Source@天\ya\社\区? xylz626

The previous worries about Hou Xiaoqiang's future are about to become a reality. Recently, it was reported that Hou Xiaoqiang had recently submitted his resignation to Shanda Network CEO Chen Tianqiao for physical reasons. This means that he is about to say goodbye to Shanda Literature, which has been a member for 5 years. This also adds another case to Shanda's network system, which has seen a steady stream of senior executives leave in recent years.

It was also learned through insiders of the Shanda Literature Department that Hou Xiaoqiang's resignation was basically true, but Shanda had not officially announced it. Although he said "not yet" in response to Xinlang Technology, this also means that it may be in the process.

Who will take over his job in the future? There has been no official statement yet. However, from the current signs, it may be seen that Cui Wei, vice president of Shanda Literature, is more likely. However, before Hou recently took a leave of absence and announced his successor, the day-to-day operations of Shanda Literature were handled by Qiu Wenyou, president of Shanda Network and chairman of Shanda Literature.

In fact, the news about Hou Xiaoqiang's imminent departure has long begun to speculate in the industry. Since the listing of Shanda Literature was blocked and the starting point was in civil strife, his position was even more precarious.

In the online literature forum "Dragon's \ Sky \ Sky" I saw a user post on September 18 this year, "Today (9.18) a grand high-level meeting was held, and almost all the senior management of the Shanda Department attended the meeting. The meeting announced an important decision on Shanda Literature -- Hou Xiaoqiang was suspended for one month, and all affairs of Shanda Literature are now in charge of all affairs by Cui, the former secretary of Shanda Literature. Shanda literature is about to enter the post-Hou Xiaoqiang era of Hou Xiaoqiang. However, this news has not yet been confirmed by Shanda officials and Hou Xiaoqiang himself. Another source said that Hou Xiaoqiang submitted his resignation application around this year's National Day.

In the five years since Hou Xiaoqiang joined Shanda, he has made great contributions to the development of the company and the online literature market. From the preparation for the establishment of Shanda Literature, through the operation of Guò Capital, a series of acquisitions and finally built a giant called domestic online literature, almost monopolizing the vast majority of the market share. And on this basis, it has created a series of industrial resources such as copyright, film, television and publishing.

But there is no wind and no waves, and unfavorable events such as the obstruction of the listing of Shanda Literature and the civil strife at the starting point are directly related to Hou Xiaoqiang's status in Chen Tianqiao's eyes. Since November last year, the adjustment for the upcoming high-level blood change has laid the groundwork for Hou Xiaoqiang's resignation.

The dream of going public is shattered

In 2010, the listing of Chinese concept stocks in the United States set off a high tide. At that time, Shanda Literature had already begun preparations and secretly advanced the draft listing application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in April 2011. Unfortunately, catching up with the subsequent crisis of confidence in Chinese concept stocks, the door to listing in the United States has become tighter. Although the text was subsequently revised and sprinted again, the opportunity had passed, and Chen Tianqiao's dream of high valuation could not continue, and in desperation, Shanda Literature's listing was interrupted.

Although the final right to speak on the list of Shanda Literature is in Chen Tianqiao's mouth, as the CEO of Shanda Literature, Hou Xiaoqiang also bears certain responsibilities and pressures from all parties. Chen Tianqiao, who is good at playing capital but has eaten behind closed doors, has changed his attitude towards Hou Xiaoqiang.

Among the underwriters selected for the grand literary sprint listing, Bank of America Merrill Lynch had to be mentioned, because there was a key person in it - Qiu Wenyou, who was in charge of the matter at that time. In April 2011, the lead underwriter appointed when Shanda Literature was preparing to go public, Bank of America Merrill Lynch was kicked out by Chen Tianqiao and replaced by CICC because of the unfavorable roadshow.

Through Qiu Wenyou's efforts, Shanda Literature was finally reappointed as the lead underwriter in 2012 when Shanda Literature submitted its IPO again. In this, Qiu Wenyou's contribution cannot be underestimated. During this period, he also became more and more involved with Chen Tianqiao, and eventually won his trust. He joined Shanda in November 2012 as the chairman of Shanda Literature. This also means that Hou Xiaoqiang's direct upward channel is basically blocked.

The listing was blocked and the company was not profitable, and Shanda Literature's need for capital became increasingly obvious. In the end, with the mediation of Qiu Wenyou and the consent of Chen Tianqiao, Shanda Literature received about US$110 million in financing from Goldman Sachs and Temasek. It should be pointed out that Goldman Sachs, as the underwriter of Shanda Literature when it was listed, was well aware of the latter's situation, and when the external capital market did not recognize Shanda, it sharply lowered the price, and the valuation was significantly lower than Chen Tianqiao's original $800 million. Due to the existing funds, there is no need for Shanda Literature to be listed in the short term, according to Qiu Wenyou's statement, "Shanda Literature does not want to be wronged to go public." ”。

On the other hand, Hou Xiaoqiang, who has been a member for 5 years, although he held a lot of shares at the beginning, with the company's continuous financing, it has already been diluted a lot, and the dream of listing is shattered, which also makes Hou Xiaoqiang break his mind.

Interestingly, at the "Shanda Literary New Opportunities - New Strategy Conference" held in July this year, Qiu Wenyou, chairman of Shanda Literature, spoke after Qiu Wenyou, chairman of Shanda Literature, and gave a keynote speech on the company's new strategy. As we all know, the specific measures related to the company's re-emphasis strategy are generally announced by the actual management of the company (usually the CEO).

It is not difficult to see that Hou Xiaoqiang may have had the intention of retiring at that time.

The starting point became a fuse

The departure of the founding team of the starting point has completely made the internal contradictions public.

Those who are familiar with the industry know that the starting point Chinese network is the main force of Shanda literature, accounting for most of it in terms of revenue and market share. Like websites such as Red \ Sleeve Tian \ Xiang, Jin \ Jiang Wen \ Xue, the starting point is also a high-quality asset bought by Shanda.

However, joining the management team of Shanda's starting point Chinese network together has some "grassroots" atmosphere, which is also not in good harmony with CEO Hou Xiaoqiang's elite temperament culture. Coupled with the fact that each website retains a certain degree of autonomy when it is acquired, Hou has been hampered in many ways in his work.

Hou Xiaoqiang once said frankly in an interview with Caijing, "You see, there are so many subsidiaries, each subsidiary has a founder, and a large number of professional managers, there are grassroots and so-called elites, there are northerners and southerners, there are old people and newly airborne people, and the office locations are also distributed in several different places, and its intricacies are beyond what others imagine." ”

This is the so-called accumulation of heavy weights. In the first few years, Hou Xiaoqiang was able to get along with various subsidiaries in general, but in the face of the ever-changing overall strategy of large companies, internal contradictions were gradually increasing.

The civil unrest among the starting executives that broke out in May this year was the most intense, and a series of incidents broke out, such as Luo Li's arrest and the deepening of the conflict with Teng, Xunwen, and Xue. The image of Shanda Literature has also been damaged, and Hou Xiaoqiang's pressure has reached its peak at this moment.

During this period, Shanda Literature reorganized its management, and it is said that Chen Tianqiao's will was in it. The biggest change in the new executives is that Cui Wei, the former director of Shanda's general office, has become the vice president of Shanda Literature and the COO of Qiqi Chinese. You must know that this person is basically Chen Tianqiao's cronies, and Chen Tianqiao placed him in Shanda Literature, which was actually to prepare for kicking out Hou Xiaoqiang. As mentioned above, "The order of appearances at the grand literary new strategy conference may be a clue.

For today's intricate grand literature, Hou Xiaoqiang's resignation may be the best choice. In addition, Tengxun, Baidu, Xinlang, etc. are all entering the online literature market in a big way, and it is not difficult to seek a high position again. But the premise is that as long as Shanda does not use the resignation competition agreement as a restriction, after all, during the reign of Hou, the original management team of the starting point came up with this killer feature.