What is true wealth? Some people pursue material comforts, travel abroad, buy houses and cars, but one young man interprets the true meaning of wealth in another way.
With his own efforts and wisdom, he developed a software that was very popular in the market, and his worth quickly climbed from an ordinary college student to the level of a billionaire.
However, when his career was in full swing, he chose to retire, bid farewell to the bustling city, and disappeared from the public's sight. His story teaches us that true wealth lies not only in material possessions, but also in inner satisfaction and love of life.
Why did he take this action? Why did you have such thoughts?
The first communication software] In 2000, "Meet 98" floated in the streets and alleys, and people used Nokia and "Treasure in the Palm" to hit **, knocking on heavy big-headed computers, and the shadow of the financial crisis.
In this context, two ordinary college students have come to prominence, and no one would have foreseen that their fate would change because of this software.
Tencent's original intention was to build a web pager, but they didn't initially have high hopes for Qicq, and even wanted to use it as an accessory**, and at the same time planned to export the program to China.
However, the sudden decline of the paging industry and the bankruptcy of domestic paging stations have promoted the rapid rise of the mobile phone market. Against this background, they decided to immediately put the R&D system on hold.
Tencent's R&D failed, and Ma Huateng stepped forward: "If we can't sell it, we will operate it ourselves." "Ma Zhidong is steady, down-to-earth and hardworking, and he can resolve any difficulties encountered by the company.
Therefore, he is called the "stabilizer" of the company.
With his steadfast and reliable qualities, Zhang Zhidong has become an indispensable "anchor of the sea", and he bravely takes on heavy responsibilities, including software development and web design. In this series of work, Zhang Zhidong has continuously made R&D adjustments.
With their efforts, a set of QICQ programs was born, which brought huge profits to Zhang Zhidong and Ma Huateng with rapid development, successfully got rid of the dilemma of shortage of funds, and stepped into the road of stable development.
In less than a year, Tencent has grown from a studio of just five people to a medium-sized company with more than a thousand people. In 2004, Tencent was successfully listed in Hong Kong and became a leader in the IT field.
However, Qicq encountered a plagiarism storm at the peak of his career. So, how did they manage to defuse this crisis?
The trademark dispute between QICQ and WeChat] The QICQ trademark developed by Tencent is highly similar to the trademark of AOL in the United States, and it has been registered in the United States when Tencent used the QICQ trademark.
This sudden blow caught Tencent off guard, because QICQ was indeed borrowed from ICQ during its development. Therefore, it is inevitable to receive a lawyer's letter.
When the business was not yet mature, they used well-known animations such as Donald Duck and Smurfs as trademark avatars, but you must know that Disney is very strict about copyright protection.
In order to avoid a similar incident from happening again, they decided to completely replace all the trademarks, from developing software to designing brand logo avatars.
How to design a logo and avatar that is both eye-catching and cute is a headache for Zhang Zhidong. However, after months of meticulous polishing and revision, he finally made the decision to change the name of Qicq to "QQ" and replace the original animated image with an image of his own design, which is now very familiar to everyone wearing a red scarf and winking penguins.
Zhang Zhidong's idea was approved by everyone, and this incident marked Tencent's official entry into the field of the Internet, and also opened the stage of Zhang Zhidong's daily focus on user experience.
His deepest memory is "looking for users up close", sometimes he would squat in the Internet café on the second floor, listen to everyone's criticism of the product, and then silently return to his workstation to make improvements.
As time flies, user needs and experiences change with each passing day, QQ's functions are becoming richer and more abundant, and it is gradually improving, winning the enthusiasm of the majority of users and becoming one of the most popular instant messaging tools in China, thus driving Tencent's market value to climb all the way.
However, just when everyone thought that Tencent would continue to develop like this, a figure emerged, and he was Zhang Xiaolong, who developed WeChat. However, when this innovative proposal was proposed, it was met with widespread opposition from internal employees.
Due to the high similarity between WeChat and QQ, no one was willing to take the risk of trying, but Zhang Zhidong resolutely decided that he opposed the public opinion, fully supported Zhang Xiaolong's WeChat, and found the unlimited potential of WeChat in market research and demand analysis.
Sure enough, Zhang Zhidong and Zhang Xiaolong lived up to everyone's expectations, and now WeChat has more than 1 billion users, becoming one of the indispensable software in our lives and opening the way for later mobile phone payments.
Tencent's business is booming, and it is inseparable from the research and development of QQ and WeChat. However, people often only remember Ma Huateng and Zhang Xiaolong at the press conference, and ignore Zhang Zhidong, who led the team to turn things around.
Humility of the Internet founder] It is widely believed that Zhang Zhidong's humility is like a profound philosophy of life, which stems from his calm response to long-term changes, as a unique Internet technology pioneer, it is Zhang Zhidong's humility that makes Tencent go further.
Within the company, Ma Huateng and Zhang Zhidong are nicknamed "Little P" and "Little T" respectively, and the nickname "Little P Ma Huateng" is also widely known.
Although Tencent's No. 2 person, Ma Zhidong, is in an important position, he rarely appears in public, and there are very few articles about him on the Internet. Although he is deeply respected, he is willing to be the man behind Ma Huateng and pay silently, and this insistence is more than ten years.
He is a low-key and quietly dedicated leader who deserves our respect and learning.
With the development of Tencent, Zhang Zhidong and Ma Huateng's worth has increased, exceeding 10 billion US dollars. As the second largest shareholder of Tencent, Zhang Zhidong ranked 57th in the "Hurun Global Top 100 Entrepreneurs" on April 6, 2020 with a wealth of 120 billion yuan, and entered the Forbes list.
Although they have accumulated a lot of wealth, they have not been corrupted by it, but have put their energy into public welfare and actively contributed to society. However, despite their outstanding contributions, Zhang Zhidong's name is not widely known, and it seems that fame and fortune have not affected him in any way, and his life is still as usual.
Although Tencent's business is booming, and many old employees and shareholders have bought luxury houses, replaced luxury cars, and enjoyed traveling abroad, his life has always remained low-key and stable, and he still drives a Volkswagen Bora car worth more than 200,000 yuan to and from work every day, without any change.
At the peak of his career, he retired as associate director and chief technology officer.
According to the announcement issued by Tencent, Zhang Zhidong resigned for personal reasons, but this did not give a clear explanation. It is widely believed in the industry that Zhang Zhidong's departure may be related to Tencent's strategic adjustment.
But is that really the case? After 16 years of working in a high-pressure environment and creating countless software program products, Zhang Zhidong is now choosing to leave his job, but he promises to still serve Tencent even if he leaves.
The relationship between me and Tony (Zhang Zhidong) is deeper than my relationship with my family, and this kind of affection cannot be expressed in a few words. ”
Zhang Zhidong announced his resignation with gratitude and happiness, and he finally had the opportunity to devote himself to the cause of education. In the past few years, in addition to the reduction of investment in Tencent, Zhang Zhidong has been working with employees on technology research and development and product innovation issues.
With this departure, he devotes more time and energy to the field of education, and looks forward to making greater contributions to society.
Tencent Academy is an important platform for Tencent to cultivate talents and grassroots employees, and Zhang Zhidong is able to teach here not only because of his rich experience, but also because he hopes to accumulate experience here and provide learning support for more technical personnel when he is about to retire.
Zhang Zhidong is like a senior mentor here, he actively teaches and solves doubts, and helps employees solve difficult problems. In the future, Tencent will face more unknown challenges, as stated in "Tencent Biography": "When Tencent faces greater challenges, it may be the time to start a new day." ”
Although Zhang Zhidong is not keen on interviews with reporters, he expressed this opinion to the reporters who interviewed him: "I had this idea a few years ago, and in 2012 I started discussing the handover with Pony.
At that time, the company was in a period of transition, and the key personnel needed to stay behind to lead the company's transformation, so we decided to make the handover two years later. Now that the time is ripe, this is a great opportunity. ”
Conclusion] As Zhang Zhidong once said: "The journey of entrepreneurship is by no means a smooth road, only perseverance and courage can break the waves and move forward bravely, in order to break the waves and win success." In today's field of successology, Ma Dongzhi's achievements are undoubted.
His story is an inspiring masterpiece that shows us that people with dreams, courage and perseverance can overcome obstacles and meet the dawn of hope.
Double 11 is not only a shopping spree for Chinese, but also Tencent's birthday.