"Mr. Kyred, should we send people to Shenzhen to integrate the entire QQ team over? Tengda has already agreed, and they are willing to give us the entire team responsible for operating QQ."
"We can establish a subsidiary directly in Shenzhen and rent offices to accommodate the team. After all, according to the contract, Tengda will help us maintain operations for at most one month. After that month, QQ will need to be taken over and operated by us, Microsoft." Tang Jun suggested to Kyred after signing the contract with Tengda.
Tang Jun believed this was a completely normal and expected suggestion. Since they had purchased the business at a high price, they should naturally take over as soon as possible.
Furthermore, the original team was also meant to be integrated. Even if there were dissatisfaction with the original team, they should have employed a gradual approach to replace the team with their preferred personnel. Otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to handle the maintenance of the product.
However, what Tang Jun never expected was Kyred's response: "No, we don't need QQ's original team, so we don't need to send anyone to integrate them!"
"Why!" Tang Jun felt he couldn't understand the other person's thinking. "If we're not integrating them, then why are we buying QQ?"
"Tang, you're confusing things. I didn't say we're not taking over QQ; I'm just not taking over the QQ team," Kyred said. "As far as I know, the QQ team has over 120 people, right? Do you want all 120 of them to become official employees of Microsoft? Do they have that qualification?"
As soon as Kyred said this, Tang Jun understood the reason for Kyred's refusal to accept the team: Microsoft could not accept the original QQ team as its employees.
This was not because the QQ team was terrible, but due to Microsoft's inherent pride. Historically, there was only one way to join Microsoft: to pass Microsoft's rigorous selection process and be chosen as an employee who fully adhered to Microsoft's values and possessed considerable ability.
There was nothing wrong with this process in itself, but Microsoft placed immense importance on the status of being a Microsoft employee, to the point where they did not accept any employees who joined through non-traditional channels.
Of course, if one could officially join Microsoft, the benefits and treatment would be exceptional. After all, Microsoft was wealthy and genuinely valued its employees, offering them many benefits.
Especially in China, which was still in a period of population dividend, the salary and benefits offered by foreign companies and state-owned enterprises were like heaven and hell. If 120 employees were to join Microsoft China, Microsoft China's annual human cost expenditure would likely increase by tens of millions, which was indeed somewhat unreasonable.
Therefore, both Microsoft's senior management and ordinary employees were strongly resistant to this. From the perspective of the higher-ups, it undermined Microsoft's supreme rules and lineage, and the additional employees would incur extra costs.
From the perspective of ordinary employees, why should people who had struggled to get into Microsoft be able to become Microsoft personnel simply because of an acquisition or other reasons?
It was due to this inherent pride that Kyred outright refused to accept the QQ team. These country bumpkins wanted to become part of Microsoft simply because they were acquired?
It was a pipe dream. The noble Microsoft would not give them such an opportunity.
"But if we don't integrate the QQ team, how will we operate QQ?" Tang Jun asked helplessly.
"Go and discuss it with Tengda. Didn't they say they could provide托管 for a month? Then ask them to work a bit harder and host it for us for a longer period," Kyred said.
"But there must be a deadline. They can't host it for us indefinitely!" Tang Jun pointed out.
"Well..." Kyred hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure of the exact timeframe. It will depend on when headquarters sets the final schedule for MSN's entry into China."
"But if we don't give them a timeframe, they certainly won't agree!" Tang Jun felt like rolling his eyes.
"That's simple. Go and tell Tengda that we are willing to pay monthly fees to invite them to host. You can negotiate the price with them, as long as it doesn't exceed 5 million per month!" Kyred said readily.
"5 million a month might not be enough!" Tang Jun said. "Their monthly expenses for this team of 120 people are around 400,000. But that's not the main cost. The real bulk of the expense is server maintenance and bandwidth costs. These combined are likely to exceed 5 million. We'll have to pay at least 8 million yuan per month for them to be willing to host for us."
"Why so much money?" Kyred seemed surprised. "MSN's global operations don't have such maintenance figures in any single country!"
"It's mainly because of QQ Zone," Tang Jun said. "QQ Zone is a function that consumes a lot of resources and requires massive bandwidth. The bandwidth cost alone exceeds 3 million yuan per month. This is all clearly detailed in the documents they provided us. Every expense is verifiable and there are no issues!"
What Tang Jun did not expect was that after he said this, Kyred asked him, "What is QQ Zone?"
"..." Tang Jun paused for a moment, then spent over 10 minutes explaining in detail to Kyred what QQ Zone was.
However, what Tang Jun did not anticipate was Kyred's direct response: "Turn off this feature. We don't need this useless feature that consumes so much money!"
"No... Mr. Kyred, I think the QQ Zone feature is very useful. Moreover, the Chinese market also greatly favors Facebook, a competitor to QQ Zone, and I think..."
"Please, stop explaining, Tang. Does our MSN have a feature called MSN Space?" Kyred retorted.
"No... no..." Tang Jun shook his head.
"Exactly. Since our MSN doesn't have this Space feature, QQ Zone doesn't need it either. Otherwise, after MSN enters China, this feature will still be cut. Because QQ Zone cannot be integrated into MSN. So, it's better to cut it now rather than later, and it will save a lot of funds!" Kyred explained.
"Mr. Kyred, I believe this QQ Zone feature might be a trend in internet development in the future. Perhaps MSN could also add a feature like MSN Space. Or, we could spin off QQ Zone into a separately operated product under Microsoft China..." Tang Jun felt he still needed to advocate for QQ Zone, as he had keenly perceived its immense future potential.
It was even a more massive and attractive feature than the instant messaging software itself, especially since the original QQ team had already transformed QQ Zone to be similar to Facebook, capable of existing as a standalone product independent of QQ.
In any case, doing so would be much more practical than simply cutting off such a feature.
"Tang, are you telling me how to do my job?" Kyred glared at Tang Jun, who immediately fell silent. Kyred snorted coldly, "Tang, do you think I can't see the potential of this QQ Zone? But this is not something we can decide. How about this: I'll give you one week. You can report this QQ Zone feature to the headquarters' MSN project team. If they are interested in this feature and willing to add an MSN Space, then you can keep this feature."
"Of course, if you have any other capabilities to persuade the management at headquarters to separately develop a business similar to QQ Zone, you can also submit a report to them. As long as you get approval from headquarters, I have no objections!"
"Heh heh!" Tang Jun gave a dry laugh. Tang Jun had worked at headquarters for five or six years before being dispatched to China to become the president of Microsoft China.
He was very aware of the company's internal culture.
While headquarters was not entirely stagnant, they consistently ignored requests from global branches other than their own.
If it were an operational requirement, headquarters might handle it to some extent. However, any suggestions regarding the product itself were completely disregarded. Expecting them to make significant changes to the product based on a branch's request was utterly impossible.
Otherwise, in another world, MSN operated in China for five years, but when he arrived in China, it was in the same state as when it left. Besides version maintenance, only voice and video chat features were added; virtually no other changes were made during that time.
And in the same five years, QQ launched QQ Show, QQ Games, and QQ Zone, gradually making QQ an unshakable dominant player.
MSN did not follow suit or develop anything new. This was because MSN was global, not a product specific to any single country. All regional and version updates for MSN had to follow the headquarters' version, and headquarters' focus was solely on the US market, overlooking the highlights of other country markets.
Getting back to the point, if the request to accommodate QQ Zone had come from Kyred, an American, headquarters might have considered it somewhat.
But if this request came from Tang Jun, it would 100% be like a stone sinking into the ocean.
"What, do you understand now?" Kyred glanced at Tang Jun contemptuously. "Since you understand, then follow my instructions and shut down this QQ Zone feature."
"I understand, but I just think it's such a shame. QQ Zone spent nearly 200 million yuan to invite celebrities to endorse them. These contracts have only been in effect for a month or two, and now they are all being terminated. This is truly..." Tang Jun was still reluctant.
"If spending 200 million still resulted in this state, being soundly defeated by the Facebook you mentioned, then there's no need to keep it alive and waste resources. By the way, if QQ Zone is removed, wouldn't that halve the team of 120 people or more? That would save a considerable amount of expenses!" Kyred was very pleased, believing he had saved the company a significant sum of money.
[I know this chapter might seem to have very low intelligence, but I have researched Microsoft's consistent business strategies and found that there is a 95% probability that Microsoft would indeed act as I've written!]