Chapter 679: Searching with Binoculars for an Opponent

He meant he didn't take Lao Wang Zong's cinema line seriously at all—though that was a bit of showing off.

Lao Wang Zong's cinema line did trouble him in the past—that's true—but he couldn't show weakness; showing weakness would make people look down on him.

"The Principal says movie theaters are already outdated products—what do you think about that?" Li Nan controlled the pace.

"Just listen to him blabbering. Even if they're outdated, they're not outdated yet—he himself has a cinema brand and is buying up theaters too; recently there was a deal involving Yutu and Shanghai Xingyi Cinema Line."

"Listen to him—he tells others not to do it, but secretly does it himself." Lao Wang Zong spoke bluntly, exposing Fang Hong's true intentions with no mercy.

The audience on site just laughed "hehe" in unison.

"Actually, acquiring theaters wasn't what I wanted to do—I focus on content, you screen movies, that's fine too; let's cooperate and win together."

"You forced me into it. The film industry is such a small pie—with Wanda as a tiger in front and Alibaba as a tiger behind—I'm isolated and defenseless; what else can I do but carve out my own path?" Fang Hong spread his hands, expressing helplessness.

This tone eased the earlier serious atmosphere; the audience watched their debate with interest, occasionally laughing.

"You're clearly the biggest tiger yourself—biting one, then another—and now you call us tigers. But come to think of it, you being isolated and defenseless is right; the old saying goes: lose the Dao, lose support; gain the Dao, gain support." Jack Ma interjected at the right moment, his words powerful.

He meant Fang Hong himself had problems, so no one helped him.

"Cooperation that creates mutual benefit is great—I welcome it wholeheartedly—but under the guise of helping, you seize the nest? That's the greatest immorality. I've worked hard to build this—why should you just throw some money around and sweet-talk your way into taking it?"

"Do you believe me? If Chang'e Yutu opens up financing, the entire world will rush to help—even the world's top investment banks." Fang Hong countered sharply, implying Alibaba only wanted to seize the nest.

Most people nodded silently— if Chang'e Yutu said it wanted financing, they'd line up to give money without hesitation.

Yutu itself is profitable—movies, animation, TV, Variety—all blockbusters; with Tu Piaopiao on the right and Chang'e Technology on the left, there's never any shortage of distribution channels for its content.

Chang'e Technology also has explosive traffic—Bilibili plus Toutiao's daily active users exceed 100 million; what level is that? It surpasses Meituan.

Baidu's daily active users are at the same level—meaning it's already on par with Baidu, lacking only monetization channels.

Not to mention Xiaohongshu and Douyin are rising, with Swan Castle adding weight—Chang'e's current valuation exceeds $25 billion, making it a trillion-yuan enterprise.

Its value is low only because monetization hasn't been realized yet; once traffic is monetized, its value will multiply many times over, skyrocketing endlessly.

"Cooperation isn't about crushing each other—it's about creating value. Destroying a company is easy; helping a company succeed is true ability."

"Hmm… after Yutu rose, Bona was acquired, Huayi collapsed—recent events, you all know. So I've always said Alibaba's mission is to help others succeed; if we grow strong while others fail, that's a shame—a great shame."

Jack Ma meant Yutu was like a herbicide for the industry—after Yutu rose, those two veteran film companies were either absorbed or crushed.

Though he spoke only briefly, the information density was immense.

"Chang'e Yutu must maintain independence to uphold its mission—no faction-building, but becoming its own economic system. We have many like-minded people who share the same values; those with incompatible values—we follow different paths."

Fang Hong, too, spoke briefly—implying Jack Ma was the one with incompatible values.

Then he added: "I don't know how Mr. Ma can dare to criticize me—Alibaba acquired Youku and controlled Youku, acquired AutoNavi and controlled AutoNavi, acquired UC and controlled UC, and many other companies. If we're talking about autocracy, Alibaba is the biggest autocrat in the internet industry."

"And after these companies were controlled, none performed better than before—some even died. Koubei shut down in 2011, UC's active users dropped 8%, market size plummeted, Tian Tian Dongting and Xiami Music are losing core users."

"Oh, Mr. Ma says others are good at talking—but never reflects on why his controlled companies failed."

The two traded sharp blows, portraying each other as evil villains of the industry.

This was different from his earlier discussions with Cao Telei and Lao Wang Zong—these two now had a tense, confrontational energy, neither willing to yield.

The audience below found their debate thoroughly entertaining.

Liu Tianxian clenched her fists, terrified her man would lose to this big con artist.

Xiao Wang stared at Fang Hong on stage with a scowl.

"Indeed, Alibaba has made as many mistakes as any company—but we learn from our mistakes. We've always used 20% success to support 80% exploration; this process is extremely difficult, but we won't abandon innovation. If every project succeeded, it would mean we're not innovative enough—we must tolerate failure."

When Jack Ma said this, Fang Hong and Lao Wang Zong's expressions grew subtly ambiguous.

Too damn good at showing off—even failure could be spun so beautifully, so refined, so lofty; no one else could pull that off.

The audience below listened with great delight, like listening to xiangsheng.

"We're in the internet age—no one knows what the future holds. Dispersed resources can't meet future challenges; someone must step forward as an organizer. Every industry must embrace the internet model—we're not challenging rules, we're transcending them." Jack Ma spoke with lofty grandeur.

At first glance, these words sounded very reasonable—but they were actually concept substitution: calling rule-breaking "transcending rules"; calling acquisition and control "organizing"; calling failure "innovation."

As for who the challenger was—he decided who it was; whoever opposed him was the enemy. The logic was clear enough.

"The film industry shouldn't be controlled by a few corporate capitals—it should be driven by countless small and medium enterprises. Alibaba's mission is to help small businesses break monopolies." Jack Ma said again—this was a direct hit at Yutu, aimed squarely at Fang Hong.

The audience erupted in "clap-clap-clap" applause—cheering Jack Ma's brilliant words.

Listening to him was truly passionate and highly entertaining.

Liu Tianxian didn't clap—she was anxious for Fang Hong.

"A large company isn't a monopoly—lack of innovation is the monopoly. I'm anxious every day about how to let more people surpass me—I'm literally searching with binoculars for opponents." Fang Hong's tone carried a faint loneliness.

"Hahaha!"

"Clap-clap-clap!"

The audience roared with laughter and applause—Jack Ma had spoken so much, so boastfully, so loftily—but the Principal's single sentence refuted it all.

You say I'm a monopoly? I'm innovating. You want to challenge me? I've been waiting for you a long time.

But that last sentence was indeed extremely arrogant—arrogant beyond bounds.

But Fang Hong had already said culture industries don't have monopolies, so he wasn't worried about such accusations—it was just that his company had grown large.

Lao Wang Zong looked at Jack Ma with interest, enjoying his look of defeat.

He'd long been silenced by Jack Ma's boastful, lofty words—now finally someone else had the same effect.

This was magic defeating magic—the Principal had learned the essence.

"The Principal really is a talent. How's it going? Still holding up?" He leaned close to Jack Ma, whispering with a teasing tone.

Their relationship was already good—they often teased each other on stage.

"Fine. If there weren't so many competing interests at stake, I could really have dinner with him." Jack Ma clapped as he laughed.

His face was full of wrinkles when he smiled—he couldn't lose face, after all—but he hadn't encountered such an opponent in a long time, whether in business or debate.

Almost no one was his match—now he'd finally found one.

A few years ago, he'd been too lazy to talk much with this man, thinking him unworthy—but now, as the Principal's rise accelerated, he felt threatened.

It also made him feel that the Principal was worthy of challenging him.

Liu Tianxian clapped vigorously from below the stage, feeling a measure of relief—he had been worn out by this man, terrified he'd lose the argument.

The applause and laughter in the venue lasted a long time, the show's impact maximized; too bad it wasn't live—if it had been, it would have exploded across the entire internet, birthing another "Bī Wáng."

But the video of this debate would soon spread, though he feared these people might record and release something damaging.

"Let me reiterate here: the content is not monopolized—whether by platform or production—it exists in people's minds. You can control capital channels, you can control goods, but you cannot control creative thought—that is uncontrollable.

And Yutu has consistently promoted the development of small and medium-sized film and television production; many such studios have now risen, including Lemon and Daylight Entertainment, both outstanding examples.

If we're talking about monopoly, the real monopolist should be Alibaba—its 'choose one or the other' policy is brazen, and I'm actually afraid."

Fang Hong once again shifted the blame to Alibaba.

Alibaba did previously enforce 'choose one or the other,' but before anything could happen, the Principal broke it—after all, Youku retreated, while Chang'e Yutu poured billions into infrastructure; who still took sides?

And in e-commerce, 'choose one or the other' also exists—it began last year, and this year and next will be the peak of conflict.

The current antitrust laws are still immature; penalties only came with new clauses added in 2020, so at the time, Fang Hong broke it himself, without relying on higher authorities.

The time required to add or revise legislation at this level is extremely long—it's not like many things in the entertainment industry, where a single document suffices.

Moreover, back then, both sides were competing; monopoly was simply impossible.

(End of Chapter)