to cash out completely.

They also saw clearly that the battle between Liu Zhou and Duan Yongji for control of Sina would not end so easily.

It has just begun and Sina's development has been damaged. If the two fight too fiercely and directly destroy Sina, the stocks in their hands will be just a pile of waste paper.

Therefore, Sunshine Capital decided to stay away from the dispute and secure the profits.

What's more, the price Liu Zhou offered was very sincere, so Sunshine Capital did not bargain and agreed directly.

Originally, Liu Zhou wanted Sunshine Capital to stand on his side on the board of directors, but the other party also directly refused.

Selling shares to Liu Zhou and withdrawing from the board of directors has already offended Duan Yongji.

If you still stand against Duan Yongji in the board of directors, you will completely offend him.

Liu Zhou didn't care about Sunshine Capital's rejection.

Now that Sunshine Capital has been cut off, Duan Yongji's disadvantage on the board of directors is even more obvious, with only two votes to be secured.

After kicking Li Jia out and adding Zhong Lifang to the board of directors, Liu Zhou can be said to have temporarily suppressed Duan Yongji's counterattack.

However, in order to completely eliminate the hidden dangers, Duan Yongji must also be brought up to the board of directors.

Therefore, Liu Zhou's main job was to win over other Sina shareholders and prepare to remove his position as Sina director at the extraordinary shareholders' meeting.

At that time, even if Duan Yongji did not propose to convene an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, Liu Zhou would organize it.

After all, it is not something that can be accomplished in a short period of time to win over these shareholders. After temporarily stabilizing the rear, Liu Zhou is also ready to exert his influence within Sina.

Now because of the purge, many people have resigned from Sina, causing some people within the company to panic.

This has also had a certain impact on Sina's business development, and some media outside have been criticizing Liu and Zhou for bringing chaos to Sina.

But Liu Zhou still insisted on doing so, because he knew that this was the price of controlling Sina.

After all, Duan Yongji has been working at Sina for so many years. If you want to eliminate his influence, you have to pay this price.

The same goes for Liu Zhou. As long as he can completely control Sina, paying some price is worth it.

Just now, Liu Zhou is also preparing to make a major adjustment to Sina's business.

During this period, Liu Zhou was not busy fighting with Duan Yongji, but also gained a detailed understanding of Sina.

As an old Internet company, Sina's business is a bit too diverse, and it has gradually begun to suffer from some big company diseases.

Liu Zhou’s adjustments this time, in addition to business, are also aimed at curing the company’s problems.

However, the latter had an unexpected result and was able to curb the disease when Liu Zhou was cleaning up and eliminating Duan Yongji's influence in the company.

As long as some more measures are issued later, there shouldn't be any major problems.

So the most important thing now is to adjust Sina’s business.

In addition to its portal, Sina's best-developed product is undoubtedly Sina Blog.

Sina was not the first to launch blogs, but Sina Blog is the one that has developed the best.

Up to now, Sina Blog has almost dominated the blogging field, and the traffic of other blogs has been decreasing.

In the Internet industry, it is basically a winner-takes-all situation, and the rest perish.

The reason why Sina Blog has been able to develop so well is mainly because of Cao Guowei.

He was in charge of this project. Later, it was also under his leadership that Sina Weibo defeated Penguin and Sohu and became a popular application.

This is also the reason why Liu Zhou chose to keep Cao Guowei, his ability is indeed very strong.

In addition to blogs, Sina's other outstanding business is wireless value-added services, which ranks first among many Internet companies.

The three businesses of portal news, blogs and wireless value-added services do not need much change and are currently developing well.

Mainly the rest, there are all kinds of things, and they are all following the trend.

In the gaming field, Sina established Sina Legu and igame at the same time, the former is responsible for online games and the latter is responsible for casual games.

However, probably because it is making a lot of money from wireless value-added services, Sina has not made any effort in the gaming field. It cannot even compare with Sohu, let alone NetEase.

The only thing Sina Legu can boast of is that it is the agent for the operation of "Lineage 2" in China.

The maximum number of online players for this game was only 110,000, and its peak period was very short. Now not many people play it anymore.

As for igame, a casual game platform, it cannot be compared with Penguin and Ourgame at all.

What Liu Zhou found regrettable was that Wang Tao, who developed igame, left Sina and joined Sohu two years ago.

Next year, he will bring an online game called "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" to the mainland, making Sohu Changyou famous overnight and eventually going public.

In addition to games, there is also the half-dead Sina Mail.

There is also Sina Search, which was established to follow Baidu's lead, but its market share is pitifully low.

At the same time, it also developed the instant messaging software SIUC, which can only be used within Sina and has little market outside. Not to mention challenging Penguin, it can't even challenge Microsoft's MSN.

In addition, Sina also has Yipai.com, which is even more useless for e-commerce.

It can be said that Sina has business in all the fields of BAT in the future, but it simply cannot make it big.

Finally, Sina followed Ctrip's lead and established Sina Travel.

Needless to say, Ctrip has already gone public.

So some businesses have to be cut.

(End of this chapter)