Chapter 66 media complex

After the New York Stock Exchange rang the bell, Gu Yongqiang who returned told me such a small detail: "Heyi Network (Youku) was established on November 21, 2005, and we entered the state of roadshow on November 21, 2010. The first I arrived in Hong Kong one day and stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong. When the waiter handed me the house number 1121, I was stunned for a moment. It was such a coincidence. Three '1121's are simply God's will." This made me stunned for a moment, It's hard to imagine a rational person being a bit superstitious.Once again, I clearly realized that the person in front of me was born in Hong Kong. Although he left home at a young age, he was still influenced by Hong Kong culture's Feng Shui and worship of immortals.The last time I had the feeling that he was not a mainlander, it was because of his accent.Gu Yongqiang described his Chinese with a southern accent (his father's hometown is in Zhongshan City), a northern accent (his mother is from Tianjin), and an American Chinese accent (he has been in the United States for ten years). As for his English , mixed with British, Australian, and American accents.

Born in Hong Kong in 1966, Gu Yongqiang studied in Australia at the age of 14, went to the United States five years later, and stayed there for ten years. When Koo Yongqiang came to China at the age of 28, he couldn't even speak Chinese fluently. It was the first time Gu Yongqiang came to Australia. He took a three-hour train ride from Sydney to a very remote town. There were two to three hundred students in the school, most of whom were white.There is a Japanese teacher in the school, and he has two children studying in the school.When Gu Yongqiang walked into the classroom, the students all greeted him with "Hello" in Japanese.Maybe in their dictionary, Asians are Japanese.Young Gu Yongqiang had never seen so many white people together, which brought him a great shock, a bit like the movie "Avatar", he entered a whole new world.

On the day he arrived at the school, his parents left, and Gu Yongqiang began to live independently in the dormitory.He felt like he was thrown into the sea to survive alone, thinking for himself, acting for himself, and dealing with others for himself in a place that was completely unfamiliar, with huge cultural differences and a poor language. When Gu Yongqiang was in Australia, he basically didn't use any swear words. Those foreigners couldn't get used to it and asked him why he didn't utter any swear words.Once, a dozen or so Australian teenagers surrounded him and asked him to swear or they would not let him go. Gu Yongqiang had no choice but to swear.Many years later, when recalling this incident, he said: "My adaptability is relatively strong. I can survive in different environments. Adaptability is cultivated."

In the 1980s, Gu Yongqiang returned to China and visited his grandmother's hometown in Zhongshan City.At that time, the mainland in his eyes was very poor and very different from Hong Kong, but it had a unique attraction. After completing his MBA at Stanford, he decided to return to China. "At that time, I was probably the only one who came to China among my classmates at Stanford. Everyone thought I was crazy and thought that Silicon Valley was so good. Why did I come to China as soon as I graduated?" In his eyes, China is full of gold. In the dilapidated old alley, he saw an opportunity. In 1994, Gu Yongqiang returned to China as the vice president of Fuguo Group.

He only has the Chinese level of the second grade of middle school, and he is determined to completely localize, so he went to Peking University to learn Chinese for several months. In 1999, on behalf of Fuguo Group, Koo talked with Zhang Chaoyang about investing money in Sohu, and Zhang Chaoyang instead invited him to be Sohu's chief financial officer.He accepted the invitation and stayed at Sohu until the end of 2004. When he left, he was the president and chief operating officer of Sohu.On the cabinet of Gu Yongqiang's Youku office, there is a photo of him taking photos with Zhang Chaoyang and Yao Ming.Youku has many former employees from Sohu. In their eyes, Gu Yongqiang in the Sohu era will always be the second one to appear after Zhang Chaoyang at the company's largest meeting.Zhang Chaoyang was the first to speak, and he was the second to speak.Zhang Chaoyang always talks about ideas, and he talks about how ideas can be implemented through certain methods.

His career as a professional manager at Sohu has brought great help to Gu Yongqiang: "After being a startup company in the same industry, I have accumulated a lot of experience. I hope I can remember the mistakes I made before and don't make them next time. At the same time, we have accumulated some contacts and resources in the industry. Whether it is partners, customers, or investors, these are all resources.” He founded Youku, and the team members he recruited are mostly old people from Sohu.Sohu's culture of good people has also continued to Youku.A Youku executive said that he was most impressed by Sohu's honesty and integrity. "At that time, in the whole Sohu, it was printed directly on the back by the leaders, and it was completely left on Youku." At the end of 2004, Gu Yongqiang proposed to Zhang Chaoyang to resign.After traveling, studying, and relaxing for a while, he reorganized his team, raised an investment of 3 million US dollars, and started his business.After swaying in several fields such as video, online payment, and e-commerce, he chose video.To a certain extent, this is influenced by his penchant for media.Gu Yongqiang lived in Hong Kong when he was a child on the Broadcasting Avenue called "Wutai Mountain" (at that time, it was named after Hong Kong Radio Station, Commercial Radio Station, Asia Television Station, Wireless Television Station and Jiayi Television Station).In the strong media atmosphere, he has been very sensitive to movies, TV, and celebrities since he was a child.

When he was in college, he could memorize the credits of all good movies. Others called him a "living MDB (Movie Database)" and an "Entertainment Encyclopedia".At that time, he ordered eight or nine publications, mainly media and technology publications.After Youku went public, Gu Yongqiang joked with others that if he does e-commerce, don't do it with him, because he is not interested in shopping. After five years of starting a business, he said that the most difficult time is to start, tossing for more than half a year just to decide what to do.Making choices is the hardest at first, and sometimes no choice is best.When you have made a choice, you have to work hard in this direction.

In 2005, Hunan Satellite TV held the star talent contest "Super Girl" which was very popular. Gu Yongqiang saw the opportunity for the TV station to interact with the Internet.His concept is triple play, combining different screens for interaction.However, there is no platform, no users, and the TV station either ignores him or proposes overlord clauses.In the end, Gu Yongqiang realized that he could not do without a platform, so he still had to do it himself. On November 21, 2006, Koo officially launched Youku.In the same year, Cool 6 was launched.Previously, LeTV was established in November 2004; in the first half of 2005, Tudou, 56 (56.com), and Jiji went online one after another.

The business story of Google's acquisition of YouTube for US$1.65 billion has aroused a new dream of gold nuggets on the Chinese Internet.At most, there were more than 200 video sites in China. And 2006, when Koo founded Youku, is regarded as the first year of the development of video websites.Koo said: "First, in 2006, the penetration rate of broadband just reached the critical point, and the video can be played smoothly; second, I started as a print media, and then worked as a portal website, and have experience in investment and operation; third, this It’s really an interest. From the perspective of supporting my family, Sohu has already helped me solve this problem. What I want to do in the next ten years, in a simple sentence, is to do what I like with the people I like. I like media , the media is in my blood."