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Chapter 1464: Chapter 1309: Two Big ’Hooligans’ (Subscribe please!)
A day later.
Monday.
The incident with Tang Qing’s university had just settled down.
A piece of news.
Once again, he made the finance headlines.
"On November 25th, Qingyuan Technology, a company under Tang Qing’s umbrella, acquired a 70% controlling stake in Tongcheng Network Technology... Insiders revealed that at the beginning of the month, Tang Qing was already preparing to establish a new travel company..."
In the press release.
The entire acquisition process was detailed.
Of course.
It was all packaged up.
Not wanting to tarnish the Tang Family name with accusations of ’unscrupulous measures’ or ’cunning ruthlessness,’ these potential reputation impacting matters had been thoroughly considered from the start of the acquisition plan.
Once the news was out.
The industry was abuzz with attention.
Ctrip.
Headquarters.
This Monday.
For them, was anything but good.
As soon as work started.
They were greeted with this bad news. In any industry, when someone crosses over to set up shop, most don’t worry too much, but when the newcomer is of significant scale, it’s a whole different ball game.
Tang Qing.
Clearly belongs to the category of a colossal crocodile.
Not short on cash.
Compete with cash burning?
They never even considered that Tang Qing had so many companies making huge profits daily, and Ctrip, although a listed company, may not make as much in a year as Qingyuan Technology does in a week.
---The wolf is coming.
This was the sentiment at Ctrip.
Conference room.
"Currently, the free management software distributed by Xiao Xiao Technology to numerous travel companies, hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions, has already captured 40% of our merchant base, and the number is still increasing."
"This has forced us to rely on Xiao Xiao’s software interfaces for customer reservations, payments, and other services. Now, with the acquisition of Tongcheng, the intention behind it is as clear as day."
"If this continues, we will be completely at their mercy, our fate in their hands. We must find a solution to establish our own defenses to protect our interests."
"..."
The president looked extremely grave.
They had been aware of this issue for a long time.
But.
For the moment.
They couldn’t come up with similar software.
The competitor’s package was too tightly integrated, not just the surface-level terminal software, but also many additional services, such as data security, cloud storage, employee management, business analysis, business consultation...
Relying on Xiao Xiao.
Merchants could enjoy an array of other services.
And this.
Is something imitators can’t offer. Some companies had thought about repackaging Xiao Xiao’s free software to sell as their own, but as soon as they tried, they were bankrupted by lawsuits from Sky Eye’s Legal Department.
These software applications.
Xiao Xiao provided them for free to all merchants.
But.
Any alterations made by others could not be used for commercial purposes, a ’thuggish’ tactic that had many complaining inwardly, accusing them of monopolizing the market and clubbing away those who just wished to share the spoils.
That’s too much.
But Sky Eye’s response was simple.
’Please respect intellectual property rights!’
As a result.
Now.
In the internet industry.
There are two widely recognized ’thuggish’ companies.
One.
Is the untouchable Penguin holding onto QQ.
The other.
Is Xiao Xiao.
Giving away free software, actively distributing it far and wide, not only to hotels, restaurants, but it’s said that they didn’t even spare the Ministry of Railways, the Power Grid, and China National Petroleum, going to their doors ’delivering warmth’.
This cut off many people’s means of making money.
Of course.
That’s the perspective of their peers.
Among those reaping the benefits.
Tang Qing is the good guy.
Free stuff, who doesn’t like it? Free and good, that’s even better. As for whose interests it disrupts, what does it have to do with them? If it weren’t for many hotels still using notebooks for registration, the market share would be even higher.
Ctrip.
Facing the biggest potential crisis since its inception.
"Is there any way to break free from this control?" the CEO asked.
However.
No one below answered.
Breaking free, how could it be easy?
They can’t force customers to not use free software.
If it was business competition.
They could find a new backer, find Tang Qing’s rival, but does Tang Qing have any rivals now? Penguin? That’s a bit doubtful... Following Penguin? They themselves have a partnership with Penguin.
Even if they were to cling to Penguin’s coattails.
It still doesn’t solve the problem of merchants being indirectly controlled by others. A headache, a severe headache. Why didn’t they think of the problem of unifying the terminal software for all customers back then?
In the past.
Ctrip’s customers relied on web-based backend management.
Otherwise.
They could have established a set of barriers.
Now.
It’s too late.
The competitor has got there first, laying a mine in your backyard that you cannot remove. "Think hard about this matter, it’s about the life and death of Ctrip. Everyone come up with a plan and submit it to me tonight."
There’s no other way.
They can only brainstorm and assign the task.
In the afternoon.
The CEO of Ctrip got in touch with the Ctrip founder in the United States. After Ctrip became the industry leader, one of the founders, Liang Zhang, who served as the CEO of Ctrip for six years, went to Stanford.
To pursue a PhD in Economics.
"Director Liang, Ctrip is in big trouble."
"What happened?"
One minute later.
After listening to the explanation.
He fell silent as well.
Before he left, Ctrip was in a position where they couldn’t find a rival even with a telescope. But just over a year after his departure, they’ve been put in this situation by a company under Tang Qing, which really left him speechless.
This time.
They are truly being pursued step by step.
"Handle our own affairs well, I will return next month." Faced with such a crisis at Ctrip, he couldn’t bring himself to continue studying, "Keep a close eye on Tongcheng’s movements during this period, and maintain a good relationship with Xiao Xiao."
Competition.
He’s not afraid of it.
But he is somewhat afraid of Tang Qing.
This young man’s actions, up to now, haven’t failed. Otherwise, the media over here in the United States wouldn’t sound as if they’ve swallowed a bottle of vinegar, filled with such a sour taste.
Especially after Forbes announced.
Tang Qing’s wealth.
Almost crushed Bill Gates.
Making many Westerners unbearable.
The only bit of ’superiority’ they had left, luckily guarded by Jumbo ERV, otherwise, their sourness might be even stronger. During his study abroad, he researched many hotels.
And he found something that disturbed him.
Not only in the United States.
Canada.
Europe.
And even in countries with weak internet infrastructure like Brazil, Xiao Xiao’s free software was present. These software, following the global branch strategy of Sky Eye, are blooming everywhere.
However.
To avoid triggering the United States’ antitrust laws.
The software here.
Is for a fee.
While in all other countries without such laws, it remains free. At that time, when he found out about this, he was a bit perplexed, what could Ctrip use to fight such an opponent if they entered the market?
Now.
The speculation has been confirmed.
He didn’t come up with any good solutions either.
...
That evening.
U.S. Stocks opened.
Ctrip’s stocks fell by 1.7 percent.
Although not much.
It was still painful to see. Fortunately, Ctrip’s scale was still there, and nobody really thought Tang Qing would ruthlessly crush Ctrip. Therefore, while Ctrip was extremely anxious, the investors were quite rational.
For the time being.
The stock price was still quite gracious.
