These days, even the two giants Byte and Tencent can "break the ice" and put aside their grudges, let alone two people! Just yesterday, Cheetah Mobile Chairman and CEO Fu Sheng suddenly announced that he and 360 founder Zhou Hongyi would have a dialogue about large models in the near future. As soon as the news came out, public opinion was in an uproar. At this time, 16 years have passed since the two sides broke up. In his early years, Fu Sheng left Qihoo 360, and he and Zhou Hongyi, who was both a teacher and a friend, also went against each other. The two sides experienced a series of love-hate relationships such as lawsuits and wars of words.
Behind the reconciliation between the two, time has also changed, and the situation of both of them is different from the past.
Cheetah Mobile, founded by Fu Sheng, has fallen from a star company. The company's operations and stock price are deteriorating, and it needs big models and hot topics to attract attention;
Zhou Hongyi, 53, has tempered his sharp edge and become gentler after experiencing countless battles in his early years and subsequent changes in the company.
A former Cheetah person told Sina Technology that in fact, in recent years, Fu Sheng and Lao Zhou have met at some conferences, and the two have shaken hands in a friendly way. The relationship has already "broken the ice", but such a high-profile chat on the same stage is indeed the first time in so many years.
(The two were interviewed together more than ten years ago)
The boss and the hero, 20 years of love and hatred
The story of the two begins in 2003.
At that time, young Fu Sheng entered the 3721 company of Lao Zhou (Zhou Hongyi) and was deeply favored by Lao Zhou because he took meeting minutes very well. Later, Fu Sheng followed Lao Zhou to Yahoo China and Qihoo.
It was at Qihu Company that Fu Sheng became Lao Zhou's stock-in-trade.
At first, Qihoo's main business was search, and Fu Sheng made changes to Qihoo's "rogue nemesis" in an internal project team. This product was mainly used to kill rogue software and was later renamed 360 Security Guard.
At that time, 360 Security Guard was very popular, and Zhou Hongyi’s energy also shifted from search to network security. But from then on, there was a rift between the two.
As the main project leader, Fu Sheng is known as the "Father of 360 Security Guard". However, regarding the development of the business, the product founders Fu Sheng and Lao Zhou began to have different ideas and even conflicts.
Finally, in October 2008, Fu Sheng resigned and left.
Since Fu Sheng signed an 18-month lock-up contract with Qihoo Company, after leaving Qihoo Company, he first entered the venture capital industry and later started his own business, Keniu Image, but the response was mediocre. It wasn't until May 2010 that his no-business contract with Qihoo finally expired, and Keniu also began to get involved in the security business and launched Keniu free anti-virus software.
At this moment, Fu Sheng met another of his noble men: Lei Jun.
He was appreciated by Lei Jun. Lei Jun facilitated the merger of Kingsoft Security and Keniu, establishing a new company Kingsoft Network, which was later renamed Cheetah Mobile, with Fu Sheng as CEO.
Former old subordinates become direct competitors?
Now Lao Zhou quit, calling Fu Sheng a "traitor".
In September 2011, Qihoo 360 sued Fu Sheng in the Hong Kong High Court, claiming that Fu Sheng and his company Keniu Technology used Qihoo's confidential information to develop the computer security software "Keniu Free Antivirus". Qihoo also claimed that Fu Sheng violated confidentiality obligations and poached Qihoo 360 engineers. Fu Sheng responded that Qihoo’s alleged theft of 360 technology was “purely a deliberate smear campaign.”
In addition to the lawsuit, a war of words broke out between the two sides.
Several senior executives of Qihoo 360 issued a statement saying that Fu Sheng left because he and his employees had set up a private company outside and generated income from suspicious sources, which was discovered by the company. Fu Sheng counterattacked by publishing a long article titled "19 Lies Made Up by Zhou Hongyi" on Weibo.
The two were once incompatible and even called each other out by name. It’s no wonder that after Fu Sheng announced that he would be having a conversation with Lao Zhou, many Weibo netizens exclaimed: “If things go wrong like this, the old grudges can be settled. What else is impossible?”
In response to netizens' questions, Fu Shengze responded on Weibo: "Do I have to hate him for the rest of my life?"
Today's situation is completely different
Behind the two men's burying the hatchet, one is the possible cooperation opportunity for big models.
In the promotional poster released by Fu Sheng, the theme was "Large Model Press Conference". He also joked: "There is nothing among men that a large model cannot solve..."
Just last month, he shared his views on the development of large models in 2024 on Weibo. He said that 2024 will definitely be the year of the wave of large-scale AI model applications. There will definitely be many applications that have not appeared in the past era, like Didi and Meituan Waimai when mobile smartphones came out.
This also coincides with the top ten predictions of large model development trends in 2024 that Zhou Hongyi recently shared.
In addition, the current situations of the two are also very different.
From Fu Sheng's point of view, after Cheetah Mobile went public in 2014, it reached its peak moment, with a market value of more than US$5 billion. But later, as the internal and external environment changed, Cheetah Mobile's operations deteriorated. In the first half of 2023, Cheetah Mobile's total revenue was 337 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.5%; the net loss attributable to shareholders was 277 million yuan, an increase of approximately 282.23% from the net loss of 72.6 million yuan in the same period of 2021. The current share price of Cheetah Mobile is only around US$2, and its market value is less than US$100 million.
Orion Star, a subsidiary of Cheetah Mobile, had previously aimed at the robotics track, but it had not seen large-scale commercial use. In 2022, Orion Star was once exposed to rumors of "burning out one billion and suspending the salary of senior executives." As ChatGPT became popular around the world, Orion Star began to shift its promotional focus to large models. At this time, Fu Sheng needed traffic and attention.
From Zhou Hongyi's point of view, the "red cannon" who once defied the sky and the earth has become a gentle "red uncle".
In his early years, Zhou Hongyi had a hot temper. Someone once commented on him: "Zhou Hongyi is ruthless, loyal, smart, and rich. He is the most unique person I have ever seen in the Internet industry." Jack Ma, Robin Li, Ma Huateng, and Lei Jun were all criticized by Zhou Hongyi. He fought with Baidu at 3721 hours, and competed with Yahoo China, Tencent, and Xiaomi at 360 hours. It can be said that he defeated all the mainstream Internet companies and big names.
However, in recent years, Zhou Hongyi has far tempered his edge.
Zhou Hongyi once said in an interview that in the second half of the Internet, Internet companies will definitely play a supporting role. Everyone must understand, follow the general trend, and do their own things well. If you are still stubborn at this time, always treating yourself as the protagonist, and fighting for the top brother in the world, this is a sign of lack of vision.
After experiencing countless battles in his early years, and later after his brothers ran away and his marriage changed, Zhou Hongyi has become gentler now.
This can also be seen in the recent public controversy with Cheng Qian. Faced with the young man's "cursing" communication, Zhou Hongyi did not angrily retaliate as he had done in his early years. Instead, he persuaded Cheng Qian and even took the opportunity to hold a speech on "You Can Be Eloquent - How to Speech", teaching Cheng Qian and netizens how to speak.
"You don't need to apologize. This kind of thing is very common compared to what I have done before. You may do it again in the future. The most important thing is that you can truly review the situation and know from the bottom of your heart how to improve and turn mistakes into opportunities." He said to Cheng Qian at the scene.
Zhou Hongyi, born in October 1970, is 53 years old. In the traditional Chinese concept, he is already at the age of "knowing destiny". The "red cannon" of the past has long gone, and now there is only the "red uncle".
Text | Sina Technology Zhang Jun