2023, which is about to end, is a year of change in the Internet industry. This year, ChatGPT on the other side of the ocean stirred a pool of spring water, making artificial intelligence a key hot word of the year, and the ensuing large model fever instigated all kinds of capital and domestic "AI men's groups" to make their collective debut. There are also e-commerce platforms, live broadcasts and other tracks that are also in turmoil, and the plot of "the new upstart and the old king" has ups and downs.
Within these popular tracks, the characters also have very different fates. This year, some people have caused trouble because of their words and fallen into many crises; some people have turned around in the palace fight and returned to the peak of power; some people have retreated into the background to realize the handover of the old and the new; and some people have turned against each other in the face of the "grace of knowing the situation......
From the hot tracks and popular Internet events in 2023, Nandu reporters selected ten iconic figures, hoping that through their experiences, they may be able to get a glimpse of the changes in consumption and the industry in the past year, so as to discover some new quality productivity and the development trend in 2024.
The most dramatic career changer
Dong Yuhui and the teachers of New Oriental
A trip to Jilin selected by the East, Jilin is not on fire, and the small essay is on fire. A crisis caused by the editor of Dongfang Selection has accelerated the exposure of the delicate relationship between Dongfang Selection, a live broadcast agency and a top anchor, and this round of public opinion has also changed from the dispute of "who writes the small essay", to "whether Dong Yuhui has been mistreated", and then to "Is Yu Minhong an iron rooster", and finally evolved into a series of chain events such as the stock price of Dongfang Selection, the removal of the CEO, and the independent establishment of a studio by Dong Yuhui.
Not only that, but in the whole incident, the former New Oriental teachers were also involved. These former New Oriental teachers, whose main business in the past was teaching and educating people, are now meeting in the red sea market of live broadcasting.
Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong live broadcast.
The former New Oriental teacher who won the best lie down is Chen Xiangdong, CEO of Gaotu. When the small composition turmoil broke out, the traffic of "Gaotu Jiapin" in the live broadcast room of Gaotu Education skyrocketed, and Chen Xiangdong, who resigned from New Oriental to found Gaotu, also received dividends.
As the former New Oriental teacher who is the most fierce whistleblower, it is Luo Yonghao who finished playing 600 million "True Legends", first publicly shouted to persuade Dong Yuhui to start a business, and then broke the news that someone was willing to pay 500 million to Dong Yuhui for liquidated damages, and also broke a lot of old things when he worked in New Oriental, Luo Yonghao summarized his behavior as "injustice".
The three most critical characters in this drama are also the three New Oriental teachers, Dong Yuhui, Yu Minhong and Sun Dongxu. After more than a week of transpiration of public opinion, Sun Dongxu was finally removed from the position of CEO and executive director of Dongfang Selection, Yu Minhong was appointed CEO of Dongfang Selection, and Dong Yuhui set up a personal studio for the time being.
According to public data, Dong Yuhui's newly established studio is 100% controlled by Dongfang Selection. In the eyes of more people, when Dong Yuhui and Yu Minhong revealed in the live broadcast room that if Dong Yuhui left Dongfang Selection, the ownership of the account would belong to Dong Yuhui, the ending was already doomed.
The most topical entrepreneur
Luo Yonghao: Investors "tear" from the beginning of the year to the end of the year
Luo Yonghao was upset with Dong Yuhui at the end of the year, and at the beginning of the year, he made headlines because he was torn apart by former investors.
Luo Yonghao.
In January 2023, Zheng Gang, the former investor of Hammer Technology and the founding partner of Zihui Venture Capital, posted an article on Moments to "bombard Luo Yonghao", saying that he would unite dozens of investors to resolutely launch a buyback on Hammer Technology. In the following year, Zheng Gang also angrily scolded Luo Yonghao many times in the circle of friends, and said that he would initiate arbitration.
From a knife in both ribs to a public fight, this dispute has also torn apart the appearance of warmth between investors and entrepreneurs. Regarding Zheng Gang's behavior of initiating a buyback from Hammer Technology, investors and company founders publicly sided and divided into two camps. Some entrepreneurs have publicly stated that "personal buyback" is a retrogressive clause, "and the institutions that entrepreneurs ask to sign such investment terms, no matter what they say, are naturally ignorant and unjust." But there are also investors who openly support Zheng Gang and ridicule Luo Yonghao for setting up a persona.
Whether or not entrepreneurs should repay investors' money is still undecided. But judging from Zheng Gang's performance, he has never given up asking Luo Yonghao to pay back. Even after Luo Yonghao declared that Dong Yuhui was unhappy, Zheng Gang publicly shouted, "Pay back the money of those investors and lenders who support you first?"
The most popular bigwigs Robin Li and Wang Xiaochuan: AI men's groups are frequently out of the circle
The hottest technology buzzwords in 2023 must be AIGC and large models. The AI bigwigs standing on the tuyere are also topical figures.
In the same period, when other bosses have retired or rarely appear in public, Robin Li will still maintain a high frequency of appearances in 2023, and every time he must talk about "don't reinvent the wheel" in the field of large models, and said that application is the real opportunity for large models. Recently, the number of users of Wenxin Yiyan exceeded 100 million, and Baidu's determination to all in AI has been proven again.
Wang Xiaochuan, who started a new business in the field of large models, led Baichuan Intelligence to become the fastest large-scale model enterprise to reach the scale of unicorns. Half a year after the announcement of its establishment, the cumulative financing amount of Baichuan Intelligent has reached 350 million US dollars. After going to the United States to study and Xi, Wang Xiaochuan pointed out that for China's large-scale model enterprises, they should "ideally take one step slower and land three steps faster".
Wang Xiaochuan led Baichuan Intelligence to become the fastest large-scale model enterprise to reach the scale of unicorns.
There are also bigwigs who have failed to start a business on a large model and are trying to return to the scene again. In February this year, Wang Huiwen announced that he would invest $50 million to set up Lightyear Away, trying to build a Chinese version of OpenAI. Subsequently, Wang Xing invested light years away in his personal capacity. However, only four months after starting the business, Wang Huiwen left his job for medical treatment due to personal health problems, and after that, Meituan completed the acquisition of 100% of the shares outside Lightyear for 2.065 billion yuan. But in December this year, Wang Huiwen took a stake in OneFlow founder Yuan Jinhui to start a new company, Silicon Technology, which was interpreted as his return to the AI track.
The most challenging successor
Wu Yongming, Xu Ran: How to change the "successor of e-commerce".
As the market value of Pinduoduo once surpassed Alibaba, Ma Yun and Liu Qiangdong rarely spoke out on the intranet. Ma Yun said, "I firmly believe that Ali will change, Ali will change", and Liu Qiangdong said in response to the employee's post on the intranet, "Every sentence points to the company's pain points, which are all real problems, and they must be changed." Otherwise we have no way out".
Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong are both emphasizing "change", and Alibaba and JD.com are also taking up new successors this year, and there are high hopes for change.
Alibaba's structure has changed dramatically several times this year. In September this year, Wu Yongming, as the youngest Ali "Eighteen Arhats", officially took over as the CEO of Alibaba Group, and concurrently served as the CEO of Taotian Group in December this year. This also means that he has held three CEO positions of Alibaba Group, Taotian Group, and Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group. In March this year, Dai Shan, who is also one of the "Eighteen Arhats", served as the CEO of Taotian Group, but was replaced after 9 months, which shows that the changes brought by Dai Shan are not enough to meet expectations.
Wu Yongming, CEO of Alibaba Group and Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group.
JD.com also took office as a new e-commerce successor this year. In November this year, JD.com announced that Xu Ran, CEO of JD Group, will concurrently serve as CEO of JD Retail, which is also the reunification of JD Group's CEO and retail CEO after many years. In the eyes of industry insiders, in addition to strengthening the synergy between retail and the group, as mentioned when appointing her as the group's CEO, Xu Ran will continue to implement changes in cost and efficiency.
Xinhua photo
The most controversial big streamer
Li Jiaqi: The debate over the lowest price has not subsided
In September 2023, when Li Jiaqi responded to netizens' questions about the price increase of Huaxizi's eyebrow pencil in the live broadcast room, his statement "Where is it expensive, do you think it is expensive, you should reflect on whether you have worked hard to increase your salary" angered many migrant workers. "Which Li is expensive" derived from Li Jiaqi's speech once became a hot word on the Internet.
In addition, the domestic beauty brand Huaxizi has also fallen into the whirlpool of public opinion. Huaxizi was accused of being more expensive than international brands in terms of gram weight, and some people questioned that domestic brands such as Huaxizi paid high pit fees and commissions to head anchors. Since then, Hua Xizi's apology letter and "crazy" response on Weibo have also sparked ongoing controversy. Jingdong procurement and sales even directly called Li Jiaqi, saying that Li Jiaqi controlled the price.
Although Li Jiaqi and Hua Xizi both apologized afterwards, the debate over whether the head anchor should grasp the lowest price has not subsided.
Kuaishou's head anchor Xin Youzhi's speech in the live broadcast room may point out the essence of this matter from another level, he believes that this matter is essentially competition between platforms, and Li Jiaqi has obviously become a victim. Xin Youzhi emphasized that even if there is no Li Jiaqi, others still can't get this goods and can't get a low price. As Xin Youzhi said, in 2023, in the context of major platforms emphasizing the lowest price of competition, this may be a contradictory appearance.
The most reversed palace fight
Ultraman: The hidden story of infighting may be related to AI security
As the hottest large-scale model company in the world in 2023, OpenAI ushered in an unexpected reversal of the palace fight in November this year, which attracted attention from all walks of life.
In November this year, after the board of directors of OpenAI suddenly announced the dismissal of Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI and the "father of ChatGPT", it was immediately signed by the company's employees to resign. With Microsoft's involvement, it finally ended with Sam Altman returning to OpenAI as CEO and the board of directors reshuffled.
Former OpenAI Chairman Greg Brockman (left) and former CEO Sam Altman.
After the outcome was tentatively determined, the outside world still did not understand the reason why the board of directors decided to fire Sam Altman in the first place. There is a lot of speculation that it may be related to AI security. As one of the co-founders of OpenAI, Musk has said that although he does not know the inside story of this farce, he is worried about what it will mean for AI. Speaking of his evaluation of Sam Ultraman, Musk quoted the concept of the "Lord of the Rings" in "The Lord of the Rings" that can give people great power: "I have mixed feelings about Sam. The Ring of Power can corrupt hearts. ”
He also showed a lot of concern about the beginning and end of the palace change, "This sounds serious, I don't think it's a trivial matter." And I'm very worried that they may have discovered some dangerous elements of the AI. ”
The richest man in the eye-catcher
Elon Musk: The "richest man" who lost the most wealth
While worrying about the safety of AI, Musk himself ended his 2023 year of "making money every day" because of the fastest growth rate of wealth.
In the list of "Top 10 Billionaires with the Most Wealth in 2023" released by Forbes, Musk topped the list with a whopping $108.4 billion in added wealth in 2023. This means that in just 349 days, his wealth has increased by an average of more than $300 million per day. It is worth mentioning that only a year ago, he was the richest person in the world who lost the most wealth.
Data map: Elon Musk.
Since June this year, Musk has been firmly in the position of the world's richest man. According to the latest statistics from Forbes, as of December 15, 2023, his net worth has reached $254.9 billion.
In addition, in November of this year, Musk's SpaceX's Starship rocket conducted a second flight test and failed again, followed by the launch of the self-destruct system. This is already the second defeat of the Starship this year. Subsequently, Musk congratulated the SpaceX team on Twitter that his dream of Mars will continue.
The best fighting bosses
Yu Chengdong: Can the new world be "far ahead"
In December this year, at the M9 and Huawei's winter all-scene press conference, Yu Chengdong's explanation was repeatedly interrupted by the audience at the scene. As the most expensive model of Huawei's Hongmeng Zhixing model, the price range of the four versions of the M9 is 469,800 ~ 569,800 yuan. In less than two days, the cumulative number of M9 exceeded 20,000 units.
However, in the past year, Huawei's smart car BU has not been smooth sailing, but a desperate situation. First, Ren Zhengfei urgently stopped using the words "HUAWEI Wenjie", and then the core executives of Huawei's smart car BU underwent a series of adjustments. It wasn't until August this year that the sales of the new M7 exploded to gain a foothold.
In addition, Yu Chengdong has not changed his true colors in the past year. In December this year, some media reported that Yu Chengdong expressed his position on the test results of the previous M7 participation in the "2023 Chedi Winter Test" on WeChat Moments: "The test of pit people misleads the public! Science and rigor are the basic rules that should be followed!"
Yu Chengdong released the M9.
The most model worker
Lei Jun: Building cars and donating are both "big deals"
Yu Chengdong's old rival Lei Jun also launched the first mass-produced car of Xiaomi Auto in the tail of 2023 - Xiaomi SU7 was officially released. According to the plan, Xiaomi SU7 will be mass-produced and launched in the first half of 2024. Regarding the pricing, Lei Jun said at the press conference that it could not be 99,000 or 149,000 pricing. The Xiaomi SU7 is a bit expensive and will come in two versions.
In addition to building cars, Lei Jun has done a lot of things in 2023 - in August this year, at the annual speech, Lei Jun announced the strategic upgrade of Xiaomi's technology: deep cultivation of underlying technology, long-term continuous investment, deep integration of software and hardware, and comprehensive empowerment of AI. At the same time, Lei Jun announced Xiaomi's scientific and technological philosophy: choose technical fields with long-term value to human civilization, and adhere to long-term continuous investment. In the next five years, Xiaomi's R&D investment will exceed 100 billion yuan.
Lei Jun, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group.
In addition, this year, Lei Jun also donated 1.3 billion yuan to his alma mater, Wuhan University, setting a new record for the largest single donation since the establishment of Wuhan University, which is also the largest personal cash donation from alumni received by a university in China.
The most unexpected boss Dong Mingzhu: What do you think of the "painting cake" and "salary slip" workers?
In 2023, as Dong Mingzhu's former secretary, Meng Yutong was sent to many hot searches by Dong Mingzhu. Dong Mingzhu's evaluation of the employees he has worked under him has also aroused many comments, and many people have ridiculed the boss who painted cakes.
Dong Mingzhu and former secretary Meng Yutong.
In May this year, Meng Yutong, who originally met Dong Mingzhu through a variety show, resigned from Gree. After that, Dong Mingzhu was asked about Internet celebrity employees in an interview with the media, and Dong Mingzhu responded: "Internet celebrities don't look at the quality of Internet celebrities, and it is not compliant for people to advertise outside in Gree." He also said that Meng Yutong "was not resigned, but was 'fired' for violating company discipline."
In December this year, a video of "Dong Mingzhu angrily reprimanding Meng Yutong" circulated on the Internet once again appeared on the hot search. Dong Mingzhu mentioned Meng Yutong again in his speech at the induction ceremony of the class of 2023 college students, criticizing her for not doing her job as a secretary, but just "becoming an Internet celebrity with the help of our platform, and I can't tolerate such a person in Gree, so I fired her."
In stark contrast, Wang Ziru, another Gree Internet celebrity employee, said in an interview, "I haven't read the salary slip given to me by Gree", and he also said, "If I can have such an experience in my career, I can follow a top entrepreneur, engage in work, carry out work, even if I don't do anything every day, I just watch how she has meetings, I listen to what she says and does every day, I feel that it is a very happy thing." ”
But judging from the comments of netizens, the new generation of young migrant workers no longer buy the workplace concept of "grateful boss". Some netizens commented, "The era of painting cakes is over, why can't you get along with a college student?" and some netizens think that "as an ordinary person, it is more appropriate to look at the salary first and then look at the dream".
Producer: Nandu Political and Business Data News Department "Retail Laboratory" research group
Written by: Nandu reporter Wang Chenchen
Co-ordinator: Zhen Qin, Tian Aili