Zebra consumption Ren Jianxin
Recently, the hottest figure in the science and technology industry, the Internet circle, and the new energy vehicle market is none other than Zhou Hongyi, the founder of 360 Company.
Through the comments of Lei Jun and Xiaomi SU7, as well as the online "car replacement collection", the small square of the 360 building has become the 798 sub-exhibition of the Beijing Auto Show. Zhou Hongyi successfully took over the key to the flow treasure chest from Lei Jun.
In fact, in the not so long ago Internet story, Zhou Hongyi is not only a traffic center, but also an enduring long-lasting red IP. It's just that in the early days, he presented a charlatan, angular, and belligerent image. Coupled with the iconic red-clothed dress, he was called "red-clothed cannon" and "red-clothed leader" by the majority of netizens.
What is it that makes this first-generation Internet tycoon turn around and become an investor in the Internet celebrity industry? What is it that makes him catch this splashing wealth? After standing in the C position of industrial attention, how should the story of the 360 series and Nezha Automobile be told next?
Internet celebrities
In the past few days, the Internet and automobile circles have set their sights on the headquarters of 360 Company next to Beijing 798.
On April 18, Zhou Hongyi, the founder of 360, issued the "Red Clothes Car Selling Solicitation Order" on Douyin, deciding to sell his Maybach S600 and replace it with a domestic new energy intelligent networked car, calling on netizens to vote for the car, and welcoming domestic manufacturers to provide experience cars.
Major car companies have opened the mode of selling melons by Wang Po, and the recommended list includes AVATR 12, Yangwang U8, Changan Deep Blue G318, Extreme Krypton 009, etc. Subsequently, Xiaopeng Motors directly drove its MPV model X9 to the downstairs of the 360 company, which triggered a large-scale rectification of many car companies, and various new energy vehicles gathered downstairs in the 360 building.
360 Company decided to hold the 798 car show in the small square of the 360 Building from April 25th to 29th to refuel China's new energy vehicles. 360 and Zhou Hongyi, caught this pouring wealth.
On March 28, Xiaomi SU7 product launch conference, this product has become a "popular fried chicken" in the new energy vehicle market with its huge traffic effect. Zhou Hongyi, who has always been good at imitation, immediately followed Lei Jun's steps and opened a new round of Internet celebrity.
Commenting on the products and marketing of Xiaomi SU7, it was mentioned several times in the live broadcast that we should learn like Lei Jun and Xiaomi, and slowly accumulate traffic potential energy; the "red clothes car change solicitation activity" set off a climax of traffic; at the Nezha automobile press conference on April 22, Nezha CEO Daniel Zhang spoke for less than an hour, while Zhou Hongyi, as an investor, spoke for 40 minutes.
Although Nezha L, a new product released by Nezha Automobile that night, did not disclose the number of orders after the press conference, with the assistance of Zhou Hongyi, the attention of this brand and product has really increased.
Moreover, Zhou Hongyi jumped out of the special relationship with Nezha Automobile and claimed to be "endorsing by example" for China's new energy vehicle market, and the pattern was directly full.
After this wave of traffic, as of the afternoon of April 24, Lei Jun's Douyin fans increased to 18.75 million, and Zhou Hongyi also exceeded 5.4 million.
In fact, Zhou Hongyi is not only popular now. Anyone who knows a little about the Chinese Internet knows that he is the Changhong IP among the Internet bigwigs, and he is not inferior to Lei Jun.
Da-qi-hsien
After receiving a master's degree from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 1995, Zhou Hongyi joined Peking University Founder, and was promoted from an ordinary programmer to the deputy director of the R&D center and the general manager of the business department in just three years.
In 1998, the tide of Internet entrepreneurship began, and NetEase, Sohu, Tencent, and Sina were all founded during this period. Zhou Hongyi was unwilling to be reluctant, and founded 3721 in October of that year, and took the lead in making profits in China's Internet market in only three years. Of course, this early product once plunged Zhou Hongyi into a huge controversy.
At the end of 2003, Yahoo acquired 3721, and Zhou became the president of Yahoo China. After the transition period, Zhou Hongyi withdrew and worked as an investor for a period of time, participating in projects including Xunlei and Kugou.
In this way, Zhou Hongyi and his Hubei hometown Lei Jun are not only of similar age, but also have a lot of similar life experiences.
In 2005, Zhou Hongyi founded 360, which directly rewrote the pattern of China's network security market with a free model.
It was the golden age of the Internet, the monopoly situation of BAT had not yet been formed, various small and medium-sized giants had risen one after another, and the technology circle was full of flowers and was extremely lively.
If you say that Zhou Hongyi in the early days still knew a little bit about taoguang and obscurity. Then, probably since 360 unified the network security rivers and lakes, the battle mode has been turned on.
"3Q War", against Tencent, search war, challenge Baidu, mobile phone war, hard Xiaomi. The long-standing dating past on the Internet disappeared because Zhou Hongyi and Ma Huateng met and laughed a few days ago.
Behind these three so-called "Internet wars" is the business establishment and transformation path of 360. It is also because of "catfish-style" characters and companies such as Zhou Hongyi and 360 that the Internet industry has maintained relative diversity.
Nowadays, the "equal rights in science and technology" promoted by Nezha Automobile and the challenge to the absolute right to speak of giants in China's automobile circle are difficult to say that they have nothing to do with Zhou Hongyi.
Therefore, in the years when 360 and Zhou Hongyi were short and silent, everyone felt uncomfortable because of the thousands of horses in the Internet circle, so there was the classic "People Miss Zhou Hongyi".
Turning
2018 should be the highlight of Zhou Hongyi's life. In February of this year, 360 Company returned to A-shares and completed the backdoor listing.
In fact, back in 2011, 360 was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Because Chinese concept stocks are generally undervalued, the company was privatized and delisted in 2016.
At that time, Internet giants returned to China's capital market one after another. Most, like Alibaba and JD.com, chose to be listed in Hong Kong for the second time. 360 (601360.HK) SH) is almost the only Internet giant listed on the A-share market, with a peak market value of 500 billion yuan.
However, this feast of wealth lasted only a few months before it came to an end. After the market value plummeted, 360's performance in the secondary market was sluggish for a long time. At the beginning of last year, it skyrocketed because of the concept of AI, but it was not maintained, and now the market value is less than 60 billion yuan.
The reason is very straightforward, 360's performance is not satisfactory. After 2019, it fell into a situation of declining performance, and recorded losses in 2022 and 2023.
Zhou Hongyi and 360 Company failed to achieve a comprehensive victory in several key battles, laying the groundwork for today's performance dilemma.
In the "3Q War", Tencent blocked the expansion trend of 360. In the search war, 360 search failed to catch up with Baidu, and it was difficult for the 360 series to break through the bottleneck of traffic growth. Later, Zhou Hongyi failed to make a mobile phone, which caused the company to lose the core terminal of the mobile Internet, making 360 miss the first-class ticket in the mobile Internet era.
Another company under the 360 series, Master Lu (03601. HK), the core software business users declined, relying on the game company acquired in 2023 to double its revenue, but the performance is still declining.
Huafang Group (03611. HK), due to industry regulation and other reasons, the business has encountered huge challenges, and last year's revenue was cut in half, and it also began to fall into huge losses.
The only one that can get its hands on Qifu Technology (03660. HK), relying on loan matching business, made a net profit of 4.285 billion yuan last year. It is the parent company of 360 IOU, which was originally called 360 Finance, and was later renamed 360 Digital Technology, and was renamed again last year. The gradual name change, which constantly weakens the financial attributes, is also to dilute the label of 360.
regression
Zhou Hongyi's ancestral home is Wuhan Xinzhou, and the Chu people have been "dissatisfied with Zhou" since ancient times; he was born in Henan, studied in Xi'an, and started his career in Beijing; he rose in the grass and eventually grew into a veritable Internet tycoon.
Zhou Hongyi gives people the impression that he is Jianghu, angular, and belligerent. Such an image has long been vividly displayed through Internet stories such as the "3Q War" and the Dating Incident, and the "Red-clothed Cannon" and "Red-clothed Sect Master" are well deserved.
Outsiders may not know that Zhou Hongyi, who seems to be full of murderous spirits, is a warm big brother internally.
In recent years, the Internet circle has been wolf enough, and there have even been many disputes such as layoffs and vicious non-compete agreements, and 360 has almost no such rumors. Last year, 360 Company's "cash paid to and for employees" totaled 3.419 billion yuan, or 570,000 yuan per capita, which is also very high in the Internet industry.
Although in the live broadcast, Zhou Hongyi unceremoniously diss Nezha Automobile, and publicly criticized Nezha Automobile at the press conference for not doing well enough, which is also deep love and responsibility. The development of Nezha Automobile in recent years has indeed not kept up with the leaping pace of China's new energy vehicle market. In 2024, when the competition is fierce, there is only one battle against the water. As an investor, Zhou Hongyi also took his own practical actions to support.
Zhou Hongyi and 360 caught this round of wealth and wealth, relying on this affinity for the public, the atmosphere of the bigwigs lifting each other, and the pattern from the perspective of industrial promotion.
Has Zhou Hongyi changed? No. These two-sided aspects of different periods and different objects are more of an extreme pragmatism, all of which are dictated by the current situation.
You don't have to worry about these, as long as it can finally have a positive impact on China's AI and new energy vehicle industries, why not the Internet bigwigs turn into Internet celebrities to embrace traffic?
Fortunately, there are more and more such Zhou Hongyi. Recently, Wang Xing, who has not spoken for a long time, has come out, and Ma Yun has also begun to reflect, and the bigwig circle that has been silent for several years has slowly become lively again. Or, these are some of the signs of the return of entrepreneurship.
For Zhou Hongyi, after catching the traffic, he should still return to his home field. Whether it is 360's current [safety] or the future [AI], as well as Nezha's new energy vehicles, in the end, it is necessary to use products to speak.
What was missed in the mobile Internet era may be recovered in the AI era. Only in this way can we re-find our place in the rivers and lakes of the Internet.