2021 China Internet Haha List 2: Top Ten Events

In 2021, the Internet industry has emerged with many new opportunities, but new challenges are also continuing. Let us take a look at the top ten events in China's Internet industry this year.

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1. The Metaverse is booming

The popularity of the metaverse concept can be said to be the most exciting event in the Internet technology circle this year.

The term metaverse originated from the science fiction novel Snow Crash written by the famous American science fiction writer Neo Stevenson in 1992. In the book, Stevenson described a network world parallel to the real world - the metaverse, which is the concept of "beyond the universe": an artificial space running parallel to the real world, which is the next stage of the Internet, a virtual reality network world supported by AR, VR, 3D and other technologies.

The metaverse cannot be completely separated from the real world. It is parallel to the real world and interconnected with it, but it is also integrated with the real world, and people can engage in real social interaction and work in it.

Such an "avant-garde" concept was quickly welcomed by the capital market. Facebook stated that it would transform into a metaverse company within five years. In August, ByteDance spent a huge amount of money to acquire a VR startup. Luo Yonghao said, "Our next entrepreneurial project is actually also a so-called metaverse company."

Looking forward to the day when the "Metaverse" arrives.

2. Alibaba was fined 18.228 billion

On April 10, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation made an administrative penalty decision in accordance with the law, ordering Alibaba Group to stop its illegal activities and imposing a fine of 4% of its 2019 sales in China of 455.712 billion yuan, totaling 18.228 billion yuan.

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▲ The picture comes from the Internet

Since 2015, Alibaba Group has abused its dominant market position, requiring merchants on its platform to choose between two options, prohibiting them from opening stores on other competitive platforms or participating in promotional activities. It has also used market forces, platform rules, data, algorithms and other technical means to adopt a variety of reward and punishment measures to ensure the implementation of the "choose one of two" requirement, thereby obtaining unfair competitive advantages, damaging the interests of consumers, and violating the Anti-Monopoly Law.

On October 8, Meituan was also fined 3.442 billion yuan by the State Administration for Market Regulation for anti-monopoly laws.

Compliance with laws and regulations is the foundation for a company to survive in the long term. I hope the market will take this as a warning.

3. Didi delisted

On December 3, Didi officially announced that it would start the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange and begin preparations for listing in Hong Kong.

After 159 days of listing and 109 days of trading, it announced its withdrawal from the US stock market. It can be said that it was like a shooting star across the night sky, coming and going in a hurry. I am afraid that it will be difficult for any company to break such a short listing and delisting record in the future.

The listing is silent, but the delisting is known to everyone.

This online ride-hailing giant, which was in business for 9 years, suffered losses for 8 consecutive years, raised funds in 23 rounds, and burned through 140 billion yuan, suffered tragic events such as its stock price being halved, institutions selling off large amounts of shares, and its market share being divided up just 5 months after its listing.

With Didi's delisting in the United States, the economic behavior behind network information security is globalized today. How to strike a balance and grasp the relationship between the market and information security has become a key issue that companies need to consider in future behaviors.

What is certain is that the Didi incident will cast a shadow on future Chinese companies, especially those in the 2C Internet-related personal business, when they go public in the United States.

4. Technology and Internet giants are making cars

Since the second half of 2020, the interactions between technology giants and car companies have frequently appeared in the news. Apple has successively negotiated with Hyundai, Nissan and other car companies to seek OEM cooperation; Huawei has also joined the camp of joint car manufacturing; in November, Alibaba signed a contract with SAIC Group to launch "IM Motors"; in early January this year, Baidu also officially announced the establishment of a smart electric vehicle company with Geely, entering the automotive industry as a complete vehicle manufacturer; in March, Xiaomi also officially announced its entry into the smart electric vehicle industry.

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▲ The picture comes from the Internet

Technology giants have invested in the field of car manufacturing, not only because they are optimistic about the potential of the new energy vehicle market, but also because they are competing for the next super traffic entrance in the 5G era. As we all know, cars are developing towards the "new four modernizations" (electrification, intelligence, networking, and sharing), and the automotive industry is facing a major transformation that will only happen once in a century.

In this century-long automotive revolution, I believe the best is yet to come.

5. Meng Wanzhou returns to China

On September 26, 2021, after 1028 days, Meng Wanzhou finally returned to China, and 80 million people in the motherland "welcomed her online" together.

Meng Wanzhou, wearing a red dress, walked calmly from the red carpeted stairs to the people who greeted her. She made a brief statement on the airport tarmac, saying, "After more than a thousand days of suffering, I finally returned to the embrace of my motherland. The moment I walked down the gangway, my heart was filled with emotion! Motherland, I am back!"

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▲ The picture comes from the Internet

As the daughter of Huawei's director Ren Zhengfei, Meng Wanzhou was detained in Canada in December 2018 for assisting the US police in handling a case of suspected "bank fraud" listed by the United States. After the unremitting efforts and resolute struggle of the Chinese government, the US Department of Justice recently signed a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng Wanzhou, and the United States withdrew its extradition application to Canada. On September 24, local time, Meng Wanzhou left Canada without pleading guilty or paying a fine, embarking on a journey back to her motherland.

The country will not abandon any Chinese citizen. The fate of individuals, enterprises and the country are closely linked.

6. Return to Hong Kong for listing

In December, Weibo officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The twelve-year-old company completed its secondary listing seven years after ringing the bell on the U.S. stock market.

Before it, industry giants such as Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com, NetEase, and Bilibili have made the same choice. Didi is also preparing to transfer shares back to Hong Kong. For Internet giants, returning to the domestic market for listing can, on the one hand, reduce the volatility risks brought about by delisting in the United States in the future; on the other hand, it is also based on the requirements of new domestic regulatory rules to pave the way for the company's future. After all, these companies will still focus on the domestic market in the future.

Among the Chinese concept stocks listed in the United States, 32 companies have recently met the conditions for secondary listing or dual primary listing in Hong Kong stocks. The US stock market is currently facing an environment of increased tax burden and marginal tightening of monetary policy. Therefore, compared with the US stock market, the long-term allocation of Hong Kong stocks in 2022 is more attractive. In addition, the Chinese concept stocks currently listed in Hong Kong tend to be more Internet companies. Generally speaking, these companies have higher quality and excellent performance. With the continuous development of the digital economy, there are still large investment opportunities in this industry.

I believe this trend of returning to Hong Kong for listing will continue for a long time.

7. EDG wins the championship

There were almost only two things in the circle of friends on November 7: "It's snowing" and "EDG is awesome".

The 2021 League of Legends World Championship ended in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. The EDG team from the Chinese mainland (LPL) played a full five games with the defending champion, the DK team from the Korean LCK. The EDG team, which was not optimistic about the team, turned the tide after falling behind 1:2 and defeated the DK team from the Korean region with a score of 3:2 to win the championship.

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The official Weibo account of CCTV News also immediately sent out congratulations. There were as many as 80 related hot searches that day. Hundreds of millions of Chinese were celebrating. Seeing this scene, some netizens even sighed, "The last time I saw such a lively scene was when the Chinese football team entered the World Cup."

As the most popular e-sports event in China, the League of Legends S League reflects to a certain extent the development momentum of China's e-sports industry. From being considered "unprofessional" to now being the focus of the entire Internet, e-sports has become known and recognized by more and more people.

8. The anchor was fined for tax evasion

The biggest gossip in the second half of this year must be that Viya, Xue Li, and Lin Shanshan were fined for tax evasion.

I believe everyone is very familiar with these three top anchors. They can be said to occupy most of the live streaming e-commerce market. Viya is the top anchor, but this year they were all fined for tax evasion and were on the top of the hot search list. The Tax Inspection Bureau fined Viya 1.341 billion yuan, Xue Li 65.5531 million yuan, and Lin Shanshan 27.6725 million yuan. The total fines for the three were nearly 1.5 billion yuan, which was a thunderclap that made netizens shout, "We knew that the anchors made money, but we didn't know they made so much money."

This also caused a wave of tax payment by anchors. The Shanghai Taxation Bureau issued a notice to celebrities and online anchors, stating that if they actively report and correct tax-related issues to the tax department before the end of 2021, the tax department will deal with them leniently. If they still resist and do not conduct self-examination and self-correction or are not thorough, the tax department will deal with them seriously in accordance with the law. Thousands of anchors have taken the initiative to pay tax.

I hope that all artists and anchors can abide by the law. Since they have made so much money, please pay taxes properly.

9. Tencent reduces its stake in JD.com

On December 23, Tencent announced that it plans to distribute its approximately 460 million JD.com shares to Tencent shareholders as an interim dividend. After the distribution is completed, Tencent's shareholding in JD.com will drop from 17% to 2.3%, and Tencent President Martin Lau will also step down as a director of JD.com.

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▲ The picture comes from the Internet

For every 21 shares of Tencent, shareholders can get 1 share of JD.com. What a good pie that fell on the head of Tencent shareholders. Today, JD.com is a mature enterprise with a market value of over 100 billion US dollars. JD.com and its listed companies have achieved self-sustaining and have complete financing capabilities. Therefore, Tencent retired after its success and waved its sleeves, paying dividends of JD.com shares to Tencent shareholders.

This behavior of giving back long-term investment returns to society is in line with the main theme of "common prosperity". At the same time, it will attract more and more people to hold Tencent shares for a long time.

10. Retirement Wave of Post-80s Founders

People born in the 1980s have already started to retire. Are you surprised?

This year, there are as many as three Internet tycoons born in the 1980s who have retired to the second line. The first is Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo, who resigned as chairman in March and handed over the baton to his partner and co-founder Chen Lei, who had worked side by side with him for 14 years. The second is Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, who resigned as CEO in May this year. His successor is Liang Rubo, a technical background, low-key, Zhang Yiming's classmate, roommate, and entrepreneurial partner. The third is Su Hua of Kuaishou, who resigned as CEO in October this year.

This is already the second wave of retirements in China’s Internet industry. In 2019, when Alibaba and JD.com celebrated their 20th anniversary, Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong passed the succession positions to Zhang Yong and Xu Lei, who both have strong business capabilities.

The middle-aged entrepreneurs who "retired" early pushed a person who was not well-known to the outside world but was extremely trusted by the insiders to the front. They themselves stayed behind the scenes and tried to re-examine the huge business entity they built with an "external perspective". After all, they resigned from their positions, but control was another matter.

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