Real estate data after spring blossoms

With the announcement of Tencent's privatization acquisition of sogou, Wang Xiaochuan, who served as Sogou CEO for eleven years, announced his resignation on June 5438+00+05.

For a long time, Wang Xiaochuan has been called a gifted boy. He was almost pushed forward by the hand of fate-he was promoted to the youngest vice president of Sohu Group in 6 years, and established sogou from 0 to 1, and went public in 20 17 years.

Sogou has experienced more than ten years of twists and turns, and teenagers become middle-aged. Wang Xiaochuan's description of the Monkey King, the idol, changed from "Dare to be enemies of heaven and earth" to "No matter how fierce, there are Tathagata Wuzhishan".

Now, fate has made Wang Xiaochuan far away from the established "best" road, and a person who hardly has to make any choice has begun to enter a world of active choice.

For years, Wang Xiaochuan thought he didn't have to make a choice. Because the optimal solution of fate is at hand. So you don't have to compromise like ordinary people, and then struggle in several sub-optimal situations.

He is known as a "genius boy"-he began to learn computers in the second grade of primary school, won the first prize in the mathematics experimental class of Chengdu No.7 Middle School, won the first prize in the national mathematics league and was sent to Chengdu No.7 Middle School, then won the Olympic gold medal in informatics in the international Olympic competition, was specially recruited to the Computer Department of Tsinghua University, and was sent to the High Performance Graduate School of Computer Department of Tsinghua University.

12 years old, was admitted to the comprehensive experimental class of mathematics in Chengdu No.7 Middle School with the first place, and was selected from the candidates of Chengdu 1700 that year, with a score of over 95 in mathematics. These people also include Ren Yuxin, chief operating officer of Tencent, VP of Weilai Automotive Technology, CEO of Bili Bili, He and Xiong Jian, president of Didi Research Institute.

16 years old, Wu Wenjun's elimination method realized all the machine proofs of elementary geometry theorem, and Wang Xiaochuan won Yang Zhenning's Ilida Youth Invention Award for "Proposing Creation".

18 years old, participated in the international Olympic Games with the information Olympic national team. Four gold medals, the first in the team, were recruited into the Computer Department of Tsinghua University. At that time, Pinduoduo's former CTO and current CEO Chen Lei was a teammate of the Olympic team.

In later memories, Wang Xiaochuan described his academic career as "excellent"-green light all the way, almost invincible. He listed the Monkey King as his idol, because "the Great Sage in the sky is omnipotent, and he can be an enemy of heaven and earth."

Tsinghua studied and Wang Xiaochuan continued to "open up". From 65438 to 0999, Wang Xiaochuan worked as an intern in ——ChinaRen, the predecessor of Renren.com founded by Chen Yizhou, Zhou Yunfan and Yang Ning. As the technical director, Chen Yizhou offered a part-time salary of 8,000 yuan per month, which made Wang Xiaochuan the technical director of ChinaRen, taking charge of seven employees part-time.

The following year, ChinaRen was acquired by Sohu, and Wang Xiaochuan began to enter Zhang Chaoyang's field of vision. Zhang Chaoyang promised him: "I can wait for you as long as you go to school, and I will give you how much money you want."

After graduating from master's degree, Zhang Chaoyang called for nearly an hour to urge Wang Xiaochuan to return to work in Sohu. In the following six years, Wang Xiaochuan was promoted from technical director to the youngest vice president of Sohu at the age of 27, CTO of Sohu at the age of 365 and Sogou CEO at the age of 438+0.

Wang Xiaochuan felt that he was chosen by fate, and he hardly needed to make a choice about life-the school asked him to attend the Olympic Games, his classmates and teachers guided him into ChinaRen, and Zhang Chaoyang invited him to join the company to start a business.

At that time, Wang Xiaochuan hardly thought about the future, because "the best in the public sense is just around the corner". He was constantly pushed forward by the hand of fate, holding good cards in his hand, striving for perfection, thinking that this was the right way.

But as a professional manager, Wang Xiaochuan, a newcomer in the workplace, learned to compromise.

Wang Xiaochuan's most well-known contribution lies in his "three-stage rocket" model, which takes the hard-to-realize input method and browser as important ways to promote search engines, and the three forms a closed-loop linkage development. This model has helped sogou to complete its rise, and gained more than 65,438+00% share in the search market monopolized by Baidu, which has deeply influenced other Internet companies.

But in the early days, this idea was not recognized by the boss Zhang Chaoyang. In 2008, Zhang Chaoyang did not think that the browser could help the search business strategically. He hoped that Wang Xiaochuan would not try to innovate business too much, but focus on the search business itself.

"Microsoft's IE market share is so big that Bing hasn't made it yet. Why can a browser be made into a sogou search? "

The two began to disagree. Soon, Wang Xiaochuan was removed from the post of head of sogou search, and the search business he created was handed over to others.

Wang Xiaochuan said in an interview, "Three-stage rockets have always been regarded as pagan teachings, and I have been marginalized. From 2008 to 20 10, I really realized this pain. You're pregnant with a child, and you won't die for him. You must be born. "

After the news of being transferred, many people thought that Wang Xiaochuan would leave Sohu. But strangely, he "never thought about giving up at that time."

In those two years, on the one hand, he continued to secretly develop Sogou browser, and in 2009, he promoted the rapid change of Sogou browser version.

On the other hand, I chose to join Zhang Chaoyang's mountaineering team and follow Zhang Chaoyang to climb the snow-capped mountains. I hope to continue to communicate with Zhang Chaoyang during the climbing process and hope to get myself back to the front line.

In addition, he is closely linked with sogou. When the position of chief technology officer became vacant, Baidu sent an invitation to Wang Xiaochuan. However, Wang Xiaochuan refused, on the condition that Baidu needs to buy all of sogou.

It was not until 2009 that Sogou browser went online, and the download volume rose rapidly, even changing the stagnant situation in sogou search, that Zhang Chaoyang realized that Wang Xiaochuan's "input method-browser-search" style was reasonable. Until then, Wang Xiaochuan returned to the core layer and became the CTO of Sohu.

In the tortuous development of sogou for more than ten years, Wang Xiaochuan has been playing the role of guardian. In 20 10, under the opportunity of Google's withdrawal from China, the domestic search market ushered in a new round of reshuffle, and Zhou was eyeing it at that time.

For Zhou, at that time, it meant an elite team, core technologies related to search, and about 65,438+00% market share. The acquisition may bring its 360 search closer to Baidu.

Zhang was obviously moved by Zhou's search together and outflanking Baidu. However, 360' s robber spirit in the 3Q War was not valued by Wang Xiaochuan, which was unwilling to hand over the control of the search business to others.

As a last resort, Wang Xiaochuan chose to go south to Hangzhou. He met Ma Yun through Wang Bin, CEO of Youbao, whom he met when climbing the snow mountain with Zhang Chaoyang, and introduced Alibaba's investment to sogou, thus successfully separating sogou from Sohu and completing the first guard of sogou. Wang Xiaochuan later said, "Beyond despair is heaven. Facing the sea, spring blossoms. "

But the crisis came again soon. The important reason why Ali chose to inject capital into sogou was the deterioration of relations with Baidu at that time. But with 20 13 shaking hands, the situation became complicated again. This year, Sohu repurchased shares from Ali. Zhou came to find another one with an absolutely attractive price, hoping to buy it.

At that time, 360 was already a company with a market value of10 billion in the US stock market, while Sohu's market value was less than $2 billion. Zhou proposed that Sohu will be transferred to 360 by means of packaging and stock exchange, making Sohu a super shareholder holding 30% of 360 shares. This is undoubtedly a huge temptation for Sohu. Moreover, if the 360 acquisition is completed, the market share will further approach Baidu, and the market value will continue to rise.

For Zhang Chaoyang, this is undoubtedly very attractive. But for Wang Xiaochuan, it means that he is about to lose control of sogou search completely.

Wang Xiaochuan can only continue to look for new support, and he began to secretly contact Tencent. Within an hour of Zhang Chaoyang's threat of dismissal, Wang Xiaochuan had a teleconference with Tencent Ma on his way back to Sohu Building from the airport, and had a detailed communication on his income model, growth potential and Tencent's incubating business.

2013 September 16, Tencent announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had signed a subscription agreement with an independent third party such as Sohu, injected 448 million US dollars into sogou, and merged Soso and QQ input methods with existing businesses in sogou. After the transaction was completed, Tencent acquired 36.5% of sogou's fully diluted shares. Sogou will continue to operate independently as a subsidiary of Sohu.

Wang Xiaochuan successfully defended sogou again. During the tortuous development of sogou, Wang Xiaochuan, who had a good hand, showed amazing determination twice and never left. In an interview with China Entrepreneur magazine, Wang Xiaochuan said, "Part of my personality is too lazy to deal with the changes in the world, almost dull." .

Unlike most founders who define the company as a child, he told the media that sogou is his wife. "For children, you are just a responsibility. You raised him. For me, sogou is an environment where I can be led, constantly improved and grown. So I think using a wife can describe myself more accurately than children. Its relationship. "

However, after Tencent wholly acquired sogou, Wang Xiaochuan, who finally lost control, decided to leave.

Wang Xiaochuan has always constructed a set of absolute rational values based on mathematics and physics for himself.

"In my mind, there are no accidents."

He believes that everything now is driven by the future, and all the "false propositions" have no practical significance. In his mobile phone, videos, novels and music apps are all grouped together, and the folder is called "Fantasy". It means that these things "can help release emotions, but they can't solve practical problems."

As a gifted teenager, Wang Xiaochuan was pushed forward by fate step by step, maintaining a sense of dullness. However, after leaving school, the track of "Excellence" defined by the secular has changed from clear to a fog that needs to be explored.

His absolute rationality has been "hit hard" many times.

When ChinaRen worked part-time, Wang Xiaochuan realized the ultimate pursuit of technology, but "at that time, he didn't look at it from the perspective of users and market". After coming to Sohu, Wang Xiaochuan was shocked by a website called Hao 123-"This is a great challenge to elitism."

Because its page is "like a viral web page, full of dense web addresses, and the artist is extremely ugly." But it is such a company. In the early days, this company was 70% of the traffic source of Sohu portal. When Sohu was still losing money, its average monthly income exceeded 3 million.

Wang Xiaochuan, who has been devoted to the direction of excellence for decades, was shocked to "doubt whether his graduate students have learned in vain". But soon, the wise man did not fall into doubt. Wang Xiaochuan began to imitate the expansion mode of Hao 123, and promoted its sogou input method through external channels such as Tomato Garden (a company that sold pirated system CDs at that time). In the second year of its launch in 2007, the market share of sogou Input Method reached 40%, and reached 70% in 2009.

Wang Xiaochuan even concluded that the essence of the three-stage rocket strategy is the combination of "tomato garden" and "hao 123", because of these, he found the way for the real development of search.

Under absolute rationality, it is often laborious to understand people. Wang Xiaochuan, who has always thought of herself as "the Monkey King", found in college that "girls prefer Pig Bajie". It is difficult for him to understand, "this is obviously a lazy and stupid person."

With the popularity of mobile Internet, search advertisements began to decline in the general trend. Starting from 20 15, Wang Xiaochuan began to tell the story of AI, with "natural interaction+knowledge computing" as the core, and launched AI translators and other products.

Today, AI is still an area that is considered difficult to land, and almost every AI company has the dream of "influencing the world". In this case, how to unite the enthusiasm of employees and "brainwash" employees has become a difficult problem in Wang Xiaochuan.

But Wang Xiaochuan doesn't seem to be good at influencing others. He even resisted the compulsory unification of employees at the level of values. "Everyone is free, I have freedom, and so do they (employees)." He has repeatedly mentioned that his temperament is closer to Tencent than Ali. In his statement, Tencent is more based on the bottom, allowing employees to grow freely with fewer restrictions, while Ali emphasizes the unity of values.

In the public information, some employees of Wang Xiaochuan once commented on him, saying that he was not suitable for CEO, but more suitable for CTO. "Wang Xiaochuan is an extremely indecisive person, constantly changing and unable to make decisions by his own judgment."

But at least one thing is Wang Xiaochuan's decision. In the process of promoting AI, this sense of mission is Wang Xiaochuan's own choice. A genius who doesn't know what he wants and has never made a choice in his life, after taking the initiative, tries to find a small answer-using AI to promote inclusiveness in translation and make some contributions to the world.

This sense of mission has shown its consistency on some occasions.

20 19 Sun recalled in a circle of friends that in a talk show with him on 20 14, "I will never forget the way he looked at me as a liar. He said I was sure to fail. It's a pity to record the program with me, and finally I can't even record it. " Sun laughed and said that the market value of his company exceeded that of his company in less than three years from that day.

Later, I responded to Sun: "What is success? What is a liar? Everyone has his own definition. Some people think it's worth it, others think it's worth the market value. In the long river of history, the clouds are light and the wind is light. Scientists who pursue truth with extreme rationality, artists who pursue beauty with extreme sensibility, and heroes who contribute to the world or nation with great love can be immortal. "

Sogou was officially listed on the NYSE on 20 17, 1 1. After listing for more than four years, the highest revenue stopped at 20 19, with revenue11700,000 USD and net profit1050,000 USD. It has been going downhill since then. In 2020, the revenue dropped to $837 million, with a loss of 109 million. In the first two quarters of 202 1, the revenue basically decreased by more than 44% year-on-year.

Although sogou explained that the important reason for the decline in indicators is the privatization process, search advertising accounts for 90% of the company's income structure. In the context of the overall decline in advertising and the continuous decline in search advertising, search advertising is full of crises.

Compared with high-spirited talented teenagers, Wang Xiaochuan, who is in middle age, believes in fate more. "Hard work does not necessarily lead to success." . He began to understand that even the Monkey King, who can be an enemy of heaven and earth, "still can't escape the Buddha's Wuzhishan".

Wang Xiaochuan has been called "Wudaokou goalkeeper" by the outside world, which means that he has been in Beijing for more than 20 years and has never left Wudaokou area where Tsinghua University and Sohu Building are located.

Now, he officially bid farewell to the sogou he built from 0 to 1. In the farewell letter released to the outside world, he wrote, "Thank you for your hard work and dedicated all your love to sogou", indicating that he would love his relatives, pursue love and make contributions to public health.

It is difficult for outsiders to comment on what 2 1 year working in Sohu and sogou means to Wang Xiaochuan and what it has changed. At least after the pusher of fate quietly quit, the talented middle-aged Wang Xiaochuan accepted the limitations and began to look for other possibilities.