Sidelining "Yoshi" and elevating Cristiano Ronaldo to the spotlight was merely a minor interlude to avoid any future headaches.
After spending half the day walking around Orange Technology, Chen Pingjiang took his leave.
Lin Bin was undoubtedly a remarkably talented executive, and with Zhou Guangping handling things alongside him—one managing internal operations and the other external affairs—Chen Pingjiang felt entirely at ease.
Moreover, Orange Technology's talent pipeline for its reserve staff was developing quite rapidly, with many promising newcomers gradually stepping up.
Chen Pingjiang was clear-headed about his own limitations: his understanding of the smartphone industry was far inferior to that of Lin Bin and Zhou Guangping. Leaving professional matters to the professionals was by far the best choice.
His sole advantage lay in his extraordinary foresight—his ability to grasp the pulse of the era. If it came down to day-to-day management, he could at most handle a major corporation of around ten thousand employees.
Any larger, and he would start feeling out of his depth.
Besides, he had no desire to let himself get bogged down by any single project or industry.
When Chen Pingjiang returned to Renren.com, the executive team—including Li Xi, Miao Bingwei, and Tian Hongrui—all appeared in high spirits.
"Why aren't you all working? What are you doing loitering around my office? Haven't you seen me before?"
Miao Bingwei nonchalantly grabbed a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee.
"All along, we've been following behind you. You point the direction, and we charge ahead with our heads down. When you suddenly didn't show up for a while, none of us were quite used to it."
Li Xi nodded in agreement.
"I've been under immense pressure lately—insomnia every single night."
Chen Pingjiang shot him an annoyed glare.
"Is being chairman really that stressful? Why, did you think I was never coming back? If you ask me, you're losing sleep over your younger brother going pro."
The surrounding executives burst into laughter.
This news was no secret among the top brass at Renren.com.
For the younger brother of the esteemed Chairman of Renren.com to run off to join the RNG Esports Club as a professional player was certainly peculiar enough.
Besides, Chen Pingjiang's settlement with the SEC merely required him to step down for a year. At the end of the day, he was still the primary shareholder of Renren.com. What was stopping him from sitting in the office of a company he owned under the title of "Advisor"?
Was the SEC really going to send handlers to monitor him?
"New Year's Day is in two days, and Lunar New Year's Eve falls on January 22nd. How are the preparations for the Red Envelope campaign coming along?"
That was the primary issue Chen Pingjiang cared about visiting Renren.com today.
Hearing Chen Pingjiang pivot to serious business, everyone straightened up. They all knew the big boss placed extraordinary importance on this project.
"We created a WeChat group with over 200 people to test the red envelope features and hunt for bugs. It includes staff from both Tenpay and WeChat, as well as invited technical personnel from various banks. At present, it has met the preliminary requirements for launch."
After Li Xi finished speaking, Miao Bingwei chimed in,
"On our side, we've resolved the system expansion issue for WeChat Red Envelopes. We've brought in ten times the server capacity originally designed and finalized the last details of the WeChat Red Envelope system."
"We've designed single red envelopes for one-on-one transfers, as well as 'lucky red envelopes' for group chats. We also scrapped the old process that forced users to type a greeting before claiming a red envelope. Oh, right—the 'Shake' red envelope feature tailored for the Spring Festival Gala is fully developed and ready for deployment at a moment's notice."
Chen Pingjiang nodded, reasonably satisfied with the progress. He then turned his attention to another matter.
"Which link in the commercial partnerships is still pending?"
"We've already secured the exclusive new media partnership for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for 53 million yuan. Right now, the business team is working around the clock negotiating deals with various merchants."
The Red Envelope project was WeChat Pay's decisive breakout campaign—and its sole opportunity to close the gap with Alipay. Chen Pingjiang couldn't afford to take it lightly.
Before this, the WeChat Red Envelope project had been kept under strict secrecy specifically to prevent Alipay from discovering it and stealing their thunder.
Building a feature like this was extremely fast—it wouldn't even take a month. Only now had the embargo on the project finally been lifted.
After the brief meeting wrapped up, Chen Pingjiang thought it over and created a WeChat group, pulling in all his business friends.
Moments later, Pony Ma, Zhou Hongyi, Richard Liu, Wang Chuanfu, Lei Jun, and several others had all joined the chat.
Pony Ma: ? President Chen, what kind of group is this?
Chen Pingjiang: Just a chat group. Also wanted to show you all something fun.
Richard Liu: Hello, big bosses! Little old me is shaking in my boots seeing all of you here.
Lei Jun: Dongzi, don't be so humble. You're still running one of the TOP 2 e-commerce platforms in the country.
Richard Liu: Aiya, President Lei, I'm just a junior in front of you. If Joyo.com hadn't been sold back then, maybe Taobao and JD wouldn't even exist today.
Lei Jun: ...
Wang Chuanfu popped his head in to say hello and then went quiet. He lived in the same city as Pony Ma, but the tycoons in this group were mostly internet players; very few were in traditional manufacturing.
Seeing Pony Ma in the group, Zhou Hongyi wasn't too keen on speaking either—the lingering resentment from the 3Q War hadn't entirely faded.
After much anticipation, Chen Pingjiang finally typed out: For this year's Spring Festival Gala, I plan to pull off something huge.
Inside Renren.com, we created a WeChat Red Envelope project—it works like this.
Right after sending the message, Chen Pingjiang casually dropped a "lucky red envelope" into the group chat.
To his surprise, a wave of question marks flooded the chat.
Chen Pingjiang: You guys can't see it?
Pony Ma: What did you send?
Just then, Li Xi timidly popped up in the chat: Boss... you're using the internal beta build. The other bosses are on the public release version, so they can't see the red envelope.
Lines of black frustration crossed Chen Pingjiang's forehead.
Li Xi quickly posted the beta test APK into the group for everyone to download.
Once everyone had finished installing it, Chen Pingjiang dropped another lucky red envelope into the chat.
Within seconds, the red envelope was completely cleaned out.
Pony Ma snatched 24.6 yuan, Lei Jun got 31.8 yuan, and Dongzi nabbed 57.2 yuan.
Pony Ma's sharp business instincts kicked in instantly: This feature is brilliant! Alipay probably has no idea yet. TONS of people send red envelopes during the Lunar New Year—WeChat Pay is going to see massive user growth from this.
For some reason, as Pony Ma typed those words, his nose suddenly felt itchy, and he sneezed a few times in a row. He felt a weird sensation, as if something profoundly important was slipping away from him.
Seeing everyone expressing keen interest, Chen Pingjiang finally revealed his true intentions: Our Renren.com secured the new media partnership for this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala to promote WeChat Red Envelopes.
Right now, we need a batch of merchant partners to run ads alongside us during the Gala. Who's interested?
Richard Liu was the first to raise his hand: How does the partnership work, President Chen?
Chen Pingjiang: Starting at 9 PM on New Year's Eve, at the top of every hour, we'll launch a 'Shake' red envelope event. At those moments, whether WeChat users are watching the Gala or not, they can open WeChat, shake their phones, and receive red envelopes funded by your companies.
On the red envelope cover, it will display: 'Congratulations, you received a 9.9 yuan red envelope from JD.com!' or 'Congratulations, you received an 8.8 yuan red envelope from BYD Auto!' It's essentially riding on our coattails to run a massive ad.
The crowd's interest was piqued immediately, though it didn't take long for them to catch on: President Chen, you're asking us to pay money so users can send red envelopes through WeChat Pay!
Chen Pingjiang: Well, yeah! I'm not generous enough to advertise your companies for free, am I? Minimum entry is 20 million yuan per company—more is welcome, no upper limit. The bigger your sponsorship, the more red envelopes get distributed, and the wider your reach.
Li Xi chimed in to support his boss: Bosses, our red envelope ads offer far more initiative and interactivity than traditional TV commercials. Consumers find them much easier to accept, giving your brands vastly superior exposure and penetration power. On top of that, Renren.com's Toutiao alongside WeChat Moments will throw in an extra promotional slot for sponsors.
Richard Liu keenly spotted the massive business opportunity—JD was the one hungriest for traffic right now: I'll put down 100 million yuan, President Chen!
Chen Pingjiang gave a thumbs-up emoji: Dong-ge is still the same old Dong-ge—generous!
Zhou Hongyi: President Chen, 360 isn't as deep-pocketed as the rest of you big players. I'll pitch in 20 million yuan.
Zhou Hongyi reasoned through it clearly: Chen Pingjiang was pushing WeChat Red Envelopes so heavily; could he really afford to hold onto his purse strings and refuse? Doing that would burn his bridge with Chen Pingjiang. Besides, Pony Ma was right there—he couldn't let himself look cheap.
Pony Ma: I'll put in 100 million yuan too, to promote QQ Dance, QQ Speed, CrossFire... oh, and throw in WeMeet while you're at it.
Black lines covered Chen Pingjiang's forehead: Ma-ge, that's not fair. Dong-ge paid 100 million just to promote JD.com. You're stringing along so many brands—that ought to be at least 200 million!
Pony Ma typed back helplessly: Fine, 200 million then.
Lei Jun typed at this moment: President Chen, would you even allow me to promote Xiaomi phones on WeChat Red Envelopes?
Chen Pingjiang: Why not? As long as the money is right, anything goes. Besides, Orange Technology and Renren.com are two separate corporate entities.
Lei Jun: Then put me down for 50 million.
Seeing this, Lin Bin immediately chimed in: Orange Phone puts down 80 million!
Lei Jun: ...
Chen Pingjiang: ...
Counting Wang Chuanfu and a few others contributing 20 million each, combined with Renren Purchase's 100 million, this single group chat had pulled in a whopping 610 million yuan in advertising revenue.
Using other people's money to fund his own project while simultaneously promoting his own products in the process—the feeling was beyond satisfying.
Watching his big boss pull off a move like this, Li Xi couldn't help but feel immense admiration. If it were up to him, he would have had to negotiate with each company one by one.
Satisfied, Chen Pingjiang locked his phone, leaned back in his executive chair, and carefully pondered this upcoming "Pearl Harbor attack" planned for the Lunar New Year.
The Spring Festival Gala was the ultimate launching pad for a surprise raid. The key lay in its sheer viewership—even people who didn't actively watch it would leave the TV playing the Gala in the background on Lunar New Year's Eve.
Back in the 1990s, liquor brands like Kongfuyan and Qinchi became top sponsors of the Gala. Kongfuyan famously won the title of the first "Ad King" with a bid of 30.79 million yuan, spreading its slogan across every street and alley overnight.
By late 1995, Qinchi Liquor snatched the crown, successfully defending its title again in late 1996.
In 1999, the midnight countdown spot went to BBK VCD. From 2000 to 2002, the midnight countdown was dominated by pharmaceutical brands like Harbin No. 6 Pharmaceutical Factory and Taiji Group.
This year, Renren.com had snagged the title sponsor slot for the Gala after beating out Yanghe Blue Classic.
It was almost a certainty: bringing WeChat's "Shake" feature onto the Spring Festival Gala stage would drastically boost WeChat's user base and drive penetration into untapped demographics—reaching rural regions, lower-tier markets, and older generations alike.
(End of Chapter)