Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Data usage would be free for over a dozen apps, including Pinbei, Kuai Pao, Fast Taxi, Toutiao, Lingxi Browser, Gaode Map, and Xiaohongshu. The plan cost 19 yuan per month, with out-of-plan data charged at 1 yuan per 500MB.

The debut of the first-ever internet SIM card immediately attracted the attention of tens of millions of users.

The plan was then shared on Weibo and, as expected, it shot into the top ten trending topics in just one hour.

The public had been suffering under exorbitant data fees for far too long.

Many people had a habit of turning off their mobile data before bed, terrified they might wake up to a bill from their carrier large enough to buy a house.

When browsing the internet on their phones, they avoided videos like the plague.

Who would dare watch videos on mobile data?

That was just burning money for no reason!

Although the carrier would throttle the speed down to 2G after 40GB of monthly data usage, back in 2013, most users only had about 1GB of data per month. They couldn’t even imagine how they would ever use up 40GB.

The pre-sale price was 9.9 yuan!

This primarily covered the cost of the card and shipping.

Shipping would officially begin on April 12th!

It would use an instant delivery model combining food delivery services and forward-fulfillment warehouses!

Within 12 hours of going live, pre-orders had reached a staggering 137,000!

Chen Yansen had only intended to test the market’s reaction, but he hadn’t expected users to be so starved for data. Their hunger far surpassed his imagination, so on April 3rd, he completely lifted all restrictions on pre-sale channels and inventory.

’I’ll see just how many of these we can sell before the shipping date!’

Hang City Headquarters.

Inside the Taohua Island office, Ma Liyun wore a grave expression, a flicker of embarrassment in his eyes.

It wasn’t that he was dead set on copying Chen Yansen, but a targeted data SIM card like this was critically important for Ali’s development.

’My hand is forced. I have no choice!’

Ma Liyun found a convenient excuse to soothe his conscience.

E-commerce apps were filled with high-resolution product images. Without a Wi-Fi connection, users wouldn’t dare open Taobao.

How could a paltry few hundred megabytes of data possibly withstand the drain from loading all those pictures?

If Ali could partner with the mobile carriers, users of Tmall and Taobao would be able to browse products anytime, anywhere. Not only would their time spent shopping increase dramatically, but the platform’s gross merchandise volume would also soar.

’Copy!’

’We have to copy it, and copy it hard!’

”Who’s the right person to lead this project?” Ma Liyun asked.

Lu Zhaoxi, who had just taken over as CEO of Ali Baba, thought for a moment before replying, ”I suggest we give it to Zhang Yu. She’s been with the group for years, knows Ali’s business ecosystem well, and has extensive experience in operations.”

”I agree with President Lu,” Zhang Yong said. He glanced at Jiang Fan; he had wanted to promote the younger man, but compared to Zhang Yu, Jiang Fan was still too inexperienced.

”Alright, she’s the one,” Ma Liyun decided on the spot.

He was in a hurry.

Lao Ma, nearly fifty, just wanted to take the company public as soon as possible, enter the social media space as soon as possible, and raise Ali’s valuation as soon as possible.

Turning fifty is a major milestone for most people, and Ma Liyun was no exception.

He couldn’t be halfway to the grave without having reached the pinnacle of his life, could he?

He wasn’t like Ma Wenteng, Li Yanhong, or Chen Yansen. Those three were in the prime of their lives, while he was already starting to plan for retirement.

Now, he had handed over the reins of Ali Baba to Lu Zhaoxi and entrusted Tmall and Taobao to Zhang Yong, limiting his own role to providing strategic advice.

Meanwhile.

Ma Wenteng’s brow was deeply furrowed. If he weren’t afraid of China Mobile coming after him, he would have let loose with a few curses online.

A few days prior, China Mobile had publicly criticized WeChat for hogging network resources and had floated the idea of charging WeChat a fee.

’Charge my ass!’

’The spirit of the internet is to be free!’

’If WeChat started charging, who in their right mind would still use it?’

’Aren’t they just trying to screw Penguin over completely?’

Fortunately, he wasn’t someone to be trifled with in Shencheng City. His network of contacts was astounding, and he had managed to fend off China Mobile’s attack by pulling some strings with Dongyue Telecommunications.

”Damn it! Orange Pay has a chat function too, so why are they only targeting Penguin? Do they think I’m some kind of pushover?”

Ma Wenteng muttered under his breath.

Liu Zhiping, sitting beside him, listened to his boss’s curses before trying to placate him. ”Pony, charging social media apps is a step backward. The higher-ups will never agree to it.”

”I know, but they didn’t stop them either, which means someone wants to put Penguin in its place,” Ma Wenteng said, his eyes narrowed and his tone disgruntled.

’It’s not that I’m afraid of a crackdown, but at least be fair about it, right?’

’Chen Yansen’s speech at the IT Leaders Summit was way more arrogant than anything I’ve said, yet the three major carriers acted like they were blind and deaf.’

”Penguin is just too dominant in the social sphere, on both PC and mobile. That’s precisely why they’re being targeted,”

Liu Zhiping offered, reframing the situation.

”This targeted data SIM card—Penguin has to do it too!” Ma Wenteng said resolutely.

”And what about short video?” Liu Zhiping asked cautiously.

”Of course we can’t pass up on that either,” Ma Wenteng replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Liu Zhiping opened his mouth, but then closed it again. He couldn’t help but wonder, ’Aren’t you afraid of Chen Yansen turning on you?’

”President Chen and I are the closest of friends. It’s better that I’m the one to copy him than some outsider,” Ma Wenteng said with a wave of his hand, seemingly reading Liu Zhiping’s mind.

Liu Zhiping gave a wry smile. He had to admit, Pony had a point.

Just as Ma Wenteng had predicted, far away in a three-bedroom apartment in Yanjing’s Wudaokou Huaqing Garden, Chen Yixiao had just finished launching the AFOS version of GIF Kuaishou. Now, he and a few core team members were gathered around, intently swiping through Mimo Short Video.

Although Mao Chaorong had already made changes to the platform, risqué videos were standard content in the North American Region, and the sight was making the men hard.

Chen Yixiao squeezed his thighs together, ”critically studying” Mimo’s product logic.

”Brother Xiao, this thing went live four months ago and already has forty million users, with fifteen million daily actives?” Yang Yuanxi asked in disbelief.