"I'm here, where are you?" NetEase CEO Ding Lei asked on the eve of the 2011 Internet Conference.

In addition to Ding Lei, all the heavyweights in the Internet industry who participated in the recording of the 2011 Internet Conference promotional video include Tencent Chairman and CEO Ma Huateng, Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma, Baidu CEO Robin Li, Sohu Chairman Zhang Chaoyang, and Shanda CEO Chen Tianqiao.

Only two years later, judging from the company’s market value or valuation, the big guys who are the backbone of China’s Internet industry have gradually divided into three echelons. The first echelon is locked by Ma Huateng, Jack Ma and Robin Li. The "TAB" camp composed of Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu is already far ahead of other Chinese Internet companies, with market value or valuation ranging from 40 billion to 90 billion US dollars. The second-tier list includes Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and Ding Lei, Qihoo CEO Zhou Hongyi, JD.com CEO Liu Qiangdong, Ctrip CEO Liang Jianzhang and Sina CEO Cao Guowei. The market value or valuation of these companies is between US$5 billion and US$10 billion. Youku Tudou CEO Gu Yongqiang, Soufun CEO Dai Jiangong, Vipshop CEO Shen Ya, Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang, and Duowan CEO Li Xueling are in the third echelon. The market value or valuation of these companies is between US$2 billion and US$5 billion.

What has prompted the rise and fall of this wave of big names is the most popular Internet wave in the industry in the past two years. Looking back on the ups and downs of Internet companies over the past decade, "It doesn't matter who does it, but what matters is what it does. This is the general trend." IT commentator Xie Wen said this.

New forces, new bosses

In the list compiled by Tencent Technology with a market value or valuation exceeding US$2 billion, Xiaomi, Vipshop, and YY (Duowan YY) can be said to be typical representatives of new Internet forces.

They have not been established for a long time. Duowan was founded in 2005, Vipshop was founded in 2008, and Xiaomi was founded in 2010. After several years of development, they have experienced controversies and hardships. The founders of the companies have also become what Li Xueling calls "a thousand-year-old monster who has survived."

Internet analyst Hong Bo believes that Xiaomi is the best company to seize the opportunity under the Internet wave.

This is attributed to Lei Jun, an Internet veteran. As one of the earliest programmers in China's IT industry, he became the general manager of Kingsoft Software at the age of 30 and later founded Excellence. Joining the angel investment field has also created a number of "Lei Jun-type" companies, including Duowan. In 2010, he founded Xiaomi. With the rapid growth of Xiaomi mobile phone sales, it has recently been reported in the industry that Xiaomi's latest valuation exceeds US$9 billion.

Compared with Xiaomi, which has attracted much attention since its inception, Vipshop and its founder Shen Ya are much more low-key. This little-known company went public in March 2012, the worst time for Chinese concept stocks. First, the issue price was lower than expected and fell below the issue price on the first day of listing. Many people in the industry questioned its model. Unexpectedly, wild lilies also have spring. Since August 2012, Vipshop's stock price has begun to rise against the trend, and it has soared all the way, breaking through US$30 per share, nearly five times higher than the issue price. As of August 9 this year, Vipshop's market value has exceeded US$2.7 billion.

After Vipshop went public last year, Duowan CEO Li Xueling and his YY team also rang the Nasdaq bell in November. Unlike Vipshop’s bloody listing, Duowan YY is favored by the capital market. Compared with the market value of US$600 million when it went public, as of August 9 this year, Duowan's market value has exceeded US$2.2 billion.

Xie WenIt is believed that these new power companies that have grown up do not belong to Internet companies in the general sense. Most of them are engaged in relatively new fields, such as the Internet, software and hardware integration, etc. It is a common phenomenon that emerging fields have high growth rates.

Have the markets gained by these companies that emerged later been truly based on their own comprehensive capabilities? This is Hong Bo's concern.

He believes that the first wave of Internet companies did not have comprehensive service capabilities, and the current wave of companies also faces this challenge.

The veteran will not die, but it is almost dusk

Hong Bo has his own analysis of the reason for such worries. He believes that China's first wave of Internet companies are represented by portals, and the second wave is represented by online games. Neither wave is a comprehensive way to occupy the market with technical capabilities.

“Sina and Sohu have changed the way Chinese people obtain information, concentrated traditional media content online, and created a huge market. But they do not have the technical capabilities to provide complete user services and experiences. Similarly, online games focus on a single As Hong Bo said, the old Internet portals are seriously divided. For example, Sina and NetEase respectively rely on the Weibo concept and online game performance to stabilize themselves in the second echelon, while Sohu is seriously underestimated and falls to the third echelon. Seven years ago, Shanda, once known as China's four Internet giants along with Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba, could not bear the underestimation of its market value and chose to privatize and delist.

In 2004, Shanda Network was listed, and Chen Tianqiao himself topped the list of China's richest people. He once made an impassioned speech to thousands of employees: If Shanda's online game business maintains a compound annual growth rate of more than 100% in the first five years, it will become the world's largest entertainment company in 10 years.

In the seven years from 2006 to 2013, Chen Tianqiao led continuous investments and acquisitions, integrating games, literature, video, film and television, music and other cross-border parties, and painstakingly built an online Disney empire.

However, the Internet tide has arrived. Whether it is established companies such as Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba, or new players such as 360 and Lei Jun, they are all going all out to carry out network layout. When Weibo and WeChat emerged one after another, Shanda Innovation Institute, which had invested heavily in the past four years, failed to incubate a product that could have layout significance. Instead, it suffered the fate of being abandoned.

"Yahoo lost its advantage in subsequent competition due to strategic decision-making errors, neglect of technology, and neglect of Google. Enterprises must not make major mistakes first." Hong Bo said. China's Internet industry is also playing out such a story of the wave behind pushing the wave ahead.

Unknown pattern

Just as the industry is still fiercely discussing the business model of the Internet, what are the prospects for companies that rely on this wave of growth?

Compared with the capital market's pursuit of these new power companies, Xie Wen believes that the rise of these companies is not "something to be proud of."

"The business models of these companies (360, Xiaomi) are very simple, without much innovation, and their impact on the industry is limited. Comprehensive management capabilities, marketing capabilities, and leadership charisma have made these new forces possible, but their core competitiveness is insufficient. When the Chinese market is saturated, these new power companies are less likely to rush into the world." Xie Wen said.

Xie Wen emphasized that companies with core competitiveness have potential in the future, such as Amap, iFlytek, Douban, etc. “Douban can do better,” he said.

Hongbo places more emphasis on comprehensive service capabilities. “Companies such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu need to have certainWith its technical capabilities and balanced comprehensive capabilities, it can continuously adjust its strategies and products according to market changes, and is expected to stand on the top of the wave for a long time. ”