The news said that Baidu's former search president Xiang Hailong joined Transsion, responsible for software development and commercialization

"LatePost" learned that Xiang Hailong, former senior vice president of Baidu and president of search company, has recently officially joined transsion holdings (hereinafter referred to as transsion), a mobile phone manufacturer, as the president of mobile Internet (business unit). Xiang Hailong was followed by several of his former Baidu subordinates.

A person close to Transsion said that Xiang Hailong will be responsible for managing the development of TRANSSION software products and commercializing mobile Internet services such as TRANSSION's app store and its APP.

From joining in 2005 to leaving in 2019, Xiang Hailong gradually took charge of Baidu's huge commercialization system and was the core figure of Baidu. "LatePost" once reported that when he left, Baidu had more than 30,000 people in the company and about 20,000 management to Hailong; the search company he was responsible for was "cash cow", contributing more than 70% of Baidu's revenue. He proved himself to be a good sales manager.

But in the past decade, Due to the lag on the mobile Internet, Baidu has not been able to grow as fast as other Internet giants. Xiang Hailong, who is a core executive, cannot influence the success or failure of Baidu's transformation, but it is necessary to taste the results of failure together.

In May 2019, Baidu released its first quarterly report on losses since its listing, and announced the departure of Xiang Hailong. In August of the following year, Xiang Hailong joined Gome as CEO of Gome Online, responsible for business including Gome's e-commerce APP RealLy Happy. In many 2021 e-commerce industry data reports, True Happiness has not entered the top ten of the monthly active ranking. In July 2021, Xiang Hailong left Gome.

Many people close to Transsion said that Transsion now needs to monetize Hailong's online marketing and advertising. Transsion currently has a market value of more than 100 billion yuan, and its main overseas markets include Africa, the Middle East, etc.; in the past 5 years, in addition to mobile phone hardware, TRANSSION has also provided software products and services such as application stores, game centers, advertising distribution platforms and mobile phone butlers; it also has music player Boomplay, the African version of Douyin Vskit (Boomplay, Vskit are launched by Transsion Holdings and NetEase's joint venture company Chuanyi), news aggregation tools Scooper, and browser Phoenix and other independent overseas APP.

According to the financial data disclosed by TRANSSION, the company's overall gross profit margin is 20.8%; but the overall gross profit margin of other businesses such as mobile Internet and home appliance accessories can reach 40%.

While making more money, the mobile Internet in Africa and other regions is still a blue ocean market. In Africa, which accounts for more than 60% of TRANSSION revenue and a total population of 1.3 billion, according to the GSMA (Global Association for Mobile Communication Systems), the smartphone penetration rate in sub-Saharan Africa will be 48% in 2020, lower than the level in China in 2013; by 2025, the proportion will rise to 64%, which means that there are nearly 200 million new smartphone users in sub-Saharan Africa.

Before joining Xiang Hailong, TRANSSION had some accumulation in mobile Internet services. According to transsion information, as of the end of the first half of last year, transsion has more than 10 independent or cooperatively developed APP monthly active users exceeded 10 million, of which Boomplay monthly active more than 60 million, Vskit monthly active more than 30 million.

However, these flows have not contributed a lot of revenue to TRANSSION for the time being, according to Cinda Securities data, in the third quarter of last year, TRANSSION's mobile Internet business in Africa and other regions developed revenue of about 130 million yuan, accounting for less than 1% of the total revenue of TRANSSION in the quarter.

Driving user growth in the mobile Internet business unit and seeking to match the commercial revenue will be Xiang Hailong's main goal next. Transsion mentioned in the third quarter of 2021 that the mobile Internet business is "a new driving force for the company's performance growth".

The last Chinese mobile phone company to try to do Internet services outside the hardware label was Xiaomi, which was not successful, and Xiaomi was facing fierce competition in China's mobile Internet at that time. But what unfolds in front of the sound is a relatively young, uncultivated market. (Li Xiaolei)