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On August 14, Qifu Technology announced that Zhou Hongyi would no longer serve as the company's director and chairman of the board for personal reasons, and the news subsequently sparked heated discussions across the Internet. Some netizens joked that Zhou Hongyi could now focus on live streaming and selling goods, while some media speculated that Zhou Hongyi's "next stop" after his resignation was to become a full-time Internet celebrity.

When everyone was once again attracted by Zhou Hongyi's related hot topics, few people realized that the "Red Cannon" had rarely appeared in the public opinion field in the past few years. Throughout 2023, Zhou Hongyi's personal Weibo only posted 58 pieces of content. If ChatGPT had not attracted the attention of the technology community, Zhou Hongyi's public speeches would probably have been reduced.

Why did Zhou Hongyi suddenly become active again? How did he become labeled as an "Internet celebrity" step by step? Behind these questions, there are reasons why he had to step into the public eye again.

"Red Cannon" becomes "Red Uncle"

Zhou Hongyi’s journey to becoming an internet celebrity resumed in January this year.

At that time, Zhou Hongyi participated in the "Fengma Niu Year-end Show" organized by his old friend Feng Lun. During the roundtable session, he was publicly ridiculed by the business interview blogger Cheng Qian, who was the host. Later, it evolved into the "Fengma Niu Incident". This incident triggered public criticism of Cheng Qian, and many people commented on Zhou Hongyi's on-the-spot performance that "he was very restrained."

Indeed, in the early Internet era when self-media blogger was not yet a serious profession, Zhou Hongyi, known as the "Red Cannon", could be called the "Saint Seiya" of the Chinese Internet industry.He started the "3Q War" with Tencent, went to court with Baidu, fell out with Alibaba because of the ban on Yahoo Assistant, and disrupted Xiaomi in the smartphone market, promoting an image that is "full of gangster spirit and strong in combat effectiveness."

In Zhou Hongyi's autobiography "Disruptor", he even described the scene of his court debate with Li Yanhong over "3721" in 2003:

"In court, the female judge asked me, 'Baidu accused you of deleting their stuff. Did you do it?' Robin Li answered, 'Of course he did it.' I quickly smiled and replied, 'I did it, but he did it first. He did all the bad things I did.'"

Zhou Hongyi recorded this story in his autobiography published in 2017. In addition to adding some interesting "spices" to the autobiography, it also carries a subtle sense of pride, as if telling readers "Look, how cool I was back then." This reflects Zhou Hongyi's unique personality - to use the self-evaluation on the cover of his new book "Beyond Curiosity" published in 2023, it is "not pretentious and a little silly."

In fact, in Zhou Hongyi's early entrepreneurial experience, the characteristics of "not being pretentious or decent and a little silly" were revealed everywhere.

In 2001, negotiations between "3721" and CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center), which had overlapping business, broke down, and direct competition began. Zhou Hongyi chose to speak publicly regardless of the other party's "official background" and triggered a well-known "war of words". Later, the Ministry of Information Industry held a hearing, and the storm came to an end.

In an interview with the media several years later, Zhou Hongyi said, "In business, cooperation is the most important thing, this is a principle; but at that time, CNNIC could not be solved by paying protection fees. It wanted to turn my business into its own, and this was a matter of principle." He also emphasized that "there is no way to compromise on principles."

During the SARS period in 2003, when everyone was terrified of the disease and almost no one dared to fly, Zhou Hongyi thought, "This is a great opportunity for me to go around the country to promote my products and seize the market." He wore a gas mask, rushed between airports, and flew to various parts of the country to meet with agents. While others were busy avoiding risks, he chose to "go against the flow" to open up the sales channel construction for "3721".Zhou Hongyi described this behavior as "a bit silly", but in essence it is a kind of adventurous spirit.

These old stories in the Internet industry are rarely talked about now, and there is naturally no memory of them in the later social media such as Weibo and short videos. However, if it were put into the current public opinion environment, the "red cannon" sent to the dock by Baidu might be like Luo Yonghao, and invite Robin to have a debate in the live broadcast room.

But the limitations of the times determined that the "famous scene" of the founders of the two Chinese Internet giants bickering on the spot and arguing until their faces were red could only happen 21 years ago.

Times have changed, Zhou Hongyi has changed, he has become more stable and kind.

When Cheng Qian apologized publicly afterwards, Zhou Hongyi responded calmly: "I don't think it's a big deal. There's no need to apologize. In fact, my temper wasn't much better when I was young. We all were young once." Zhou Hongyi took the initiative to talk about his bad temper when he was young, as if he was denying the past. This made people feel that he was no longer the "big gun in red" in the past, but a "big uncle in red" with a milder temper.

217 days, revisiting the "Internet celebrity road"

There is a particularly interesting detail in Zhou Hongyi's response to "Cheng Qian's apology" - on January 10, the "Fengma Niu incident" attracted widespread attention. At 21:40 that night, Cheng Qian released an apology video, and Zhou Hongyi announced on Weibo at 20:16 that he would give a "Red Dress Open Class" on the 12th titled "You Can Also Be Good at Eloquence - How to Give a Speech".

After the "Fengma Niu Incident", Zhou Hongyi immediately launched a public eloquence course online. His approach cannot be said to be well prepared, but at least he was waiting for an opportunity.According to the Jingzhe Research Institute, from January 10 to August 14, when he resigned as a director and chairman of QiFu Technology, Zhou Hongyi was almost always a hot topic in the 217 days.

After finishing the public eloquence class in January, Zhou Hongyi visited Yu Minhong and Dong Yuhui in February and said that he had become Yu Minhong's apprentice and learned how to become an internet celebrity.

In April, Zhou Hongyi entered the automotive industry and began his journey to harvest traffic: first, he auctioned a Maybach for 9.9 million yuan, announced that he would replace it with domestically produced new energy vehicles, and then, with the support of domestically produced new energy vehicle manufacturers, he was forced to hold a "360 Headquarters Auto Show."At the Beijing Auto Show, which was held from the end of April to the May Day holiday, Zhou Hongyi wandered around the booths of various manufacturers and then sat on the roof of an SUV, becoming a "top figure in the automotive circle."

In June, Zhou Hongyi experienced the Xiaopeng flying car live, but because the test flight procedures were not handled in time, the flying car that was originally scheduled to be tested could not take off. Zhou Hongyi threw his hat and went crazy on the live broadcast. In July, when experiencing the anti-pinch function of the Haobo HT model, Zhou Hongyi encountered the "pinch gate". Soon after, he appeared in Xiao Yangge's live broadcast room to learn from live broadcast sales. In August, Zhou Hongyi even took Nezha Auto CEO Zhang Yong to "cross-border" to participate in Shandong Satellite TV's challenge variety show "Happy Forward", and they both fell into the water in the end.

In the past eight months, Zhou Hongyi seemed to have a KPI on his back, completing at least one marketing event every month. And if you observe carefully, you will find that every time Zhou Hongyi attracts attention, there are always some surprises.

For example, the negative consequences of sitting on the roof of a car at the Beijing Auto Show may include but are not limited to: being made into a meme by netizens as "Zhou Hongyi defending his rights at the Beijing Auto Show", being criticized by the media as a move to attract traffic and attract attention, and high-definition pictures of various death perspectives making the front page headlines the next day.

No matter which result, it is not easy for the CEO of an Internet company to accept it, not to mention that Zhou Hongyi is a public figure who has already achieved success. But he did it anyway.

When Zhou Hongyi sat on the roof of the car in a red shirt, rubbing his hands, surrounded by reporters with cameras, no one knew what Zhou Hongyi was thinking, but this scene truly reflected the fact that he had become the focus of public attention. This might be the result he wanted.

Later, Zhou Hongyi explained why he climbed on the roof of the car, saying that it was because "I had been practicing rock climbing, and I climbed up on a whim."

This explanation reflects Zhou Hongyi's personality of being "honest, unpretentious and a little silly", and also illustrates another characteristic of his behavior - he pays more attention to the goals he wants to achieve than to the outside world's evaluation, even though doing so may bring risks.

"Southern Window" also wrote in the article: "Entering 2024, Zhou Hongyi made no secret of his latest focus - the internet celebrity economy. Just like he likes rock climbing and built a rock climbing gym on the 6th floor of the company, he is determined to aim for the goal and become an internet celebrity."

For a moment, the "top star in the car circle" sitting on the roof of the car reminded people of Zhou Hongyi, who was wearing a gas mask and shuttling between various city airports 21 years ago.This is something that most people don’t understand and most people can’t do, but he did it without hesitation. The difference is that the risk on the roof is not “fatal”, which may be the reason why Zhou Hongyi’s road to becoming an Internet celebrity is so calm.

It is not difficult to understand why he openly criticized Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha Auto, and asked him to learn from Lei Jun after the launch of Xiaomi SU7, and why he took the initiative to take photos with Ma Huateng, Zhang Chaoyang, and Lei Jun during the "China Internet 30th Anniversary Development Symposium" to capture high-quality footage of the "big bosses meeting". Because the "uncle in red" is still willing to take risks.

Four months later, Zhou Hongyi responded through his TikTok account to the experience of being teased as an "Internet celebrity" when taking a photo with Ma Huateng. He said that he was open-minded and did not hear the mockery. He also emphasized that "entrepreneurs who become Internet celebrities and IPs must humble themselves and put aside their pride to record their experiences truthfully."

In fact, Zhou Hongyi knows that fans like to see him show his "boss" side towards Nezha Automobile, a company he invested in, and are even more looking forward to seeing what kind of "famous scene" he will create when facing Ma Huateng and Lei Jun, with whom he once had a feud.Zhou Hongyi has already prepared himself for becoming an Internet celebrity. All that is left is to keep his eyes on the goal and move closer step by step.

Becoming an Internet celebrity and facing your destiny

Zhou Hongyi, who has been labeled as an "Internet celebrity" again, has provided the news media with a wealth of news material, but has also brought a question to the industry: When the older generation of Internet leaders have faded out of the public eye one after another, and the new generation of leaders such as Zhang Yiming and Huang Zheng have chosen to retire, why is Zhou Hongyi, who is in his 50s, still active in front of people?

According to the analysis of most industry insiders, it is because 360 ​​is in a difficult situation now.

Compared with the peak market value of nearly 500 billion yuan after its backdoor listing on the A-share market in 2017, 360's market value is now stable at around 51 billion yuan. In terms of specific performance, 360 has suffered losses for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023, with a cumulative loss of nearly 2.7 billion yuan. The latest semi-annual performance forecast for 2024 also shows that 360's net profit attributable to its parent company during the reporting period is approximately -350 million yuan to -240 million yuan.

If you only look at these figures, some people will sigh that 360 has not been able to continue its past glory, its business is constantly aging, and the new businesses it has tried have not brought new growth momentum, so its performance is sluggish. This is indeed the case, but we cannot look at 360 today with a completely negative attitude.

According to the annual report, Internet advertising and services, security and other businesses are the two businesses with the largest revenue for 360. However, at a time when brands are showing a significant decline in their willingness to invest, it is already good enough for the Internet advertising business to remain the same as in the past. For 360, the cost burden of the security business is far greater than the pressure of reduced revenue.

On August 12, Zhou Hongyi posted a video on his personal Douyin account, saying that 360 has invested 20 to 30 billion yuan every year for 10 years, with a total investment of nearly 30 billion yuan, which is more than the total of the second to tenth largest security companies. If 360 cuts costs and stops doing security business, it will be profitable immediately, but its "mandate" will be gone.

Regarding the idea of ​​"destiny", Cheng Lingfeng, a media person, wrote in his article "The Most Valuable Thing in the World is Destiny" to "say a few words for Zhou Hongyi" that "real strategy is to know destiny. You know you have to do this. Others will do the same thing to compete with me, that's fine, I will do it. Others will not do this thing, and I am the only one, that's fine, I will do it too."

For 360, security is obviously its "mission".

In the development history of 360, security was not the focus of its business at the beginning, but as the company developed and its business scale continued to expand, security business became the label of 360. So much so that when 360 is mentioned, many people will immediately think of network security.So 360 has been facing a problem: network security is important, but if it doesn’t make money, should we still do it?

This question is a test of human nature.

From a business perspective, especially as a listed company that is responsible to tens of millions of investors, this question may be easy to answer: as long as the bottom line remains within the scope permitted by the law, do whatever makes money, the performance figures get better and better, and the company's executives and investors are happy, there is no need for too much social responsibility.

But if you accidentally provide free antivirus software and become the best company in the world and China that can detect and defend against cyber attacks, should you continue to do so? If you cannot make a profit and are even attacked by the black market, should you continue to do so?

The current situation of 360 is the answer. For this answer, Zhou Hongyi and 360 took some risks that were not seen.

In 2016, in order to fully safeguard national security, 360 delisted from the US stock market. In 2020, Zhou Hongyi, who was attending the Internet Security Conference in the United States, was urgently summoned back to China by a call from a colleague in China. As soon as Zhou Hongyi landed in Beijing, 360 announced that the United States had attacked our ATP and produced evidence, and then suffered double sanctions.

These things are important, but they may not get as much traffic on social media as climbing on the roof of a car or getting your hand caught in a car door.The more realistic question is, if 360 stops focusing on security one day, who will continue to do this obviously unprofitable business?

Therefore, in order to ensure his destiny, Zhou Hongyi chose to become an Internet celebrity and build his personal IP. With a limited budget that could not support new business, he tortured himself by recording videos crazily to earn traffic. Whether it could save PR and marketing expenses or really help sell his own products in the future, being an Internet celebrity was the lowest risk and the highest expectation. Therefore, under the premise of being closely tied to the fate of 360, becoming an Internet celebrity was also Zhou Hongyi's "destiny" at the moment.

As of now, Zhou Hongyi’s Douyin account has published 1,491 works.Although when you click on the homepage of his account, you will still see selfie videos from various death angles and the image of an unkempt middle-aged uncle, this account already has 6.744 million followers, which is less than one-third of the KPI goal of 10 million followers set in April.

Zhou Hongyi wrote in his new book Beyond Curiosity: "I am 53 years old this year (2023). I may not be able to learn the 'second dimension', but I want to lead 360 into the automotive manufacturing industry and expand the advantages of artificial intelligence. This requires me to constantly overturn my own opinions..."Perhaps he has not yet fully learned how to become an "idol CEO" like Lei Jun in the era of short videos, but he is also getting closer to his goal in his own way.

Final Thoughts

Due to the explosive popularity of the domestic game "Black Myth: Wukong", the term "facing destiny" has been mentioned frequently recently.

Thinking of the founding team members of "Black Wukong: Myth", who were also eliminated by industry rules and then left to found "Game Science", and then spent 6 years to complete "Black Myth: Wukong" while making money to support the team, one can't help but sigh:

Perhaps we should not rely solely on the market's perspective to evaluate the value of something, because there are always some undiscovered values ​​that are difficult to measure by market standards.For example, the extremely important but unprofitable Internet security business, or the AAA stand-alone game that costs 300-500 million yuan to develop but cannot earn 10.6 billion yuan a year by relying on pretty character skins...

Every person and every company can decide its own destiny, but being able to always stick to the destiny and achieve the goals in your heart is cooler than PKing with Yang Jian and the Four Heavenly Kings in heaven.