Chapter 534: Era of Subsidiaries

March 18, 2014, Shenzhen.

In the conference room on the 38th floor of Wanxiang Dasha, the atmosphere was a few points more solemn than usual.

Around a long table sat a dozen or so people, all heads of core departments. Outside, the outline of Fenghuang Mountain was faint in the morning mist, and traffic on Shen Nan Avenue had already begun to thicken.

Li Yaozong sat in the head seat, with a thick analytical report placed before him.

Wang Bo stood in front of the projection screen, his laser pointer hovering over a number.

"Phoenix Chat, 470 million monthly active users. Live streaming business, 230 million monthly active users. Video business, 180 million monthly active users."

He paused briefly.

"Combined, these three businesses account for 73% of the group's total traffic."

The conference room fell silent for a few seconds.

Li Yaozong spoke.

"Continue."

Wang Bo switched to the next slide.

"But the problem lies here."

He pointed at several charts.

"The Phoenix Chat team now has 800 people. The live streaming team, 600. The video team, 500. Altogether 1,900, which is one-third of the R&D Center's total staff."

He paused.

"These three teams compete for resources, budgets, and personnel. Last month, the Phoenix Chat and live streaming teams quarreled three times over server allocation issues."

Zhao Ming nodded beside him.

"Indeed. Resource conflicts are getting more severe."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"What's your take?"

Zhao Ming thought for a moment.

"Separate them. Let each operate independently to avoid internal friction."

He Xiao raised his hand.

"Director Li, I'm not very familiar with the internet side. But if we split them, could it affect the whole?"

Li Yaozong turned his gaze to Wang Bo.

Wang Bo said,

"In the short term there will be impact. In the long run, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks."

He walked to the whiteboard and drew three circles.

"Phoenix Chat, live streaming, and video are essentially three distinct businesses. Their user scenarios differ, their business models differ, and their development directions differ as well."

He drew several lines between the three circles.

"Tied together, they restrain each other. Once separated, each can move faster."

He paused.

"Moreover, after separation they can raise funds independently and list independently. Growing bigger and stronger is better than staying bundled together."

Fang Wenshan raised his hand.

"Director Li, the media will certainly speculate. How should we respond?"

Li Yaozong thought for a moment.

"No need to respond. Let them guess."

He looked at Fang Wenshan.

"The more wildly they guess, the higher the attention. Higher attention raises the starting point for these three subsidiaries."

Fang Wenshan nodded.

"Understood."

Li Yaozong scanned the room.

"Anyone else have comments?"

No one spoke.

He stood up.

"Then it's settled. Phoenix Chat, live streaming, and video will each become a subsidiary. Wanxiang Holding will hold 51%, and finance will be managed centrally by the group."

He looked at Wang Bo.

"You'll lead, together with the heads of the three teams, to draft a split plan. Complete it within a month."

Wang Bo nodded.

The next day, the news spread.

Various speculations began to appear online.

A media outlet posted: "Wanxiang Splits Core Businesses, Aiming for Independent Listings?"

A self‑media analysis ran: "Phoenix Chat, Live Streaming, Video Fight Separately—How Grand Is Li Yaozong's Ambition?"

A comment read: "Is Wanxiang about to fission, or are there internal problems?"

The comment section erupted.

"It must be internal problems; otherwise why split when everything's fine?"

"Only by splitting can they run faster; don't speak nonsense if you don't understand."

"If Phoenix Chat lists independently, I'll be the first to buy."

"What's the valuation of the live streaming business? Has anyone calculated it?"

Fang Wenshan stared at the backend data, flipping through them one by one.

Positive comments 43%, negative comments 32%, neutral 25%.

He sent Li Yaozong a message:

"Li, public sentiment is normal, not out of control."

Li Yaozong replied with a single character:

"Good."

One week later, the heads of the three subsidiaries were decided.

The person in charge of Phoenix Chat is the former product manager Zhang Yuan. 37 years old, he has worked at Wanshang for eight years, rising from programmer to product manager.

The person in charge of the live streaming business is the former operations manager Li Nan. 35 years old, he jumped from Tencent to Wanshang, where he has worked for three years.

The person in charge of the video business is the former technical manager Zhou Ye. 39 years old, he has followed Li Yaozong for ten years, rising from programmer to technical manager.

The three simultaneously appeared in Li Yaozong's office.

Li Yaozong looked at them.

"From today on, you are the heads of the subsidiaries."

He paused.

"Responsibility has grown, pressure has grown. But authority has also grown."

He looked at Zhang Yuan.

"Phoenix Chat is yours now. With 470 million monthly active users, how to maintain it, how to grow it—you decide."

Zhang Yuan nodded.

He looked at Li Nan.

"Live streaming business, the competition is fiercest. Douyin and Kuaishou are fighting over it. How will you compete?"

Li Nan thought for a moment.

"Differentiation. We have Wanshang Ecology, we have mobile pre-installation, we have the Payment Closed Loop. What others don't have, we have."

Li Yaozong nodded.

He looked at Zhou Ye.

"Video business has the highest technical barrier. Zhou Mingyuan, Li Sisi and those people are now under you. How to make good use of them—you decide."

Zhou Ye nodded.

Li Yaozong stood up.

"Go ahead. If you do well, we'll go public in three years. If not—"

He didn't finish.

The three understood.

One month later, the split was completed.

The Phoenix Chat subsidiary was officially listed.

The live streaming subsidiary was officially listed.

The video subsidiary was officially listed.

Three new plaques were hung on the three buildings beside Wanshang Dasha. Each building has its own door number, its own front desk, its own team.

On the day of the unveiling, there was no ceremony, no reporters.

Only Zhang Yuan, Li Nan, and Zhou Ye stood at the entrances of their respective companies, looking at the new plaque.

Zhang Yuan posted a WeChat moment.

"New starting point, new journey."

The picture shows the plaque that reads "Phoenix Chat".

Li Nan posted a moment.

"Live streaming is not just live streaming."

The picture shows the plaque that reads "Wanxiang Live".

Zhou Ye posted a moment.

"Video, the future of Wanshang."

The picture shows the plaque that reads "Wanxiang Video".

Three minutes later, Li Yaozong liked each of them.

Media speculation continues.

A financial media outlet published an article: "Wanshang's split into three subsidiaries—what's the valuation?"

The article did the math.

Phoenix Chat, with 470 million monthly active users, based on industry valuation, is worth at least 50 billion.

Live streaming business, with 230 million monthly active users, based on Douyin and Kuaishou valuations, is worth at least 30 billion.

Video business, with 180 million monthly active users, based on similar platforms, is worth at least 20 billion.

The three together total 100 billion.

The article concluded.

"If these three companies go public independently, Wanshang will create another Wanshang."

The comment section exploded again.

"100 billion? Is it really worth that much?"

"I use Phoenix Chat every day; it's worth that price."

"Can the live streaming business compare to Douyin?"

"Does the video business have copyright?"

Fang Wenshan stared at the backend data, scrolling through it line by line.

This time, positive reviews rose to fifty‑eight percent.

He sent a message to Li Yaozong:

"Li, the wind has changed."

Li Yaozong replied with a single character:

"Good."

In the distance, three buildings were brightly lit.

The building on the left was Phoenix Chat. Eight hundred people were working overtime.

The middle building was Wanxiang Live. Six hundred people were working overtime.

The building on the right was Wanxiang Video. Five hundred people were working overtime.

One thousand nine hundred people were pulling all‑nighters for their respective businesses.

He recalled that ten years ago, when Phoenix Chat first launched, there were only a handful of people.

Now, Chen Mo is already Phoenix Chat's technical consultant, and Xiao Wang is already the technical director of the live‑broadcast business.

And he, standing here, watched those lights.

He stood for a long time.

Then he turned around and walked back to his desk.

He opened his computer and began reading the three subsidiaries' first‑quarter operating reports.

Outside the window, the city's lights shone as bright as dawn.